I really liked this one, even though it's brutal. I love that the X-Factor issues make it extremely clear that to the average person, other metahumans are the same as mutants- it makes the hatred that the mutants face much scarier and more real. ( )

It's not a home run but it's a classic X-Men story. The fights are tough and brutal. The number of dead and injured is very high in the story. It seems weird going from X-Men to Thor to Power Pack but that's all part of the story. It doesn't feel like it ends when the book ends. The story seems like it needs a part two to wrap it all up. Still it's a classic story to read. ( )

Undoubtedly one of the most character defining, well-plotted and influential sagas ever. Another peak of Claremont's X-Men writing. ( )

The Uncanny X-Men issues, especially 212 and 213 are a highlight, and the X-Factor issues made me nostalgic. New Mutants 46 likewise, as it is basically the start of a great story arc involving the New Mutants fleeing from Warlock's father, Magus, but I'll have to pull out the long box to re-read that story. The Thor issues, Power Pack, and Daredevil are not that great but the Thor issues especially explain some of the events referenced in X-Men and X-Factor so it is nice that they are included. Overall, a nice bit of X-Men comics history. ( )

Having read these issues for the first time when they were released by in the mid 80s, I can safely say that after 20 years, X-Men: Mutant Massacre can still stand on its own as a decent story. Of course, it's severely dated in some circumstances, but if you can read it in the context for when it was written, where characters needed to be called by name in every issue to make sure the readers knew who they were, and the fashions that the characters were drawn in are so the 80s, if you can get passed all that to the actual story, it really isn't all that bad. The Marauders, a mysterious group of mutant bounty hunters, have been hired to find the Morlocks, a group of mutants who have decided to remove themselves from society altogether and live in tunnels under NYC, and exterminate them, entirely. Why the Marauders were hired for this purpose is never entirely made clear and who hired them remains a mystery, mentioned only once by the name of Mr. Sinister (all this is explained many, many years later and even I don't know the entire reasoning behind it), but in the course of this massacre, the X-Men are contacted to help the Morlocks, and a war breaks out between the Marauders and the X-Men, with several other super groups being brought into the mix. There are casualties on both sides, some with ramifications that had to be dealt with for years for the characters.

The art is amazing in this volume, also giving me my first experience with some of the artists that would become some of my favorites over the years, such as John Romita Jr and Alan Davis. There was a good portion of my childhood that was taken up with ideas of being a comic book artist because of these guys. Alas, that never happened, but I can still appreciate their art on these issues all these years later.

This newly released hardcover edition is presented quite nicely, with all of the relevant issues presented in chronological, reading order. X-Men: Mutant Massacre certainly won't be for everybody, but I think if you are a current fan of the X-Men titles and you've not read back this far in the X-Men canon, I think it would be a good idea to see some of the defining moments for these characters, as quite a bit of the characters that we see today came from the events of this one storyline. Of course, that could just be me, since I've already confessed to being a little biased toward this story. But I'll still stick by it no matter what. ( )