Talking about comic books, TV shows, movies, sports, and the numerous other pastimes that make us Gentlemen of Leisure.

Monday, January 28, 2019

X-aminations in February 2019


"Legion Quest", the prelude to "Age of Apocalypse", begins in earnest, Warren Ellis' first Excalibur story comes to a close, and another Wolverine one-shot revisits one of the more surprisingly entertaining & effective ones; will the sequel do its forebear justice (my expectations are low)?

On Sale October 1994
February 6: Generation X #2
February 7: X-Men Unlimited #7
February 8: Cable #18

On Sale November 1994
February 13: Uncanny X-Men #320
February 14: X-Factor #110
February 15: Wolverine #89

February 20: X-Men (vol. 2) #40
February 21: X-Force #42
February 22: Excalibur #85

February 27: Wolverine - Scorpio Rising

Power Rankings for September 1994 Titles
1. X-Men (vol. 2)  #38
2. Uncanny X-Men #318
3. Generation X #1

The two main X-Men books are essentially flip sides of the same coin this month, both quiet issues with a focus on characterization. Lobdell excels at those, and #318 isn't bad, but I'm giving the nod to Adjectiveless on account of its "paired off" structure, and the presence of its regular artist. Generation X debuts in the top tier thanks to being the payoff to months of buildup and the work of Chris Bachalo.

4. Wolverine #87
5. Excalibur #83
6. Cable #17
7. X-Factor #108
8. X-Force #40

A really, really strong second tier. All of the X-books came out of "Phalanx Covenant" swinging, and I consider all of these well above the "average" line (that X-Factor usually holds down) for one reason or another. Wolverine has Adam Kubert making the most of the new deluxe format in an issue which connects with the series' past while also setting Wolverine on the path back to the X-Mansion, Excalibur finally gets a proper writer, Cable kicks off a new storyline with the character more integrated to the larger X-universe and powered by Steve Skroce's art, X-Factor kicks off "Legion Quest" by focusing on Mystique, and X-Force delves into Feral's past in an issue that is by no means bad (it does feature Lawyer Cable, after all), but "Feral's backstory" isn't quite on the same level as what the rest of the books are dealing with.

9. Wolverine: Evilution 
I included this mostly to guarantee there was a no-doubt floor to the rankings, since the rest of the month's books were remarkably solid. You can assume there's several miles of distance between the eighth-ranked issue and this.

1 comment:

Comment. Please. Love it? Hate it? Are mildly indifferent to it? Let us know!