X-Force Epic Collection: X-Cutioner's Song

Today I just received the book and it's great. It conteins one of the best X Men crossovers. One of the best moments of X Force and Cable. A must read. Make Mine Marvel.

This epic collection consists mostly of the epic x-over it's named after. One of my favorite x-over stories so naturally I loved this book. Highly recommended!

The second X-Force Epic Collection pretty much entirely revolves around the titular X-Book crossover event, and I had some trepidation about rereading it for the first time since its original release in 1992/3. The early nineties was not generally my favourite period at Marvel, and crossover events can vary in quality quite tremendously. Happily, I found that this one, at least, still holds up very well. The volume begins with the Blood & Metal two-parter, which delves into Cable's past to show how he fell out with his former allies and, more importantly, positions him against his mysterious archnemesis, Stryfe. Then it's time for the main event, with a twelve-issue story divided between X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor and X-Force. I think it was the right decision to place the whole crossover within the X-Force Epics rather than the others (see the recent X-Factor Epic, which only reprinted that book's three chapters with text summaries), because this really is an event that revolves around Cable. Beginning with his supposed attack on Professor X and building into a grand confrontation between him and Stryfe, the event makes good use of all three mutant teams involved, with them alternately clashing and teaming up as they chase both Cable and the truth. None of it is very subtle, of course - it's all huge guns, huger shoulder-pads and dialogue snarled through gritted teeth - but it's pretty fun for all that. The volume is rounded off with the inclusion of Stryfe's Strike File, summing up text profiles of many of the characters involved, and an issue of New Warriors that ties up a few New Mutants loose ends involving Magma, Firestar and Warpath. Extras include a Marvel Age article, trading cards, covers and an introduction from past trades, pinups and Greg Capullo cover art. It's a bombastic collection of a bombastic time in comics, and works pretty well for both whole-run collectors and on its own.

I was a bit concerned going into this one based upon some other reviews I'd read but was left quite satisfied. The storyline includes some great set pieces, fun action, and an intriguing plot. Plus this particular copy includes the Cable Blood and Metal storyline as well, giving you two classic Cable stories for the price of one.

Was worried about reading this again, 30 years later, but it has definitely held up well. The books had a good run, after the Image exodus. Still one of my favorite epic X-overs. If you enjoyed that era of Marvel comics, this is a good addition to your collection.

I'm not a huge X-Force fan but I liked the Fabian Nicieza run. I didn't like Leifeld's art in the first year or the writer runs after Nicieza but from issues 16-43 or so I really enjoyed the book.

Great compilation of books. Contains awesome additional stories.

