X-Men Epic Collection: Dissolution & Rebirth (Uncanny X-Men (1963-2011))

This collection comes from one of the best runs x-men had. Chris Claremont was able to tell a story that lasted years and had a true realism to it. It wasn’t a story that had to be wrapped up in six issues so it had time to grow on its own. The x-men have been scattered and it’s up to a wounded wolverine and jubilee to find them. Also something great about this collection is that it doesn’t have any annual stories or specials that add nothing to the story like other epic collections seem to be saddled down with. These were the issues that set x-men to be the powerhouse of the 90s that they turned into.

When I read through this book, I couldn't help being reminded of Avengers: Disassembled. In that series, the Avengers face a series of threats that ultimately cause the team to disband. Permanently!But not really. I think it was only a month or so later that New Avengers launched and a whole new team of Avengers came together, featuring some of the biggest names in Marvel's arsenal of characters. While that happened pretty fast in OUR time, in the Marvel Universe, there was a six month gap where no Avengers team existed and we don't get much story to fill in that missing time.Well... in this volume, you get to witness that story! I mean... for the X-Men. Not the Avengers. What I'm saying is that this is the story of how the X-Men team disbands. Permanently!But not really. Obviously, the X-Men reform, just not in the next issue or at all in this volume. Instead, this book covers the break-up of the X-Men as well as relaying what happens when there isn't an X-Men team around.In that regard, this period of X-Men history is DAMN ambitious. From issue #251 AAAALLLLL the way through the final issue of this book, #267, there is no X-Men team. And they won't reform again at the start of the next volume, either. To get technical, there isn't a new squad of X-Men until after the X-Tinction Agenda crossover. So Uncanny X-Men #273. That is a long time to go without X-Men in a book titled X-Men!Some of you might want to point out that issue #254 introduces a team dressed up in a variation of the X-Men uniform that are helpfully featured on the front cover of this Epic Collection. These are the "Muir Island X-Men" and... they aren't X-Men. Not really. I don't believe anyone in the book ever refers to them as X-Men and at the end of THAT storyline, two of them (Forge and Banshee) head off specifically to find "The X-Men." This team was kind of a fake out and instead of doing X-Men stuff, it's mostly a group of humans and mutants tasked with defending Muir Island from external threats.Anyway, beyond that nit pick, what does this book fill itself up with? Well, mostly side stories. The threat of the Shadow King continues to build. A lot of former X-Men get story-arcs, most notably Wolverine. Logan is left as pretty much the last X-Man standing since he was on one of his many breaks when the rest of the team leapt into the Siege Perilous to begin brand new memory altered lives. Honestly, it's kind of... boring. There are highlights, of course. I enjoy the Wolverine parts, especially issue #'s 251 & 252 and the Acts of Vengeance tie-in trilogy, #'s 256-258. I'm usually not a huge Wolverine fan but it's interesting seeing him struggle with crazy injuries while Jubilee does her best to support him.It reads better in collected form than I imagine it would have as initially published. Uncanny X-Men was a monthly book but it shipped twice or even three times a month during a lot of this time. That still would have been a long time to wait for more side stories.As an added bonus to its increased shipping schedule, this book has a lot of artists working on it. The "regular" penciller is still Marc Silvestri but it seems like he was struggling to keep a deadline as a lot of his work looks rush and looser than what he previously produced on the title. This book features Jim Lee's first work on the book and he comes back for the Acts of Vengeance story-arc. What surprised me is just how dull Jim Lee's work appears in this volume because he's one of my favorite artists and I definitely remember loving these issues the last time I gave them a read. Marc Silvestri's more expressive art actually holds up better in this format even acknowledging how burnt out his art looks.It turns out this is all down to the colors and the page quality. No, really! Instead of the original four color printing process used in the original comics and some nineties reprint books, the colors in the Epic Collections are solid and, in this case, flat. The pages lose a lot of the original texturing in comparison to the originals. The colors even come out brighter and that makes everything look a lot more surreal and "comic booky" than they are supposed to. Add to that the paper quality: these pages have a glossy finish to them that makes the colors look "wet." I compared it to my X-Men Mutations trade from the nineties that includes the Acts of Vengeance story and... yeah, this Epic Collection doesn't hold up as well. X-Men Mutations had stocky, high quality paper with no gloss as well as that more textured color look and it looks a lot better. I hadn't noticed how some of the modern coloring techniques in previous Epic Collections had so severely altered the look of the art but once I saw it, it was hard to NOT see it. I like the more solid colors but combining that with the glossy paper is just a bad look. I wish they had worked harder on recreating the colors.So... yeah, this is a mixed bag. Not my favorite time as an X-Men fan but some of these smaller stories and universe building are good. Claremont is still doing solid work. It's just not "X-Men." All B-plots, no A-plots. Weird art presentation.At the same time, I'm impressed that Marvel let this happen. Like, they let their top selling book go on for 22 issues with no team. That's a lot of faith in the brand and in the writer. It's too bad it doesn't pay off as nicely as I would hope. It might be one of the reasons that it didn't last as long as Chris Claremont had intended. I believe Claremont's plan was to go teamless until issue #300. REALLY glad that didn't happen but it's an interesting idea.This volume also features the first appearance of Gambit and it is as weird as the rest of this collection since he was co-created by Jim Lee but his first appearance is penciled by guest penciller, Mike Collins. Jim Lee was still kinda- sorta a guest penciler at this time, too, and doesn't get around to drawing Gambit in this volume (granted, Gambit only has two appearances).So, in conclusion, Dissolution & Rebirth is the dismantling of the X-Men team followed by a world without X-Men filled with all the subplots you would ever want. It is courageous as well as less-than-interesting. The art isn't as well presented as it could be but it features art by a number of highly regarded artists. It is super weird, a testament to the power of the X-Men franchise, and an integral part of the X-Men story. Maybe this is why New Avengers just skipped six months ahead in time after the Avengers disbanded. Maybe.

