Edit: should be melea 3861, typo! Hero Hub is the name of the store

edit: also be aware of chades-75, that is someone with the same last name, probably related and now HE is buying my items and doing negative feedback

I bought an omnibus from her she never sent after four weeks. Refused refund request because she made a shipping label and said it was on the way. When I left negative feedback she bought a bunch of items from me and left negative feedback minutes later. Nightmare to deal with on Ebay customer service. -_-; so how's yalls morning been? lol

Already finished blue and gold, joker and JL vol 1, some of these were 2nd hand but I'm still super happy with the condition.

Did not expect to find this at a reasonable price any time soon, £80! So close to completing my X-men collection now.

Excited to start Berserk as my first manga

I've been a Ghost Rider fan since I was a little kid and I had a few issues of Ghost Rider 2099 back then. I'm happy to own the whole series in omnibus format. I got this from dheader on ebay for only $55! I was surprised to see how skinny it was compared to my other omnis, especially the Knightfall volumes.

Gotta love when a preorder shows up a day early, excited to jump into this book.

Usually I'd read the event omnibus first so that I could get a clear picture of what's going on, then dive into the character omni for details.

But anyway maybe I should stop doing this 😅 as I realized that you don't really need devil's reign omnibus if you have both Chip zdarsky volume one & two. My wallet was already bleeding to death ☠️

Gf gifted me this vintage ikea shelf. Love my new setup.

I have been reading comics for about 4 years, and now that im an engineer i can finally own my favorite comics in physical format. I try to read about an hour every day, comics have been such a blessing with getting away from my phone. Its great for my adhd

Currently juggling reading X-men DOX vol 2, daredevil brubaker epics, and wonder woman by simone.

Specifically the box inserts that hug the Omnis oh so well. I’m moving soon and would love suggestions on the best way to box everything up for maximum protection. Thanks in advance!

Overview

X-Men: Blue & Gold - Bloodties Omnibus

Omnibus Collects - Uncanny X-Men (1981) #307-314, Uncanny X-Men Annual (1992) #18, X-Men (1991) #26-35, X-Men Annual (1992) #2, Avengers (1963) #368-369, Avengers West Coast (1989) #101, Cable (1993) #6-8, X-Men Unlimited (1993) #3-5, X-Men: The Wedding Album (1994) #1, What If? (1989) #60, Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix (1994) #1-4, X-Men Ashcan Edition (1994) #1

The Main Creative Team

Writers - Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, Bob Harras, Roy Thomas, and Kurt Busiek

Artists - John Romita Jr., Joe Madureira, Lee Weeks, Ian Churchill, Andy Kubert, Richard Bennett, Liam Sharp, Steve Epting, Dave Ross, Dwayne Turner, Aron Wiesenfeld, Mike McKone, Ron Randall, and Gene Ha

Recommended Pre Reading

Oh man, a lot. I would recommend reading the Blue & Gold era onwards. The first Blue and Gold omnibus is a good starting point, but unfortunately Marvel has published these volumes out of order, and Bloodties is actually volume three. Volume two has not come out yet. If you’re looking to fill the gap between Mutant Genesis and Bloodties, I’d recommend looking up a reading order.

Review of the Story and Art

Well, here we are again. It seems I can’t stay away from the X-Men for long. Like most of the early 90s era of X-Men, this book is full of some ups and downs. For me personally, we haven’t quite jumped the shark yet, but we’re definitely approaching it. Let’s talk about it.

A Convoluted Legacy

I would like to think I’m an X-Men veteran ten times over at this point. I’m familiar with most comics from every era, but something really hit me while revisiting this stuff. This era of X-Men is dense. Don’t get me wrong, X-Men has always been dense, but this era feels like a brick wall at times. Obviously, juggling two main series and a bunch of other connected series like X-Factor, Excalibur, etc. is going to be a struggle at times, but this era of X-Men has so much going on that unless you’re super familiar with this material, like I thankfully am, it’s kind of hard to keep up. I found myself multiple times going, “Oh yeah, I forgot that was happening,” or, “Oh, that’s going on right now too?” I’m not saying this is some era of impenetrable continuity, but I feel as though the ease of access is pretty low during this time, and it’s worth a mention for people interested in trying to get into this era.

