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X-Men Epic Collection: It’s Always Darkest Before The Dawn (Uncanny X-Men (1963-2011)) Kindle & comiXology

by Steve Englehart (Author, Contributor), Len Wein (Author, Contributor), Gerry Conway (Author, Contributor), Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 136 ratings
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Collects Amazing Adventures (1970) #11-17; Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #92; Incredible Hulk (1968) #150, #161, #172 And #180-182; Marvel Team-Up (1972) #4 And #23; Avengers (1963) #110-111; Captain America (1968) #172-175; Defenders (1972) #15-16; And Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4.

Continuing the saga of Marvel's original mutant team! Hank McCoy sets off on his own, taking a research job — but his scientific curiosity will curse him forever when an experiment gone wrong transforms him into a fanged, furry Beast! Meanwhile, the other X-Men find themselves pursued by a secret adversary that seeks to pick them off one by one. They must join forces with Captain America to save the nation and rescue their mutant comrades! Also featuring the first appearances of Wolverine and Madrox the Multiple Man, an X-Men/Avengers battle against Magneto and a host of rare covers!
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  1. Reading age
    9 years and up
  2. Part of Series
    Uncanny X-Men (1963-2011)
  3. Print length
    513 pages
  4. Language
    English
  5. Grade level
    4 and up
  6. Publisher
    Marvel
  7. Publication date
    July 17, 2019
  8. Page Flip
    Not Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Not Enabled
  11. Sticky notes
    Not Enabled
  12. ISBN-13
    978-1302916039
  13. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07T3PNJQW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Marvel (July 17, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 17, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2017200 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 513 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 136 ratings

About the author

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Steve Englehart

Steve Englehart

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Born in Indianapolis, he went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He studied Psychology because people fascinated him, but in getting his B.A. he learned that psychology didn't describe real people, so he became a writer.

Living the Young Creator's life in New York, he got to be drinking buddies with an editorial assistant at Marvel Comics. One night the e.a. called to say he was going on vacation for six weeks; would Steve like to fill in for him on staff? Steve would, and once in the door at what was then a very small operation, he got a shot at writing a comic. It was a failing series called Captain America -- but six months later it had become Marvel's leading seller, and Steve had all the work he could handle. He became Marvel's lead writer, adding The Hulk, The Avengers, Thor, Dr. Strange, and half a dozen other series. Then he was hired away by DC Comics to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but also wrote a solo Batman series that readers dubbed the "definitive" version and broke the long-standing barrier between comics readers and the mass market. All comics films since Batman in 1989 stem from that.

After Batman he traveled around Europe for a year and wrote his first novel, The Point Man. Since then he's designed video games for Atari, Activision, Electronic Arts, and others. He's written animation for Street Fighter and G.I. Joe. He's written mid-grade books for Avon, including the DNAgers series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school programs on the invention of the aeroplane. And he's written more comics, like Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer, which led to the San Diego Comic-Con calling him "comics' most successful writer, having had more hits with more characters at more companies than anyone else in comics history." He created The Night Man, which became a live-action television series.

Most recently, The Point Man has engendered a series of novels from Tor, beginning with The Long Man.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
136 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Lanier Burton
5.0 out of 5 stars X-trodinary ! (Spelling errors be darned !)
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2019
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Absolutely love this compilation! Definitely set between the end of the end and all those reprints and the historic Giant Size X-men which launched the new team Storm , Wolverine , NightCrawler etc. An amazing cast of Marvel characters interact with the X-Men in some very imaginative ways and the stories themselves expand from previous threads across the pantheon ! My personal favorite being The Beast- The Defenders - Captain America - Fantastic Four portions !
5 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars The Missing Link!
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2019
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Even the reprint covers are chronological. Dream come true, these Epic Collection books.
6 people found this helpful
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LG Ripdmeov
4.0 out of 5 stars Like putting a meal together from fridge leftovers.
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2019
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This collection is like being really hungry and opening Tupperware containers in the fridge. The common element to each meal is old X-Men. But most of them are solid stories.
4 people found this helpful
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Khman64
5.0 out of 5 stars Great buy
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2020
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Item arrived promptly and in excellent condition
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SuperginraiX
3.0 out of 5 stars With Special Guest Stars: The X-Men!
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2019
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While this is part of the X-Men Epic Collection series, there aren't any stories in here from the X-Men BOOK series. That's because the X-Men title went into reprints in 1971 after issue #66 (featured in the last X-Men Epic Collection). With their own title not producing any new stories, the X-Men went slumming from 1971 all the way to 1975 when their book got out of reprints and started brand new (some would say All-New) adventures with Giant-Sized X-Men #1 and X-Men #94.

