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My Favorite Comic Book Series

After 29 days, we’ve finally arrived at this moment. I haven’t read as much of Marvel Comics as I want to; I chalk the rest of my knowledge from encyclopedias and guides. Still, there’s one comic book series that I recommend you read above all others in the world. This is my favorite comic book series.

Uncanny X-Men, Chris Claremont Run

If you’re a fan of the X-Men, then there are several reasons why this series is the holy grail for X-Fans. The series did start in the 1960s with the original X-Men, but after failing to gain traction, Marvel pulled the plug on it in 1970. The X-men would have stuck in cameo hell if it wasn’t for Chris Claremont.

From 1975 to 1991, Chris Claremont was the lead writer for the X-Men, and he turned them from a second-rate team into Marvel’s flagship title. He co-created characters that would become mainstays in X-Men lore like Kitty Pryde, the Phoenix Force, Rogue, Gambit, and more. He gave us “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past.” He helped make Wolverine into the fan-favorite he is today!

If you haven’t read through Chris Claremont’s run of the Uncanny X-Men, then please, for the love of all that is holy, read it. It has some of the best stories Marvel’s made. By the time you’re done reading The Dark Phoenix Saga, you will understand why fans hate the films for messing it up.

Click here to see the rest of my comic book related writings, including the 30-Day Challenge

Favorite Elementalist

When you have a character roster that counts gods, aliens, sorcerers, and meta-humans in its cast, being able to wield the forces of nature seems ordinary. Marvel has its fair share of heroes, villains, and entities capable of control the elements, some better than others. There’s one being, though, that stands out above the rest as my favorite elementalist of them all.

Ororo Munroe, AKA Storm

I couldn’t think of anyone else to take the top spot other than the X-Men’s resident Weather Woman, Storm. Born to the princess of a tribe in Kenya and an American photographer, Ororo Munroe’s one of the strongest Mutants in Marvel. She can use her powers to manipulate every aspect of the weather to create any phenomenon imaginable. She’s conjured up thunderstorms and tornadoes, create hurricanes, and can even manage cosmic weather. Thank goodness she’s not a villain. If she were, she would be feared throughout the cosmos.

Despite being one of the leaders of the X-Men, she does have a past as a thief. After her parents die, she began pick-pocketing to survive. Other than that, she was a right person. When Professor Xavier found her, she was known as a rain goddess in her region of Africa, using her power to bring life to the people of Africa. Since joining the X-men, she’s been one of its best leaders. Even when she temporarily lost her powers, she was kind enough to stay the leader of the team. It’s impressive when you think about it.

Storm Is Awesome

I may not pay too much attention to Storm outside of the X-Men, but I understand how important she is. She’s not only a famous example of an African superhero, but she’s also the first African woman to be a superhero. In short, she’s a big deal to Marvel, and they know it. She’s my favorite elementalist.

My Favorite Cartoon Adaptation

Do you remember the first time you saw Marvel Comics adapted as a cartoon? I may not, but that doesn’t stop me from loving them, all the same. The 1990s were famous for giving us X-Men: the Animated Series, and while I never saw it, I know how much of an impact its had on my generation. My favorite cartoon adaptation is about the X-Men, but it’s a more recent one that combines some of the best stories in X-Men history.

Wolverine and the X-Men

The X-Men were once some of the most prominent champions of Mutant Rights, but after mysterious explosion led to the disappearance of Professor Xavier and Jean Grey, they disbanded. A year passed, and life for mutants got worse as humanity began to persecute them. Realizing that war’s on the horizon, Wolverine takes it upon himself to reform the X-Men before things get worse.

All this ends up being the tip of the iceberg. After finding Xavier in a coma, they receive a warning from him twenty years in the future. A future with the world in ruins, humanity enslaved, and the Sentinels hunt down any mutants they find. Unless they change things, this is the future that awaits the world. With Armageddon at the gates, the world needs the X-Men now more than ever.

A Love Letter to the X-Men

This show only lasted a year, running on Nicktoons Network from January to November of 2009. Even so, I consider it as a love letter to the team that helped carry Marvel for years. The art and animation already make it enjoyable on its own, but then you look at the voice cast, and you realize it reaches god-level. The show has an all-star roster of voice actors that include Steve Blum as Wolverine, and the talents of Nolan North, Kevin Michael Richardson, Tara Strong, Tom Kane, and more. It’s uncanny how they got so much talent behind this one show.

Then you have the plot, which is what makes it my favorite cartoon adaptation. The show combines two of the greatest stories in X-Men history into a single, cohesive unit: The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Futures Past. Interspersed amongst all this are elements from crucial stories from the X-Men’s history.

Unfortunately, the show got canceled due to Disney buying Marvel, meaning any unresolved, secondary plot threads were left unresolved. They were able to finish the main story, though, so I consider it a win in my book. I loved watching this as a teenager, and I call it my favorite cartoon adaptation of any Marvel property.

Click here to see the rest of my comic book related writings, including the 30-Day Challenge

Marvel has tons of examples that I could call my favorite superpower. From Wolverine’s healing factor to Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense, Marvel’s full to bursting with powers. There are even characters capable of warping reality itself like it’s nothing!

As much as I would love the chance to warp reality and turn all the plastic in the ocean into bubbles, I don’t trust myself. It would go to my head and drive me crazy. As fate would have it, there’s a power that’s adaptable enough to make it my favorite superpower.

