This edition takes place between 1986 and 1991 during the beginning of the comic boom when marketing continually became more and more controlling over content. For the most part, I think the writers (particularly Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson) were doing their best, but in an artistic business, the artist is at the mercy of the business.As a direct result of the kind of marketing and editorial control you'll see represented here, the X-Men comics have become very difficult for a new reader to jump on board without a knowledge of what came before. Although I think that writers of the past eight years have done their best to make the books more accessible, current stories are still built off of old ones leaving the uninitiated lost and confused. It's a shame because I always thought of the X-Men as the place for the lost and confused.
This was also a period of boom for the X-Men as they continued to grow in popularity. Even at this point, a lot of readers were confused about continuity and were unable to track down back issues, so Marvel released a new comic called Classic X-Men. This series reprinted old X-Men stories starting with Giant-Sized X-Men #1, but comics were shorter then, so in order to fill the additional pages, they created new backup stories to add poignancy to many of the adventures. For the most part, these stories were written by Chris Claremont or X-Men group editor Ann Nocenti with art by John Bolton (God Loves, Man Kills). They were generally smaller, more personal stories like the funeral of Thunderbird or how Wolverine got Nightcrawler to give up his image inducer and show a little mutant pride. Honestly, these are some of the best X-Men stories around which is why many readers bought Classic X-Men even if they already had the originals.
But in the current X-Men universe...
Following the trial of Magneto, big things were in development in the mutant world. Scott and Madelyne just had a baby boy, Nathan Christopher Summers. (Don't count the months, but I thinking it was a shotgun wedding.) After a contest between Scott and Ororo (still de-powered) in the Danger Room, Ororo becomes the uncontested leader of the X-Men and Scott moves to Alaska with Madelyne and Nathan. Meanwhile, Magneto turns out to be a horrible headmaster and in no time flat joins the Hellfire Club in a bid for power and melds the old team with Emma Frost's Hellions. Although the New Mutants are soon returned to Xavier's, Magneto would continue his actions with the Hellfire Club, further alienating the young mutants in his charge.X-Factor
During this time, Angel, Beast, and Iceman had been bouncing around the Marvel universe as members of the Defenders, the Champions, and the Avengers. By this point, the former two had been canceled and Beast had been booted from the team. Since Cyclops was, for the foreseeable future, no longer a member of the X-Men, it was suggested that a new X-Men book should be launched with the premise of reuniting the original team. Since Jean was dead, Dazzler was initially going to fill the missing role.
However, new sales always trumps respect for previous continuity, so in Fantastic Four #285-286, John Byrne wrote and drew the return of Jean Grey. Found in a cocoon beneath Jamaica Bay (where she had first turned into the Phoenix), it is later determined (or painstakingly contrived) that the Phoenix entity had created the cocoon to protect Jean and heal her following the radiation exposure, but in the process, the two merged leading the Phoenix to think it was Jean and subconsciously recreate her body.Yeah, fans didn't really buy it at the time either. The Phoenix Saga had been incredibly successful. As I've said before, it is still the most famous and popular X-Men story of all time. Back then, comic book characters rarely died, so by bringing her back, many fans felt that they were invalidating the poignancy of the event.
Well, Reed Richards contacted Warren and within hours, the reunion is on the way. Like many old friends who are unemployed, after commiserating they decide to start their own business. Of course, it helps when one of those friends is the son of a millionaire industrialist. Together with his adviser, Cameron Hodges, Warren announces his plan to create a superteam under the cover of mutant exterminators. When people see a dangerous mutant, they are asked to called X-Factor who, instead of killing or kidnapping the frightened mutant, welcome them back to their complex for training.
Personally, I think this was a take-off of Ghostbusters which, two years previous, was a blockbuster hit. But reading about five old fashioned superheroes secretly saving mutants wasn't nearly as cool as watching Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd fight ghosts. I mean, c'mon.The complex never got as crowded as I would have imagined, but they were soon joined by a group of young mutants who informally referred to themselves as the X-Terminators. They included Artie, the deformed thought projector; Rusty Collins, a pyrokinetic; Boom Boom, who could create explosives; Leech, a power dampening mutant; Rictor, able to generate earthquakes; and Skids, who skated about on frictionless force fields.
In an effort to return things to the nostalgic status quo, in issue #3, Hank was involuntarily involved in an experiment that left his hair blue, but otherwise returned him to his more human appearance... which undoubtedly made it easier to pose as an anti-mutant bigot. The look didn't last too long; 30 issues later, he was furry once again.
In issue #6, the original creative team of Bob Layton and Jackson Guice were replaced by married writer-penciller team of Louise and Walt Simonson. Together, they introduced the mad Darwinian villain Apocalypse, who would serve as the new team's nemesis. Although originally little more than shadow and innuendo, Apocalypse would quickly be recognized as one of the premiere X-Men villains.
Meanwhile, in X-Men #205, Wolverine was introduced to the Reavers led by Lady Deathstrike. The Reavers were conceived at the height of eighties cyberpunk popularity. They mostly consisted of Hellfire Club guards that Wolverine presumably tore through during the Dark Phoenix Saga, so naturally, they all had a grudge against Wolverine. The exception was Lady Deathstrike who had the biggest grudge of all against Wolverine. She was Logan's former lover and the daughter of the man who invented the adamantium bonding process. Trying to honor her now dead father, Yuriko Oyama had turned her body into a cybernetic weapon with long adamantium nails and sought revenge on her father's enemies.Not the most clear or compelling origin, but it was enough for Deathstrike to become a favored Wolverine villain.
