Fans looking to close the book on the Marvel Now edition of the X-Men are going to have to wait a while. Brian Michael Bendis, the writer of Uncanny X-Men and All New X-Men confirmed on his Tumblr page that Uncanny X-Men #600 has been delayed from May to October 2015 for “editorial and commercial reasons”. Besides the obvious time difference, there are other, more scummy reasons why this delay sucks.
Holy cow! Steff and I recently exchanged anniversary presents, and I opened up an entire Marvel Dice Masters: Uncanny X-Men booster box! According to my research, there’s 90 booster packs in each, which means there’s 180 dice and cards in there! If that ain’t love, then I don’t know what love is. Thank you love! I hope the gift I gave to you was equally awesome!
I probably would have torn through all of them by now, but Steff’s condition is that I’m only allowed to open one per day. I’m probably going to document this process in some way, though I haven’t figured it out just yet. Stay tuned!
One aspect of the Marvel Dice Masters experience that I really like is the game’s low price point. Starter sets are only $15, while booster packs featuring two dice and two cards are only $1. The problem is that the starter pack is short on supporting materials to play and store the game. The paper bags used to shake up your dice are of poor quality, there’s only one dice placement guide tucked away in the manual, and the actual box itself doesn’t hold many extra dice and cards beyond the ones that it already contains. Clearly, these concessions were made to keep the price down, but some players – like me – would prefer the extra bells and whistles.
This is where the Marvel Dice Masters: Uncanny X-Men Collector’s Box comes into play. Besides being a nice and large box to hold your stuff, you also get just enough stuff for one player to get going. I crack it open so that you can see if this is worth adding to your collection.
For a franchise with its roots deeply implanted in the world of comic books, there are a plethora of other ways that one could discover the X-Men. I, for one, first fell in love with Marvel’s mutants through the still-excellent 90s cartoon. It’s fair to presume that many others were won over by the widly-popular live-action movies. Beyond that, you could have easily discovered them through many other means, such as their toys or appearances in video games. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if a large portion of X-Men fans have never experienced the source material.
Maybe you’re one of those people. Up until earlier this year, I was one of those people. Where the heck do you start? X-Men as a comic book franchise spans over 50 years, dozens of comic lines and probably thousands of characters. Furthermore, the franchise is well-known for being one of the most self-referential and convoluted, as characters travel through time, fall in and out of love with each other, or die and come back to life repeatedly. Even now, if you ask anyone reading the current X-Men comics if Jean Grey is alive, the answer you will get back will probably make your head spin.
I am by no means an expert, but I think I’ve read enough bits and pieces throughout their history to make some recommendations to new readers. This list of reading material presented in chronological order to give you context for where they all fit within the greater continuity. However, I don’t necessarily recommend reading X-Men that way for a number of reasons that I’ll explain as I go. For now, below is my list of 8 good places to start reading the X-Men!
Following the X-Men universe across hundreds of characters, dozens of comic lines and a continuity that is frequently muddled with through time travel and other weird plot twists has never been easy. Even with the recent Marvel Now relaunches of most of the X-Men comics, things quickly got messy after Beast brought the original X-Men from the past to talk some sense into the present day X-Men who have gone off the reservation. This revelation has been a major plot point for many of the X-Men series’ in play, which all come to ahead in X-Men: Battle of the Atom.
I’ve been reading Marvel Now’s All New X-men, Uncanny X-Men and X-Men over the last few months, and I’ve reached the point where they all converge in X-Men: Battle of the Atom. This crossover event happens across all three of the X-Men books that I’m currently reading, as well as Wolverine and the X-Men, which is one I haven’t tried yet. These issues are not included as part of of their respective trade paperback sets, but you can get them all in one hardcover or trade paperback compilation.
Of the modern X-Men books I have read so far, Uncanny X-Men is the series that has the most upside. Centred around a strong-willed, yet misguided Cyclops, he and his band of fugitive mutants are in the midst of starting a mutant revolution while squashing anyone that may try to stop them. The base premise and all of the nuances around it make for a compelling take on this anti-hero/villain group. Unfortunately, I think most of Vol. 1: Revolution‘s potential is squandered on idle chatter and exposition.
With most of the table-setting out of the way, Cyclops and the gang can move the story forward in a meaningful way. First stop: Limbo.
Professor Charles Xavier had a dream. He wanted to help create a world in which humans and mutants could happily coexist. He also wanted to create a school that taught mutants how to get the most out of their powers in the name of good.
Cyclops sort of wants to follow that dream. As new mutants begin to pop up, he wants to rebuild Charles’ school and be a leader for all of mutant kind. The problem is, Scott Summers is down to kill any humans that want to hurt his fellow mutants. Also, he’s sort of a fugitive wanted for the murder of Charles Xavier. Together with Emma Frost, Magneto and Magik, they begin to build a new X-Men.
In Third Person 