Omnilingual Translation

It may not sound cool or flashy, but when you look at it, this is one of the most impressive powers a person could have. Omnilingual translation is the ability to understand any written or spoken language. When I say any, I mean any language, including the ones that aren’t from Earth. This power comes from a little known member of the X-Men’s branch teams, Douglas Ramsey.

With his mutant powers, Douglas was a natural at computers and programming, to the point where no one realized he was a mutant at first. Once he found out, though, he became a part of the New Mutants as Cypher. Then he got killed in battle and wasn’t brought back until years later.

After his resurrection, Douglas found his powers had increased. He could now read people’s hidden intentions and their body language, giving him an edge in combat that he once lacked. He may only have average strength and durability, but Cypher’s powers are incredible.

Why It’s My Favorite Superpower

So, why did I choose this as my favorite superpower? It’s because, with these abilities, a person would be able to understand any language in the world at once. No years of practicing or learning in a classroom, no language barriers, no wait! I could go to any place in the world and never worry about understanding the language. Mastering computer programming would take less than a day with it. I could play games from Japan without having to wait for translations!

There are plenty of creatures in the Marvel Universe that I could have chosen for today’s pick. Plenty of monsters and all sorts of aliens to choose from. For this, I decided to go old-school and use a creature that, while not as memorable, had a big impact on Marvel Comics.

Krakoa, The Island That Walks Like a Man

This is s monster the likes of which few can rival in comic books. It’s only made a few appearances outside of flashbacks, but like I said, it had a major impact on Marvel. Appearing in the legendary Giant-Size X-Men #1, Krakoa isn’t your ordinary monster. It’s a living island.

Decades before, the US was testing nuclear bombs across the Pacific. One of those tests took place near a small island named Krakoa. Somehow, the radiation altered the island, turning it into a giant hive-mind.

The original X-Men (minus Beast) came to investigate the island in search of a new mutant. What they found was hell. The animals tore at them, the plants grasped at them, and giaant monsters trapped them. It then began to feed on them, until Cyclops was freed to bring him new mutants.

These events lead to Professor Xavier recruiting a new, international team of X-Men, including characters that would become fan favorites. Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler all made their first appearences, and while Wolverine already appeared fighting the Hulk, here he became a mainstay.

These new members went with Cyclops and rescued the original X-Men before battling Krakoa. But how do you fight an island itself? The only way they could stop him was by pulling off something unbelieably badass. While Professor X used his telepathy and Cyclops and Havok used their energy powers to keep the monster at bay, Storm conjured lightning. She used that to supercharge Polaris’ powers of magnetism, letting her create a magnetic pulse so strong that it severed gravity around the island. The monster got sent far into space where it could never hurt anyone again, while the X-Men escaped.

Legacy

Like I said, pretty awesome, right? It’s my favorite creature, though, because of the legacy it left. This would be the rebirth of the X-Men, with the era that followed turning them from a backwater team into Marvel’s most popular group. Unknown to all, though, Krakoa also left a darker legacy.

In X-Men: Deadly Genesis almost thirty years later, it was revealed that there was a lot of the original story was a lie. Xavier had sent another team of mutants to rescue the original X-Men, and while they got Cyclops to safety, they were all lost fighting Krakoa. Half of them got killed, and the other half was unknowingly left to die when Krakoa got launched into space. Add on the fact that one of those mutants was Cyclops’ long lost brother, and it was a horrific event.

With Cyclops mentally broken, Xavier chose to erase all memory of this other team and new brother. He then kept up the illussion by making the island appear sentient when it was, in fact, a mindless monster. Also, those two members that were left for dead came back after M-Day, and Cyclops’ brother went crazy.

This whole story was crazy, and I urge you to take a look at Giant-Size X-Men #1 and X-Men: Deadly Genesis if you get the chance. It will be worth the read!

People would think that my favorite team would be the Avengers, given how much of a fan I am of the MCU. I do love the Avengers, but I’m sticking to the comics, and there’s only one team that’s my favorite

The X-Men

When I was going through my late childhood/teenage phase of buying comic books, it was usually the X-Men. I must have checked out almost every X-Men book from my local library. I’ve read almost every issue written during Chris Claremont’s run on it. One of my favorite cartoons was Wolverine and the X-Men.

Of course, it helps that the X-Men are more than a single team. They’ve grown into an army of teams. There’s the main team, X-Factor, X-Force, the New Mutants, and more! As I said before, they are an army.

Not only that, but the X-Men have been at the heart of some of the biggest stories in Marvel history: House of M, Avengers vs. X-Men, The Dark Phoenix Saga, and more. They are one of the greatest superhero teams in history, and I will always be a huge fan of them.

I Don’t Like Most of the Movies. Bite Me.

For the record, I don’t like most of the X-Men films. Having seen what the MCU has done, I knew that basing an entire movie franchise off of one team was going to end in a dumpster fire. It was too limiting. I’m glad that Disney bought Fox, since that means that the X-Men are going to be a part of the MCU.

Click here to see some of the best stories in the X-Men’s run. There are a lot of good stories.

By the way, Wolverine’s my favorite X-Men. He’s got an amazing history, and he’s voiced by Steve Blum, so that makes him awesome.