After trudging through twenty or so issues without much enjoyment (What the *%@# was up with that "Kulan Gath Takes Manhatten" thing??,) Issue 201 was the last straw for me. Storm beats Cyclops without powers simply because, well, she's better. At everything. So there. Nyah.

Check, please!

I came back for occasional issues of Silvestri's run, until the team's snide mistreatment of the suddenly-snivelling Havok because the "boy" hadn't "earned" his place amongst them sent me away again. Really? The "boy" had been a respected X-Man years before simps like Psylocke, Dazzler, and God help us all, Longshot were perverse glints in their creators' eyes. But, of course, he had not yet proven himself a Warrior Born to those on the team at that time, so he was clearly a lesser lifeform. Good call, guys. When charging into battle, the guy you want beside you is definitely the adorably-clueless Longshot and not the cosmic-energy conducting fellow who took down the Living Monolith. Treat THAT guy as shabbily as possible.

I revisited the book during the Jim Lee run since I genuinely enjoyed his art in those early issues. Later, in issue 274, his influences became too obvious for me to continue enjoying the book further. On one page, Rogue and Magneto are romping through the Savage Land making passes at one another. On the next page, Forge is begging the implacable Storm for forgiveness she will never grant (More fool he to think he had right to beg her pardon!! Was he not there for the "No quarter asked, none given" part of the program?) in a techno-fortress somewhere. That first page, pure Art Adams. The next, Barry Windsor-Smith. Flip back and forth. Adams. Smith. Adams. Smith. Threw me right out of the book. I stayed until 277, I think, before leaving the book entirely for years to come.

I picked up a couple of Morrison/ Quitely issues out of perverse curiosity, but pursued it no further as those left a particularly foul taste. Whedon's Astonishing X-Men was a revelation. Thoroughly enjoyable storytelling. Modern, yet with keynote flavors of the Claremont/ Byrne era seasoning the mix throughout. That was a good ride.

I've picked up occassional appearances by the team here and there since then. An issue or two of X-Men: the Hidden Years as back issues. Very little else. The X-Men are at best an infrequently fond memory for me these days. I enjoyed the time I spent with them as a kid, but that crowd is waayyy too seriously f*cked-up for me to consider visiting them again.

The Westchester School these days is just a bad neighborhood, full of unpleasant hardcases and loonies who'll grab what they can of your paycheck, possibly your internal organs, and leave you bleeding in an alleyway somewhere. And I can hear Quesada reading that assessment and saying, "Hells, Yeah! Now you got it! They're badass!! And if you ain't up for it, then, yeah, you'd best run home to momma!!"

Not my crowd.

UNCANNY I had the complete run up until the 4teens with Chuck Austin.  I didn't have all the first 66, some were from the reprint era.  Still, all the stories from the first 66.

The 1991 series I had up through 131.  That was during Grant Morrison's run.  That was what caused me to drop the X titles.

I also was introduced to the team one early Saturday morning to a one time airing of Pryde of the X-Men.  I went to the newsstand by my house and picked up 3 issues of X-Men comics. 

Uncanny 258, the final part of Acts of Vengeance, Jim Lee art with Wolverine, Psylocke and Jubilee fighting The Hand and Mandarin.  I had no idea what was going on really but I fell in love with the comic and read the cover off of it.

Classic X-Men 47, featuring Kitty Pryde versus a scary beast on christmas, by Claremont and John Byrne.  I met all the major players of that era, including Cyclops in a brief scene, and Kitty pretty much became my favorite X-Man.

Uncanny 260 where Dazzler was being stalked by a fan was the third book.  Silvestri artwork.  I think I have always kind of liked Dazzler because she was in the Pryde cartoon and in one of the first Marvel comics I ever read.

Right after I bought an X-Factor issue because I assumed it was party of the X-Men, and found Cyclops inside so I started buying that book too.

I have a hard time deciding what "my" team of X-Men is because I kind of started reading the book in two very different eras at the same time thanks to Classic X-Men reprints.  The Australia/Jim Lee era of the team is what made me a monthly fan of the book, and opened the door to Marvel comics for me.  I could get my hands on those issues back then, even reprints like Classic X-Men were pretty expensive for me at that time, but I could get the new issues for around a buck.  I have a hard time thinking that team is my favorite though.  I think I would have to go with the 200 era team, Storm, Cyclops, Shadowcat, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Rachel, Rogue.

I stopped buying the book regularly during the middle period of Lobdell.  Dropped out and never went back during Morrison.

••

It's funny how memory can sometimes play tricks. Seeing this question, I was sure I had continued to buy the book for several issues after I left as artist/plotter, but checking online I find that the last issue I bought was 145, only two past my departure!

Can anyone remember their last issue of the X-Men?

***

Easy enough.  Uncanny X-Men 536, which I got last week.  Withhold your boos, please.