40 Years of the X-Men Reviews

• The good, the bad, and the ugly

  
  By A3GTKQKNT8C9A9 on 2006-02-23
  First off, this isn't a game, or a movie. Its a DVD-rom that can only be viewed on a DVD capable computer.
  THE GOOD
  This the first 40 year run of the comic book X-men, currently titled Uncanny X-Men. It includes issues 1-461, in order by year, including Giant Size X-Men 1. It also includes all the annuals in a separate menu. These are high quality scans, all in PDF format.
  THE BAD
  This includes ONLY Uncanny X-Men issues. Thats all fine and dandy, until you get to the mid-80's when X-Factor and New Mutants began their runs. So when you get to major cross over events, like the Mutant Massacre, Inferno, X-tiction Agenda, X-cutioner's Song, and the minor ones inbetween, you only get the Uncanny issues. This leaves some major holes in the stories. Sure, you can go buy the TPBs of the crossovers, but then you're re-buying the Uncanny issues. All the Age of Apocalypse is missing too, along with X-franchising one shots like X-Men Prime.
  THE UGLY
  You'll have to play around with the viewer settings to make the pages readable on a standard screen, without making them too difficult to flip through. All pages seem to be scanned in two page spreads. And all the original ads are intact.
  Overall, its nice in and of itself, I just wish something could have been done about the cross-overs. That and the general lack of knowledge about this product here on Amazon and on the net in general are probably making this a rough sell at $50.
  
  

• BEWARE! product does not work on Macintosh

  
  By A1EHZ0P4MAV9L5 on 2006-04-21
  Although it is listed as Mac compatable, this DVD cannot be recognized by Mac OSX. After struggling to figure out what was going on, I found numerous complaints on the Internet regarding this problem, with no solution. Mac won't even mount the DVD.
  
  

• Amazing, Great place to start

  
  By A37H77GKPC4OLX on 2006-05-26
  Not only can you start from the beginning but you can see the evolution of the X-Men. Why Wolverine and Cyclops are always at each other's throat, why the original X-Men are different from the current, how Phoenix's powers emerged, how Professor X loss the use of his legs, power changes, huge plotlines and twists, etc.
  
  Also, I own a Mac and have no problem using the DVD.
  
  THE GOOD:
  Over 485 issues with all pages and in full color. To purchase these, even in TPB format would be hundreds of dollars.
  
  THE BAD:
  No crossover issues. Plus, reading them on screen is not that much fun unless you have a notebook. I'm printing them out and it's A LOT of paper.
  
  VERDICT:
  The good by far outweighs the bad if you are a true X-Men fan or want to start from the beginning.
  
  

• The 40 years of X-Men DVD-rom has great quality!

  
  By A7GWVTQC4XNY8 on 2006-03-25
  This 40 years of X-Men DVD-rom has great quality! All the Uncanny X-Men issues you dream of having since you were kid to own is here! The DVD-rom also has the early Original X-Men issues that most people don't remember or own. (Uncanny X-Men#1-#93!)
  
  Also,You have most of Chris Claremonts 17-year run of the X-Men in this DVD-rom! ( X-Men Giant-Size#1, Uncanny X-Men #94-#277!)
  
  I wish it also had published X-Men (2nd series)#1-#3 with writer,Chris Claremont and artist, Jim Lee. That would have made this DVD-rom more complete. It's missing those issues.
  
  These Uncanny X-Men issues are great! Chris Claremonts finest work is here! There are some great artists who worked on this book including Neal Adams, John Byrne, Marc Silvestri, Whilce Portacio, & Jim Lee, etc.,
  
  I highly recommend this DVD-rom! It's great!
  
  

• A Collector's Dream

  
  By AA2UJTLYDEFPV on 2006-05-22
  I collected X-Men back in the 70's and 80's, and always loved the original team the best. My collection is now socked safely away from children and dogs and whatnot, but I can now enjoy every issue in prestine mint wherever I find myself, even take the whole kit and kaboodle on the road. A previous reviewer was frustrated at Mac OS X not being able to detect his DVD. He may want to get a replacement disk, because I can vouch personally that the DVD runs perfectly on my Mac portable.
  
