X-Men, Uncanny X-Men

X-Men 70-73, 76-77

Uncanny X-Men 351-354

New writers Joe Kelly and Steve Seagle start a new era post-Scott Lobdell, and it gets off to a promising start.  All the X-Men team up to save Cyclops from blowing up, which is pretty well done.  The subsequent issues deal with the fact that the three new X-Men (Marrow, Cecilia Reyes, and Maggott) are absolute trash.  It’s fun for a while, but then the said trashiness of the newcomers kicks in and I just can’t take it anymore.  

X-Men 76 is a nice origin story for Maggott, but nothing can overcome the fact that his power is that his intestines are biomechanical maggots.  WTF.  Seriously.  What were the writers/editors thinking?  

The art is really sweet, with Chris Bachalo and Carlos Pacheco doing awesome work, but they weren’t good enough for me to stick around back then, and they aren’t now.  

That's a good looking Phoenix.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes  (No for the cut X-Men 73,77; Uncanny X-Men 352-354)

Rating: Nice (Boring for the cut issues)

Uncanny X-Men 394-395

Past me returned to the X-Men after four years with Grant Morrison’s New X-Men.  I got the parallel Uncanny issues out of habit.  Joe Kelly didn’t bring anything worth continuing to the table, though the Ian Churchill art is lovely.  The passion on the cover of 394 still gets me today.

Very romance cover-y

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes (No for the cut 395)

Rating: Fine.  (Didn’t suck for 395)