This issue is well-remembered by fans for two reasons. First, it featured the stunning artwork of Barry Windsor-Smith, probably best remembered for his work on Marvel's Conan comics. Second, Logan has an unlikely team-up with Katie Power from a then-new series called Power Pack featuring a team of pre-teen heroes. There is something about the juxtaposition of the innocent, blonde girl helping a bloodied and beaten Wolverine that really resonates with fans, particularly against the much older and more cynical Lady Deathstrike.
Longshot
One of my favorite all-time superheroes was introduced in the 1985 series Longshot by Ann Nocenti and Art Adams. Longshot is a superhero defined by his amnesia. Never able to remember himself or his past, he is an ever-present tabula rasa driven only by immediate circumstance. Unable to justify his actions or worry about the consequences, Longshot does what is right when it's right... come what may. Consequently, he is often making mistakes like when he robs ConEd in a misguided Robin Hood attempt.
In time, Longshot comes to discover that he is a reality TV gladiator from an alien universe dominated by television ratings. The ruler of this universe is the fat, spineless blob who calls himself Mojo. Protected by his assistant and creation, Spiral, Mojo's plot to get Longshot back eventually becomes a plan to absorb Earth into the Mojoverse.Since Ann Nocenti was the regular editor on X-Men and New Mutants at the time, Longshot, Spiral, and Mojo would all reappear often in the X-Men titles until they gradually became a part of the X-Men universe. Spiral, in particular, has been featured repeatedly in nearly every X-Men game, most likely because her multiple arms and sword-wielding nature make her more suited to the format.
Also joining the X-Men was Betsy Braddock, sister to the British superhero Captain Britain. Betsy had recently taken her brother's mantel before having her eyes gouged out by the villain called Slaymaster. First appearing to American audiences in New Mutants Annual #2, she is given a new pair of eyes by Spiral to enable Mojo to broadcast the adventures of the X-Men. Consequently, a fair amount of time is devoted to her "being a spy" but nothing ever comes of it... other than joining the X-Men.Mutant Massacre
The first X-Men crossover event kind of flew in under the radar with no cover promotions, tie-ins, or guide... just a story that spilled over into the three X-Men books as well as (for some reason) Daredevil, Thor, and Power Pack. The story surrounds a sudden and unprovoked genocide of the Morlock population in the tunnels under New York. The attack is carried out by an unknown group of mutants calling themselves the Marauders.X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants all scramble independently to stop the Marauders and rescue the Morlocks as Callisto leads the survivors to Xavier's mansion. In the battle, Colossus' armored skin is penetrated leaving him in critical condition, Kitty is injured protecting Rogue, and Kurt is left in a coma. X-Factor takes a pretty big hit as well when Angel's wings are skewered by
Harpoon, pinning him to the filth covered tunnels.This crossover is probably most notable for being the first (but hardly the last) confrontation between Wolverine and Sabretooth. Sabretooth had first appeared in a comic book called Iron Fist about a white martial artist with bad fashion sense, but he soon made his way over to the X-Men. For a long time, Sabretooth was planned to be Wolverine's father and stories were laid out to create a deep seated rivalry between the two which mostly involved Sabretooth keeping tabs on Logan and occasionally visiting to destroy his life. In time, this plot was leaked to fans and later writers eventually decided that the two were entirely unrelated which, to me, made their rivalry somewhat pointless... or more pointless.
In the aftermath of the Mutant Massacre, the injured X-Men left for Muir Island as other mutants replaced them. Rather than joining X-Factor, Dazzler came to join the X-Men for a few years following the cancellation of her own ongoing series. Since her first appearance in the X-Men years before, she had had a fairly successful music career punctuated with a feature film deal that was shown in a Marvel graphic novel titled Dazzler: The Movie. What starts as an exciting career move ends in disaster when Alison is outed as a mutant and her career nose dives over night. Ironically, Dazzler's first mission as an X-Man pits her against the Juggernaut who turns out to be a fan.
This is one of my favorite X-Men teams... and I may be alone in that sentiment. In addition to Longshot, Psylocke, and Dazzler, the new lineup included Storm, Wolverine, Havok, and Rogue. It wasn't the team that I was introduced to. Actually, the team I was introduced to immediately followed this one, but there is something extremely cool to me about this particular group of X-Men. This is when the X-Men went fully outlaw and their lineup was more reminiscent of a rock band than superheroes.This group of X-Men was soon joined by Madelyne Pryor who was pretty much freaking out after the disappearance of her husband.
Of course, it didn't help that the Marauders attacked her about 24 hours later, blew up her house, and kidnapped her baby boy. Unable to contact her husband, Madelyne manages to get a hold of the X-Men. Soon, we are shown the true leader of the Marauders in the cryptically named Mr. Sinister.While Storm begs Wolverine to take leadership of the X-Men, Logan doesn't want it and tries to push the job off on Havok (figuring he's cut from the same cloth as his brother), but between Alex's inferiority complex and Logan's micromanaging, everyone seems to have their doubts.
As the other X-Men fend off the Marauders, Ororo returns to Dallas to demand that Forge restore her powers. Instead, she finds his shamanic mentor Nazé who tells her that Forge has been possessed by the demonic Adversary who seeks to cast this world into eternal darkness unless Ororo can get close to him.The Fall of Angel
Meanwhile in X-Factor, Angel is hospitalized following the Morlock massacre. In order to prevent the gangrene from spreading, doctors are forced to amputate Warren's wings. In a fit of depression, Warren apparently commits suicide by helicopter explosion. In retrospect, they should have suspected foul play. I don't think helicopter explosions are very common methods of suicide. But instead of dying, Warren is found by Apocalypse who is gathering a group of mutants to serve as his Biblical horsemen.
