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THIS WEEK:
Astonishing X-Men
Cable & Deadpool
District X
Exiles
New X-Men
Ultimate X-Men
Uncanny X-Men
Wolverine
X-Men
X-Men Unlimited
The rest (1)
The rest (2)
The rest (3)

X-23, like her or not, is the character of the year when it comes to sales.  Her appearances actually boost numbers, and there are damn few characters you can still say that about.  The X-23 origin miniseries is really about the scientist who created her, with X-23 as a brainwashed drone throughout.  But it's a genuinely interesting series in its willingness to create such an inaccessible and emotionally blank character.  Tugs at the heartstrings a bit blatantly on occasion, but that goes with the territory.  It's really quite a good comic, despite what you might expect from it.

Reviews: X-23 #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6

X-FACTOR, the ongoing spin-off from Peter David's Madrox miniseries, is now two issues in (but issue #2 was out this week, which is why there isn't a review for it).  It's a very promising start, recapturing the appeal of the Madrox miniseries but broadening the focus to a motley crew of X-books C-listers.  Crucially, unlike so many of the X-books, this title seems to know exactly what it's about and why it's here.  Besides which, it's by Peter David and Ryan Sook.  That's a creative team with a huge amount of promise, and so far the book seems on track to deliver.

Reviews: X-Factor #1

The horrendous X-Force series spilled into 2005 as well, regaling readers with one further issue of distressingly awful shit.  The less said about this the better, but at least it's over now and the nasty man has gone away.

Reviews: X-Force #6

Oh, except that he also stuck around to plot X-FORCE: SHATTERSTAR - which, in true Rob Liefeld fashion, came out after X-Force but took place before it.  Bafflingly incoherent, and without even a Fabian Nicieza script to salvage it, this was at times laughably bad.  There is truly no excuse for comics this awful being allowed to see the light of day.  It's a cynical cash grab and nothing more - and such a blatant one that it can only do harm to Marvel's reputation in the long run.  Everyone involved in this fiasco should be ashamed.

Reviews: X-Force: Shatterstar #1 | #2 | #3 | #4

In comparison, X-MEN: AGE OF APOCALYPSE looks fantastic.  Unfortunately, that's the only context in which this ill-conceived series looks fantastic, or indeed good.  Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the original crossover, the series utterly misses the point of the story's appeal and, if anything, simply damages it by undoing the "end of the world" finish without explanation.  On the plus side, it did establish that Chris Bachalo gets better when he's rushed, which was interesting to see. 

Reviews: X-Men: Age of Apocalypse one-shot | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6

Because you demanded it, X-MEN & POWER PACK.  Retailers have ordered this as simply another Power Pack miniseries, and that's what it is.  So if Marvel thought the X-Men name was going to help, think again.  (Mind you, if they still think the X-Men name sells products like this, after the last few years of sales figures, then god help them.)  In fact, though, I really like this series.  It's a simple, straightforward, fun little kids book, which knows its audience and delivers for them.  Better than you might expect. 

Reviews: X-Men & Power Pack #1 | #2

X-MEN: COLOSSUS - BLOODLINE involves Colossus learning that he's a descendent of Rasputin, as are all his family, and that they all need to die so that Rasputin's immortal soul can be reunited in the lone survivor of the family.  And if you can work out why somebody thought that was a good pitch, let me know, because I'm bemused.  After a slightly promising start, this has just degenerated into silliness.

Reviews: X-Men: Colossus - Bloodline #1 | #2 | #3 | #4

X-MEN: DEADLY GENESIS brings Ed Brubaker to the X-Men titles for the first time, amid rumours that he might be set to take over one of the regular titles in 2006.  I'd certainly welcome that on the strength of this series - he's always a good storyteller, and he's off to a strong start here with a back-to-basics X-Men story.  I'm still wary of what looks to be a massive retcon working its way down the pipe, since these things rarely work out in practice.  But I'd happily read this sort of thing on a monthly basis.

Reviews: X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1

X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR - or X4, if you go by the logo - should count itself lucky that Shatterstar had a miniseries in 2005.  Thanks to him, it's only the second worst book of the year.  An idiotic premise about the X-Men getting FF powers, played dead straight, and accompanied with mediocre artwork, this truly is a miniseries with absolutely nothing to commend it.  If you are the sort of person who gives your old comics to charity, for god's sake take X4 out of the box first, because it would be sheer sadism to make a civilian read this.

Reviews: X4 #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5

X-MEN: KITTY PRYDE - SHADOW & FLAME has a stupidly long title, and is Akira Yoshida's other Japanese miniseries of the year.  Despite his erratic track record, though, this one is worth a look - not so much for the plot, which is nothing to write home about, as the art by Paul Smith.  Yoshida does at least give Smith plenty to work with, and I could happily gaze at his martial arts sequences for hours.  And to be fair, while the story's a bit silly, it's not that bad either.  Better than you're probably imagining it to be. 

Reviews: X-Men: Kitty Pryde - Shadow & Flame #2 | #5

X-MEN: PHOENIX - ENDSONG was another pleasant surprise, providing an epilogue to the death of Jean Grey and extracting a remarkably decent story from the convoluted editorial remit.  Greg Land's art is rather nice too, albeit that the woman all look plastic and airbrushed. It falls apart a bit in the last act with a murky finish that may have been the victim of editorial rewriting - other comics published at the same time seemed to think that this series ended with a much more definitive statement that Jean was dead and not coming back.  Overall, though, a series that has persuaded me Marvel might be on to something with Greg Pak.  Even though he's since blotted his copybook again with Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects.

Reviews: X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5

Finally, and appropriately, X-MEN: THE END, BOOK 2.  The middle book of Chris Claremont's trilogy has more focus than the first, but it's still ultimately caught up in a whole range of side issues and subplots when it surely ought to be doing more with the core themes of the X-Men.  The best The End stories have been the simple ones that hit the keynote of the character, achieved closure, and called it a day.  This eighteen-issue sprawl is not such a story, and it's really only of interest to the hardcore Claremont fanbase.

Reviews: X-Men: The End, Book 2 #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6