How would you rate the X-books of the late 90's?

[Hatbar]

I loved Kelly's brief run, he had some good stories that took time to develop the characters. Issue 70 of X-Men is one of my favourite issues ever. Seagle's stories did nothing for me though and CC return was a bit of a letdown. I liked Alan Davis art but again, the stories were just a bit 'meh' nothing felt that important!

[JackalsIII]

The late 90s with Seagle and Kelly was my first X-Men collecting era then I started being able to buy back issues and such. I sort of loved it as this was also the 35th Anniversary era but there was a lot of fun and I like the art too. So Kitty and Kurt finally rejoined the X-Men after years with Excalibur.

That's my memory of it. It felt fresh and new but I was also a new reader of X-Men at the time, so it worked for me. Wizard promoted it heavily too so I felt like I had support there too

[Geralt of Rivia]

I was almost completely out of the X-books since a bit before these relaunches came along, so these runs completely passed me by.

I seldom see anything posted about them, and I can't help but wonder if anything important happened continuity-wise during this period?

[JackalsIII]

I was almost completely out of the X-books since a bit before these relaunches came along, so these runs completely passed me by.

I seldom see anything posted about them, and I can't help but wonder if anything important happened continuity-wise during this period?

I suppose not as much as what is dealt with in the current books. But we got Kitty and Kurt back with the X-Men after a long absence. We got the Legacy Virus cured, Magneto becoming the ruler of Genosha, Apocalypse The Twelve, Wolverine becoming the Horseman Death, Cyclops merging with Apocalypse - that whole thing.

Without the Cyclopscalypse storyline, Morrison doesn't get to explore Scott's darker side and we don't get Scott and Emma.

[Geralt of Rivia]

I suppose not as much as what is dealt with in the current books. But we got Kitty and Kurt back with the X-Men after a long absence. We got the Legacy Virus cured, Magneto becoming the ruler of Genosha, Apocalypse The Twelve, Wolverine becoming the Horseman Death, Cyclops merging with Apocalypse - that whole thing.

Without the Cyclopscalypse storyline, Morrison doesn't get to explore Scott's darker side and we don't get Scott and Emma.

Thanks, I was aware of those plot points even if I never read the stories.

[JackalsIII]

Thanks, I was aware of those plot points even if I never read the stories.

They are pretty good. There is an entire Alan Davis run that I left off when they go to space and help the Skrulls and we get Cadre K from. Also, Wolverine dies and is revealed to be a Skrull that I thought would have been referenced more during Secret Invasion. Disappointed that it wasn't. Barely got a sentence in that Secret Invasion Saga that they released.

Also, Colossus died during this era.

[Geralt of Rivia]

They are pretty good. There is an entire Alan Davis run that I left off when they go to space and help the Skrulls and we get Cadre K from. Also, Wolverine dies and is revealed to be a Skrull that I thought would have been referenced more during Secret Invasion. Disappointed that it wasn't. Barely got a sentence in that Secret Invasion Saga that they released.

Also, Colossus died during this era.

Cool. Yeah I actually have the Wolverine solo issues in which the went thru the Death phase and also when he was replaced by a Skrull but never read any of the X-Men issues to which those tied in, I was a poor college student and only pulled 3 or 4 Marvel books during those years...

Actually, since we are talking about 90's X books I might mention that Wolverine's first ongoing is the only long term comic book for which I own every single issue, something I accomplished during a couple of fun years hunting for backissues as a hobby over that decade; honestly a few of the fill in arcs I almost wish weren't taking up space :P

Oh and yeah I knew that Colossus sacrificed himself to finally end the Legacy Virus years long plot, as I had to google it when I returned to the franchise with Astonishing X-Men and yet didnt feel the need to trail that far back; I picked up from Morrison's run and ran with it.

[gantz_alien_killer]

with the exception of some notable story points mentioned by JackalsIII it was pretty meh. before my 14 year hiatus on comics i remember the last uncanny xmen i read before giving up on comics altogether. I remember it well because of a letters page submission by another reader. she pretty much summed up my feelings on the whole of comics in general but more specifically the xmen. if anyone cares to read that submission it can be found in X-Men issue 109 after the main story line and the writer was Dani Atkison. Wish i had stayed on because after the failed,lackluster, eve of destruction story line (see ya Scott Lobdell) Grant Morrison took over, DOH!

[GallowGlass]

I was really into it at the time. The return of Nightcrawler, Colossus and Kitty to the X-Men had me very excited. Loved it. Pacheco's art was fantastic but I hated (and still hate) Bachalo's art. It's just too messy and annoying.

[Alan2099]

There was a lot of interesting and creative things done at the time, but the books seemed to suffer horribly froma rapid change in direction and status quo ever few months. It's like they could never decide exactly what they wanted to do or keep a creative team on the book.

I do miss Maggott though him, the "ugly" bitchy Marrow, and Dr. Reyes were really fun and interesting additions to the team. I remember being disappointed when Maggot left and then I heard he was going over to Generation X ... which lasted about an issue. Then he disappeared for a long time and turned up dead.

[Captain Buttocks]

It was a bad time for Marvel, with the bankruptcy stuff rumbling on in the background.

Davis himself freely admits he had no great story to tell, he was just doing plots passed down to him by editorial (they had decided to clamp down on writers starting, ditching old plots, starting new and then leaving before anything was resolved and the process began again with new writers.) His pencils on X-Men were as lovely as ever.

At the time previous to Davis, with Kelly and Seagle, most folk thought it had promise but was glacially-paced (Seagle more than Kelly to be fair). When they were unceremoniously dumped, everyone acted like they were two Claremont-level geniuses.

The truth is probably somewhere in-between. Kelly's rehabilitation of Marrow into a character with some real depth is good stuff, and editorial meddling obviously didn't help. I guess it's a frustrating case of "what could have been". IMHO, of course.