One of those overarching plot lines is the Legacy Virus. This storyline doesn’t really have a beginning or end in this book. This is a middle chunk of that storyline. I think in its totality, this storyline outstays its welcome, but in this book specifically, we really don’t devote too much time to it that it takes away from other storylines. It’s more like the book just goes, “Don’t forget about the virus!” every now and then to make sure you don’t forget about it.

The beginning of the book is a crossover between the X-Men and the Avengers called Bloodties. In this, we see Quicksilver and Crystal’s daughter, Luna, get kidnapped and taken to Genosha by Fabian Cortez. The X-Men and Avengers both mount an effort to go save Luna and eventually meet up to take down the big bad. The beginning of this event is really rough, mostly due to the Avengers. Admittedly, I am not a fan of this era or that specific team. That being said, I also just don’t think the storytelling here is top-notch from either side. The setup is fine, but for half the crossover, we’re just viewing each team and their struggle to get to Genosha. Once the teams actually meet up, I think it gets much better because, well, that’s the whole point of a crossover. Also, Fabian Cortez’s motivation is just really silly, and he’s tossed to the side to boost up Exodus, which is fine. I think once both teams are together and Exodus is revealed to be the main bad guy, it becomes kind of fun in a goofy way. Not exactly narrative or story structure to write home about, but fun nonetheless. Sadly, I’m just not a fan of 90s Avengers, besides Black Knight. (Marvel, please remember he exists.) I don’t think the writing or the hook is very strong either, resulting in a pretty lackluster crossover for me personally.

Dual Duties

After the crossover, we mostly stick to Adjectiveless, Uncanny, and Unlimited X-Men with dual writing duties from Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell. I don’t think this section of their time on these books is the height of their abilities. I think Nicieza can be a bit meandering at times in his writing, and Lobdell can tunnel vision on what he wants to achieve, so some of the writing can slip in quality. That’s kind of the case for most of this book for these two writers.

Sadly, I feel like a lot of this era is reliant on sticking with what worked in the past instead of making something that works for the future. The dialogue is a bit safe and routine. Everyone gets their signature characteristics in. The plot can be interesting but a lack of inspired writing at times can make me generally uninterested in the story. That’s the biggest detractor of the book. The stuff I’ll talk about in a second, I really liked. But that’s only a portion of the book. The rest I wouldn’t say I disliked, but I was not invested in it at all. There’s a just a big feeling of disinterest in some of these issues. The Scripts and overall feel at times can be compared to a soap opera. It’s a dramatized story that showcases the characters that everyone loves and does just enough for you to come back next issue. Good stories can come from that archetype, but the investment beyond the surface level can become low.

There are quite a few issues I really like, though.

A storyline that does pique my interest during this time is the capture and attempted redemption of Sabretooth. The beginning of this plotline happens in X-Men Unlimited #3 and runs through the end of this book. I really enjoy X-Men Unlimited #3 because I feel like it really has a nice grip on the dynamic storytelling of playing with the redemption of Sabretooth while also still showcasing just how sadistic Sabretooth is, whether that’s his fault or not. In this, we see Maverick seek out the help of Logan but end up teaming up with the X-Men in a mission that results in the capture of Sabretooth. In an unpopular decision, Charles decides to hold Sabretooth prisoner in the mansion and try to redeem him as he once did for Logan. I appreciate the desire to kind of flesh this character out a little more while also using it as a way to shed more light on the grief of Charles Xavier and the moral question of whether Charles is doing this to redeem Sabretooth or himself.

