X-Men: X-Cutioner's Song: X-cutioners Song (Uncanny X-Men (1963-2011))

Scott Lobdell, Peter David, and Fabian Nicieza run head this massive crossover that is the height of early 90s X-madness: Jae Lee and Kubrick stand out as artists here. There is a background to shift and some of the awkwardness: Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld had increasingly driven sells at Marvel, and had taken over increasingly plot direction from the X-team writers. However, Image is founded and these artistic-creators leave Marvel for even more editorial freedom. So, with the exception of Peter David's run on X-Factor, writers had previously been marginalized, which led ultimately to Claremont and other X-team classic writers leaving the line after a decade in some cases. Here, in this crossover, while the house style of X-men, with the exception of Jae Lee's work on X-factor, had been unquestionably altered by Jim Lee's art and the some of Lobdell and Nicieza still feel like they are mimicking the purple narrative prose of Claremont, it is a return to more classic writing.Now this was is a nostalgia read for me: it was better than I was expecting given how much this seen as the height of 90s crossover excess, but it was also not as good as I remembered. Yes, it is unwilling, you have four X-teams and tons of characters to keep up with. Sometimes heroic teams are fighting each other, other times villain teams are realigning, and even villains aid the main hero. The Summer's family nonsense and the five or six alternate time-lines intersecting with multiple X-men characters from completely different time lines poised over stopping the death of Professor X.Originally, Stryfe's files were included as trading cards in the sealed bags, and that is how I got this as young teen in 1992, and the info from these cards is included in this trade at the end. It's enjoyable, bloated, convoluted, and probably more relevant to those who remember the early 90s instead of those whose X-men was written by either Claremont (earlier) or Wheedon and Morrison later.

I read this in its original 12-installment crossover form in the mid-'90s so some of my facts could be off.This crossover was basically an excuse to cram as many characters as possible into one storyline and that results in a lot of confusions. Also, it detracts from the believability of the Stryfe character and also makes his motivations somewhat unclear. He's out for vengeance against Apocalypse (who had injected him with the virus as a child), Cable (whom he sees as his inferior clone), and his parents Cyclops and Jean Grey (for abandoning him). But what's his ultimate vengeance? And the X-teams' method of finally locating him is pretty ludicrous, the story getting a little too busy with sending its heroes here and there that for two or three issues worth, the X-teams just seem to be wandering here and there fighting everybody. The most focused storylines are that of Wolverine and Bishop, who encounter Cable, the falsely accused assassin, and Beast, desperately trying to save Xavier and finally succeeds only because of Apocalypse's help.It's still fun, of course, to watch Bishop and Wolverine duke it out with Cable, and X-Factor rounding up X-Force with the help of the X-Men. But these are weakened by some really weak scenes like Apocalypse's fight with Stryfe (no power, no excitement, with huge lapses in logic) and some embarrassing dialogue at points (Jean Grey's lovey-dovey conversations with Cyclops during their attempted escape from the moonbase are just awful writing).The most valuable thing to me about the X-ecutioner's Song series is a comparison of the different visual styles of the three series. X-Factor is stark and more than a little whacked (its stories as I remember are also much more off-kilter thanks to smart-mouthed characters like Polaris, Wolfsbane/Rahne, Quicksilver and Agent Val); X-Force is more violent and rebelliious; and X-Men, the parent series, is more restrained and middle-of-the-road, less eccentric.Worthy examination of the relationship among the X-series. Writing issues are compensated for by the big showdowns and action sequences, capped off by Cable's final, violent confrontation with Stryfe.

The title to my review pretty much sums up this entire book! Are you a fan of the X-Men? Are you a fan of over-the-top action sequences and poster perfect artwork of 1990s comic books?How about totally convoluted storylines that even the most die-hard comic book fan can barely navigate? Did I mention time travelling evil clones??If so, then THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!!All the other reviewers have summed up the key plot points of this book (Cable/Stryfe's origin, attempted assination of Professor X, etc) so I won't rehash it again. If you're looking for a good old fashioned 1990s X-Men crossover, then this is for you.It's a shame that so many of the other X-Men crossover classics from the late 1980s & 1990s are now out of print. We could do with new printings of X-Tinction Agenda, Operation: Zero Tolerance, Inferno, Fatal Attractions, Fall of the Mutants, etc.Get this one while it's still available, because it doesn't tie in to any current continuity of the X-Men, their current roster, or much of anything going on today (not that that's a bad thing). When it's gone it'll be gone just like the rest of the previously mentioned books.

i couldn't follow what was going on with the storyline the artwork isn't my favourite and just seems x amount of pages where theres a big fight every 2 pages and the story is confusing hard to follow and the art not my thing

One of my favorite

I own it in the issues but its great to be able to read the whole thing!

A very fair price for a like new copy. Happy with my purchase.

Excelente historia. Una de las mejores en el universo de los X-men. Lo único malo es qué el libro llego algo maltratado de las esquinas y golpeado en la parte inferior del lomo. Si te gusta tener tus cómics en perfecto estado, esto es un gran problema y por eso le pongo cuatro estrellas. Fuera de eso y si eres un fan de los X-Men y de la vieja escuela te va a gustar.