X-MEN: BISHOP'S CROSSING

Hardcover, 2012. Collects 1991-92's UNCANNY X-MEN #281 - 293, material from X-MEN #10 - 11, and X-MEN #12 - 13.

I have to confess -- I like the issues collected in this book. Its contents were released when Marvel relaunched the X-Men franchise in 1991, alongside the latter portion of the X-MEN BY CLAREMONT & LEE OMNIBUS volume 2. But, though that other material features Chris Claremont's final three issues on X-Men and continues without him under Lee as plotter and artist, I have a real soft spot for these contemporaneous UNCANNY issues instead, plotted by Lee and Whilce Portacio and drawn by Portacio with scripts from John Byrne and Scott Lobdell.

The book is laid out in about as straightforward a manner as possible: We have a direct run of UNCANNY X-MEN issues 281 through 293, then a two-part backup serial from X-MEN #10 and 11 (omitted from the Claremont/Lee book due to lack of involvement from either), and then the run of issues wraps up with X-MEN #12 and 13 in their entirety.

These contents may seem a mish-mash, but there's logic behind their inclusion. The book gets its name from UNCANNY 281 - 288, which introduce time-displaced mutant Bishop and follow his path to joining the X-Men. I believe at one time in the nineties, there was a trade paperback called BISHOP'S CROSSING as well, which contained only these eight issues. But for this hardcover edition (and its upcoming paperback reprint), Marvel has seen fit to include issues 289 - 293 as well, thus filling the full gap of UNCANNY issues between CLAREMONT & LEE volume 2 and the X-CUTIONER'S SONG collection (which we'll look at next month).