Holiday Schedule Note

Happy December, all!

Every year around the Holidays, things start to get a little busy around X-Cerpts HQ. I cut a really strong pace through the X-Men comics of 1995 and 1996 this year, but it's been getting harder and harder to find time to work on this little project. As usual, that probably means it's time to take a step back and replenish my energy.

Tomorrow's post will, of course, cover Onslaught: Marvel Universe, the big conclusion of the massive crossover we've been working our way through. From there I plan to post every other week in December and then hopefully get back to once-or-twice per week in January. It's not impossible I may find the resources to do more than this, but I want to set clear expectations.

I still want to cover some Onslaught tie-in stuff at Ko-Fi, and if you want to hear more from me you should absolutely follow on Bluesky.

I hope this season is a happy one for you!

Why donate to Uncanny X-Cerpts on Ko-Fi?

For the last while, every post on this blog has had a link to support me on Ko-Fi promising -- sometimes questionably -- that you can "get more" with your support.  

I don't like the idea of twisting people's arms by putting stuff that should be part of this project behind a paywall. I briefly considered whether I should split the difference and put my write-ups of X-MEN vol 2 up there (or Substack or Patreon or whatever platform I was on at the time) but I decided it wouldn't be true to what I wanted to accomplish here.

And besides, I don't have a lot of time to whip up exclusive paid content anyway. I've been down that road. I really wanted to make it work with Patreon and I got close with Substack before the dark truth about that platform was revealed. But I'm usually just a few inches ahead on X-CERPTS and I have other things going on in life, and I respect paying customers too much to short-change them.

I don't deserve any kind of fortune for simply making material out of other creatives' hard work (although in this economy, people have been paid more for less) but I would be doing myself a disservice not to at least have a tip jar. I've given you a half-million words on the X-Men free of charge, and I was happy to do it, and if you want to offer a vote of confidence and a bit of gratitude by "buying me a coffee" with no guarantee of additional work, I am happy to accept. Mentally, thinking of it this way helps me feel less guilt about not providing more exclusives to those who have generously offered a few token bucks over the years.

In thanks for that, I do provide exclusive posts -- I try to do one per month, but in practice it's not that frequent. This week I've posted a write-up of X-Men Unlimited #10, which is a key issue and very worth talking about. Given that the X-Men story is sprawling and often spills outside of the regularly-scheduled pages of the monthly series, it makes sense to have somewhere I can tackle the digressions and side-stories that impact the main thread without disrupting my regular weekly cadence. It's that fabled "stretch space" that has taken a few different forms over the years.

What I like about Ko-Fi is that with one donation of any size, you can have limited-time access to all the exclusive posts I do, which includes X-Men Prime, the fan favourite AOA tie-in Generation Next, the bulk of Phalanx Covenant, and more to come. As of now only a handful of people have read these posts, but you could today!

If you don't, it's no big deal. This blog will do what it does for the foreseeable future, and I'm happy to do it. Thanks for reading!

Hiatus Imminent

Hey everybody!

It has been a tremendous pleasure to bring you UNCANNY X-CERPTS nearly every week for the last seven years.

In 2023 I was able to devote a lot of time to this little project, which was good because there were a lot of X-Men comics to talk about as I started covering X-Men Volume 2 / X-Men 1991 / Adjectiveless X-Men. Somehow I found myself equal to the challenge as I kept up the pace and covered as many comics as I wanted to in that year.

Un-fortunately, real life does exist. Work is looking to be a lot more "worky" in the near future, and I don't know what that means for my free time. I don't do a lot of blogging during "office hours" but with certain changes in my routine there may be a knock-on effect of less time to write about X-Men.

For some of the foreseeable future, it may be wise to adjust my routine and not stress myself out by thinking about when I am going to find time to write 1000-2000 words about X-Men every week. There is always an urge to push through and keep topping yourself, but I think this is wisest. The Age of Apocalypse provides a good place to hit pause.

My intention is to write up X-Men Omega, hopefully on schedule for next Monday, but maybe not, and then step back. I don't know how long it will take me to get my bearings: maybe only a week or two, maybe more than a month. Overall I am happier when writing this blog is part of my routine, but I need to know what that routine is going to look like before I commit.

I know that nobody will have a problem with this and everyone will be supportive, but I like you guys too much to ever just disappear without in some way addressing it first. This blog has been going on for a long time and I've somehow always found time and mental energy for it and I have no reason to doubt that will continue to be the case.

For my Ko-Fi supporters, I hope to give you something during this layover, at least a post per month.

Thanks again for your support, encouragement, understanding, and X-Fandom. If you want to find me, I'm spending a lot of time on Bluesky these days and consciously avoiding certain other social media platforms (though there are still good people there, and lots of folks who click my links there, so I am still "around.")