With the absence of Angel, X-Factor recruited the former Morlock Caliban due to his ability to sense and track other mutants, but as Caliban himself points out, he is kind of useless. Taking over the business side of things was Warren's old business partner Cameron Hodge, who they quickly discover has been playing them from the start. Even more, they learn that he is the leader of an anti-mutant militia known as The Right. Hodge had been using X-Factor's mutant hunting cover to foment anti-mutant sentiments. He was the one who put the bomb in Warren's helicopter and had since been siphoning away Warren's wealth to fund his own anti-mutant causes. After a lengthy battle, Hodge escapes and X-Factor turns its attention to the more immediate threat of Apocalypse.Fall of the Mutants
Unlike Mutant Massacre, this event was highly structured and promoted although the "event" was not so much one single event as three smaller events happening at the same time. Of the three, New Mutants had the saddest entry with the kids (along with their new friend named Bird-Brain who was about as annoying as Jarjar) facing a mad geneticist wearing animals skins. When the team's weakest member, Doug Ramsey, possessing the ability to instantly understand languages, jumps in front of a bullet for Rahne, he becomes the team's first, but not last, casualty.Doug, we hardly knew ye.
Meanwhile, X-Factor faces a far more formidable opponent with the return of Apocalypse and his four horsemen: Pestilence, Famine, War, and Death. Death, they come to discover, is actually Angel, his wings replaced with razor-sharp metal loaded with projectile knives. This was the first attempt to make Angel relevant in a universe where the ability to fly was no longer all that impressive. During the exchange, X-Factor comes to learn that by posing as freelance mutant hunters, they've been unwittingly doing Apocalypse work... that is to say, fanning the flames of discontent that would lead to a great Darwinian struggle where only the strong would survive; the very thing Xavier had been trying to avoid.
In the aftermath, Warren would regain his senses, turn against Apocalypse, and rejoin his teammates as Archangel while his replacement, Caliban, would be similarly transformed by Apocalypse. In the battle, X-Factor forces Apocalypse from his ship which, coincidentally, lands right on top of their old base, crushing it flat. Since Warren owns the land and Hank's becoming friends with the sentient spaceship, they decide to make it their new home. Eager to accommodate its passengers, the ship plants itself upright thereby becoming the tallest skyscraper in New York, casting a shadow over half the city just as X-Factor is trying to repair their image from phoney mutant hunters into genuine mutant superheroes. Still, saving the city from Apocalypse is enough to earn them a ticker tape parade and, for a while, it seems as if the human-mutant war has been averted.
In Dallas, Ororo arrives with Nazé at the foot of the mountain where he sends her to kill Forge. Along the way, she must fight wild demons as she climbs toward Forge only to discover, as she slides her knife into him, that the spell he was casting was designed to stop the Adversary. Too late to do anything about it, Ororo realizes that it was Nazé who had been possessed by the Adversary. He had sent her knowing that Forge would not defend himself against her. As he dies, the two are sent by Nazé to another dimension on an uninhabited world, and it is here that they reconcile their differences, living happy, peaceful lives until Forge manages to construct a way home. Choosing to leave paradise for those who need them, Forge and Storm return to fight the Adversary.
Meanwhile, the X-Men (along with Colossus who had since recovered from the attack) have gone to Dallas to find their missing leader only to be confronted by Freedom Force. Through a mixture of conversation and gratuitous combat, Mystique tries to convince them that Destiny has seen that anyone inside Forge's skyscraper at dawn would die. 
Naturally, the X-Men ignore her as they enter the building and eventually become reunited with Storm and Forge while the Adversary is at the height of his powers.As a sidenote, I have to say this story probably has the best takedown of Wolverine ever. God only knows what it smells like down there.
It is revealed that the Adversary was originally summoned to Earth by Forge himself who, after seeing his unit in Vietnam get slaughtered, tapped into his shamanic training to release demons upon his enemy. Realizing his mistake, Forge called an air strike on the area, literally costing him an arm and a leg in the process. Unfortunately, the only way to reverse the spell is to use the souls of others.
The X-Men, Madelyne included, agree and are soon used in the spell to defeat the Adversary. Moments later, the Adversary is defeated and the X-Men are pronounced dead to the world. Rather than actually die, the X-Men are brought before the goddess Roma (it would take too long to explain) who had been watching the events. The X-Men are brought back to life and given a ruby amulet called the Siege Perilous which she says can give them a second chance at life, if they choose to use it.
As far as contrived endings go, this is right up there with a story I wrote in the third grade that ended with finding a stockpile of money, candy, and video games... though not necessarily in that order.Returning to the land of the living, the X-Men quickly stumble upon the Reaver's base in Australia where they have been extorting an old aborigine mutant named Gateway to teleport them across the world for crime on the go. The X-Men quickly
defeat the Reavers and take over their base, but Gateway remains and gradually becomes the X-Men's stoic friend and plot device.Meanwhile, Madelyne Pryor does not recover from her experiences as easily as her teammates as she undergoes a series of hallucinogenic trials which strip her of her family and identity only to replace her with Jean Grey. In a grueling psychic transformation, Madelyne rebuilds herself stronger than ever under the guidance of the demonic S'ym, now free from Belasco following the demon king's run in with Illyana Rasputin.