  
• Awesome collection for the price
  By A12JRALJZ25JYQ on 2007-03-21
  I echo other reviewers' comments that no other format offers you a complete collection of the Uncanny X-Men for anything remotely approaching this price. One additional benefit of having scans of the books, as opposed to trade paperback reproductions, is that you get all of the advertisements and back covers, letters pages and editorials as well. For those who might have collected these books way back when (I was an avid collector in the late 80's), this has very high nostalgia value. The one star is missing from my review because a computer screen can never compete with paper as a medium for comic books. But it's pretty awesome to be able to carry hundreds of books with you on a long flight or bus trip!
  
  For those of you on a Mac, these are easy to read. Open an issue with Preview, then hit Shift-Apple-F to enter full-screen "slideshow" mode. With your mouse, select the Fit-To-Screen option, so that the two-page spread fills the available screen space. To flip to the next page of the book, just press the right arrow key. It's simple and not difficult at all to read.
  
  
• A Chimp With a Xerox Machine
  By A3BIEFFEP6JLZX on 2006-12-14
  This package in a nutshell is all of the Uncanny X-men comics scanned in a decent resolution. Which is NOT every X-men story. To top it off X-men, because it branched off into different cover franchises, have many story arcs that cross over to the other series. Which means you will Read part 1 of an arc and then next issue you'll be reading part 6.
  Age of Apocalypse seems to be entirely missing as well.
  A little more thought should have been put into this in order to make this worth a buy. Anyone with a robust Marvel collection and a decent scanner could've done a better job putting this package together.
  
  
• Interesting Product
  By A3ZPADOLTS75R on 2007-06-07
  40 years of X-men, the collector's edition has many good points and bad points.
  
  First the bad:
  
  It is not made clear right off the bat that it is only a collection of the Uncanny X-men, nor does it include crossovers into other marvel comics.
  
  It is not easy to read. With two pages per screen, it is hard to just magnify and read page by page. You must consciously be moving and shifting the images around to be able to read the small print; something that Marvel did not take into consideration, I fear.
  
  The Annuals do not say or actively show when they were published, so you have no idea where in the timeline they take place.
  
  Now for the good,
  
  Aside from the fact that they are scans of the comics themselves, and therefore have printing flaws, they are actually very good quality, and it is highly enjoyable to watch the evolution of the artwork as the series progresses.
  
  From the stand-point of a new collector, anyone who has heard of and/or liked the X-men as children, this isn't a dvd to pass up. I have had it for about a month and a half now, and I can say that I am enthralled with how the characters have grown and changed throughout the 40 years in which they have been in print.
  
  From an avid-fan of the series, I wouldn't pass this up for anything. If you have ever wanted the back issues, if only just to SEE what it was like "back in the old days," this DVD is a Must-Have.
  
  
• Unbeatable value!
  By A34JPT3SSW147P on 2007-06-14
  If you're a serious fan...you probably own all of the comic books and graphic novels anyway, so don't bother. If you're a casual fan, and never had the dough as a kid to buy comics, this is your scene! I've had this collection and I'm still not through all of the comics.
  
  Some of the details which users will need to know: 1) There are DOZENS of X-men titles, this collection includes only Uncanny X-men, so if this is your only collection, you'll find yourself wondering what happened in parallel issues which are referred to in these comics. 2) The resolution of the entire collection is incredible, regardless of monitor size. I like to hit CTRL-L, which blows the image up to wide-screen. Perfectly sized for a wide-screen laptop. 3) All original advertisements are included, which I found charming. Imagine, weight-GAIN ads for teenage female readers! 4) Images are printable, but each image contains two pages, and when printed, they include a watermark which mars the pictures (to discourage you from copying and selling the comics, I suppose). 5) The entire contents of the DVD can be copied to your hard-drive, so you don't have to constantly lug around the disc in case the impulse to read a comic hits you.
  