Keep on rockin

-Scotto

Throw a dollar in the hat and get more Uncanny X-Cerpts on Ko-Fi!

Hello X-Fans!

Unfortunately, there's no new update on the site today. I needed a little extra time to cover the final arm of the Phalanx Covenant on Ko-Fi, so I'm leaving the next issue of Uncanny until this Thursday.

I know that some of you have been slow to take me up on my offer of "Fundraiser Posts" but I really think you should consider it. For just a small donation -- your choice how much -- you get monthly access to all the wild branches of X-Men history I don't have time to cover here. Simply chipping in a dollar now and again to acknowledge the work this site has done gets you a bounty of extra material!

Think about it: We've already covered The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, and two of the three parts of Phalanx Covenant that were not posted here. You never know what else I might do, but here's a hint.

In early 1995, the entire X-Universe was flipped into the alternate reality Age of Apocalypse, in one of the most sprawling and ambitious crossovers ever attempted, with four-part digressions in every X-Men title.

If you're like me, you have a lot of affection for this particular event, but if you are me, you simply don't have time to cover all of it on this blog. I will be bringing you the runs of Astonishing X-Men (which takes the place of Uncanny) and Amazing X-Men (the "adjectiveless" title) but if you want more, you've got to go to Ko-Fi.

I don't think it's asking too much, and your contributions help power the growth of this site.

Consider donating today!

In 2024: Support Us on Ko-Fi and get Fundraiser Posts!

 

I've always said it would be a hard thing to do to "monetize" Uncanny X-Cerpts. I do what I do as a hobby, a public service, and for a little bit of attention. It would be wrong to hide any of the main X-Men story behind a paywall or to ask for donations without offering anything in return. I also am dedicated to remaining ad free.

Without giving too much away, however, I do have some serious personal expenses coming up. I don't expect that this blog could fill in the gaps all the way, but I have some of your attention and I really want to try.

That's why I'm introducing Fundraiser Posts. For anyone willing to provide a Monthly Donation on Ko-Fi, you'll get access to a little bit of extra content every month. I can't promise how much, but I will try hard to give you something worthwhile in exchange for your generous support.

Consider it a modest relaunch of our old Patreon -- for any amount given, you get extras from Uncanny X-Cerpts -- give a monthly donation for permanent access or a one-time donation for 30-day access. Sounds like a bargain to me!

I'm also always open to commissioned posts (outside of the regular Uncanny and X-Men series as long as they're on Marvel Unlimited) for extra donations -- feel free to reach out to inquire.

Fundraiser posts start in January. Our first one covers The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, the mini-series that details what Scott and Jean got up to on their honeymoon and how it relates to the upbringing of little baby Nate. Don't miss it on Jan 3 at Ko-Fi!

You'll probably understand if I take Christmas off

 

People savvy enough to look at a calendar once in a while may note that December 25th — popularly known as Christmas Day — falls on a Monday this year, which is typically an update day for Uncanny X-Cerpts.

Okay, I don’t post every Monday, but I’ve had a remarkable streak of posting every single Monday heading back to August. It’s been fun (barring one or two issues). I certainly don’t think anyone reading this would begrudge me taking Christmas Day off, nor do I think people would log onto Uncanny X-Cerpts dot Blogspot dot com on Dec 25, find no new post, and be completely baffled… I like to think you’re a sharp bunch who can put two and two together, but I thought I would at least officially announce my intentions to take the day off.

I think you’ll forgive me for not wanting to fight for your attention against Auntie Denise’s Christmas cake and Cousin Louise complaining about the socks she got from your mom. you've got more important things to do, like falling asleep while watching Die Hard at 10 PM.

I'll be back on Dec 28, and then again on Jan 1 with a fresh start to the calendar year. Yes, that is also a holiday, but it's more relaxed and you might be looking for some entertainment after a long night of partying with Ryan Seacrest.

See you then!

Summer Slowdown

It's been a very busy summer so far here at Uncanny X-Cerpts. Since June, I've written 16,600 words about 17 issues of X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, (and X-Factor and X-Force.) I've been a busy guy, both with this blog and with other things. After all this hard work, and with the world being what it is, I think I've earned a little break. Since the blog's pace has picked up I've been driving myself pretty hard and now's a good time to ease off the throttle and try to enjoy what's left of summer.

There won't be a new post on the blog on Monday, and there might not be one the week after.

I've been having more and more fun with the messy morass that the is the X-Men of 1993, so I feel like I'll probably be motivated to get back soon. It's just always good to give myself a chance to refresh and remember that I'm doing this for fun.

I'll be back in a few weeks. Until then, I'll see you at the pool!

Coming Soon: The Not Totally New, Only Somewhat Different UNCANNY X-CERPTS

So!