Excalibur
Back in Scotland at Moira's Muir Island Institute for Genetic Research, Kitty Pryde is shocked and heartbroken by the highly televised death of her fellow X-Men. Now stuck phasing as her default state, Kitty must concentrate intensely to become solid. Similarly Kurt, now awakened from his coma, is unable to teleport more than once per day requiring him to focus more on his acrobatic prowess. Teaming up with Phoenix, Captain Britain (brother to Psylocke), and his girlfriend Meggan, the two of them, along with Kitty's dragon Lockheed, become Excalibur. Rather than another angle on the "mutant issue," Excalibur was conceived as more of a light superhero team book focused on bizarre occurrences and antagonists.
The series was grounded in the art of Alan Davis who came on this book from its spiritual predecessor, Captain Britain, which was at one point written by the great Alan Moore. Captain Britain was an unusual comic mainly focusing on an interdimensional "round table" which assigned a Captain Britain to protect each reality. Here it was designated that the contemporary Marvel universe was defined as Earth-616. This designation has been consistently retained and referred to over the years, which is impressive considering that this is the only work Alan Moore for Marvel, which is considered canon, and that this book was not originally published in the United States.This is one of my favorite books at the time because of the consistently strong art and writing of Alan Davis and Chris Claremont. Claremont provides his usual strong characterization, but it's Alan Davis' superb subtlty of expression that really sells it.
My favorite element of the series was the love triangle between Captain Britain, Meggan, and Nightcrawler. By this point in his life, Brian "Captain Britain" Braddock, was a self-absorbed drunk. Following the death of his sister, Brian hits the bottle pretty hard and from that point on wavers between functional drunk and blind stinking. In fact, Kurt's introduction to Brian involves tossing his pickled body into the ocean. (Now there's someone you don't want in charge of your intervention.)
But Brian also had a girlfriend. Although technically a mutant, Meggan resembled an elf, but her power made her something of an emotional chameleon. A defense mechanism of sorts, it forced her to always adapt to the wants and needs of those around her. Meggan herself was very much an ingenue to the point of being illiterate and leaving cute pictures around in place of notes. Unfortunately, Brian was usually too self-absorbed to see what he had so Meggan was constantly being neglected as Brian was attracted to more mature women.On the other hand, Kurt had a fantastic chemistry with Meggan, being the free-spirited gentleman that he is. Consequently, Kurt berated himself for hitting on another man's girlfriend while the reader was desperate for Meggan to dump Brian's insensitive ass.
However, Brian had a habit of proving himself noble at the most awkward times, somewhat redeeming himself in the eyes of Meggan and the reader. Consequently, he was like Superman... if Superman was prone to drink.But I couldn't finish my commentary on Excalibur without showing one of my favorite comic sequences out there. Sure, there are a lot of villains that can lift a mountain or shoot a beam of energy, but how many can turn you into a fat, jolly idiot? Although Joyboy is a personal favorite, pretty much all of Excalibur's enemies were equally ridiculous.
Madripoor
Also at this time, Wolverine earned his first ongoing series which (more-or-less) continues to this day. Originally, this title was set separate from the rest of the X-Men titles and Marvel universe in the fictional island nation of Madripoor, a thinly disguised parallel to Singapoor. Here Logan operated under the identity of Patch and wore an eye patch appropriately. Otherwise, Logan dressed as Indiana Jones and the series had a distinctly Indy-ish feel, often encountering exotic mysticism in ancient temples or associated with ancient artifacts. 
Other times, Madripoor could serve as the locale for stories of guerrilla warfare, political intrigue, or good old fashion ninja fighting. Unfortunately, the writing on the series was uneven and it didn't really go anywhere, but still the location of Madripoor shows up from time to time as story needs dictate.Wolverine #10 was a standout issue for being the first to expand on the relationship between Sabretooth and Wolverine. We are given a flashback to the Canadian wilderness where Sabretooth (it is strongly implied) raped and killed Logan's girlfriend, a First Nation girl by the name of Silver Fox. What follows is a long, drawn out battle that goes from a rural saloon to the mountains and off a cliff. The exciting part about Wolverine/Sabretooth fights is that they are like two wild animals, but deep down, you know that Logan is trying to be a good man while Sabretooth is a remorseless psychopath.
Genosha
While operating under the radar and apparently dead, the X-Men run into a group of mutant refugees fleeing Genosha, an island nation off the coast of Africa. Meant to parallel Apartheid South Africa, Genosha has an incredibly high standard of living due to mutant enslavement. In Genosha, the law requires all mutants to enter into state service where they would be genetically "processed" to manipulate their mind and powers to serve the needs of the state. These brainwashed mutants were called "mutates." In defending the refugee mutates, the X-Men are kidnapped by the Genoshan magistrates and similarly "processed."
After losing all of her powers in an attempt to escape, Rogue is returned to her cell where some of the guards "take advantage" of her, thereby leaving her in a traumatized state. Although many don't like these kinds of adult themes in comics, I always found it particularly meaningful that Rogue receives her fondest wish, to be able to touch people, only to have it turned against her. To deal with the trauma, Rogue sublimates her own consciousness to allow Carol Danvers to emerge as the dominant personality.Together, they manage to escape and do a lot of damage in the process, but the threat of Genosha still remained.
