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

[Pharozonk]

The late 90's had a slew of writers like Alan Davis, Steven Seagle, Joe Kelly, and even Chris Claremont returning for a while. Did you like this era or is it a time best forgotten?







EDIT: I meant to type "you" instead of "your" and have a question mark at the end. I hate typing on my phone.

[BlitheringToot]

I LOVED Joe Kelly's run. He actually made me care about Maggott, which surprised me (and I was disappointed when he promptly disappeared afterward), and I loved Cecilia Reyes and his take on Marrow.

Seagle was OK. I especially liked the Christmas issue he did with Colossus and Marrow, but I didn't get the whole "evil Cerebro" run.

And Davis ... there were some great moments, but the whole run seemed a little too kiddy for my taste. Loved seeing the old team come back. Hated "The Shattering" and the Marrow redesign (which was the beginning of the end for her popularity, unfortunately). And "The Twelve" was a big letdown.

[cc008]

Really enjoyed Bachalo's art. Still do... but not as much.

[Tenebrae]

I loved this time. It's my favourite era. The team of Storm, Wolverine, Beast, Cannonball, Cecelia Reyes, Maggott and Marrow is one of my favourite line ups.

[Pharozonk]

I loved this time. It's my favourite era. The team of Storm, Wolverine, Beast, Cannonball, Cecelia Reyes, Maggott and Marrow is one of my favourite line ups.

Interesting. I love this era too, though that would probably be one of my LEAST favorite X-men line ups.

[DDD]

Besides a huge improvement in artwork, they were all still the same old big drama snoozefests they had been since X-Men #1 relaunch. I was thrilled when CC came back! I don't perceive the writing for that period as any different from the rest of the 90s.

[ShazamHusker]

Thanks for starting this thread. I was away from comics for longer than I was in it (comics from 1985-1990, and 2011-present...big gap inbetween), and with Marvel Unlimited there is a lot that I can look into catching up on.

I will say that on podcasts, maybe even a forum post or two, I hear "well...that was the 90s..." in almost a deragatory sense. Was it that bad...obviously not if a lot of you have fond memories of what was being produced.

[NewMutant]

I love the 90s, but the late 90s are probably the weakest point in X-Men history. After Seagle and Kelly left the title series wasn't that good till Morrison came on. Alan Davis really was the weak point for me. His run felt like there was a lack of overall direction to the series and was rooted in trying to capture the classic feel while failing. Claremont's return felt too out of place. And the uniform designs were awlful. His work didn't click till X-Treme X-Men, which had Morrison guiding the direction for the franchise.

[gurkle]

I liked Seagle and Kelly. They were young and hungry and interested in doing something a little different from what had been the standard '90s X-Men style. That they made a joint decision to leave at the same time suggests that they could have done better if the editors hadn't interfered so much (like if they had been able to write about separate teams and give each book a different flavour, and if they hadn't had to write in the traditional Claremont style) but they did feel a bit fresher for a while there.

[Muggs]

Kelly and Seagle were put in a difficult situation as there was pressure from management to turn things around quickly, which was nigh on impossible due to the company's financial situation and the build up of fan resentment due to some incredibly unpopular creative decisions that had been made post CC.

Love Alan Davies, but he was clearly a stop gap measure whilst management figured out what to do next. So i don't blame him for how bad that era was.

The Twelve was clearly the nadir for the franchise though. Nothing says we've run out of fresh, coherent ideas that resurrecting a decade plus old storyline that nobody cared about at best and had forgotten about at worst.

It's worth noting that during this time they were trying to get Claremont back and he was up for it, but he was involved in a royalty dispute. Which put the kibosh on it. It's also worth noting, that despite whatever current perceptions of him are. Nearly everyone wanted him to come back and right the ship. Which set up unrealistic expectations when he finally did.

[Goggindowner]

I remember enjoying it up to a point. I was younger then, and creative teams didn't mean nearly as much to me so I don't know who did what off the top of my head, but it seemed like everything was fun until after Onslaught. For some reason, Bishop fulfilling his mission in the past seemed like the logical place to jump off at the time, and I did until Morrison came along.

[jignat]

I think if Joe Kelly's run was underrated.

I really liked his MAggott origin story and his writing of MAggott. He had some Claremont esque stories that that were decent Psi-war, the Rutai etc. I was interesting in seeing what he would have done with Dark Beast 's machinations.

Davis art was great , but like someone said it felt like he was trying too hard.. I didnt really like Magneto war and Astra.
Seagle was just ok. It didnt really catch my interest that much.

[Cap'n_RDM]

Really enjoyed Bachalo's art. Still do... but not as much.

I really enjoyed Bachalo's art back then too. I am pretty burnt out on him now though and would rather see him somewhere else than on an X book.

[Tom Badguy]

I love the 90s, but the late 90s are probably the weakest point in X-Men history.

I agree. I didn't really like any of the stories and I also didn't like the art style. I actually like more recent X-Men from within the last 10 years. The late 90s just don't do it for me. =/

[Conch22]

I remember it fondly. The X books seemed very well defined at the time, you knew excaliburs members and what distinguished it from the other books even if you didn't read the title (I didn't) and I feel the same applies to the other teams at the time. A feeling of consistentcy . Rereading the first non AoA volume of X man recently, what stuck out to me is there are things that are particularly X-men in the 90s, stylistic things like holding telepathic conferences or an air of mystery to certain plot points, that seem to have been lost since then. All the books got an overhaul, some of it was great (Xtreme X-men, X statix), some of it was terrible (agent x- note: only comic soo bad I actually tossed it in the trash & soldier X) but it all felt like an attempt to make the books more akin to creator owned books, less about continuing the legacy of the books.
I did enjoy Onslaught at the time, don't know if I would enjoy a reread. Really liked Zero Tolerance, Phalanx/Shiar war that led up to the trial of Gambit, Hunt for Xavier (team lineup for that among my favorites), Magneto War, Apocalypse: the twelve, Howard Mackie X factor and Mutant X.