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Yet Mr. Byrne did the Spider-Man guest appearance in the third issue!!!

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Seeing this brings to mind that I recently read UXM #94-153 again for the second time in preparation for diving into X-Men: Elsewhen.  I intended originally to read through to #137 and then read Phoenix: The Untold Story.  Instead, I pressed through to the end of the second Omnibus with the idea that it would be interesting and instructive to compare the continued storyline in Elsewhen with the "official" version.

I may have more to say about that as I go further into the Elsewhen chronology, but I want to comment on the Dr. Doom storyline in #145-146.  First of all, I view Dr. Doom as one of the great Marvel characters.  Many of the stories featuring Doom are great stories.  Unfortunately, UXM #145-146 are not included in that category, and I found that storyline to be disappointing and poorly executed.  The biggest crime of those issues is that the story is...   boring.  I thought posterity might be kinder to these issues in reading them again many years later but I stand by my original opinion.

I do not understand how you can take great characters like Victor Von Doom and the X-Men, and put them in conflict with each other, and have it be anything less than a stellar event.  Yet somehow UXM #145-146 accomplished this feat.  Perhaps it can be said that there are no bad characters but only bad storytelling.

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This page-turning cliffhanger aspect of your storytelling technique seems to be on display more so here in "And Call His Name Magneto" than in any of the earlier chapters.  Things are starting to come to a head in this chapter with a lot going on in different locations, from the X-Men's arrival at Muir Island, to Kitty's breakfast with Carla and Pablo, Xavier's conference with Captain America and his confrontation with Pablo the team's battle with Magneto, Jamie Madrox returning to Muir Island, and Jean Grey's departure from Anandale-On-Hudson.  All of this transpired in just 21 pages (up just one page from the usual 20 pages!).  No one can accuse you of a lack of economy and efficiency in telling a story!

Each of the pages in this chapter build momentum in story from beginning to end, and I can see that reading a page each day as these were parceled out originally would establish suspense in much the same manner and technique of the best daily and weekly comic strips. The experience is much the same when reading all 21 pages in one sitting in their collected version, so to speak, as I did; the story moves back and forth among various characters as the momentum builds to the end of the battle with Magneto and Jean Grey's big decision.  You always want to leave the reader wanting more.  Mission accomplished! I cannot wait to see what happens next!

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An artist must have favorites and not-so favorites (like Madrox) when creating on the page.  Do you have favorites and not-so-much characters to illustrate the page?  I think the Thing might have been mentioned before in one of these categories.

As you flip through these issues a few years later, are there any things that you would do differently now, or different ideas that germinate now that never occurred to you before?