only a couple of issues away from completing my Clairmont X-men run 0

[NoMan]

#94 - #150.

Please hold your applause. When I was a kid in the late 70s starting collecting these books were a BIG DEAL. Couldn't afford 'em then. Anyways, believe it or not I've never read these classic Clairmont issues. When I get started with 'em, I'm thinking of only reading an issue a month, just as if I read 'em monthly back in the day. I'm not gonna go as far as listening to 70s tunes and wearing 70s clothes when I read 'em, but I think only reading one issue a month might be an interesting way to read  them.

Edited March 25, 2018 by NoMan

[Martin Sinescu]

I was basically just gifted #101-180ish and have been reading through them over the last month (I also have a few Marvel Masterworks new X-Men so I was able to fill in the issues before 101 that I'm missing). I've been averaging about an issue or so each night before I go to bed. I don't have the memory I did when I was a kid, so I'd be lost at the pace of an issue a month, especially if I mixed in other comics in-between (one of the reasons I had to drop out from moderns). I don't necessarily want to "binge", as is the custom nowadays, as I, too, have a fondness for replicating the anticipation between issues, but I have to pick the story right back up soon or I'll get off on another track. I think, too, that I've gotten in a certain "mood" with these issues and I need to stay in that frame by reading them on a semi-continuous basis to fully enjoy them -- especially since I started out juggling these with the Kirby Fourth-World wackiness. 

Like you, most of these I'd never read, but pretty much the entire run up to the 140's was "showcase" or "wall" material with the comic shops when I was a kid, so I always knew they were a big deal. I'm up to 138 now. The first 10-15 Byrne issues were okay (108 was quite a great start), but Proteus is where it really kicked in hard for me. After that, the intro of Kitty, Emma and Dazzler into the Hellfire Club arc, Dark Phoenix -- holy carp what a ride. It's funny, but I'd posted elsewhere how much I hated the cover to 135 and now it's one of my favorite individual issues (despite the goofy cover) along with 137. Still have Days of Future Past to come and I'll see how things go past that.

Once I get through at least the Byrne issues of X-Men, I think I'm going to go through the Adams/Kree-Skrull War in Avengers. That's one of the other hallowed runs in Marvel history that I need to read. Then it's on to the original Thanos saga. It's such a joy to have all these issues at my fingertips for the first time.

[NoMan]

37 minutes ago, Martin Sinescu said:

I was basically just gifted #101-180ish and have been reading through them over the last month (I also have a few Marvel Masterworks new X-Men so I was able to fill in the issues before 101 that I'm missing). I've been averaging about an issue or so each night before I go to bed. I don't have the memory I did when I was a kid, so I'd be lost at the pace of an issue a month, especially if I mixed in other comics in-between (one of the reasons I had to drop out from moderns). I don't necessarily want to "binge", as is the custom nowadays, as I, too, have a fondness for replicating the anticipation between issues, but I have to pick the story right back up soon or I'll get off on another track. I think, too, that I've gotten in a certain "mood" with these issues and I need to stay in that frame by reading them on a semi-continuous basis to fully enjoy them -- especially since I started out juggling these with the Kirby Fourth-World wackiness. 

Like you, most of these I'd never read, but pretty much the entire run up to the 140's was "showcase" or "wall" material with the comic shops when I was a kid, so I always knew they were a big deal. I'm up to 138 now. The first 10-15 Byrne issues were okay (108 was quite a great start), but Proteus is where it really kicked in hard for me. After that, the intro of Kitty, Emma and Dazzler into the Hellfire Club arc, Dark Phoenix -- holy carp what a ride. It's funny, but I'd posted elsewhere how much I hated the cover to 135 and now it's one of my favorite individual issues (despite the goofy cover) along with 137. Still have Days of Future Past to come and I'll see how things go past that.

Once I get through at least the Byrne issues of X-Men, I think I'm going to go through the Adams/Kree-Skrull War in Avengers. That's one of the other hallowed runs in Marvel history that I need to read. Then it's on to the original Thanos saga. It's such a joy to have all these issues at my fingertips for the first time.

You make a valid point about reading them in a shorter interval than once a month. 

BTW: I was at wondercon this weekend and all those Claremont  Xmen books are still wall books. They went up on the wall 28 years ago and never came down. At least that’s my feeble observation. 

Edited March 25, 2018 by NoMan

[Martin Sinescu]

20 minutes ago, NoMan said:

You make a valid point about reading them in a shorter interval than once a month. 

BTW: I was at wondercon this weekend and all those Claremont  Xmen books are still wall books. They went up on the wall 28 years ago and never came down. At least that’s my feeble observation. 

I was at South Carolina Comic-Con this weekend, saw many on the wall as well. I'm trying to build a high-grade run as well, but most of the books were priced for NM and were VF/F at best. Definitely just sticking to the reputable dealers and boardies for the HG stuff.

[Ken Aldred]

1 hour ago, Martin Sinescu said:

but Proteus is where it really kicked in hard for me.

Yup.  One of my favourite Claremont / Byrne stories, and generally underrated.

Rather than Hellfire Club, this is where, for me, the series became truly great.

[NoMan]

2 hours ago, Martin Sinescu said:

I was at South Carolina Comic-Con this weekend, saw many on the wall as well. I'm trying to build a high-grade run as well, but most of the books were priced for NM and were VF/F at best. Definitely just sticking to the reputable dealers and boardies for the HG stuff.

it's tough to find them in HG unpressed. When they get towards the 9.4/9.6 neighborhood people run right out to smooch 'em to death and slab 'em.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

Limiting yourself to one a month seems a little unnecessary, but I'd recommend not reading too many in one sitting. I binged on Classic X-Men, and whatever back issue runs of Uncanny I could put together (my first issue was 216, but I now have a run from about 140 to 400, and a bunch of issues prior to that), and I found that the X-Men come off as whiners if you read too many at once, because it seems that at least once an issue someone points out how the rest of humanity "fears and hates them." I understand why Claremont did this; any issue might be someone's first, and you want your readers to understand who the X-Men are. And no one had the internet to catch them up.

[Ken Aldred]

1 hour ago, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

and I found that the X-Men come off as whiners if you read too many at once, because it seems that at least once an issue someone points out how the rest of humanity "fears and hates them."

Throughout the 70s and 80s, Claremont's writing of the X-Men was pretty much the benchmark for relentless, mainstream super-hero angst, and, like Spider-Man before, easy for nerds like myself to relate to.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

19 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

Throughout the 70s and 80s, Claremont's writing of the X-Men was pretty much the benchmark for relentless, mainstream super-hero angst, and, like Spider-Man before, easy for nerds like myself to relate to.

Same here. I was 14 when I started collecting comics in the late '80s. But it still comes off as whining if you read too many in one sitting.

[NoMan]

mess, maybe I shouldn’t be reading this before reading books. 

[zuckuss2003]

On 3/29/2018 at 10:53 AM, NoMan said:

mess, maybe I shouldn’t be reading this before reading books. 

This is my favorite stuff. Like others I was a teen in 80's. Loved going back and collecting/reading the early Wolverine and X-men stuff from Claremont/Byrne.

[Martin Sinescu]

On March 31, 2018 at 9:56 AM, zuckuss2003 said:

This is my favorite stuff. Like others I was a teen in 80's. Loved going back and collecting/reading the early Wolverine and X-men stuff from Claremont/Byrne.

I was kind of surprised that a number of well-worn Wolverine staples ("Snikt" and "He's the best at what he does" off the top of my head, but there were a few others) were in those early issues. One letdown was his explanation for the brown costume  but I won't spoil it.