Reading the X-Men: 2 Years+

Somehow for the second year in a row I completely miss the anniversary date of when I first started this reading project. The original date is November 11, 2015, but for whatever reason I manage to miss it by, like, 10 days every time. Whatever. It's been 2 YEARS since I started this thing! Here's the list now:

Uncanny X-Men (Volume 1) # -1, 1-32, 98-371
Uncanny X-Men (Volume 1) Annual # 3-18, 1995, 1996, 1997
Uncanny X-Men and Fantastic Four Annual 1998
Dazzler # 1-42
X-Men: First Class (Volume 1) # 1-8
X-Men: First Class (Volume 2) # 1-16
X-Men: First Class Special # 1
X-Men: First Class Giant-Size Special # 1
Avengers (Volume 1) # 47-49, 263, 298-300, 350-351, 368-369, 400-402
Avengers (Volume 1) Annual # 10
Giant Size X-Men # 1
Amazing Spider-Man (Volume 1) # 161-162, 311-313, 415, 420
Power Man # 57
Wolverine: Days of Future Past # 1-3
Marvel Team-Up # 100, 117-118, 135, 149-150
Marvel Team-Up Annual # 6
Spider-Woman # 37-38
Marvel Graphic Novel # 4-5, 12
New Mutants (Volume 1) # 1-100
New Mutants (Volume 1) Annual # 1-7
New Mutants Special Edition # 1
New Mutants Summer Special # 1
New Mutants: Truth or Death # 1-3
New Mutants Forever # 1-5
Magik # 1-4
Wolverine (Volume 1) # 1-4
Secret Wars (Volume 1) # 1-12
Marvel Fanfare (Volume 1) # 4
Marvel Fanfare (Volume 2) # 2, 4-6
Kitty Pryde and Wolverine # 1-6
Iceman (Volume 1) # 1-4
Nightcrawler (Volume 1) # 1-4
Beauty and the Beast # 1-4
X-Men/Alpha Flight # 1-2
Firestar # 1-4
Wolverine/Nick Fury: Scorpio Connection
Wolverine/Nick Fury: Scorpio Rising
Secret Wars II # 1-9
Heroes For Hope Starring X-Men # 1
Fantastic Four (Volume 1) # 286, 312, 322-324, 414-416
Fantastic Four (Volume 1) Annual # 23
X-Factor (Volume 1) # -1-149
X-Factor (Volume 1) Annual # 1-9
X-Factor: Prisoner of Love # 1
Spider-Man and X-Factor: Shadowgames # 1-3
X-Factor Forever # 1-5
Alpha Flight (Volume 1) # 1-2, 33-34, 53, 61, 87-90
Alpha Flight: In the Beginning # -1
Longshot # 1-6
Web of Spider-Man # 47-48
Web of Spider-Man Annual # 2
Thor (Volume 1) # 373-374, 378, 427-428
Power Pack # 27, 35, 42-44
Daredevil (Volume 1) # 238, 252
Spider-Man vs Wolverine # 1
Fallen Angels # 1-8
X-Men vs Avengers # 1-4
Fantastic Four vs X-Men # 1-4
Incredible Hulk (Volume 1) # 336-337, 340, 390-391, 444-445, 454-455
Captain America (Volume 1) # 339
Excalibur Special Edition # 1
Excalibur (Volume 1) # -1-125
Excalibur (Volume 1) Annual # 1-2
Excalibur: XX Crossing
Excalibur: Air Apparent
Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem
Excalibur: Weird War III
Wolverine (Volume 2) # -1-144
Wolverine (Volume 2) Annual 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999
Havok and Wolverine: Meltdown # 1-4
Wolverine: Jungle Adventure
Wolverine/Punisher: Damaging Evidence # 1-3
Wolverine: Rahne of Terra
Wolverine: Blood Lust
Wolverine: Inner Fury
Wolverine: Killing
Wolverine: Evolution
Wolverine: Doombringer
Wolverine: Knight of Terra
Wolverine/Gambit: Victims # 1-4
X-Men Origins: Wolverine # 1
Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine # 1-6
Wolverine: First Class # 1-7
Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher: Hearts of Darkness
X-Terminators # 1-4
Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger # 4
Spectacular Spider-Man (Volume 1) # 146-148