Inferno
You might as well get used to crossovers because this was the new way of things. Although Excalibur made an appearance, Inferno was mainly the stories of Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Madelyne Pryor, Illyana Rasputin, and Mr. Sinister all colliding in one giant mess. Unofficially, it was mostly an attempt to reconcile the dangling plot threads between Scott and Madelyne while justifying making Scott into the absentee father and cheating husband he had become.The story revolves around Madelyne Pryor who had remade herself as the Goblin Queen following her transformation at the hands of S'ym and the Genoshans. Madelyne makes a deal with the demon N'Astirh to find her missing son who is now in the hands of Mr. Sinister. Sinister announces that he was Madelyne's creator.
Believing that the child of Scott and Jean would have created a powerful mutant, Sinister cloned Jean and created Madelyne who he placed in Alaska for Scott to meet and fall in love with. Once they had produced the child, Madelyne had to be eliminated. However, Madelyne's new powers prove too much for Sinister. She rescues her son and, at the prompting of N'Astirh, prepares to sacrifice him to bring hell on Earth.Meanwhile, N'Astirh has also been prodding at Illyana, trying to bring about a return of her Darkchilde persona. In the process, he is infected by Warlock's techno-organic virus thereby turning him into a techno-organic demon sorcerer. (Why? I'm not sure, but they did it.) In the confrontation, Darkchilde opens a portal to Limbo that turns all of Manhattan to Hell. Even inanimate objects like mailboxes start to attack people. Eventually, Illyana reasserts control, casting out her demonic side, and flinging her soulsword into the gateway thereby closing it... apparently at the sacrifice of her life. Yet when Colossus embraces her empty armor, he finds Illyana once more as a child... as though she had never become Magik.
While New York is still in Hell, X-Men and X-Factor finally cross path. Unfortunately, the X-Men are enthrawled to the will of demons and the obligatory hero versus hero fight scene begins. 
After coming to their sense, the X-Men welcome Jean back to the land of the living (Logan does so quite personally) before they team up and go after Madelyne together. This boils down to a big confrontation between Jean and Madelyne which results with Jean psychically connecting with both Madelyne and Phoenix sharing in their memories before Madelyne, trying to take Jean with her, commits suicide.Apparently eager for yet another fight, Cyclops identifies Mr. Sinister as the cause of this entire mess and goes to deal with him... once and for all. In the confrontation, it is revealed that Sinister has been following Scott from the orphanage searching for mutants whose genetic material would be well-suited as a weapon. In response, Scott shows Sinister what kind of weapon he is by shattering Sinister's body to bones.
Jubilee
Things don't exactly return to normal after Inferno. Unable to return to the mansion and fed up with Magneto's corrupt leadership, the New Mutants leave the mansion to join X-Factor on their ship even as Scott and Jean raise baby Nathan.
Back in Australia, the X-Women are having a hard couple days, especially Rogue who is occasionally lapsing into unconsciousness while Carol Danvers asserts control and redecorates... to which Rogue responds with a hissy fit. Finally, Dazzler makes a suggestion to cure all of their ills by shopping.
Using Gateway to send them to the best shopping location in the world (a mall in LA, apparently), the women arrive in a flash of light that is coincidentally seen by the only mutant present... a young runaway who goes by the name of Jubilee. Stalking and idolizing the older women, Jubilee watches them get a makeover before checking out a chippendale show... which is, apparently, in the mall.Like all of my favorite X-Men stories, the strength of this piece is in the strong characterization and dialog. Claremont highlights the cultural and personality differences between the glamorous Alison, the hot-headed Rogue, the demure Betsy, and the modest, simplicity of Ororo. All of these elements are demonstrated through fairly normal activity which is later countered by the obligatory action scene. For all of their "superhumanity," the X-Men's lives are often defined by the most human actions.
Anyway, the obligatory action scene comes in the form of M-Squad, a team of child mutant hunters foolishly taking up the business model X-Factor left behind. The X-Men defeat them pretty easily, though in M-Squad's defense, they were there for Jubilee. As the X-Men leave the way they came, Jubilee leaps through the portal arriving in the desert of Australia. Here she hides within the walls of the X-Men complex like a pest... which later turns out to be a very smart move.
Siege Perilous
By this point, Wolverine's popularity was growing by leaps and bounds. In addition to his own title and X-Men, he was regularly featured in Marvel's anthology book Marvel Comics Presents which followed the European style of having four different multi-part stories about four different characters. He also was the subject of a mini-series with Havok entitled Meltdown, most well-known for the distinctive art style of Jon J. Muth. 
His interpretation of Wolverine's hair was one of the first of many looks revolving around his pointy hairstyle. Like Batman's ears, Logan's hair began to depart from realism and into the realm of pure image.Logan was also featured in a one-shot by Walt Simonson and Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy) who told of Logan's journey to the Savage Land and his induction into the Fire Tribe. Here he mates with the chieftain, a cavewoman by the name of Gahck, and while it isn't currently considered canon, Gahck is shown at the end holding a baby who resembles our favorite berserker.
Back in New York, Carol Danvers is doing some reminiscing in the body of Rogue, living out the life she no longer has. The others are concerned that Carol is trying to take over, particularly Psylocke. This conversation is interrupted when Nimrod (remember him?) discovers a piece of the Sentinel leader Master Mold (presumably left over from waaaay back in volume one of this series when the Sentinels were first introduced). Both forms of Sentinel technology, the two integrate and conflict. Master Mold targets the first available mutant, who happens to be Rogue wearing Carol's old Ms. Marvel costume.
