Book Review: X-Men Milestones: The Fall of the Mutants by C. Claremont et al.

X-Men Milestones: The Fall of the Mutants written by Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson, pencils by Mark Silvestri, Walter Simonson, and Bret Blevins, and inked by Dan Green, Bob Wiacek, and Terry Austin

In a late 1980s semi-crossover event, The Fall of the Mutants story appeared in Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and The New Mutants. While thematically tied together as earth-shaking events for each group of mutants, the stories did not intertwine (though events in each are mentioned in the others). They could be read separately without loosing the continuity of storytelling but they are offered as a group in a trade paperback.

In Uncanny X-Men, the X-Men (led by Wolverine and featuring Colossus, Havok, Rogue, Psylocke, Dazzler, and Longshot) go to Dallas, Texas, where they search for their missing leader Storm. They go to Eagle Tower, a building that's home to Forge, a mutant whose ability is to construct technology. He and Storm have escaped to another dimension where they hope to get Storm's powers back. But in the normal world, Dallas is falling into chaos. Dinosaurs, prehistoric men, Native Americans, and humans from the future are pouring in and fight with each other and with the current-day Texans. If that was not enough, another group of mutants called the Freedom Force have shown up to arrest the X-Men. Freedom Force is led by Mystique and includes a lot of former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants members. So the two teams are natural opponents until they realize the bigger problems they all face. Then they cooperate to fix things. The story is fairly epic but suffers from the excessive verbosity of Claremont and the retreading of the same themes (X-Men as oppressed, misunderstood outsiders) with nothing new to show. I found it only mildly interesting, more like reading a re-run than a new story.

In The New Mutants, Magneto is in charge of Xavier's School, though the children are quite rebellious even though at this point in the story Magneto is a good guy. Most of the mutant children head off with Bird Brain, a half-human/half-bird that wants to return to his home and free the other animal-hybrids living there. They have all been created by a mad scientist who wants to build a slave race to menial work, freeing regular humans for the good life. The battle is very hard and costs one of the Mutants' lives. The roster of mutants was mostly unfamiliar to me so the story wasn't as impactful. Otherwise it was a fine adventure.

In X-Factor, the classic X-Men (Jean Grey, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman) face off against Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen who are about to wipe out Manhattan. Apocalypse has a surprise fourth Horseman--former X-man Angel, whom he has refashioned with new metal wings and named Death. The mutants spend their time fighting and getting angsty over whether mutants and humans can live together in peace. Apocalypse doesn't think they can live in peace so he is making war on humans to drive the two groups farther apart. The X-Men make the argument that mutants are humans too, though they have a hard time convincing the humans of the X-Men's humanity. Things work out in the end without any really earthshaking changes, other than the return of Angel and an upbeat ending for the downtrodden group.

The group I knew the least about, the New Mutants, had the most interesting story. They play hooky to help a friend and get embroiled in a plot that is almost too big for them. The story had some suspense and a different, more fatherly take on Magneto. The other stories are fine but did not have the substance I was looking for. They were more like typical stories than milestones.

Mildly recommended.