Strange Adventures and Apparitions Wrap Up

Jean Grey was dead. Scott Summers had quit the team. A young girl named Kitty Pryde had become the newest and youngest student at Xavier’s. And the X-Men had just been privy to a surprising and horrifying vision of the future, where mutants have become all but extinct. And that’s just the big stuff from last volume. So how did Volume 3 fair next to all that?

Well, it’s been fun. I guess. Essential X-Men 3 is nowhere near as satisfying as Volume 2, I have to say. And here’s why: It peaks too early, then doesn’t get interesting until the end. Now, I realize that this book was not originally conceived to be read as I’m reading it right now, but this definitely affects people reading the Essential Volumes. The absolute height of the book is “I, Magneto” (Issue 150), and it’s an extraordinarily good story. The problem becomes that after it, everything else pales in comparison. It’s not that later issues are necessarily bad, it’s just that they’re not nearly as good as #150.

Things pick up near the end, and I know from a historical standpoint that all the Brood stuff that’s happened is all set up for the main story arc in Volume Four. I mean! Uh, nothing bad will happen. Of course not. Yes…. Anyway, here’s the count down:

Uncanny X-Men #145
Uncanny X-Men #146
Uncanny X-Men #147
Uncanny X-Men #148
Uncanny X-Men #149
Uncanny X-Men #150
Uncanny X-Men Annual #5
Uncanny X-Men #151
Uncanny X-Men #152
Uncanny X-Men #153
Uncanny X-Men #154
Uncanny X-Men #155
Uncanny X-Men #156
Uncanny X-Men #157
Uncanny X-Men #158
Uncanny X-Men #159
Uncanny X-Men #160
Uncanny X-Men #161

Don’t worry, Volume Four is going to pick things up quite a bit. However, you’ll have to wait a bit! Because I don’t know about the rest of you, but after 75+ issues, I am all X-ed out for a bit. So we’re going to take a very short break from the X-stuff, and change gears to some of the most unusual and surprising comics ever. And, no, not Howard the Duck (though that’s a good idea too). Let’s just say one of the most famous “kings” is dropping by for our next review. We’re off to see the lizard…