X-Men Epic Collection: Lonely Are The Hunted (X-Men Epic Collection, 2) Paperback – 20 Dec. 2016

A great collection of old 60s X-men material with a decent selection of bonus items. I generally prefer the omnibus editions but they are often super unaffordable (unless reprinted) so the epics are definitely a good compromise. Packed with superb tales but there are a few duff tales. The X-men never seemed to have the consistency of the other series. Totally recommended

A fantastic collection of some of the earliest stories of the X-Men at a time when Stan Lee was starting to step back and allow new writers to take over his characters. Roy Thomas does a great job of stepping into the great man's shoes and is ably assisted by a whole raft of artists of the time. I cant wait for the next volume and the artwork of Steranko, Windsor Smith and Neal Adam

The Epic Collections are on a bit of a volume two spree at the moment, and the latest title to benefit from this beneficence is The X-Men. If you picked up the first volume, you'll know we continue where we left off; with the five original X-Men, the writing of Roy Thomas and the art of Werner Roth. This instalment takes us from 1966 to 1968, and while the stories contained within are fine, it's clear to see why the title wasn't a huge success at the time.The vast majority of the stories contained herein are part of a sprawling tale called the Factor Three saga; Professor X gets wind of a secret and malevolent organisation, and over many, many issues the X-Men first investigate them, then prepare to face them, and finally confront them. Along the way there are many diversions involving other villains, a change of costume and a new team member. I certainly won't spoil the ending of the saga here, but was left feeling that the conclusion wasn't exactly worth the time spent to get there.There are certainly still high points in this book; a rematch with the Juggernaut is pretty great, there's a punch-up with Spider-Man, the introduction of a back-up strip covering the team's origins, a shock death towards the end of the volume, and it all climaxes in the return of Magneto and a clash with the mighty Avengers. Still, with the exception of Banshee, few of the new characters make much of an impact (the Locust? Mekano?) and a subplot in which Jean juggles regular human college with her team duties doesn't really go anywhere too interesting.Extras are comprehensive, including two Not Brand Echh stories, original art pages, the extra story pages added to a later reprint of #45, contemporary T-shirt art and the covers to the first four X-Men Masterworks. One for completists, although less dedicated mutant followers may want to hang on until the next release, volume 5, which will introduce the 'All-New' team.

Ugh, this was not a pleasant experience. I can very well see why Marvel chose to reboot the X-men. This collection is the true test of how die-hard fan you are. If you can get through these poorly drawn, badly plotted issues filled with bland characters, you are a true fan. Others can safely skip ahead to the reboot (vol 5 Second Genesis)

While I did enjoy some of the earlier stories in this volume, and I really like the artwork of Roth. Too many of these stories by Thomas had forgettable villains and poor character development for the X-Men. Worth getting if you are an X-men completist, but otherwise one of the weaker epic collection volumes of the X-Men

This book is a great for comic book fans that want to read and own late 1960's issues of Marvel's X-men comic books without breaking the bank. This book contains three other issues, Avengers and Not Brand Echh, related to the X-men series as well. This book picks up where volume 1 leaves off...issues #24-45.

Great continuation of the Mighty Marvel Mutants!! To see them go from teen superheros to "no good muties" is pretty sad in their history.

Great for someone interested in the classic xmen story's

If you really like the x-men, or just enjoy having a huge tome of old comics to flip through, or you're a completionist, this is probably a 5/5 book for you. If you don't enjoy older comics, but like comics in general, this is closer to a 2/5 - hence the odd rating. If you only like the most classic stories that hold up despite how old they are, how art styles evolved, and so on, I'd probably pass on this book unless you're getting it for under $10 shipped (at which point almost any marvel epic collection is worth purchasing even as a gift, a coffee table book, or book shelf filler imo).I have a certain fondness for old comics and old storylines, but not a blind love for them. I enjoyed these stories, but they might not be for everyone. I grew up reading a lot of the marvel reprint stuff (such as Marvel Super Heroes Magazine) and enjoyed them, but they weren't the EARLIEST stories for the most part, or when they were, that was only 1-2 of the ~4 issues collected in those behemoths.This is the old stuff. The stuff that formed the xmen, which is good and bad. I think some of the cooler highlights, for me, were when the xmen teamed up with their enemies briefly, and the way that they go their separate ways at the end of that story, and the cyclops origin (I guess you could call it that? it's when he meets Prof X, which counts imo).Another fun bit is the drama of keeping identities secret - this trope has been run into the ground and beaten to death by now, but this is back when that was frequently a plot point and source of dramatic tension.The art is both classic, and bad. Seriously, you're going to see some funny stuff in there - professor x's occasional elf-like facial features along with the eyebrows that are always a little bit off. The art is pretty dang great for as old as it is, but it will also really look old as heck in certain panels. We just generally don't see comic artists draw with quite the same approach these days. The clothes (civilian clothes I mean) are a nice reminder of how far we've come, although you're mostly going to see the x-men dressed as insanely nerdy people compared to how they evolved by the 80s (and later) to have their own styles and dress more appropriately to fit in when they aren't in costume.The attitudes of that time might be a little eye-brow raising (and not just for prof x). Even as a kid I was uncomfortable with the weird authority that Prof X demanded of (and received) "his" x-men. It felt like this is a dude who required a bunch of people who (in theory at least) shared a similar vision as him for helping the world, and who were able to actually DO THE JOB not just sit in a chair and do propaganda or mindwash people to also be insanely subservient to him, almost like he was their parent, their high priest, and their military leader with all of the respect combined for all of those roles into an almost god-like role. He brooked little disagreement, and treated them like small children, and was usually proven right in the end of a story as his methods, while seeming harsh, somehow turned out to be right almost every time. I remember reading Uncanny #309 as a kid, where Prof X comes off, at best, as a kind of creepy boyfriend, and at worst, as abusive. It seemed a little creepy and out-of-line at the time. Reading these stories though, it sort of fits in with how he was written in the first 50 or so issues of x-men.From this, you can see where the x-men of the 2000s might have had some issues with prof x even as they still admired, respected, and loved him.