The punch is enough to bring Rogue back in the mental driver's seat after she coincidentally plows into a limo containing Senator Robert Kelly and his young fiancee, Sharon. Ironically, the senator had just come from a meeting with Sebastian Shaw where they had discussed reinvigorating the Sentinel program. The comet-like collision of Rogue leaves the senator unconscious so Sharon drags him to safety before going back to help Rogue. Dazed and not knowing how she got there, Rogue simply tells Sharon to run, but it's too late. The Nimrod/Master Mold hybrid fires on the limo, killing Sharon.
Soon the rest of the X-Men are on the scene fighting a Sentinel that repairs itself as fast as they can damage it. Not knowing what else to do, Dazzler opens the Siege Perilous and fires at Master Mold, trying to force it through the magical artifact. Unfortunately, it grabs hold of Rogue on the way and both of them are lost to its magic.
Depressed and battle weary, the remaining X-Men are convinced by Psylocke to travel through the Siege Perilous and start their lives over... all except for Wolverine who was probably in Madripoor when it happened. Although the characters all reappeared in the following months and years, this effectively wrote Longshot and Dazzler out of the series. Occasionally they would come back for a short and pointless story line, but for the most part, they were left in Limbo, that place comic characters go when they are no longer popular.
In any event, Logan returns home not to his friends but to Donald Pierce, Lady Deathstrike, and the Reavers who swiftly beat the bejeezus out of him and crucify him on a giant X in the middle of the desert. 
The only witness to his torture is Jubilee who is too frightened to get involved. Instead, she watches with shock and awe as he endures inhuman torture without so much as a word of protest. In a fevered dream, he sees Psylocke using her telepathy to convince the others to go along, but it is never adequately explained whether or not this is real or a delusion. Like many things from this time period, this plotline got lost as plans and characters were changed. Finally, Logan pulls his hands and feet through the stakes pinning him to the X. As he lies on the ground bleeding, he turns to the hidden Jubilee and says, "So, you gonna help me or what?"
Together, Logan and Jubilee manage to escape the Austalian base and resurface in Madripoor where Logan once again picks up the identity of Patch. Here they reunite with Psylocke whose Siege Perilous experience had left her transformed into an Asian ninja assassin by the Iron Man villain Mandarin and a previously unknown Yakuza named Matsuo... although Betsy retained her trademark purple hair. Personally, I've found this interpretation to be a telepathic variant on Daredevil's Elektra. Rather than a red body suit with superfluous straps, Psylocke had a blue body suit with superfluous straps. However, I have to admit that the idea of a telepathic ninja is pretty cool and Psylocke is much hotter as an Asian girl drawn by Jim Lee than a British girl wearing a silly pink smock. Unfortunately, what little personality she had left with the body change, so I was never particularly interested in the character. Fortunately, a brief encounter with Wolverine is all it takes to snap Psylocke back to her old self, although no one is exactly comfortable with change, but as Logan points out, they don't have much choice.
Meanwhile on Muir Island, Forge tries to reform the team with the most unoriginal costumes since the originals. His rag-tag band of X-Men consist of himself, Banshee, Moira MacTaggert, Polaris (since freed from Malice), and Legion. (Personally, I wouldn't add a god-like telepath with multiple personalities to my team. I'm just saying.) For their first mission, the X-Men team up with Freedom Force to take down the Reavers. The story is most notable for Destiny foreseeing her death, apparently at the hands of Legion, but also for her hint that Forge and Mystique were destined to fall in love, despite the fact that Forge was still deeply in love with Ororo and doubtful of her death. Upon discovering Destiny's body, Mystique holds Forge responsible and promises that he will pay for it.Interlude
I feel at this point I need to preface something very important. In comic books, there are two states: a writer driven market and an artist driven market. When one aspect is credited for higher sales, editors will give the appropriate individual more control. When conflicts between the writer and artist arise, the editor will be more likely to favor the one who is perceived as being responsible for high sales.The late eighties and early nineties were a high point in comic sales and in creativity at large. Comic book stores were at their height of popularity and non-comic fans were suddenly cashing in on their collectability. New, young artists who had devoured the works of John Byrne, Neal Adams, and Jack Kirby began to produce images that were far more dynamic than had ever been seen previously. At the forefront of this movement were Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, and Rob Liefeld.
Jim Lee started on Uncanny X-Men following the Inferno storyline. The title was currently in a bi-weekly format so two alternating artists were the standard for this series. For the most part, the other artist was Marc Silvestri whose contribution to the X-Men was sadly overshadowed by Lee (even in this article). Over in the brand new Spider-Man comic, Todd MacFarlane had broken previous sales records with Spider-Man #1 and Marvel was planning a new X-Men series with Jim Lee providing the art in an attempt to recreate that magic.All of this is to say that the artists had a lot of power and a specific vision for the series which often conflicted with established writers like Louise Simonson and, of course, Chris Claremont. According to reports that I have just recently read, Jim Lee would sometimes draw the stories he wanted to write rather than following the script he was given forcing Claremont to rewrite the dialog to match the scene. Eventually, this interference bothered Claremont to the point where he quit the title leaving a handful of scripts in his wake. Arguably, you can lay the blame at the feet of X-Men group editor Bob Harras who had taken over the X-Men universe following the departure of Ann Nocenti.
