X-Men: Phalanx Covenant Hardcover – February 28, 2014

All the X teams must battle against the human-based Phalanx a new techno-organism descended from Warlock and Magus, they get help from DougLock. I stopped collecting the X-Men in the mid-80s as a teen and have been filling out their run post 80s as an adult via OHC and Omnibuses. This arc was a bit of a slog to get through unfortunately, I didn't particularly care for the story and art compared to some of the others that came before it. But for completests, there it is.

I liked it was fun and the art was pretty cool and a great example of 90s art. Also the book it's self is very high quality.

Book came in great shape

The 1990’s were marked by two major things for Marvel Comics. First, they went wild with “collector’s item issues,” using gimmicks of holograms, foil, multiple covers, trading cards and more to push issues, many crossover stuff. Second, it was this time when the X-Men transformed into the huge multi-title franchise we know today. On the face of it, “The Phalanx Covenant” may seem to mix those both as the original issues were marked by fancy holo-foil strips to sell it as an “event.” However, this does manage to rise over the usual ‘90’s garbage with a well-done story that plays on multiple levels and makes sense, using X-Men history well and good creators crafting a tale that would have effects for a while to come. What makes this omnibus different than previous collections is that it contains various set-up issues that are reprinted for the first time. First, an issue of “Uncanny X-Men” that introduces the Phalanx: An alien race of techno-organic creatures who are able to imprint human personas and obsessed with conquering all organic life and assimilating it into their system (basically, imagine the Borg as more talkative shapeshifters). Their initial attack (Using Angel’s late love Candy Southern and his former friend-turned-enemy Cameron Hodge) causes the comatose White Queen to awaken her mind in Iceman’s body. Emma Frost then stuns everyone (including Bobby himself) by using Iceman’s powers in ways he never thought possible as she hunts her missing students, the Hellions, only to find them dead. It’s a big turn as it starts the transformation of Frost from foe to ally. Meanwhile, the British team Excalibur discover in the woods a creature named Douglock who appears to be a Phalanx mix of dead New Mutants Doug Cypher and Warlock but are unsure whether to trust it. This leads into the main crossover, which is really divided into three distinct parts:*”Generation Next,” starts with Banshee returning to the X-Mansion but soon realizes the X-Men have been replaced by Phalanx drones. With the unlikely team of Frost, Sabretooth and Jubilee, he escapes and finds the aliens are hunting the next generation of mutants (which includes future favorite characters Husk, Synch, M and Blink) and must rescue them.*”Life Signs” has X-Factor, X-Force and Excalibur working together to stop the Phalanx from “hatching” new drones on Earth. There’s conflict as Wolfsbane and Cannonball have differing emotions about Douglock and one member of the team falling prey to the alien force as the others face an army.*”Final Sanction” brings it together as Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine and Cable unite to rescue the captured X-Men and stop the Phalanx once and for all. The crossover mixes well together, the writers (especially Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza) knowing what they’re doing and handling the various elements well. They’re backed by good artwork from Andy and Adam Kubert and a young Joe Madureira that sells the threat of the Phalanx, wild in the shapeshifting and not the usual mess that many ‘90’s comic art was. The characters are perfect from Banshee’s lonely fight to the conflicts of Douglock and former love Wolfsbane to the introduction of M as the rather arrogant know-it-all fighter that X-Factor fans would come to enjoy. The presentation is the usual great job of Marvel omnibus volumes, slick paper and while much has been reprinted already, the addition of those set-up issues does make this a more complete volume to put things in context. If you have one of the original collections, an upgrade might be a bit much but if you don’t, it’s one of the better X-Men “events” that works as both good story and set-up for the future in many ways.

Very Good.!

It was all I expected!

Now this story is decent. Not the best, but not the worst either. One thing i do love about this collection, is that its not the actual story itself. Which is about 9 issues. But all the extra issues that included that build up to the main story. You get the first encounters of the phalanx. The introduction of douglock (who turns out to be a major player in the main story). And emna frost waking up from a coma and taking over icemans body. Its about 250ish pages in total. The douglock story was pretty cool.Now the main story itself was divided into 3 into 3 storylines. They happen pretty much the same time. But involve different groups of characters with there own separate mission. First you get "generation next" its where banshee and jubilee team up with emma frost and sabretooth to save the next generation of mutants from the phalanx. Then you get "lifesigns" which is where xforce, xfactor and excaliber team up to stop the phalanx from calling an alien invasion for backup. Then finally you get "final sanction" which is where wolverine, cable, cyclops and jean grey pretty much goes nulcear on the phalanxs home base. All in all? It had its moments. Good and bad. Its worth the read. But you wont be missing anything mindblowing if you give it a pass.

I think I'm one of the few people that like this storyline. I was excited to get it in a hardcover and it didn't disappoint.

good