"Essential X-men Volume 6" by Chris Claremont and Others

This TPB is a collection of X-men, X-Factor, Power Pack, New Mutants, and Thor comics from the 1980s.  Chris Claremont wrote almost all of them.  Pencils were handled by Arthur Adams, John Romita Jr., Walt Simonson, and many others.

I read most of these when they first came out.  I was in elementary school then, but my opinion of these particular chapters in the ongoing X-men saga is unchanged.  They are OK, but I will never be a huge fan of the X-men. 

My main problem with the X-men?  There are too many of them.  In other words, when an increasingly large group of people has special abilities, these abilities will be decreasingly special.  This is especially true of Marvel's mutants, but also goes for DC's "metahumans."

Chris Claremont's writing also leaves me flat.  His comics always struck me as extremely soap-opera-ish, full of overwrought dialogue and labored love triangles.  This was obvious to me even in elementary school.  It is all the more obvious now.  Claremont deserves credit for bringing a lot of girls into the comic book fold (forgive the pun), but I always had trouble believing that his henpecked Wolverine was such a badass.

Claremont's writing aside, there's some phenomenal talent on display within the pages of these comics.  Arthur Adams is one of my all-time favorite pencillers, and the rest of the artists gathered within this volume are far from untalented.  The elegance of John Romita Jr.'s art always surprises me, as does the fluid grace of Walter Simonson.  I was addicted to Thor around the time these comics first came out, and when Simonson started pencilling X-Factor I bought up every issue.

It is funny now to look back on these comics as historical objects.  In retrospect, I think a lot of readers were feeling the same way about the X-men that I was.  How else would we have seen the turnaround into those "paramilitary" mutant comics of the 90s?  The popularity of X-Force and the new X-men were no accident, and reflected a shift towards less "talky" comic books.  At the time I welcomed the change, though I can't say that they were, on the whole, much better.

I enjoyed this look back at the X-men's 80s adventures, but more than anything this one has me wanting back issues of Thor, Daredevil, or Hulk from the same era.  Now those were the days...

"World War Hulk" by Greg Pak and John Romita Jr.

"World War Hulk" follows the events of "Planet Hulk," in which our green friend was shot into space under the direction of Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man, and Black Bolt.  Sent hurtling through the void, the Hulk eventually lands on a brutal, alien planet where he is pushed to his utmost in order to survive.

I read through most of "Planet Hulk" while I was in the Barnes and Noble, and I had a hard time choosing between that book and "World War Hulk."  Both of these comic books are BAD.  ASS.

So the Hulk is doing his King Conan thing in outer space, right?  He's got money, he's got power, and his wife is FINE.  Then this bomb totally fucks his shit up, and his wife and all his people get killed.  Eventually he figures out that those assholes that sent him into space had something to do with the explosion, and it's back to Earth for REVENGE.

"World War Hulk" made me want to go find some blonde guy and beat the living shit out of him.  This was a good feeling.  "World War Hulk" also made me want to throw people off of very tall buildings, and to spend a lot of time screaming at various foes.  I am only sorry that Thor didn't make an appearance in this comic, but maybe it's better that Thor didn't show up for this one.  The Hulk of "World War Hulk" would have given Thor the beating of a lifetime.

In conclusion: Hulk Smash!