For the past six (!!) years, I have had the pleasure of chronicling every issue of Uncanny X-Men in my unique way. I like to think this blog has its own vibe that allows it to exist alongside the constellation of X-Men readthrough projects, giving readers a really complete look at the content, form and message of every issue of Uncanny we've covered so far with one or two clever turns of phrase along the way. In fact, looking back I would say I have done more work than I ever intended or thought possible when I started up in 2017.

I always knew I would reach a crossroads sooner or later when it came time to launch the second flagship X-Men title in 1991, whenever that ended up happening. I was able to shrug off the launches of New Mutants and X-Factor (and X-Force) because as much as they contribute to the story they aren't "the main story" of the X-Men, and I only need address them when they collide. X-Men (as in the 1991 series) is a different beast (in fact, it features Beast.) It is as much "the story" of the X-Men as Uncanny is, featuring a separate but equal group of characters (boy that's a problematic phrase) that sometimes intersects with Uncanny.

I always planned to cover X-Men #1-3 as a farewell to Claremont, but beyond that I wasn't sure what would become of this blog.

Literally up until the last moment I've wrestled with how to address this: I don't have time to write 1500 words twice per week, but alternating these titles weekly will extend this project out until seemingly the end of time. I could ignore adjectiveless X-Men altogether and pay the price of sorting out confusion whenever the titles do intertwine, but I get so much pleasure out of writing and thinking about the X-Men that it seems a waste. This is especially because X-Men vol 2 is the place to see Wolverine (and Jubilee, and Rogue, and Gambit, and other characters I happen to like.)

So what's a guy to do?

Every write-up on X-Cerpts is pretty fulsome. I never have to force my way to 1500 words, I more or less just write organically and it usually comes out pretty long, sometimes longer or shorter. I dig deep into each plot element, for clarity and to do jokey-jokes about them, as well as feeling like I've fully explored the territory. It's work -- work worth doing, but work.

So maybe, if I want to cover the second X-Men title, I need to give myself a break.

You're going to see me experiment with the form a little bit over the coming weeks and months, to see exactly what the balance is. I still expect my Monday posts to be as long as enjoyable as they always were, but there may be additional posts throughout the week to supplement that as I figure out how to do less and make it count. I feel pretty good about this because these comics are good and worthwhile, but at the end of the day they are the product of an era where style was a bit more important than substance.

At the end of the day, I want to give you more X-Cerpts, not less, and I don't want to slow my already crawling pace through X-history to a near standstill where it takes me twice as long to get through a year of stories, when there's so much left to go.

This whole thing is about to become a little (maybe a lot) more elastic, but I promise I will at the very least continue to post nearly every Monday as usual. For more updates you should subscribe to our Substack, where I also muse off-topic about things and you get additional bonus content. It's free! What a steal.

I hope you enjoy what is coming up, as much as you have what I've been giving so far (or maybe even more!)

All the best

-Scotto

And now... X-CERPTS UNLIMITED

Hey X-fans! Scotto here, your X-Cerpts guy.

It's been my pleasure for the past five full years to bring you Uncanny X-Cerpts, a weekly journey through the entire run of Uncanny X-Men. Over that time I've covered the amazing adventures of our favourite mutant heroes and I think we've had a lot of fun doing so. There's a lot to go, and in the course of tome, as we all well know, the story of the X-Men balloons beyond what can be contained on this blog in its current form.

In recognition of the five-year mark, I wanted to branch out, so I've created a new space -- X-Cerpts Unlimited -- where I can cover material that is not part of the Uncanny X-Cerpts thread. This may include additional material about the X-Men, or other comics that have my eye. I'm starting by migrating over all the posts that were previously found only on the Uncanny X-Cerpts Patreon, including highlights from X-Factor, coverage of current-day X-Men comics (the Krakoa Era) and my award-eligible recurring feature MARVEL 2002, where I look at comics from the secret watershed year of the new millennium. These posts will appear on this blog over the course of the next few days.

I've got other stuff in mind too that's well off the beaten path, so be sure to keep watching that space along with this one. While Uncanny X-Cerpts will continue to run Mondays as usual, this site will be updated more sporadically when I have time. When it is, I'll be promoting it on Twitter and of course you can subscribe to make sure you don't miss out.

Interlude... Summer 2020

Hi all,

It has been my pleasure to bring you these thoughts on the history of Uncanny X-Men all year long, through this crazy Spring. It's been really enjoyable to have this to bring you, and obviously the pandemic conditions afforded me some extra time to work on it so I hadn't really anticipated taking a break for a while.

With the situations being what they are in the United States and Canada, as we head toward an extended period of civil unrest that deservedly dominated most peoples' social media feeds, I will be stepping back from this blog for a bit. I do have more posts already written, but have reverted them to drafts until such time that I feel comfortable putting them before people again.

