Mutant Massacre

[RockMyAmadeus]

wait, was Claremont Bendis before Bendis?

 

Pfffft! Bendis is a pale GHOST of a Claremont.

 

NOBODY can dangle plot threads for DECADES like Chris Claremont....

 

[Ogami]

I didn't mind or didn't notice when Claremont did it, but it grates on me like nails on a chalkboard when Bendis does it.

[Mr Mylar]

*ahem* Allow one x fan to be the voice of dissent if you please. I am a huge X-fan and was at the time. I was in the target age group (11 years old) and I was very about the mutant massacre . Don't get me wrong, it started off excellent. The first battle was vicious and brutal. But after that it meandered, became a big tease, and never had any resolution.

 

First off, excellent planning on having your regular artist leave in the middle of a big crossover event. Oh joy for crappy fill in Rick Leonardi art. But still, a minor pet peeve compared to others.

 

Let's look at the story arc: Introduce new badass villains. Proceed to have new villains kick X-men . Heroes lick wounds. Heroes can't find villains, except for gratuitous Wolverine/Sabertooth battle which resolves nothing. The end? What is that? We had to wait until what...nine months later or so for a real X-men/Marauders rematch? Pathetic.

 

It was just an excuse to kill off a bunch of morlocks nobody cared about and revamp the X-roster. Too bad they didn't think of an actual complete story to do it in.

 

And lets look at the big hook of this thing: Mutant Massacre CROSSOVER. I realize now that this was probably editorial mandate, but when Thor and Power Pack have actual crossovers, but the two main X books don't, except for seeing shadows and Wolverine smelling Jean....well that was a huge disappointment.

 

The X-factor arc was just as craptastic. X-factor gets their asses kicked. Angel loses his wings, almost dies, the end. No resolution

 

Sorry guys, I am glad most of you liked it, but it was one of my more disappointing childhood X-men memories.

 

 

I guess we can agree to disagree. While I agree with you about the uneccessary crossovers, the Marauders were a new set of villains with fresh new powers and were gritty and relentless the moment they were introduced. Take no prisoners, no reason, nothing. Gotta love it!

Colossus COMPLETELY loses it; where are these types of arcs in todays current moderns? Claremont is the X-Men writer for the ages, hands down.

[camera73]

MM ruled for many reasons:

 

- Some of the best covers of the CA (UXM 210-213)

 

- Established Wolverine/Sabertooth rivalry

 

- Introduced Mr. Sinister (a so-so villain with major plot significance)

 

- Set up premise for my favorite CA mini: Fantastic Four vs The X-men

 

- Facilitated the creation of Excalibur (underrated, IMO)

 

- Sweet Daredevil crossover (#238 which is not on the crossover chart and has great Arthur Adams art)

 

- And hey! Some of us liked the Leonardi art!

 

- Those are just the things that I can remember after 20 yrs

 

 

[realitytrip]

Again, yes, the first fight was very well done (although art issues pop up even there with the switch off between Romita and ...Blevins, I think(?) mid fight), but after that the story line was nothing. A two issue Wolverine/Sabretooth fight might make for a great fight, but as the crux of the Marauder storyline, it was empty. Setting up a big crossover and then not having a resolution (or even plot development) was just bad storytelling.

 

Setting up a new group of villains who kick the heroes asses is great if the heroes are able to actually come back and beat them. Having the antagonists disappear after the first act of the crossover just leaves the story empty. If it lead to new series and miniseries people liked, than I am happy that it lead to something good, but as a story, complete unto itself, it failed miserably.

 

Let me put this another way: If you take this story and put all of the crossovers in one book and have someone just read that book by itself, do you think that person would be satisfied? That the story would be coherent and complete?

 

Hell, compare it with other Xbook crossovers from the mid-late 80s, Inferno, Asgardian Wars, all of which (whatever else their faults were) told a complete story with an ending (Maddie dies, Loki's plans fail, etc).

 

Claremont was a great writer in his prime who dangled too many plot threads and drew out storylines for way too long. He still usually managed to tell compelling episodic stories and could bring resolution to storylines when needed. But nobody writes a winner everytime, and I just felt for all the hype at the time very let down at the final product.

[Old Fashion PB and J]

I still love the Mutant Massacre. It is the first thoughts I have of when I fell in love with the X-Men title when I was about 8 or 9. My first new X-Men comic was 205, and by 210 I was hooked.

 

My favorite X-over will always be the X-tinction agenda though.

[Mr Mylar]

I still love the Mutant Massacre. It is the first thoughts I have of when I fell in love with the X-Men title when I was about 8 or 9. My first new X-Men comic was 205, and by 210 I was hooked.

 

My favorite X-over will always be the X-tinction agenda though.

 

Sink or swim, I'm an X-fan, so I enjoyed a lot of their yearly crossover arcs. X-tinction Agenda ranks way up there, IMHO.

[PEP]

I like the continuity map, its too bad that today it would probably be almost impossible to figure out what timeline each book is taking place in.

[irchooker]

Mutant Massacre will always be special for those X-men issues alone. Magic.

 

I don't think the add-ons were as well executed, though X-factor was decent.

 

Thor was nearing the end of the Simonson run, which will always rank highly in my book.

 

While not on the map, Daredevil 238 is in the timeline, with a DD vs Sabretooth battle (Art Adams/Klaus Janson cover), I wonder if it's included in the TPB?

[Mephisto]

 

While not on the map, Daredevil 238 is in the timeline, with a DD vs Sabretooth battle (Art Adams/Klaus Janson cover), I wonder if it's included in the TPB?

 

The cover is the best part. The story was lousy.