The first issue here is obviously the definition of that much abused word seminal; it’s the beginning of the rise of the X-Men from a cancellation hell to the culture conquering modern force it is today. The first issue details that transition in a ‘Giant Size’ issue, Professor X putting a second team together to rescue his original X-Men. Quite wonderfully, there are a number of unexpected twists and turns to the story and it’s easy to imagine that elements of it were an influence on Lost. It’s a breathless ride with no narrative flab and told in the grandiose style of Marvel built on Stan Lee.

The problem is with the books that follow – you can perhaps make a case for the following couple of issues and the arrival of Phoenix as important to showing the team’s development, but the last couple of issues add very little. Given the almost soap opera nature of Chris Claremont’s X-Men run the ending feels randomly generated, added to give a feeling of value for money. But then this is the great peril of adding a ‘classic’ range – much of what you’ll get is forcing the square peg of ongoing monthly series into the round hole of a coherent, graphic novel length story. So this ends up as much of a strange hybrid as Count Nefaria’s assistants, some fine individual moments but not one which satisfies with a strong ongoing story. The only way you can take this as a remotely coherent piece is in watching the series develop, Claremont seeing what does and doesn’t work (character conflict clearly a strong point, oddly ill-fitting ideas like leprechauns clearly don’t. That said I’d love to see someone reinvent the leprechaun idea Grant Morrison style). Interesting as a snapshot of the start of the modern X-Men universe then, but as storylines in their own right, inessential. ( )