It is certainly understandable that Claremont would leave the title over this. Ever since the resurrection of Jean Grey, Claremont had to revise his storylines to fit the needs of other creators which either butchered a story in progress or negated events he had set in motion. Small hints like Betsy's eye-cameras, Wolverine's relationship to Sabretooth, or Psylocke's telepathic push toward the Siege Perilous would become meaningless in retrospect. Any reader paying the slightest bit of attention would notice these problems and become understandably frustrated. Unfortunately, Claremont's departure from the title only made things worse for the X-Men. Soon those A-list artists left Marvel to form their own company and the X-Men universe was left to whoever they could scrounge up... but more on this in the next installment.Cable
Over in New Mutants, writer Louise Simonson had been assigned from X-Factor to handle the New Mutants. Bob Harras asked for a more militaristic mentor to differentiate the team from the other X-books out there. Together, Simonson and artist Rob Liefeld developed Cable, a man with gun, muscles, a Longshot eye, and not much else to establish his character.For better or worse, Cable caught on as an instant success. Like Rambo, John McClane, or the Terminator, Cable falls into the superhuman soldier motif that was incredibly popular in the late eighties. He was depicted as a lone soldier in a private war against the Mutant Liberation Front, a new mutant terrorist organization led by the enigmatic Stryfe, who apparently has hood ornament envy. After encountering the New Mutants, they quickly look up to Cable and make him their new mentor. The team roster was slightly adjusted. After the death of Doug and the transformation of Illyana, Dani had become a full fledged valkyrie and Magma... well, who knows?
Although Rob Liefeld's art is pretty solid in these comics, he quickly went in a more "extreme" big muscles, big guns, big tits direction. Although most comic art was doing the same, Liefeld's were some of the most grotesque and gratuitous, often drawing muscles that do not exist on an actual human being.
Gambit
Unlike the others, Storm didn't go through the Siege Perilous, but was instead transformed into a child by Nanny and Orphan Maker. (You remember Magneto's robot Nanny from volume two? She came back with a bad super-villain gimmick.) Resurfacing in New Orleans and possessing her full memories (but once more lacking her powers), she soon finds herself on the run from demonic Hounds led by none other than her old criminal employer from Cairo, the Shadow King. 
(Oddly, the Hounds were wearing the same outfit as Phoenix indicating yet another plotline that never made it to fruition.) Seeking sanctuary in a rundown old house, she meets a local outlaw who goes by the name of Gambit (AKA Remy LeBeau). For a few issues, the child Storm and Gambit are on the run from the Shadow King and engage in a little "harmless" crime spree, since both are professional thieves.A quick note about Gambit: I find it interesting that Gambit showed up just as Longshot left. Both characters have acrobatic abilities, long messy hair, throw card-like weapons, and have a romatic relationship to Rogue, but Gambit is kind of like a darker reflection of Longshot. While Longshot was entirely trustworthy, Gambit was never trustworthy. There could be multiple reasons for this change, but my suspicion is that they just went "darker" which is disappointing because I loved the character and felt he had plenty of room to grow.
Meanwhile, Jim Lee provided a memorable flashback of Logan meeting Captain America in Madripoor during World War II which was recently adapted in Daniel Way and Steve Dillon's Wolverine: Origins. The story features Logan (pre-adamantium claws) teaming up with Captain America to rescue a young girl from the Hand, an order of elite ninjas, and 
HYDRA, a budding international terrorist organization. The girl, it turns out, is Natasha Romanova who would later become the Soviet spy and Avenger, Black Widow.Down in Antarctica, Rogue's experience through the Siege Perilous split Rogue and Carol Danvers into two separate bodies sharing the same life force. No longer possessing her powers, Rogue is enjoying the beauty of the Savage Land in her fur bikini before Carol Danvers returns to destroy her. With her life force unable to sustain them both, Rogue is nearly destroyed by Carol Danvers until the timely intervention of Magneto who destroyed Carol Danvers, restoring Rogue's mind to herself.
X-Tinction Agenda
The X-teams are reunited again when the nation of Genosha, covertly led by a new cyborg version of Cameron Hodge who had been gravely injured in a fight with a very pissed off Archangel. Led by the amnesiac Havok who had emerged from the Siege Perilous believing himself to be a Genosha magistrate, the Genoshan government launches an attack on Xavier's mansion where Storm, Warlock, Boom Boom, Rictor, and Wolfsbane are kidnapped and taken to Genosha to be processed as mutates. Storm is returned to an adult by the "Genegineer" while Rahne loses the ability to revert to human form thereby leaving her in a wolfen or semi-wolfen state. In response, Cable, Forge, Banshee, and Gambit recruit X-Factor and invade Genosha where they run into Wolverine, Psylocke, and Jubilee who were looking for their missing comrades using Psylocke's telepathy.I'd like to tell you the plot, but I don't believe it had much of one. Cameron Hodges kills Warlock and somehow incorporates his technology. In response, the X-teams (particularly Archangel and Havok) destroy Hodge. In the process, they manage to force Genosha into an uneasy state of expanding civil rights toward mutants.
The reason I didn't skip this story is because it concludes Cameron Hodge's
storyline, features the pointless death of Warlock, and begins a change in Genosha that was picked up by later writers, but unfortunately, the story is just a mess. It's a shame because they have some great artists (for the most part) and 
I really like the idea of a mutant apartheid state, but they reformed it too quickly (and incomprehensibly) to really take advantage of the storytelling potential.Following the events of X-Tinction Agenda, the X-teams regroup in the X-Men headquarters beneath the Xavier mansion where they assess their current threats from refugee Morlocks and Reavers to the Shadow King and the Hellfire Club. New X-Men get to meet with the old and we get the distinct feeling that change is in the air. Wolverine and Gambit have a fight in the Danger Room and compare penises to decide who the alpha dog is. However, the reunion is cut short when Storm, Wolverine, Psylocke, Gambit, Jubilee, Forge, and Banshee are abducted by Lila Cheney.