So what you're getting here are all of the X-Men's appearances in this period. Or, at least I THINK these are all their appearances. I haven't done extensive research but it looks like if an X-Man or Professor Xavier appeared in another book, that story is here. That means any of the original five, like Iceman showing up in Amazing Spider-Man #92, or even Lorna Dane and Havok who had joined the team before the end of their original adventures, like Incredible Hulk #150. Along with all of those appearances, the Epic Collection gives us the covers for all those reprint issues of X-Men (#'s 67-93 and the first two Annuals). Even better, they aren't just thrown in at the end but are placed throughout the collection as they would have chronological been released between all those guest appearances. This really works for me.

What DOESN'T work is the disjointed nature of all these stories. Since we're getting guest appearances from other books, we get little bits of a bunch of other heroes' stories as they interact with the X-Men. In some cases, like with the Hulk books, continuity isn't hard to figure out. Hulk is being chased by the military and just wants to be alone and for some reason he ends up in Canada a LOT. In others, we get thrown in the deep end, like with the Secret Empire story in Captain America and the Falcon. None of it is insurmountable, or course. In fact, it's refreshing to see the writers in books taking the time to tell new readers what was going on in previous issues so that they could follow along without a whole lot of confusion. In the internet age, readers are expected to do most of this heavy lifting on their own, making reading titles in the middle a lot more daunting NOW than it was THEN.

The only real continuous story in here is Amazing Adventures #'s 11-17, a VERY light horror tinged Beast solo series where Hank McCoy takes on his more familiar bestial look. These are fun, ridiculous stories, started under writer Gerry Conway and continued in the second issue by Steve Englehart. Beast evolves over the series from his original grey look to the blue/ black look we love today, at the same time evolving out of the X-Men series and into the greater Marvel Universe. The art in here is mostly by Tom Sutton. He starts strong and his depiction of Beast is actually pretty great, especially as we see him changing more and more into his classic look (there's a splash page of Beast in the rain that is REALLY cool). However, the rest of the characters within are less impressive looking and by the end of this short series, things are looking pretty messy.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Beast wears a "Hank McCoy" costume to pass himself off as human. This includes a head mask and hand gloves made from latex and a harness to straighten his back as well as darker tinted glasses to obscure his eyes. It's insane and something that couldn't work in live action. Or could it!?

No. No, it couldn't. Comics are amazing.

This series is also where Steve Englehart originates his Secret Empire story that would eventually culminate in Captain America and the Falcon so you get a little more details added to that than you would if you just had the Cap/ Falc issues. Nothing HUGE but a little added depth just shows how rich the Marvel Universe was getting.

Towards the end of this collection, they even throw in the first appearance of Wolverine (Incredible Hulk #'s 180, 181, and a LITTLE bit of 182). Logan won't REALLY be an X-Man until Giant-Sized X-Men #1 but since he becomes completely connected to the team, his appearances here are appreciated.

There's some good stuff in here. If you're an X-Men fan, there's very little continuity, here, though. We get some major goings on with Beast, the X-Men reverting to their original costumes (to better match their reprint appearances), Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants being reverted to babies (which would have major repercussions for Mags as the X-Men book continued), and Wolverine's first appearance. Otherwise, it feels very much like a team that's spinning its wheels and waiting for their time to shine. Soon, guys, soon.