What If… (Volume 2) #6, 77-78
What If… X-Men: Age of Apocalypse
Spellbound # 1-6
Ghost Rider (Volume 2) # 9, 26-27, 29, 67-68
Punisher War Journal # 6-7
Punisher (Volume 3) # 11-12
Marvel Comics Presents (Volume 1) # 10-17, 51-53, 72-108
X-Men: Spotlight on Starjammers #1-2
X-Men: True Friends #1-3
New Warriors (Volume 1) # 31, 45-46
New Warriors (Volume 1) Annual # 1
X-Force (Volume 1) # -1-97
X-Force (Volume 1) Annual # 1-3, 1999
X-Force and Cable Annual 1995, 1996, 1997
X-Force and Champions Annual 1998
X-Men (Volume 1) # -1-91
X-Men (Volume 1) Annual # 1-3, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999
Spider-Man # 16, 72, 84
Cable: Blood and Metal # 1-2
Stryfe’s Strike File # 1
X-Men: Odd Men Out #1
X-Men Unlimited (Volume 1) # 1-24
Cable (Volume 1) # -1-70
Cable (Volume 1) Annual 1999
Cable and Machine Man Annual 1998
Sabretooth # 1-4
Gambit (Volume 1) # 1-4
Deadpool: Circle Chase # 1-4
Avenger West Coast # 101
Deadpool (Volume 1) # 1-4
Blaze # 4-6
Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme # 69
Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix # 1-4
Bishop # 1-4
Generation X (Volume 1) # -1-58
Generation X (Volume 1) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
Generation X Holiday Special # 1
Rogue (Volume 1) # 1-4
X-Men Chronicles # 1-2
Tales From the Age of Apocalypse: Sinister Bloodlines
X-Man # -1-55
X-Man Annual 1996, 1997
X-Man and Incredible Hulk Annual 1998
Tales From the Age of Apocalypse # 1
Blink # 1-4
X-Men: Alpha
Generation Next # 1-4
Astonishing X-Men (Volume 1) # 1-4
X-Calibre # 1-4
Gambit and the X-Ternals # 1-4
Weapon X (Volume 1) # 1-4
Amazing X-Men (Volume 1) # 1-4
Factor X # 1-4
Age of Apocalypse: The Chosen
X-Universe # 1-2
X-Men: Omega
X-Men: Age of Apocalypse One-Shot # 1
X-Men: Age of Apocalypse # 1-6
X-Men Prime
Starjammers (Volume 1) # 1-4
Storm (Volume 1) # 1-4
X-Men: Book of the Askani
Askani’son # 1-4
Spider-Man Team-Up # 1, 5
Sabretooth Special # 1
Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix # 1-4
X-Men/Brood: Day of Wrath # 1-2
X-Men/Clandestine # 1-2
Archangel # 1
XSE # 1-4
Onslaught: X-Men
Green Goblin # 12
Iron Man (Volume 1) # 332
Onslaught: Marvel Universe
Onslaught Epilogue
Road To Onslaught
Sabretooth and Mystique # 1-4
Pryde and Wisdom # 1-3
Rise of Apocalypse # 1-4
Black Knight: Exodus # 1
Beast # 1-3
Logan: Shadow Society
Marvel Holiday Special 1996
Maverick: In the Shadow of Death
Venom: Tooth and Claw # 1-3
Maverick # 1-12
Magneto (Volume 1) # 1-4
Deadpool (Volume 2) # -1, 0-3
Marvel Valentine Special # 1
Juggernaut # 1
Domino (Volume 1) # 1-3
Imperial Guard # 1-3
Psylocke and Archangel: Crimson Dawn # 1-4
Daydreamers # 1-3
Kitty Pryde: Agent of SHIELD # 1-3
Gambit (Volume 2) # 1-4
Machine Man and Bastion Annual 1998
X-Men and Dr. Doom Annual 1998
Gambit (Volume 3) # 0.5, 1-5
X-Men: The Magneto War # 1
Magneto Rex # 1-3
Weapon X: First Class # 1-3
X-Men Origins: Colossus
X-Men Origins: Jean Grey
X-Men Origins: Beast
X-Men Origins: Sabretooth
X-Men Origins: Iceman
X-Men Origins: Cyclops
X-Men Origins: Nightcrawler
Exiles (Volume 1) # 60-61
Champions (Volume 1) # 1
X-Men and Micronauts # 1-4
X-Men Forever (Volume 2) # 1-12
X-Men 2099 # 1-9
Mutant X # 1-15
Mutant X Annual 1999
Warlock # 1
Bishop: XSE # 1-3
X-Men: Children of the Atom # 1-2