  Overall, a terrific buy, not disappointed in the least.
  
  
• problem with crossovers
  By A3SGBYEP6O96BY on 2007-03-26
  This collection is a perfect for someone just getting into X-men. The comic scans themselves are in PDF format and tend to slow up the computer. The scans are very clear and zooming in is no problem. The only drawback is that the crossovers are incomplete because this collection only includes Uncanny X-men and nothing else. So major crossovers with adjectiveless x-men, x-factor, new mutants, etc are not included. Here's hoping Marvel releases DVDs of these comic titles as well.
  
  
• like constant glare on your tv! aaargh!!
  By A30UMQRIUGXV4W on 2008-02-06
  i have been an x-men fan since the 70's. i love marvel. i love the x-men. i completely understand the need for copyright protections. however, trying to read the comics on this dvd-rom is nothing short of irritating. yes, you can mess around with your acrobat or preview (mac) settings to make all the pages display right but in the end you have to try not to be completely distracted by the big ole "MARVEL" watermark right in the middle of every page...every PHOTOCOPIED page. honestly, it's like trying to watch your favorite movie on a VERY sunny day with a big open window directly across from the tv screen! as a devotee of john byrne's art it has ,sadly, really limited my enjoyment of this product.
  
  
• This is great...but...
  By A1H8EV7R7Z0M0A on 2006-07-18
  The 2 bigegest diappointments for me so far are the quality of the scans (many of the 120-160 issues have blurry text).
  The large "Marvel" watermark graphic on each page is quite annoying as well. Overall worth about $20, but not $40 or $50.
  
  
• Not exactly wonderful
  By A63Z75LJ1AW61 on 2008-01-25
  I bought this in part just to have the 1960s and 1990s issues since I have a good run of X-Men collected from about 1976 through to about 1987 starting with Giant Size No. 1, in fact this dvd cost me roughly the same as my copy of that comic book, which i bought sometime in 1980.
  
  I have a nice new 24" iMac so the double page spreads of pdf files look gorgeous. You have to use the Adobe Reader or else a Marvel watermark appears, but Adobe Reader is of course free to download so only a minor hassle for those who normally use Apple's Preview for pdf files.
  
  The interface is not the most elegant of designs and is a very simple pdf file with a set of hyperlinks. I have seen some of the various shareware programs for reading scanned comic books and those interfaces are more appealing and user friendly. But most people shopping here at Amazon probably are interested like me in getting a legal copy and not a torrent so the issue may be moot.
  
  The dvd includes a bio section but this is slow to load off the dvd and is not much faster when copied to the Mac. I have a 2.8GHz processor. I put it in my PC laptop with a 1.73GHZ processor and oh my was it slow. How useful this section is given that the information is available on the web is debatable. The comics though load much faster than the bio and sometimes a bit to fast so I have to be very careful when paging through.
  
  So if you want to read and enjoy old X-Men it may be better to buy the bricks available. For me I wanted a reference collection that will not take up space. Its ok and does the job I need.
  
  
• Good for the Uncanny X men completists! Saves room!
  By A2GV71W0JMOPDZ on 2006-03-21
  I've bought this product only to supplement my Uncanny X men collection. I have all the Uncanny X men comics or books from Giant Sized X men to current issue of Uncanny X men 470 and I must say this is a good supplement if you don't want to pay a lot of money for the older 1970 issues. I used this DVD rom as quick reference if I want to go back to read an issue.
  
  This set does include Annuals too and the table of contents is laid out in years so it's easy to navigate through and see the covers. I also agree that sometimes you have to adjust your Adobe PDF to fit the pages so you can read clearly which can be a little annoying.
  