But for now, guest appearances. If you skipped volume four of the X-Men Epic Collection, you'd be perfectly fine. The next book, volume five, is a pretty fresh start for the team with the biggest bit of continuity being Wolverine. As a completionist, this volume is great. It's fun to see what the X-Men were up to when their own book wasn't doing much... even if the X-Men themselves weren't doing much...

If I were to have one more thing with this collection, it would have been the inclusion of not just all the X-Men's appearances between 1971 and 1975 but also X-Men THEMES. This book misses Magneto's fight with the Fantastic Four that happened at the very end of Jack Kirby's run on FF and it would have been great to have that in here even though the X-Men weren't involved. Likewise, the Avengers battled the Sentinels in a story just before the Avengers story in this book. Again, no X-Men but still!

I can appreciate that this book stays on theme, though. These are the appearances of the X-Men cast between X-Men #66 and Giant-Sized X-Men #1. And also Wolverine. That is totally fine. However, the thought of getting a little Jack Kirby thrown in there is... well, it's a tempting thought.

X-Men Epic Collection volume 4: It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn is a disjointed collection of stories guest starring the X-Men. It has some good stories and... some less good stories. That title is super appropriate, though. Because after this, the X-Men come back, big time.
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Christopher (o.d.c.)
3.0 out of 5 stars Great collection. Too bad about the art and stories.
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2019
Verified Purchase
Not gonna lie. Bronze age comics were made to a lower standard.

I did appreciate Tom Sutton's almost campy approach to the Beast more than when I first collected them. There is one Beast story here which actually features Len Wein, Gerry Conway, and Steve Englehart as characters, and secretly crossed over with an issue of JLA. Then there is some very early Jim Starlin art for the Beast's last solo story.

Gil Kane, who drew some of the Spider-Man/X-Men stories (and some great covers) was always a pro.

Then you get Sal Buscema, Herb Trimpe, and Don Heck.

I love that Marvel collected every X-Men appearance between 66 and 94, and made that collection a part of the X-Men epic. Five stars for the concept, which I was on board for at 13, and kind of done with by 18.

Hey, if Magneto can get turned into a kid again (Defenders 16), so can I.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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joachim wicherek
5.0 out of 5 stars X-Men Epic Collection: It's Always Darkest Before The Dawn
Reviewed in Germany on August 26, 2023
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Bestellung in der Zeit und dem Zustand wie angegeben erhalten.
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Daniel Abbud
3.0 out of 5 stars Ok
Reviewed in Brazil on January 10, 2022
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The Stories aren't Great....but they are important fillers before the CC era starts
One person found this helpful
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Melanie
4.0 out of 5 stars Details can be misleading
Reviewed in Canada on March 10, 2020
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Great book but people should know that #67-93 aren't in the book, only the covers are present, 67-93 were reprints from earlier issues
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Iñigo
5.0 out of 5 stars Los X-Men originales buscan trabajo.
Reviewed in Mexico on September 9, 2019
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Esta colección de Epic, hecha por Marvel, aborda las historias de X-Men durante el tiempo que transcurre del número 66 de su propio título, cuando fue cancelado, y la revitalización con nuevos integrantes en 1975. Hay apariciones de Iceman en el título de Amazing Spider-Man y la transformación de Beast en el monstruo azul que conocemos. Además, en Marvel Team-Up, el equipo se reúne con Spider-Man y combaten a Morbius. Avengers contra X-Men y muchas más.
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Víctor Manuel Peinado Gaitán
5.0 out of 5 stars Tomo épico
Reviewed in Spain on April 12, 2020
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Maravilloso tomo. Si alguna vez vemos algo parecido en España, será dentro de mucho tiempo (oportunidad perdida con la edición Omnigold) y a un precio seguro que mayor. Pedazo de compra la de este tomo Epic.
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