X-Men: Mutant Massacre trade
This is the first crossover between the various X-titles (Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and The New Mutants) and, as a whole, it is one of the best. It's kinda funny, because it crosses over with Thor and Power Pack as well.
The basis for the story is that mass murderers and assassins called the Marauders head into the Morlock to tunnels and almost completely wipe out the Mutant society. This brings the X-Men into the conflict, as they try and help their Morlock allies. They save a few and bring them back to the mansion themselves, but they take some heavy hits themselves: Nightcrawler slips into a coma, Shadowcat is stuck in her phased state and is actually falling apart, and Colossus is stuck in his metal form. As Callisto and the others take the survivors they were able to find back to the mansion, Storm dispatches Wolverine to find the killers and to bring one back for interrogation.
The New Mutants deal with these victims at the mansion, and then get themselves lost . . . or something.
Meanwhile, X-Factor (at the other end of the Morlock tunnels) try and do the same thing the X-Men did: save as many as possible. They also confront the Marauders, but fair much better against them. Well . . . except for Angel, who has his wings pinned down, then crushed by the Marauders (not to mentioned he's dumped by Candy and is revealed to be the backer of the supposedly Mutant-Hunting X-Factor). Thor luckily manages to rescue him.
As Storm and Callisto struggle with what's happened, Wolverine hunts down Sabretooth (who is part of the Marauders) and then eventually meets up with (of all people) the kids from Power Pack, who were friends with some of the Morlocks. While I'm not the biggest fan of Power Pack, I have to say that their presence adds a unique point of view to the mass death and destruction in the tunnels.
The story has no definte ending. Wolverine and Sabretooth battle it out, allowing newcomer Psylocke (who appeared out of nowhere) to probe Sabretooth's mind. We don't know what she finds out . . . yet. Angel, on the other hand, must have his wings amputated. Thor, in the hopes of restoring some honor to the fallen Morlocks, unleashes a massive fire that burns their bodies away all Valkrye-style.
It's an interesting story, prespective-wise. Despite being centered around the same events, the crossover is split down the middle. Thor and X-Factor on one of the event and the X-Men and the New Mutants on the other side. Besides the X-Men catching the occassional random optic blast or both teams caught in opposite sides of a colapse, neither team interacts with each other. Power Pack is the only group that makes contact on both sides. Walter and Lousie Simonson and Chris Claremont did some incredible coordination, making the stories parallel each other while not exactly requiring you to read it all.
An aspect I enjoyed about this crossover format was being able to observe the massive differences between the X-Men and X-Factor. In particular, Storm's more aggressive and cut-throat leadership makes for an interesting comparison to Cyclops' by-the-book style. The X-Men themselves is composed of a mixed blend, with Magneto, Storm, Rogue, and Wolverine being fairly dark characters; and Colossus and Shadowcat, who are both overcome by the attack on the Morlocks that they contemplate killing (which Colossus does). X-Factor, on the other hand, is comprised of the classic X-Men, each one fairly clean despite tensions and internal struggles.
The art is fairly okay. Some parts are better than others. But the writing, the cooridination efforts, the very nature of this story and crossover makes "Mutant Massacre" an instant X-Men classic.
~W~
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