UNCANNY X-MEN #42: If I Should Die...!

Could be anything in here, anything at all.

UNCANNY X-MEN #41: Now Strikes... the Sub-Human!

The X-Men encounter a member of a sub-terranean culture. No, a different one.

UNCANNY X-MEN #40: The Mark of the Monster!

The X-Men meet frickin' Frankenstein's monster, that's what happens.

UNCANNY X-MEN #39: The Fateful Finale!

The X-Men must finally confront the Mutant Master and Factor Three, and get a change of wardrobe!

UNCANNY X-MEN #37-38: We, the Jury... / One Minute to Doomsday!

The X-Men are reunited with some old pals when they're put on trial for crimes against mutantkind!

UNCANNY X-MEN #36: Mekano Lives!

The X-Men need to scrounge up some plane fare for their trip to Europe!

UNCANNY X-MEN #35: Along Came a Spider...!

The X-Men fight Spider-Man for... reasons.

UNCANNY X-MEN #34: War -- In a World of Darkness!

The X-Men get the Subterranean Homesick Blues when they are drafted into a war between the Mole Man and Tyrannus.

UNCANNY X-MEN #33: Into the Crimson Cosmos!

The X-Men pay a call on Dr. Strange to learn how to stop an Unstoppable foe!

UNCANNY X-MEN #32: Beware the Juggernaut, My Son!

The Juggernaut returns for a family reunion that is roughly as much fun as any other family reunion that has ever happened!

UNCANNY X-MEN #31: We Must Destroy... The Cobalt Man!

The X-Men are not Cobalt Man's first choice of opponent.

UNCANNY X-MEN #30: The Warlock Wakes!

The X-Men must do battle with Merlin - yes, that Merlin, but he doesn't really go by Merlin anymore.

THE MIMIC SHOW #29: When Titans Clash!

The X-Men Mimic battles a giant green guy with the powers of several Avengers.

UNCANNY X-MEN #28: The Wail of the Banshee!

Banshee's loud, Ogre has jet boots, and Mimic is still around. Saved you a click. Wait, this is my site, please click!

UNCANNY X-MEN #27: Re-enter the Mimic!

The Mimic joins the X-Men and things go bad, like, immediately.

UNCANNY X-MEN #25-26: The Power and the Pendant! / Holocaust!

The X-Men do battle with a gem-thief, a Mayan Serpent God, and their own drama!

UNCANNY X-MEN #24: The Plague of... the Locust!

The X-Men thwart the mutant insects of a disgraced university professor with delusions of grandeur!

 

UNCANNY X-MEN #23: To Save a City!

Will the X-Men accept Count Nefaria's offer to help ransom the city of Washington D.C.?

UNCANNY X-MEN #22: Divided -- We Fall!

The X-Men fall (dividedly) to five hired villains in the service of the dapper Count Nefaria!

UNCANNY X-MEN #21: From Whence Comes... Dominus?

The X-Men must defeat Lucifer and his world-conquering somethingorother!

UNCANNY X-MEN #20: I, Lucifer!

Ugh, it's freaking Lucifer again. Let's get this over with.

UNCANNY X-MEN #19: Lo! Now shall appear... The Mimic!

...And in this corner, hailing from New York City, featuring the combined power of all six X-Men... "The Mimic," Caaaaaaaalvin Rankiiiiiiiiiiin!!!

UNCANNY X-MEN #18: If Iceman Should Fail--!

Iceman must stand alone against the might of a returning Magneto, who will stop at nothing to birth his own race of mutant superslaves!

UNCANNY X-MEN #17: ...And None Shall Survive!

Still reeling from their battle with the Sentinels, the X-Men face a mysterious enemy who fells them one by one in their own home!

UNCANNY X-MEN #16: The Supreme Sacrifice!

The X-Men must discover a way to defeat the deadly Sentinels, or else mutantkind is doomed... and so is humankind. Basically it would be bad news for everybody.

UNCANNY X-MEN #15: Prisoners of the Mysterious Master Mold!

The X-Men infiltrate the base of the Sentinels, who yearn to hear more of this thing you call... flashbacks.

UNCANNY X-MEN #14: Among Us Stalk... The Sentinels!