For a grand total of...(drums rolling)...1934! I'm actually disappointed. That amounts to 739 days of reading, averaging 2.6 comics per day. And I also fell short of my goal/prediction to get to Grant Morrison's New X-Men run by the end of year 2. Heck, I'm not even into Chris Claremont's first return to the main X-books. 

Anywho, let's break it down:

Annuals: 74
Graphic Novels: 22
One-Shots: 40
Issues From Minis: 286
Number of Minis: 71
Issues From Ongoing Series: 1512
Ongoing Series Started: 23
Ongoing Series Finished: 6 (Which includes Dazzler, Excalibur, Maverick, New Mutants, X-Factor, and X-Men: First Class)
How many X-Men comics I have left to read: ∞

Observations:
- I may have made this comment on previous round-ups, but Wolverine graphic novels tend to suck. Hard. Can't wait till the glut of Wolvie minis in the mid-2000s.
- Excalibur ended nicely. X-Factor didn't.
- Excalibur kept the majority of its original line-up on and off until the end. Rachel Summers being the lone exception.
- X-Factor obviously didn't, since the original line-up was the original five X-Men. But the line-up after the change in X-Factor #71 changed often, leaving only Polaris and Havok as major players until the end. The last 20 or so issues of that pretty much ended the series being a team book anyway and focused on a strange ensemble cast of heroes, villains, and whatever else. I have no idea what they were thinking by the end of that series.
- Holy crap, do I love Joe Casey's Cable. I've said before possibly that he's my favorite comic writer, and I came to his stuff through his first major comics work in Cable. But finally getting to finish it, wow what a great series. And Jose Landronn was a fantastic pairing with Casey. Wish they'd done more together.
- Then Marvel had to mess Cable up so they could get Rob Liefeld on it to take it to the new millenium for all of, like, five issue.
- X-Men 2099, when I first read it in high school I loved it. I'm not so much into it now as I was then, but I have to give John Francis Moore a ton of credit for 1) not miring it in X-continuity and 2) barely making it a team book. The 'team' is hardly ever together, splitting up into various personal missions. And the 'dream' that this era of X-Men expounded on ad nauseum is given lip service by a Professor Xavier-type leader but then dropped pretty quick when he has a change of heart/personality. I appreciate that.
- Maverick was a lot of fun, helped by art by rising star Jimmy Cheung. I liked the black ops mutant tales, and the down ending to the series. Better than I thought it would be.
- Mutant X is...interesting. I can't call it good, but Howard Mackie set up the premise and then fairly quickly started dismantling it which has been fun. It seems like it wants to be a darker comic than it is. Cary Nord's art has been great to watch develop after his Daredevil run from around this era.
- Mackie has never been a writer that I've enjoyed. Of course, I still will never be able to get past his hand in the "Spider-Clone Saga", but that's neither hear nor there. He is like Terry Kavanagh from this time period - when he's good it's decent enough stories, but when he's bad I loathe it. I'm reading Mackie's Astonishing X-Men mini that set up the "The Twelve" storyline and it is ATROCIOUS. It's up there with that terrible issue of Cable Jeph Loeb wrote in the Onslaught crossover. *brrr* that Cable issue still gives me nightmares.
- I'm supposed to be starting the Bishop ongoing soon. He had a ton of minis during this era, all written by John Ostrander. I enjoyed them more than I figured I would, but it's weird Marvel didn't hire Ostrander to do the ongoing for them.
- I can't tell you how much I hate 'psionic powers' now. Such vague BS. And so boring and overused. It became the Wolverine of powers in the mid to late 90s.
- Alan Davis replaced the outgoing Steve Seagle and Joe Kelly around this time on Uncanny and Adjectiveless X-Men (that should totally be a comic). The art has certainly been pretty, but it's clear Davis was just painting by numbers when it came to the writing. And those numbers were certainly supplied by the editorial team. When this stuff was coming out was when I was just starting to understand the business and behind-the-scenes stuff of comics. I was ticked when Kelly and Seagle left, and felt like Davis' run had no heart to it. Almost two decades later and I still feel the same as to the quality. There is no heart to this time of the X-Men's history, and the emotional aspect of X-Men is what made X-Men, um, the X-Men. It was slavish to the continuity in totally uninteresting ways (The Twelve) and brought back characters just for the sake of having them on the team.
- Aw, man, and they ruined Marrow. They made her 'pretty,' and gave her some control over her bones so that she could make herself prettier. And as a result she became nice and compliant and sucky. They took away every bit of aggravating personality Joe Kelly had instilled in her and she never was the same again.
- Generation X kept plugging along, never realizing its potential but never really becoming a bad comic either. Under Larry Hama and then Jay Faerber, it stayed a fun and mostly light-hearted comic.
- I can't wait until X-Man is over. I understand it supposedly became readible when Warren Ellis and Steven Grant took over, but I don't like this character and I don't like this comic and I want it to end.
-Eh, I don't have much else to write about. This isn't and interesting time for the X-Men barring a short run or two. Maybe at the half year point I'll have gotten into Morrison's run finally. Oh, and then Chuck Austen's run that made me stop buying X-Men for years and years to come. Boy I'll have plenty to say then.