  I sit in front of computers all day and when it's slow at work, I launch this baby and read away. It's nothing like sifting through years of X men..it's just clicks away. However, I rather have real comic in my hand if I'm resting at home on the couch then having a hot labtop on my chest. So the money you spend is worth it, I mean I see the Uncanny X men 266 sometimes sell half the selling price of this DVD ROM. ;)
  
  
• Great....but very dissapointing packaging...
  By AMZAQU4S8U9Z1 on 2006-07-04
  While I love the content and the overall idea, it seems they seriously skimped on the packaging. All you get, outside of the outer box, is a cd in a paper envelope. No jewel case, book, insert, etc.......perhaps it's on the cd.
  
  
• Hundreds of comics scanned on one DVD for a really low price
  By ADVR56FW0D1DO on 2006-06-09
  This set (and the already-released Fantastic Four and Avengers sets) does a great job of presenting hundreds of comics, completely scanned (including ads, letter pages, etc.) for a really low price compared to the original books. I dropped a star since it doesn't include books that crossed over into the title (not a problem with me, but I'm sure other people might have issues with it).
  
  
• 40 Years of the X-men N'uff Said
  By A2WCPR4M2P6D84 on 2007-03-14
  Honetslty I got this product two weeks ago, and ohh my.... I lost my life to it. This prodcut has every Uncanny X-Men for over 40 years. I'm trying to read them all, but of course that more then 500 comics. I proably won't finish untill 2 years from now (that's if I read 2 a day (which is my goal).
  
  The only promblem I have with the product (and i found this promblem with all the Marvel comic that are scanned in) is that one page is acutally 2 pages layed out. It's really hard to read on the computer and you really don't want to buy 11"17" paper and a duplex printer to acutally try to print this out. So you are sort of subjected to reading it on the computer, which stinks, because you have to minimize the page about 3 times so you can read each panel. When you get into the 70's (the year not the comic) it gets a little harder because Marvel uses more vertical panel, and you can't really see the text if you want to see the whole panel. Then it really stinks when Marvel uses 2 whole pages of art with the story, because you are zooming in and out to find the next text and trying to read it and enjoy the artwork at the same time. Also it really funny that you can see the staple on the scan copy.
  
  Now you ask is it worth the trouble? If you really want to read these comic, "Yes it is." And you will save tons of money buying this product instead of the reprint book form. Now i have to say it is nice to have the book and go anywhere you want with it, but you can do the same with the laptop, but you will hate that paneling with the mouse.
  
  Is the prodcut children friendly? NO! But doesn't mean they won't enjoy it. Just means that it would have be better if it was more interactive.
  
  
• Great Idea, Almost Perfect on the Execution
  By A23IS6BBT5CS4D on 2007-05-21
  I love comic books!! I love to read them, I'm not a guy who reads them with tongs in a pressure controlled chamber, I just love to read them in what-ever condition they are, because it's the story that matters. I have always wanted to increase my comic collection, but being in the military and moving all the time puts a wet blanket on that idea. When I saw these digital comics I just about flipped. This is a great idea for people like me. Now I have the entire collection(almost) in one small package. It's great, they scanned the original comic, including the original advertisements(some of which are down right hilarious now). Man, it brings back a lot of good memories. I read comics to escape reality, they were my "Fortress of Solitude". The only qualm I have is, it does get a little tedious scrolling and clicking to get through the ".pdf" format.
  
  
  
• great
  By A1Z2NJ835Y5YW on 2007-05-27
  This is a good buy if you are a comic book fan and remember when you were younger and all those issues you missed and could never get you hands on EVER! This is a great way to get the WHOLE story. Forty years you can't go wrong. I took one star off because I wish the software was more smarter. I wish you could drag the pages any way you choose. Like with the Marvel smart book online. With the online smart book that is on the Marvel website it takes a comic window and points the direction to go or you can view the whole page and move it any direction you want. Perhaps somewhere along the way it will evolve.
  
