Annual : 10, 11
Fantastic Four vs X-Men: 1, 2, 3, 4
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artists: Barry Windsor-Smith, Alan Davis, Jackson Guice, Marc Silvestri, Art Adams, Jon Bogdanove
All of these were collected in Essential X-Men volume 7.
I managed to pick this up on sale at my local comic book store (Comics Ect. in Elizabeth Street). It was sat on a shelf by the counter on special. I do have a lot of the issues in my collection seperately.
Uncanny X-Men 217 holds a special place in my heart as it was the first ever issue of Uncanny X-men I ever read. These stories lead up to the fall of the mutants story line, where the X-Men 'die'.
We start these books with a trip to the Mojoverse. Just some background: Mojo is a large slug like creature that runs his own TV channel in an alternate dimension. He uses his shenanighans to shrink the X-Men back into babies. Of course the X-Men get out of this scrape and gain the addition of Longshot, who is not actually a mutant but a cloned creature created by Mojo. He is always included as an X-men but I feel his membership should only be honourary.
The X-Men tangle with Malice. She has an incorporal form and can posses other people by inhabiting a body. This is shown by a small choker appearing on the victims neck.
Dazzler, an actual mutant and budding rock star, takes on Juggernaught. This is one of the X-Men's toughest foes and poor Dazzler gets owned. Luckily Jugs is a big fan and does not murder the crap out of Alison. This was my first issue and was a great introduction to the book.
In this story Storm has lost her powers due to her partner/lover Forge. Yes, these things happen if you're an X-Men. She tangles with three veteran mutants and manages to get up despite the lack of weather based abilities.
We have a brief sojurn into FF vs X-Men where Doom and Richards argue over how to save Kitty Pryde, who received injuries in the Mutant Massacre (which happened just before these issues). Eventually they decide to stop being whiny bitches and save the poor girls life.
The stories build to the Fall of the Mutants. The Trickster faces off against Roma, the guardian of the gates of reality. If he wins, well, bad shit is going to go down. As his pawns he uses the Second Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, who get re-named Freedom Force and are given a government mandate to be dicks. Of course the outcome is the peak of the story so instead of spoiling I'll go to my review of the books.
As you may know Chris Claremont wrote the books for many years (1975 - 1990 off the top of my head). He writes the books really well, getting into the head of each character and giving each of them their own goals and purpose. There is a big weave as relationships develop and the team builds and sinks. The artists change but they all match the story quite well. Claremont also stacks the roster with female characters. As a fourteen year old reader it was really easy to get into the books and the characters hooked me. The stories stand up to re-reading and I have a thirst to get the books before this one and read the ones after, which is what every good comic book should do. I recommend these stories, which you can pick up more easily in a collection than the old classic issues, which can get pricey.
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