Last Days of the New Mutants
With the X-Men gone and X-Factor returned to their ship/building, Cable and the New Mutants declare the X-Men bunker under the old mansion as their home. With Warlock dead, Wolfsbane and Sunspot both leave the team. Cable quickly makes up for the loss by calling his old partner, 
Domino (a mutant with the gift of luck and a love of guns), as well as recruiting the original Thunderbird's brother, James Proudstar (now calling himself Warpath), Feral (a feline Morlock), and Shatterstar, a warrior who vaguely resembles Longshot. Long rumored to be the son of Longshot and Dazzler from the future, I neither know nor care if this was ever made official.I always hated Shatterstar for multiple reasons. One, his sword has two blades. That's not more badass, that's just cumbersome. Second, Shatterstar is an angry brutal warrior trained to fight his entire life. He comes from the worst tradition of eighties action stars... as do most Liefeld characters. But most of all, he runs counter to the themes present in Longshot which is essentially about innocence and good intention, not mindless brute force. It always seems to me that if you are going to make one character based on another, it should be in the same spirit... but then I'm a Longshot fan.
In issue #98, Cable was attacked by the merc with a mouth, Deadpool, in his first appearance. Although popular amongst Liefeld fans, he didn't achieve wide-spread popularity until 1997 when they published an on-going series by writer Joe Kelly and artist Ed McGuinness. Kelly brought a biting sense of humor and McGuinness' art perfectly complimented it. I won't get into details because the series wasn't really a part of the X-Men world, but I highly recommend it.Before long, with the historic 100th issue, Cable decides that Xavier's mansion is a little too well-known by their enemies, so he officially declares the New Mutants disbanded and leaves to start a new team called X-Force. Teasing the end of the issue, they reveal the true identity of the Mutant Liberation Front leader, Stryfe... and he looks very familiar.
Return of Xavier
Meanwhile, in the Savage Land, Rogue, Magneto, Ka-Zar, and even Nick Fury are at war with Zaladane, priestess of Garokk, who had stolen Polaris' powers and was building a device to magnify those powers thereby allowing her to cause massive tectonic eruptions across the world. This story is most notable for the budding romance between Magneto and Rogue who was greatful to him for helping her to defeat Carol Danvers. This relationship was later developed by subsequent writers.Light-years away, the X-Men are transported to an alien ship where they find themselves the captives of Deathbird who is still leader of the Shi'ar Empire. Before anyone can explain, they are attacked by the Starjammers who have a mysterious new leader. After freeing themselves, the X-Men and Starjammers team up, once again, to fight the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. In the end, they are victorious and the Starjammers leader reveals himself as Professor X. The X-Men are invited back to the Shi'ar homeworld where they are treated like royalty, but the new X-Men,
Gambit and Jubilee, are suspicious. However, it is Logan who acts first by tearing his claws through Xavier.Fairly quickly, the X-Men discovers that Xavier, Lilandra, and the Starjammers have been replaced by the alien shapeshifters known as the Skrulls. After a drawn out fight, the X-Men defeat the Skrulls, find the real Starjammers, and return the real Lilandra to the throne. Upon hearing of the deteriorating state of human-mutant affairs, Xavier decides that his people need him and returns home to rebuild the X-Men.
Endgame
The lives of X-Factor are shaken up when they are assaulted by the Dark Riders of Apocalypse who kidnap the baby Nathan. Apparently, Apocalypse sensed the power in young Nathan and sought to remove him as a threat. Before they can react, their ship unexpectedly rockets into space at the control of Apocalypse and explodes. 
X-Factor escape and team up with the moon dwelling Inhumans to fight Apocalypse on his lunar base to save Nathan. In the process, Apocalypse infects the child with the same techno-organic virus created by Warlock and his people. Unable to save him, Scott and Jean agree to give Nathan to the time-traveling Mother Askani (right) to be raised 2,000 years in the future.Exactly why this was done, I'll explain in the next installment, but basically it was an editorial decision. Louise Simonson was taken off the book at the last minute meaning that she couldn't wrap up storylines that she had been building for about five years. Chris Claremont replaced her for these issues to write a storyline which would later be followed up by other writers.
Basically, there were too many cooks ruining the broth.
The Muir Island Saga
Returning to Earth, the X-Men receive warnings from Forge and Banshee of a threat at Muir Island. They investigate only to fall under the thrall of the Shadow King while Professor X goes home to retrieve Cerebro. While there, he has an encounter with a brainwashed Colossus whom he manages to free from the Shadow King's control. Sensing they need more help, Xavier contacts X-Factor (although I'm not sure how he knew about its existence) and together they fly to Muir Island.When Xavier arrives at the island, he finds the Shadow King possessing his son's body and holding the X-Men hostage. In the battle, Xavier's spine is shattered once again, returning him to a paraplegic state. Together, X-Factor and a handful of free-thinking X-Men defeat the brainwashed X-Men as Xavier battles Shadow King on the astral plane. Although Xavier is victorious, his son David is left in a coma with even Xavier unable to reach him.
In the aftermath, X-Factor disbands and reunites with the X-Men.
Next
If you watched the X-Men cartoon in the early nineties, get ready for the next installment because this is your X-Men. It's a rocky road ahead. Chris Claremont quits and the X-Men universe becomes even bigger and more confusing, but if you stick around, I'll see what I can do to make it entertaining and easy to follow.
LINKS
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8 (coming soon)
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