The X-Men must do battle with a legion of robots bent on the destruction of mutantkind! It's not a great day.

UNCANNY X-MEN #13: Where Walks the Juggernaut!

The X-Men need the help of a special guest star to defeat the Professor's evil step brother. Who could it be?

UNCANNY X-MEN #12: The Origin of Professor X!

Under the ominous threat of the Juggernaut, Professor X decides now is an appropriate time to share his life story.

UNCANNY X-MEN #11: The Triumph of Magneto!

Magneto most certainly does not triumph in the X-Men's first adventure worthy of Camus.

UNCANNY X-MEN #10: The Coming Of... KA-ZAR!

The X-Men discover a prehistoric world, and you'd better believe one of them fights a T-Rex!

UNCANNY X-MEN #9: Enter, the Avengers!

The X-Men encounter the Avengers while on the trail of the Professor's oldest foe!

UNCANNY X-MEN #8: Unus, the Untouchable!

The X-Men do battle with a foe they can't even touch! (Stop! Unus time!)

UNCANNY X-MEN #7: The Return of the Blob

Everyone's favourite plus-sized mutant is back as Magneto continues his campaign to Win Friends and Influence (Mutant) People!

UNCANNY X-MEN #6: Sub-Mariner! Joins the Evil Mutants

It wouldn't be the first year of a 1960's Marvel Comic without Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner here to f. up all your s.!

UNCANNY X-MEN #5: Trapped: One X-Man!

Magneto manages to trap ONE (1) X-Man in a wonderfully circuitous plan that could only come to you via the Silver Age of Comic books!

UNCANNY X-MEN #4: The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!

The X-Men do battle against their greatest foes yet! (and Toad.)

UNCANNY X-MEN #3: Beware the Blob!

The X-Men go up against one PHAT* villain in their third adventure, and Marvel Girl learns the meaning of "telekinesis."

*Pretty Hefty and Terrifying

UNCANNY X-MEN #2: No One Can Stop The Vanisher!

In their second-ever adventure, the X-Men stop the Vanisher! In a story that basically breaks the entire franchise before it's even gotten started!

UNCANNY X-MEN #1: "X-Men"

In the X-Men's very first mission, they do battle with their greatest foe of all, and welcome a new member to their ranks: a (*gasp*) girl!

An Uncanny Introduction

There are mutants among us! They could be anyone, from the hairy Canadian next door to the beefy Russian art student your daughter is dating, to a famous disco queen. Perhaps even that wheelchair-bound headmaster of a private school with the prominent eyebrows and cheekbones. Anybody could be a mutant, a person born with strange powers!

I love the X-Men. I happen to think they have the best premise in all of comics. The idea that anyone could be a mutant, with any random power, and choose to use that power for good, evil or other, has led to one of the strongest franchises in all of entertainment, one that endlessly replenishes and revitalizes itself. It doesn't hurt that it carries with it a cogent metaphor for prejudice and alienation that has only gotten more durable and relevant as time has gone by.

That would seem to be enough for a blockbuster property, but it's only halfway there when you figure in the X-Men's frequent - some would say constant - excursions into intergalactic civil wars, becoming host bodies for cosmic deities, traveling wantonly through time and alternate realities while exploring their own shadowy past and meeting long lost relatives every other week. Seemingly more than any other comic book property, perhaps because of its sprawling cast and wide-open premise, the X-Men have been grafted onto more genres and tropes than probably any other group of characters, even amongst their comic book brethren, all with a shocking degree of success. It all amounts to a fascinatingly weird, lumpy, storytelling mishmash that represents the best and most excessive of what comic books have to offer.

I want to take all of that glorious, unabashed weirdness in and live there. It is therefore my pleasure to announce the commencement of this blog, where I will be reading the entire run of the Uncanny X-Men*, or as far a I can get, and related titles, offering commentary along the way..

If you have a Marvel Unlimited or ComiXology membership, you might find it easy or fun to read along, but even if not, hopefully I can provide enough clarity and entertainment to keep you coming back. But without further ado...

Welcome to Uncanny X-Cerpts.

*A note on nomenclature: Although the series was not renamed as such until well into its existence, we will be using this title almost exclusively when referring to the original X-Men series, to distinguish from later entires.