I have never made much effort to hide my personal beliefs in this blog when I deem it appropriate to do so. The X-Men are a fictional analogue for real-world persecution and resistance, and all the complex forms it takes. It would be disingenuous and a betrayal of that for me not to get involved, and elevate the efforts I see.

In the past week, I have given to a number of diverse charities and campaigns, from bail funds and food services for Black and minority communities, to other legal campaigns and personal ones such as one for the care and healing of Darnella Frazier, who was responsible for the footage of the killing of George Floyd.

At this time I am trying to put my energies toward matters productive to the current issues, and will resume this hobby at a later time, when I can better balance it between that and the everyday causes I try to champion. At this time I am working at learning antiracism and to apply it at all times, not just during the peak of a crisis.

I call on you to give what you can, contact your elected officials and join protests to make yourself heard, if you believe as I do in the need for progress, for an end to racism in law enforcement institutions (up to and including the defunding and abolition of the police force) and an acknowledgement of the unequal opportunities and experiences between majority and minority communities.

If you do not share these beliefs, you now know that I do, and I will continue to run my blog as I see fit.

All the very best,

Scotto

Summer Break at Xavier's

Boy, these things have been so exciting lately, haven't they? I've been thrilled all year to be writing up undoubtedly some of the finest stories ever produced in comics history.

This is just a little note to say I'll be taking some time off for the rest of July and August, to refresh and focus on some other things for a little bit.

Updates may be a little sporadic through the fall and rest of the year. I'm getting married in December, so I've got slightly higher priorities than writing about old X-Men comics but it remains a fun activity for me and a good way to blow off steam so I don't expect to fully move on from this project. We've got a lot left to cover, seemingly more than could ever be handled in a single lifetime at this rate, but I'm game if you are.

If you're a regular reader here, thanks so much for checking in every week, I hope we provide 15 minutes or so of entertainment every Monday and that you'll be back when I am. Have a great summer!

A Quick Note

Last year around this time I took an unannounced two-month break from November to January. At that time I had just accepted a new permanent job (which spun out of the temporary one I had been doing) and it was the holidays and I ended up moving. With so much going on it was a li'l hard to find a few spare minutes to talk old comics. You know how it goes.

This year I was able to keep the plates spinning a little longer, but the gist is the same - in October I switched roles and, being that I work for a retail company November and December has been insanely packed. The sensible thing to do would be to stop completely until January but I get too much of a kick out of running this blog, so my hope is to slow it down to one post every other week (starting this coming week) or so until the New Year, to take the pressure off but not leave any doubt that things will get back to normal. We are coming up to some of the biggest stories ever told in X-History and I would really like to give them the attention and thought they deserve.

I know this isn't exactly the world's most heavily-trafficked blog. It's probably not even in the top ranked internet projects with this exact premise. But I know a few of you out there are following along, so I hope you enjoy what's to come.

Keep on rockin'
Scotto

A Note on the Future

Hey X-Fans, it's Scotto here, your X-cerptor-in-Chief, your main mutant-watcher... the guy who writes this nonsense.

So far, writing UNCANNY X-CERPTS has been a blast, really more fun than it has any right to be, and I hope the three or four of you who check in regularly agree. We've just finished that lengthy early drag of X-Men comics from the 1960's to 1970, when the book started as a font of inspiration, regressed into a bit of rote superheroics, then morphed into a frequently-retooled property on the verge of cancellation.

After March 1970's Issue #66, the book and the characters go away for a little bit, and I will too. Not for as long as my unannounced 2-month Holiday leave in 2017, but a few weeks, just to refresh and get my bearings. Sometime in Mid-May I'll do a post recapping some key appearances our heroes made in the early 70's, which might be necessary for context going forward (or otherwise fun to think about.) And then by the end of the month I'll be back to regular updates with a (possibly very long) write-up of the epochal Giant Size X-Men #1.

A few notes to think about... awhile after that, the amount of X-Men product available starts to snowball, with spin-off titles like the New Mutants, X-Factor and Excalibur, as well as Annuals that are occasionally vital to the understanding of ongoing stories. We'll be covering these on an ad-hoc basis, but since I've made the mandate of this blog simply to cover Uncanny X-Men (and, should we survive that long, the second X-Men title that launched in 1991,) there will be a bit of "Something happened in New Mutants that led up to this."

I also exect to dial updates back to our previous once-weekly schedule, but this is subject to change, as it always was. And probably I'll update the About Page just to fuss with it.

In the meantime, if you honestly can't get enough of me, I've taken to spilling my words all over again at the Better Late Than Never blog, where I write up whatever is on my mind, in pop culture and entertainment or life in general, usually way, way past the point where it matters.

Keep on rockin'
-Scotto

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.