In the mid-1990’s, Marvel Comics was struggling. The Image exodus had seen their seven top-selling artists gone, and not on good terms. Todd MacFarlane (Spider-Man), Erik Larsen (Amazing Spider-Man), Rob Liefeld (X-Force), Jim Lee (X-Men), Whilce Portacio (Uncanny X-Men), Marc Silvestri (Wolverine), and Jim Valentino (Guardians of the Galaxy) were achieving very public success at…
Art by the Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Team Name: Elizabeth Braddock Code Names: Psylocke, Captain Britain First Appearance: Captain Britain #8 (1978) Powers: Telepathy, Telekinesis, the ability to teleport though shadows on occasion Teams Affiliation: STRIKE, RCX, X-Men, Exiles, X-Force About The X-Men have always been closely related to the adolescent experience and few things are more crucial to…
Art by Marc Silvestri and Josef Rubinstein Name: Sally Blevins Code Names: Skids First Appearance: X-Factor #7 (Aug 1986) Powers: Personal Force Field Teams Affiliation: Morlocks, X-Terminators, New Mutants, Mutant Liberation Front, Acolytes, SHIELD About Community is one of the most important things in a person’s life, and I am not talking about the Dan Harmon show. That sense of belonging,…
Art by Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend Name: Jean-Phillipe Code Names: Fantomex, Weapon XIII, Charlie Cluster-7 First Appearance: New X-Men #128 (Aug 2002) Powers: Misdirection, External Nervous System/Flying Saucer, Nanoactive Blood, 3 Brains Teams Affiliation: Weapon Plus, X-Force About When I was young, my friends and I used to play Power Rangers. Each of us would chose a character…
Art by Jim Cheung Name: En Sabah Nur Code Names: Apocalypse First Appearance: X-Factor #5 (June 1986) Powers: Total Molecular Control Teams Affiliation: The Clan Akkaba, The Horsemen, The Dark Riders About In his Principals of Biology Herbert Spencer wrote, “This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which…
I had a very busy week and absolutely no time to research Sage so this week I am doing something a little different. I have been working on this for a few months on and off and with Apocalypse close approaching this seemed like a good time. If you disagree with this post, please leave a comment, I would…
Name: James Nicola Bradley Code Names: Dr. Nemesis, Dr. Death First Appearance: Lightning Comics #6 (1941) Powers: Hyperevolved Intellect Teams Affiliation: Battle-Axis, X-Club, X-Force About There is something about science that appeals to me and I think it is the sense of discovery. Finding something new is an experience I have always yearned for. That sense of discovery was half…
Art by Jorge Molina Name: Sarah Code Names: Marrow First Appearance: X-Men: Prime (July ‘95) Powers: Can grow and project bones from her body Teams Affiliation: Morlocks, Gene Nation, X-Men, Weapon X, X-Force About The X-Men are built on second chances. When the original run was canceled with issue #66 it looked like the X-Men would be an…
Art by Brian Hitch Name: Pete Wisdom Code Names: He jokingly had X-Force call him Professor W once First Appearance: Excalibur #86 (Feb ‘95) Powers: Shoots “Hot Knives” from his Fingers Teams Affiliation: Excalibur, X-Force, MI-13 About One of the most common experiences in fandom is placing yourself in the stories. You would battle along with your favorite heroes,…
Art by Lee Bermejo and Marte Gracia Name: Piotr Rasputin Code Names: Colossus First Appearance:Giant Sized X-Men #1 (Oct ‘75) Powers: Massive metal form Teams Affiliation: X-Men, Acolytes, Excalibur, Defenders, X-Force About Piotr Rasputin never wanted to be an X-Man. He was going to be happy using his steel form and enhanced strength to help out on…
X-Men ’92 was one of the breakout hits of Secret Wars. Written by duo Chris Sims and Chad Bowers, with art by Scott Koblish, the book brought back the energy from the most popular era of the series, the 90’s. On March 30th Marvel will be relaunching the series with Sims, Bowers, and rising star…
Name: Josh Foley Code Names: Elixir First Appearance: New Mutants #5 (Nov ’03) Powers: Able to control the bodily health in others Teams Affiliation: New Mutants, X-Men, X-Force, Reavers, Utopians About With great power, comes great responsibility. The most classic line in comics works because that sense of responsibility can be used to explore so many…
Art by Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado Name: Samuel Zachery Guthrie Code Names: Cannonball First Appearance: Marvel Graphic Novel #4: New Mutants (Nov ’82) Powers: Propels himself through air with explosive force, nigh invulnerable when blastin’ Teams Affiliation: New Mutants, X-Force, X-Men, Avengers About Responsibility is a tough concept for most kids to comprehend. They want…
Art by Russel Dauterman Name: Tabitha Smith Code Names: Time Bomb, Boom Boom, Boomer, Meltdown First Appearance: Secret Wars II (Nov ’85) Powers: Creates Energy Time Bombs Teams Affiliation: Fallen Angels, X-Factor, X-Force, X-Terminators, New Mutants, Nextwave About Do you ever think about escaping your life? Forgetting everything you have, everyone you know, everywhere you’ve…
Art by Mark Brooks Name: Benett du Paris Code Names: Exodus First Appearance: X-Factor #92 (July ‘93) Powers: Telepathy, Telekinesis, Teleportation, Healing Factor Team Affiliation: Acolytes, Brotherhood of Mutants About The central conflict of the X-Men franchise is the ideology of Charles Xavier vs Magneto. Can mutants peacefully coexist with the rest of the world or do…