Favourite 80s Crossover Event

[Agent Grayson]

As I am not enamoured with the Krakoa era, I've been slowly reading back through the history of the X-Men, from Giant-Size X-Men onwards. As more series/spin-offs have been introduced, Uncanny X-Men has remained the constant but I'm following those that I've enjoyed when trying them - currently, New Mutants, X-Factor and Wolverine. I'm not sure about Excalibur because I love the characters involved but I'm not really feeling the stories.

I've just reached the start of the 90s and having enjoyed the various 80s crossovers I've now read, some for the first time, I thought it would be fun to see what everyone thought of these events! Once I reach the 00s, I'll do a similar thread for the 90s.

Which 80s crossover did you enjoy the most and why?

The Asgardian Wars (1985) - Loki's ploy to win the favour of They Who Sit Above in Shadow leads to the transformation of Cyclops, Madelyne Pryor and others into different superpowered versions of themselves. After the X-Men and Alpha Flight intervene, Loki seeks vengeance by twisting Storm into the new goddess of thunder and the New Mutants and the X-Men must fight to rescue her.

Mutant Massacre (1986-87) - The Marauders launch a vicious attack on the Morlocks and the X-Men, X-Factor, the New Mutants, Thor, Daredevil and Power Pack are all drawn into the conflict.

The Fall of the Mutants (1988) - The X-Men face off against the Adversary while the New Mutants are embroiled in a conflict with the Right and X-Factor wage war against Apocalypse.

The Evolutionary War (1988) - The High Evolutionary encounters a host of heroes as he deploys his Purifiers in his plan to advance humanity's genetic development.

Inferno (1988-89) - Limbo attempts a takeover of Earth and the X-Men, New Mutants, X-Terminators and X-Factor must work together to defeat Madelyne Pryor, Mr Sinister and N'astirh.

[Steroid]

Mutant Massacre for me mainly because of how the fights and action were so brutal.

[Jackraow21]

Mutant Massacre for me mainly because of how the fights and action were so brutal.

Same. Those Wolverine-Sabretooth fights…

[Exodus]

I adore Inferno. One of my top 5 X-Men crossover of all time.

[Askani's Flame]

I adore Inferno. One of my top 5 X-Men crossover of all time.

Same here. High stakes, lots of crossover items in all X-books and many Marvel books, Marc Silvestri, and underboob & sex icon Havok

[sunofdarkchild]

If judged just by the Uncanny X-Men parts I'd have a hard time choosing. If X-Factor and especially New Mutants are included then Mutant Massacre by a country mile. The New Mutants parts of Fall of the Mutants and Inferno are trash because Simonson did not write those characters well at all, plus Bird Brain. Her X-Factor work was better, but I was shocked to learn she had been Claremont's editor on the Magik mini and early New Mutants with how much she got completely wrong after taking over from him.

[nx01a]

Definitely Inferno!
X-Factor fighting then teaming up with the X-Men, the culmination of Magik's original saga, Maddie and Havok's outfits, the hilarious demon-possessed New York mailboxes and hot dog carts and taxi cabs and smiling buildings... Perfection!

[Mutant X]

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Even the cover is dope.

[Phoenix Raptor]

Mutant Massacre for me. The book and storyline felt dangerous and it was the first time the X-Men were really up against bona fide killers.

The Shi'ar, the Brotherhood/Freedom Force, Brood, whoever... I never really felt like there was a real danger for the team. Then the Massacre happens and, not only do you have a vast number of (admittedly mostly nameless or faceless) people killed at ground level, you have four beloved team members critically injured in one way or another over the span of just two issues (Kitty and Kurt in UXM210, Colossus in UXM212 and Warren in XF10)! The Marauders were something not seen before at that time: an organised squad of outright murderers.

It was a game-changer for me, personally. The original X-crossover and still the very best in my opinion.

[Uncanny X-Man]

Oh man, so many goodies in this list.

While Asgardian Wars is arguably a crossover, I really don't think of it as such and it's certainly less ambitious than the rest in terms of scope. That said, it's as perfect a comicbook as comicbooks get and has the finest Art Adams artwork the world has ever seen.

The Mutant Massacre: I wasn't around when it hit but I'm sure it hit HARD those who were reading Uncanny, New Mutants and X-Factor. It must have been such a game-changer at the time, not only as the first proper X-crossover but for the amount of actual development, cliffhangers, new characters and brutal fights it featured. A classic and very deservedly so.

The Fall of the Mutants: another amazing one, but my peeve is that the Uncanny X-Men parts were superb and the rest pretty mediocre.

The Evolutionary War: not exactly a classic, I only remember an OK X-Men Annual by Claremont and Adams, probably their weakest.

Inferno: this was my introduction to X-Men comics so I'll always have a soft spot for this one. It made me a fan for life and introduced me to the absurdly complex yet intensely captivating world of the Phoenix, Jean Grey and Madelyne Pryor. It was also probably the only time Louise Simonson's X-Factor was readable for me and coupled with the always excellent Uncanny chapters by Claremont/Silvestri, made Inferno the winner for me here.

[K7P5V]

Mutant Massacre for me. The book and storyline felt dangerous and it was the first time the X-Men were really up against bona fide killers.

The Shi'ar, the Brotherhood/Freedom Force, Brood, whoever... I never really felt like there was a real danger for the team. Then the Massacre happens and, not only do you have a vast number of (admittedly mostly nameless or faceless) people killed at ground level, you have four beloved team members critically injured in one way or another over the span of just two issues (Kitty and Kurt in UXM210, Colossus in UXM212 and Warren in XF10)! The Marauders were something not seen before at that time: an organised squad of outright murderers.

It was a game-changer for me, personally. The original X-crossover and still the very best in my opinion.

I know, right?! Still love how everything was laid out in their map (LOL):

[shooshoomanjoe]

I always wondered why Daredevil #238 and Uncanny X-Men #214 weren't included in the map.

I know, right?! Still love how everything was laid out in their map (LOL):

[alexphantom]

1. Mutant Massacre-Brutal and shocking when it came out.
2. Inferno-in particular the Uncanny parts-Claremont and Silvestri were on fire ( Ha ! Pun intended !)

[Sutekh]

I wanted to like Mutant Massacre and Inferno more, but the art at the time of both was not to my liking.

Asgardian Wars had that Alpha Flight crossover which wasn't bad, and had some neat character development with Rachel and interactions with Rogue and Northstar, but then that New Mutants special which was a great story full of interesting stuff for some of my favorite characters, had *glorious* Art Adams art, and I absolutely loved. It's the only single issue I pick up and read all over again every few years (along with a few collected runs like the Dark Phoenix storyline).

I do sometimes with for some sort of 'later on' development other than Dani's time as a Valkyrie and Rahne's love-child with her wolf-prince. Anything lingering from the Norns taking an interest in Shan? Did that dwarf princess ever get over her interest in freakishly tall (for a dwarf) men? Did any of 'Berto's Asgardian ladyfriends have a surprise several months after he left, and is there a 'shadowskinned' half-Asgardian mutant kid or two running around Asgard now? Does the Enchantress hold a grudge? (Yes. With both hands.)