Comic Review: Uncanny X-men Omnibus Vol. 1

Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 1

Marvel Comics

Writer: Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Len Wein

Artist: Dave Cockrum, John Byrne

The X-men. They’re one of the biggest names in comics now with multiple ongoing books, movies, and video games to their name. That wasn’t always the case though. Back in the ’60s, they were really struggling. Things got so bad that Marvel even had to cease releasing new issues for a time. There was real uncertainty over the future of Marvel’s mutant creations. Thankfully, Chris Claremont came along and managed to breathe new life into the franchise with Giant-Size X-Men #1. That rejuvenation led to an epic 16-year run by Claremont that’s considered amongst the best periods of X-Men history. Now, this omnibus collects the first 5 years of that run in one book. As an X-Men fan I just had to give it a read and do a review. Here we go.

Now, I’d mentioned that the original X-men by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby hadn’t done well. Part of this was down to the characters, they were somewhat dull. They wore the same uniforms, they were all white, American, and kinda generic. Claremont took over and decided to change this. He came up with the idea of introducing a new team of X-Men. His new team would be more colourful visually with unique costumes and they’d come from varied cultural backgrounds. Wolverine, a short-statured Canadian with adamantium claws. Storm, an African goddess who can control the weather. Nightcrawler, a furry, blue, teleporting German with a love of swashbuckling. Colossus, a muscular yet artistic Russian who can turn to steel. Banshee,  a middle-aged Irishman with a sonic scream and the ability to fly. The only returning member of the original team at the start of this run would be Cyclops.

Looking at the line-up you can easily see why each character was chosen for the team. Claremont knew that each character would help the book appeal to readers from their respective cultural backgrounds. Meanwhile, Cyclops would appeal to Americans along with any remaining fans of the original run. The strategy was successful and the X-Men went from irrelevance to being one of the most popular Marvel series’ of the ’70s.

This omnibus contains Giant-Size X-Men #1 alongside X-men issues #94-131 and annual #3. It’s a good amount of content and throughout these issues we see some major stories and characters appearing. The X-Men battle such enemies as the Sentinels, Juggernaut, Arcade, Magneto, Sauron, and the debuting Hellfire club. We see the resurrection of Jean Grey as Phoenix, the first appearance of Alpha Flight, and the Proteus saga. The book is a treasure chest of great X-Men stories. Even now, over thirty years later it’s easy to see how these issues have influenced modern X-Men books. The writing definitely has a 70’s feel and not every issue here is amazing. Sometimes it can seem a bit dated, especially with some of the overly-dramatic dialogue but it’s always fun. It’s like the 90’s X-Men cartoon in that sense. Granted, that’s not surprising since it was heavily based on this run.

The artwork throughout this book is mostly handled by John Byrne. A lot of people know him more as a writer but his art here is really good. At this point Marvel was slowly transitioning away from the 60’s Kirby art style to a more detailed and realistic look. You can see that a lot here. There’s still a lot of simplistic, single-color backgrounds on covers and panels like you’d see in the ’60s. I feel like it helps the more modern and detailed foregrounds and characters stand out more though. Plus, it gives the book a bit of a vintage charm that makes it more fun to read.

In terms of the special features for this omnibus they’re pretty neat if a bit basic. We’re treated to the letter pages for each issue included in this book. They’re interesting to read since they give you insight into what fans during this period thought of the series. We also get some prototype artwork the new X-Men introduced here alongside alternate covers used when these issues were reprinted. They’re good special features but it’d have been nice to see some interviews with the creators included too.

Overall, this is a fantastic book, uncanny even. Claremont’s run is still a highlight of Marvel history to this day and this book gives you such a huge serving of it. It’s well worth the money based on the content alone. The build quality is great. You get a sewn binding which prevents gutter loss and makes the book stay open more easily. This omnibus is a brilliant starting point for new fans of the X-Men and existing fans will love it. Honestly, this book is one of those ones that should be on any omnibus collectors shelf.