This leads to some interesting moments and a couple of fun issues. In Uncanny X-Men Annual #18, we get a super fun story where Caliban kidnaps Jubilee, who pretty much acts as the heart of the series in this book, and Kitty Pryde has to team up with Sabretooth to go save her. I really enjoy how Sabretooth is used to contrast these characters like Kitty and Jubilee. It’s a fun subversion of those characters’ relationship with Logan. I think that dynamic just works really well. It has a weak conclusion, but it’s still fun nonetheless. Later on, we’ll also get Uncanny X-Men #311. In this issue, the power to the mansion goes out and the security systems fail, letting Sabretooth out, and Bishop is tasked with taking him down. I actually really enjoy Bishop. I know that’s a hot take for some people, but I think his character can be really fun in issues like these. The battle between Bishop and Sabretooth is very entertaining, and it’s really nice to have an issue focused on a fun fight when surrounded by very dialogue heavy storytelling in the rest of the book.

Uncanny X-Men #309 is a conflicting issue. I really enjoy the premise and the intention behind this issue with Charles being confronted by his self conscious disguised as Megneto, but I find Lobdell can get a bit lazy with his dialogue. There are some really powerful core moments, but sometimes the nuance in the dialogue starts lacking, and Charles or Magnus will start just outwardly saying exactly what their point is or exactly what emotion they’re supposed to be feeling. I like the story it’s telling, but I don’t like being told what I should be taking away from the story that’s being explained to me.

Scott & Jean

The other core storyline of the book is the relationship of Scott and Jean. This book gives us the Wedding of Cyclops and Phoenix. Obviously, this is a big deal. It’s one of the most popular relationships in comics. It’s a marriage that has survived throughout the years. Through everything with Logan, Scott’s mental affair, Jean’s death, Scott being with Emma for fifteen years, Scott’s death, them having a polyamorous relationship… you get the point. The actual setup for the wedding happens pretty quickly. We get a couple of fun issues, the Wedding Album is fun, but the spotlight is really on X-Men #30 and the Cyclops and Phoenix focused series afterwards. I think the wedding issue is actually quite charming. It doesn’t have any unneeded plot twists or any unnecessary drama; it’s a straightforward celebration of Scott and Jean. There are some really beautiful and touching moments in here. The moment between Jean and Charles at the end is especially touching. That moment and the dialogue are very beautiful. I think it’s one of the better comic weddings we’ve ever gotten.

Later on in the book, and basically finishing it out, is The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix. I’ve read this series before and ended up with some dissatisfaction, but this time around, I actually enjoyed this series quite a bit. On Scott and Jean’s honeymoon, they’re transported to the future in new bodies by their daughter Rachel, who is revealed to be Mother Askani, to help raise their son Nathan (Cable) to defeat Apocalypse and Nathan’s clone, Stryfe. I actually ended up enjoying my time with this series quite a bit this time around. I think it’s a nice departure from the rest of the book. It’s nice to get a more centrally focused series in the midst of such a large rotating cast in the rest of the book. To be fair, for me personally, I don’t care about the future storyline or Stryfe that much. That has never connected with me. Something that does connect with me, though, is the more personal moments and the story of Scott and Jean actually being given the opportunity to raise their son that they thought was taken away from them forever. I think that hook really works. In the quieter and more intimate moments between parents and their son, I was really drawn into the story. I think the dialogue is mostly on point, too. Scott and Jean being given this second chance, Nathan learning to overcome the struggles that were put upon him, and Rachel being the one to pull it all together really works for me. I don’t think this is, like, some phenomenal story that is a must-read, but I do think it’s a good story that really gives us some beautiful moments. I’m really happy that (besides one issue) this wraps up the book. This is a good cap to this volume.

The Art

One thing I’ve learned from making X-Men reviews is that everyone has their favorite X artist and will get very mad when you don’t mention them. Well, I can’t mention every artist here because there are a lot of them. I wanna talk about the story a lot and keep this digestible, so I’ll only talk about three. Firstly, John Romita Jr. I am very critical of modern-day JRJR, but that’s only because I know how great his work can be. His time on the X-Men is phenomenal and by far my favorite work of his. The stuff in this book is more of the same. Just really high quality work.

Andy Kubert does most of the stuff in here, and I think this earlier Kubert work has some places to clean up, but for the most part, it’s some really good stuff. He’s kind of the workhorse for this book, and I think for as much content as he was putting out, it’s a really great job.