  
• Great gift!
  By A2QAKN6SCZKV7V on 2007-10-21
  I bought this as part of an anniversary gift for my husband. He enjoyed comics as a kid and enjoys all the movies that have been made based on comics.
  
  Well, he loves this. He spends time each night reading the comics- he's catching up on the more recent ones before going back to the comics from the past.
  
  Great gift for the guy who is still a kid at heart. :)
  
  
• Great for a First Timer
  By A2GZ0RNTNDPY64 on 2006-07-25
  I loved the X-Men cartoon in the 90s and Fox, and always liked reading the graphic novels in Barnes and Noble and the like. However, I just never had the time or money to get into it like I wanted. This collection is a great way for us beginnings to understand the depth of the mythology and see the transformation of the series over the years. Reading the first 60 issues was a trip -- seeing how the characters were developed, both the art and their literary personality.
  
  If you're interested in the X-Men, whether from the new movies or just from being a kid at heart -- for 40 bucks you can know it all. (almost).
  
  
• Excellence
  By A50WPIFD498AV on 2006-08-23
  This is a great item for any collector or new fans to the X-men. All the older along with the newer issues look great. The CD includes all issues of the Uncanny X-men (1-461) along with Giant Sized and annual issues. There is also comprehensive biographies on the more popular characters and artwork and layouts of the Xaiver Institute. Could it of had more content, maybe, but this will keep one busy for a long time. With easy maneuverabiltity, this is a highly addictive CD with virtually months of entertainment.
  
  
• I saved tons of cash, storage space, and hours of hunting by buying this DVD... it's definitely worth the money!
  By A1V55IJK62YOBX on 2007-01-06
  This DVD is AWESOME! Although nothing beats reading a comic book physically in your hands, for those of us who don't have gobs of cash to buy 40 years of expensive comics (not to mention the storage space), this DVD is a Godsend! The pdf's are scanned at high resolution, so you can zoom up quite close to electronic pages without things getting blurry. I don't know why someone didn't think of this sooner. Even if you bought a few X-Men graphic novels (there are tons out there), you'd most likely spend more money than if you bought this DVD. And even if you bought every graphic novel collection out there, you'd miss the stories in between. The ones editors didn't think were "important" enough to compile for you.
  
  
• Works on Vista!
  By ASBPWYYWF83G2 on 2007-03-27
  I completely agree with the other posts that there are no other x-titles included (please put New Mutants and X-Factor in this collection), but where else can you get 500+ comics IN COLOR for $50 or so? That would be about 4 of the Essential X-men series titles, which would stop in the mid-80s. This has 3 times more comics, plus they are in color. I know use Microsoft Vista, and they work perfectly (I have also purchased 44 years of Fantastic Four, 40 years of the Avengers, and the Incredible Hulk complete collection). Good wind-down activity for the night. Great buy! If you want to completed a storyline that requires other x-books, it is much cheaper to buy a used color collection of the arc than to start from the beginning. Great buy!
  
  
• Pretty good, but with a major flaw
  By AOQOTXQ54YUC4 on 2007-05-14
  The format is good, scans are pretty darn good(occasional hard to read bit), and it's a heck of a lot of fun reading these old things.
  Though, I must admit that I agree with a previous reviewer: the crossover events needed to be included. At least they should have been released to DVD-Rom at or around the same time, since they were a different comic book series. Either way, it's still a little lame.
  Overall though, five stars for quality, four due to missing material.
  
  
  
• Fun, but confusing in its incompleteness
  By A1Q3FKM2L5RCG8 on 2007-05-19
  I was a fan of the movies and the early 90's cartoon, but didn't really have access to comic books as a kid. (Allowance was too small.)
  
  This was a great way to catch up on the X-Men, and it's entertaining to read the early stories where they're a bunch of teenagers who hang out at a beatnik club.
  
