Following the Rogue miniseries and the conclusion of November '94's titles, we dive into the first batch of "final issue before "Age of Apocalypse!" issues, as reality begins to crystallize and most of the series try to end on some kind of cliffhanger.
On Sale November 1994
March 6: Rogue #1-4
March 13: Generation X #3
March 14: Cable #19
On Sale December 1994
March 20: Uncanny X-Men #321
March 21: X-Factor #111
March 22: Wolverine #90
March 27: X-Men (vol. 2) #41
March 28: X-Force #43
March 29: Excalibur #86
Power Rankings for October 1994 Titles
1. Uncanny X-Men #319
2. Generation X #2
Neither of these issues are terribly plot-heavy, loud or significant, but they excel at letting their creators do what they do best (tell quieter, character-driven, atmospheric stories), and benefit from it.
3. X-Force #41
4. X-Men #39
The gap between all four issues in this month's top four is pretty small, as these two represent Fabian Nicieza's efforts at a quieter, more character driven issues. These take a hit mostly because they feature characters who more or less disappear from the narrative after this, but in terms of craft, are still both nicely done.
5. X-Men Unlimited #7
6. Excalibur #84
7. X-Factor #109
8. Cable #18
Unlimited & Excalibur get by on the strengths of specific creators (JRjr & Warren Ellis), X-Factor on its connection to "Legion Quest". Cable, on the other hand, suffers from its repetition relative to the previous issue.
9. Wolverine #88
Not even the first meeting betwen Wolverine & Deadpool and half the issue being drawn by Adam Kubert can save this from the bottom.
This is one of my all time favorite Marvel house ads (...along with "Fall of the Mutants" and "Inferno").
ReplyDeleteI still have the ashcan that previewed all the AoA titles.
Wow, I've never seen that ad before -- and I thought I'd seen all the AoA stuff! I'm sure it's buried somewhere in the AGE OF APOCALYPSE OMNIBUS and I just missed it. Though I wonder where it originally ran. Looks like it was intended for local shops to insert their information, so it couldn't have been in the actual comics.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI used the art from that promo for a comics-shop newsletter. I’m not sure why I didn’t incorporate the whole thing — maybe it was a matter of space — but I took the wheelchair, stood it upright, and cropped out the disintegrating X; just the empty wheelchair itself was a nicely symbolic visual. I don’t recall whether the stores I worked for also used the flyer on its own or not, although I’d lean towards doubting it unless there was a checklist or something else useful on the other side.
Will y'all feature the AoA ashcan in a post? And if not (due to not having said ashcan), did you need/want scans of it?
ReplyDeleteIts a really fun outline of how each existing X-Title didn't 'exist'...and what took its place in the AoA reality.
Let me know if you want me to scan/e-mail them! :-)