TITLE: X-Men Unlimited Issue #1
YEAR: June 1993
COMPANY: Marvel Comics
WRITER: Scott Lobdell
PENCILLER: Chris Bachalo
INKER: Dan Panosian
LETTERER: Chris Eliopoulos
COLORIST: Glynis Oliver
ASSISTANT: Jaye Gardner
EDITOR: Kelly Corvese
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Tom DeFalco
With the popularity of anything X-Men related during the early ’90s, it would be a great opportunity for Marvel Comics to use X-Men as a platform for upcoming writers and artists to feature their work in self-contained short stories.
And so “X-Men Unlimited” was created for that purpose. A quarterly issue that ran from 1993-2003 and a second volume from 2004-2006, it was one of the more expensive X-Men titles at the time but also featured more pages on better paper.
The first issue would feature the work of Scott Lobdell, Chris Bachalo and Dan Panosian. Lobdell and Bachalo would eventually create their new series, Generation X and Lobdell would have a solid run as writer for “The Uncanny X-Men”. Bachalo was known for his work for Neil Gaiman’s “Death: The High Cost of Living” and now has his own company doing advertising work.
The first issue is about Professor X, Cyclops and Storm who crash landed in the freezing temperatures of Antarctica and are injured badly thanks to a mutant known as Siena Blaze (a member of the Upstarts, a group of mutants who hunt to kill other mutants), who fired a blast of electromagnetic energy destroying their vehicle.
Now on survival mode, Cyclops must find a way to get to Professor X and Storm during the frigid temperatures and a blizzard upon them, while Siena Blaze is on the hunt to kill them.
It’s actually a very good story as we see the three away from their usual scenery and literally trying to find ways to survive in arctic as Storm is badly injured (cold weather also makes her burn up inside), Cyclops while the healthier of the three doesn’t have his glasses, so he’s literally blind ad Professor X is also badly injured and trying to be Cyclops eyes.
Meanwhile, Psylocke and Bishop try to search for them but find it difficult due to the blizzard.
There is one mistake in terms of pacing is involved.
Professor X leaves Cyclops and Storm via an ATV which breaks down and he is saved by someone and brought to their facility by a certain someone (who I believe is Magneto). He looked all cleaned up, wearing a robe and much better, but when he returns to Cyclops and Storm, he’s back to looking all battered, bloodied and in his suit and tie not the winter jacket he was wearing earlier.
It’s a shame that Siena Blaze was not utilized as much as an antagonist after this issue, because she showed a great amount of power in taking down Professor X and the two X-Men leaders. But considering the amount of antagonists there are in the X-Men titles, I supposed she got lost in the crowd. But she did show great potential in this issue.
At the end of the issue are artwork of the X-Men featuring other artists.
But overall, it was a solid issue to kick off “X-Men Unlimited”!