  As others have said, in the mid 80's the stories start to get very disjointed due to the missed issues in crossover series and spinoff's. (For example, in a crossover series of 7 comic books, you may get the first and sixth issue.) By the time you get to the 90's there's a whole comic book series called "X-Men" that you're not getting. Why? Because this is the "Uncanny X-Men" and the other series is just "X-Men". (The x-men are split up into two teams at this point.) Confused? Me too. Lots of things that I always thought were major X-Men storylines (like the Apocalypse story) actually happen in the other series.
  
  Weird: In the late 80's the X-men are in a very strange space. The team is full of forgettable characters like cyclops' brother Havok, the mulletted Longshot (whose mutant power is "getting lucky") and the pre-ninjafied Psylocke. Oh, and they all live in Australia.
  
  Still, the dvd is worth it, as the series is pretty interesting up until 1985 or so.
  
  
• Decent, not amazing
  By A3PZ8ROWW6AI4M on 2007-05-31
  It's a ridiculously great price for so many comics that much is most definitely true. However, the scans were grainy and since it is only the Uncanny X-Men titles many of the story arcs (which often cross over to other titles) made chronological reading unpleasant.
  
  To sum up, It's more then 500 issues for 30$ so it's such a great price that it's almost too good to pass up.
  
  
• Watermarking...
  By ANK3IB3QCLUU5 on 2008-01-14
  Great value. I'm really glad there is a legitimate way of getting all the copies of xmen.
  
  The only con is that every page is watermarked with the Marvel logo, and its not small. A 3rd of the page is covered in a the logo. It is transparent but it still takes away from the overall quality of the experiance. If you're and x-fan its not a deal breaker but it is still annoying.
  
  
• It's a great deal
  By A1KAAVZOHW640S on 2008-05-02
  This is a great way to save time, space & money. One important note: it doesn't include the newer X-Men series started in '91 by Lee & Claremont. I'm looking for X-Men the Complete Collection hopefully in the future. Until then, I still like this.
  
  Highlights here for me...
  Issues 1 to 11- Jack Kirby, starting in '63.
  Giant-Size X-Men #1- Len Wein & Dave Cockrum in '75.
  Issues 108 to 143- John Byrne, starting in '77.
  Issues 248 to 277 (skips some issues)- Jim Lee, starting in '89.
  Issues 325 to 350- Joe Madureira, starting in '95.
  
  If you're looking to buy trade paperbacks or hardcover X-Men material, this is an economical way to see before you buy. It's also an excellent chance to see various creators' work on these popular characters throughout the years. Definitely recommended.
  
  P.S. I had technical difficulties with the Avengers version of this software by GITCorp. I include the problem here just in case it helps someone. Some people will only be able to see the 1960s folder. My computer is running both Windows 2000 & XP. In Windows 2000, I couldn't for the life of me get my computer to see more than that 1st folder. It's as if that's *all* that's on the disc. Gitcorp thinks CD packet writing software on a person's computer will interfere with the way the disc is viewed, so they recommend uninstalling packet writing software like Roxio to see if that'll help. It didn't. I tried rebooting in Safe Mode, uninstalling programs, reinstalling programs: nothing I tried could make the disc readable. Switching to XP though "fixed" the problem immediately. In my Windows XP installation, this DVD's contents were easily readable. Sure enough, the *entire* contents were now there. I should note that I don't use Roxio or Nero software in XP, so if XP users are having this problem, that might be it. I *only* experienced this issue with Windows 2000.
  
  The problem is in the way the disc was made. All the content is really there, but some computers can't read more than the first folder, so you might think that's all that's on the disc. Getting a replacement disc won't help: all copies of the Avengers gitcorp made are like this: viewable on some computers, not on others. Many people just take this disc to another computer and copy its contents there. You can copy onto CDs, DVDs, hard drives, etc. and then bring that info back to your original computer.
  
  
• 40 years for 40 bucks? AWESOME!
  By A2A0HPZMGGLQ4Z on 2006-07-10
  Cool....read all the classic issues without getting french fry grease all over you collector's items!
  
  

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