There are many way to read the 1992 X-Crossover event, X-Cutioner's Song. You could have all 12 original comics, possibly still in their sealed plastic bags and containing their collector's cards. I haven't looked it up recently but they're probably easy to buy at a local comic shop, considering the speculator market at the time and "collectible" nature of the books means more sold than were probably read. I remember buying these second hand from one of the night supers in my college dorm. He was selling his X-Men back issues out of his trunk and I snatched up a lot of these as I tried to fill in my collection. You could also have one of the many trades or hardcover collections of the crossover. I remember getting the 1994 version, buying it directly from Marvel when they included a promo in their comics about buying reasonably priced trades. I think that also pissed off the comic book stores at the time. It's a fun world. You could also buy it in one of the Epic Collections. Both X-Force Epic Collection vol. 2: X-Cutioner's Song and X-Men Epic Collection vol. 21: The X-Cutioner's Song include the full crossover as well as more issues of their respective series. X-Factor Epic Collection vol. 8: X-Aminations includes the X-Factor issues of the crossover as well as summaries of the X-Force, Uncanny, and adjectiveless issues that aren't included there. So you have options. The first Epic Collection with the crossover is probably the best full package version of X-Cutioner's Song, though. That would be X-Force. Why? Because while X-Cutioner Song draws in all of the team X-books of the time and has repercussions for various X-Characters, it seems more of an extension of the X-Force story than anywhere else. That's mostly because it deals with X-Force leader, Cable, and X-Force's primary antagonist, Stryfe, more than anything else. Sure, it has Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse who had been lately appearing in the X-Factor book (Apocalypse hadn't been seen since the original X-Factor line-up rejoined the X-Men but that was his last appearance) but they didn't carry the story in the same way as Stryfe. Cyclops and Jean Grey are also heavily involved in the main plot so I'm glad that the X-Men Epic Collection features the whole crossover as well, even though it means I have this whole thing way more times than you should. I also believe that the reason X-Cutioner's Song is so X-Force centered is because Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, and X-Force had just lost their main artistic creators to the Image exodus but Fabian Nicieza had already gone from scripter to full writer on the book and had the best handle on where things we going. However, X-Factor had kept chugging along as usual with Peter David and... X-Factor is just kinda THERE for this event. They are important to the storyline but are the least impacted by the events within. So whatever the reason, X-Cutioner's Song was a good example of the X-books pulling together after a sudden creative exodus and showing everyone that they could still tell a pretty good story. X-Cutioner's Song is actually pretty good. The books are still surviving mostly on the fumes of Chris Claremont at this point but Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell keep things engaging. Peter David's issues here are hilarious and Jae Lee's art in X-Factor is the best in the book. It's actually my favorite Jae Lee art, too. X-Cutioner's Song propels X-Force and the X-Men books in new directions and closes some mysteries while prolonging and adding others. What makes the X-Force Epic Collection almost the definitive version of X-Cutioner's Song is that it includes the Cable: Blood and Metal two-parter as a lead-in to the event. This book was written by Nicieza and illustrated by John Romita Jr. and Dan Green. It is an amazing build up to the crossover that is included here because Cable and X-Force are intrinsically related at this point. You also get Stryfe's Strike File which gives you a look into what Stryfe thought about the main players in this crossover event and gives you some hints as to what's going to happen next. This isn't the most necessary bit but it IS related to the crossover and I'm glad one of the Epic Collections included it. Finally, you get to see what happens next for the X-Force team and they suffer under house arrest at the X-Mansion for exactly one issue. And also an issue of New Warriors takes place right around here which includes Warpath and Cannonball and deals with the remaining Hellions. The art here is by Derrick Robertson and it is really good stuff. Why isn't there a New Warriors Epic Collection yet? This is a better way to read X-Cutioner's Song than my old trade even though I love how sturdy those old pages are. My old copy is getting pretty rough around the edges which is a testament to how much I read it. But I'm pretty sure some of the pages have been altered to remove plot points that weren't relevant to the crossover. Like I think it's missing some X-Factor specific sub-plots that would direct that book post-crossover. They aren't necessary if all you want is X-Cutioner's Song but if you want something akin to the original books just collected, this or the X-Men Epic Collection are the way to go. Or if you're me, you buy all three and don't regret it. Much. So what else do you get? Extras, extras, extras! The Cable Classic vol. 1 TPB Frontispiece Art by John Romita Jr. & Tom Smith which is a ridiculously 90's version of Cable! The X-Men: X-Cutioner's Song HC Cover Art by Andy Kubert, Mark Pennington, & Thomas Mason which is a recolored version of the cover to X-Men #14! The X-Men: X-Cutioner's Song HC Back Cover by Brandon Peterson, Terry Austin, & Thomas Mason which is a recolored version of the cover to Uncanny X-Men #294 and also serves as the cover to THIS Epic Collection! The X-Factor Visionaries: Peter David vol. 4 TPB Frontispiece Art by Larry Stroman, Al Milgrom, & Sotocolor's A. Crossly which is a recolored version of X-Factor #84! Stryfe's Strike File Gold 2nd Printing Cover! The Marvel Age #116 article on the X-Cutioner's Song crossover! The cover to Uncanny X-Men #294 still packaged in a decorated polybag! All those collectible trading cards, front and back, reprinted on a number of pages! The X-Men: X-Cutioner's Song TPB 1st Printing cover art by Joe Madureira, Terry Austin, & Paul Mounts! The X-Men: X-Cutioner's Song TPB 4th Printing cover art by Jae Lee, Al Milgrom, & Chris Dickey! The X-Men: X-Cutioner's Song Introduction by Fabian Nicieza! The Hot Shots: X-Men Pinup by Jae Lee & Paul Mounts! The Marvel Swimsuit Special #1 Pinup by Brian Stelfreeze featuring Val Cooper and Domino which hasn't aged well at all! The Marvel Swimsuit Special #1 Parody Ad by Mark Pacella & Brad Vancata which... is still kinda funny, actually! And, finally, the X-Force #19 cover art by Greg Capullo & Harry Candelario without those distracting colors! So it's a pretty full package. It's 90's X-books crossing over with each other in a way that they wouldn't do again for quite some time. Sure, there would almost always be a yearly X-Event, but the crossover nature of those wouldn't be this all-encompassing. They wouldn't go from book to book for 12 consecutive issues. Some of the following would just be self-contained stories that related to the whole event. I'm trying to remember what the next mega-crossover that would match this scale would be and I think it's Messiah Complex? Maybe I'll figure it out as I reread all of these issues in more Epic Collections. ;) Anyway, this is something worth reading in some way, shape or form. I haven't mentioned this but a final warning: The X-Cutioner doesn't actually feature in these books. It's just a fancy name for the crossover that probably inspired the creation of the X-Cutioner character because the name just HAD to be used. And now you know.