I love this era of the X-men. At the tail end of the 80s I got into comics and these issues were very important to me during those formative years. Also I feel like there was an energy to this era, before Mutant Genesis happened and the new X-men book was launched with Lee. I especially love the Reavers. They scared the heck out of me as a pre-teen. Awesome stuff. Essential X-men reading. Great fun too.

This collection offers some decent bang for your buck, featuring nearly 20 continuous Uncanny X-Men issues. That's refreshing considering a lot of the other collections from this time period are broken up by crossover issues from other books. There are a lot of firsts here, including the introduction of Gambit and ninja-body Psylocke. Jubilee had been introduced earlier but this is where she really develops as the character that would go on to be so popular. As mentioned this is where Jim Lee first started drawing the mutant world, and he immediately earns his reputation. Storywise things to threaten to collapse under the sheer weight of the continuity, with probably a dozen different story threads going on at any given time. But that's also a part of the pleasure of reading superhero comics, and for the most part Claremont keeps all of the balls in the air. Along with the second part of "X-Tinction Agenda" this takes the X-Men from the 80s and into the 90s, and nearly to the end of Claremont's run.

As expected

Dissolution & Rebirth highlights the writing chops of Chris Claremont. He’d really come into his own at this point. The first couple comics feature his multiple story lines. Issue #248 for example starts with Donald Pierce, Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers plotting the downfall of the X-Men, then switches to Longshot being haunted by his past, but the real plot is about the crazed robot the Nanny who was originally created by Magneto years ago trying to capture the team. Then in #249 two separate stories come together with Lorna Dane, who’d been taken over by Malice, attempting to get in touch with Alex Summers her former lover. She then gets captured by Zaldane who is trying to rule the Savage Lands, which is where the X-Men venture to. Then things tie back together when Donald Pierce, Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers get their hands on Wolverine in #251. These are the types of strong stories you find in this collection which make it a joy to read.

The non-chronological release schedule of the Epic Collections is a boon when it comes to collecting material that perhaps hasn't had a collection before, but it can also be somewhat off-putting to newer fans reading the stories for the first time. Don't get me wrong; the stories in this particular volume (volume 17) are great, some of Chris Claremont's best work, and existing fans will have a really good time with it. I do wonder, however, if people with less X-Men X-perience might struggle jumping straight into this one.It's a time of change, even by the standards of Marvel's Merry Mutants - presumed dead by the world and hiding out in the Australian outback, the volume begins with the team fragmenting even further due to attacks by obsessed 'mother' Nanny and murderous cyborgs the Reavers, a mystic portal and a shocking death or two. We then follow those scattered members as they undergo transformations both mental and physical, as well as the inhabitants of Muir Island, who launch their own search for the team.It's an ongoing process that shattered the book's status quo, and one that neither begins nor finishes in this book (in fact, it doesn't wrap up until the already-released volume 19). But if you can hit the ground running and just enjoy the stories, there's a ton of incredible moments here - the first meeting of Jubilee and Wolverine, Psylocke's bodily transformation, the first appearance of Gambit, the threat of the Shadow King - that's only going to get more essential once the volumes either side are released.Extras include a Marvel Age interview with Jim Lee (who makes his debut on the book here), another Marvel Age article keeping track of the scattered mutants, five pages of character designs by Lee, a subscription ad, poster, and covers to the X-Men: Mutations trade, X-Men Firsts one-shot, X-Men by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee omnibus, Essential X-Men vol. 9 and Gambit Classic vol. 1 trades.So it's wonderful for long-time fans, possibly confusing but well worth the effort for new readers. Why not pick up a copy and see?

This Epic Collection covers the story between the end of the Australian Outback period up to the Genosha storyline. Utterly brilliant, gorgeus art and Claremont storytelling at it's very finest :-)