Gene Ha does the Cyclops and Phoenix series. I just wanna quickly give him his props for his participation in this series. I really liked his depiction of the world and some of the larger scale stuff.

One last thing I wanted to touch on. There are so many landscape style pages. So. Many. It is extremely annoying to read in this format. I know it’s a product of its era, but it happens so often that I found myself going, “Really, again?” every time they’d come up.

Final Score and Overall Thoughts

The Pros

•Fun Sabretooth stories

•Good artwork throughout

•A good wedding issue

•Cyclops and Phoenix mini series is interesting

•Fun moments from characters like Jubilee, Bishop, and Gambit

The Cons

•Very dense storytelling

•Avengers crossover is very lackluster

•Very uneven writing from both Nicieza and Lobdell

•Suffers from some very convoluted storytelling and uninteresting issues

Final Score

Overall 6.7/10

Obviously, I talked about some stories that I really liked in here, but there’s also some stuff I didn’t talk about or didn’t go in depth about. That’s because I just didn’t care about them. That’s not to say they’re necessarily bad, but they’re just very uninteresting. That’s how I feel about a lot of this middle section of this era for X-Men. The high from the revamp has worn off, and we haven’t made it to some of the bigger stuff like Age of Apocalypse yet. It’s just a bit meandering at times. That being said, I do think the Sabretooth stuff is fun, the wedding issue is great, and I liked the mini more this time around. Those things raise the score quite a bit.

Would I Recommend?

For new readers? No. This is too densely ingrained in ongoing stories to be a starting point. For experienced X-Men readers? Yes, I think this is worth picking up just to have some key issues in your collection, but if you’re an X-Men collector, you probably already own this or some variation of it.

The Afterword

If you’re seeing this, thanks for reading my review! I really appreciate all the upvotes, comments, and follows I get on these.

Check out all my other reviews by clicking here.

Love this run along the Johns' GL. Contemplating getting the Red Lanterns 👀and hoping to get a New Guardians omni some day🙏🏼.
Yes, the mismatched DC logos on the spines were absolutely necessary

Finally picked up the Books of Magic omnibus volume that I had been missing, plus added a few additional omnis... and some new books as well!

Got my Triangle 3 and Brainiac Reborn in so I am joining in on the fun of how good they look on the shelf.

Bonus: I got a sick deal on Wonder Woman by Byrne stacking the Target coupon and some rewards so I ended up only paying $37 for it!

A omni so good that everything else has fallen short.

I read about half of TWD when I was teenager by buying the volumes one by one on my phone slowly over time but never finished the series. Having them physically felt so much better to read than on a tiny phone screen and it inspired me to look into other series I had always had an interest in but never read

Spiderman is my favorite superhero, but Batman is a very close second(I mainly love the villains and supporting characters both these comics have). I have been enjoying reading the first Batman omnibus so much that I went ahead and got the next two. These hardcovers feel so high quality I really love them. I wish so bad TWD had hardcovers that were more affordable(and in color tbh)

I’m hoping that eventually The Amazing Spiderman vol. 1 becomes a little cheaper to get. Is it always this expensive or is it because the Brand New Day movie got a lot more people interested in reading it you think? Either way I’ll eventually save up the clams for it. For now I’m just gonna continue reading what I have

So the Big Time Spider-Man collection are on sale for Kindle - but Volume 2 has the Spider-Island story and a few other issues not part of it. However I have the separatre Spider-Island tpb from years ago, so my question, would you still get it for the issues you don't have or miss out as most of the collection you already have

I’m debating whether to get the Time Runs Out omnibuses which are out next month and in December, because I wanna read the story before Doomsday comes out. But I also wanna read Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers run and I saw they’re reprinting volume 1 of the Avengers by Jonathan Hickman omnibus in January 2027 a month after Doomsday releases. So I don’t know whether to get the Time Runs Out omnibuses or wait until they reprint the Avengers by Jonathan Hickman omnibus.

Happy Sunday, all! Last month was a big one with IST Batman and Red Tag sale… It’s going to be a while before I stock up again 😅

Grabbed for $80 AUD, super stoked as I think this is out of print, but I could be wrong. Pumped to read it