

When I first started reading X-Men comics on a regular basis, the main series featured the Claremont/Silvestri team pretending to be dead in the Australian outback, while the Classic X-Men reprints featured the Claremont/Byrne run. So of course I became a big fan and bought all the X-books I could find. Soon afterwards I began looking for back issues, and the ones I found the most of were the Claremont/Romita Jr. run. While I often say that the Australian team is my favorite lineup, this team featured here is the one I first think of whenever I think about who the X-Men are. This run featured some of my favorite stories and developments, from Colossus and Kitty's breakup to Rachel Summers becoming the Phoenix. It had Storm becoming the leader of the team, Rogue growing into a genuine hero, Magneto officially reforming, and just tons of other awesome stuff. Anyway, I had talked to Nate about him drawing an X-character or three for me, and we ultimately went with this squad of Charles Xavier's students. From what I can tell, Nate can draw the heck out any character, and he continually proves me right. His X-men look incredible! I love how he has Storm, Phoenix, Cyclops and Colossus looking all serious, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat looking full of joy, and Wolverine and Rogue just look like they're ready to beat the crap out of somebody. And Lockheed looks fantastic as well, mustn't forget my favorite purple dragon! Anyway, someone put Nate on an X-book! Thanks, Nate!





If you like this piece, then by all means go buy some of Nate's comics and/or commission him yourself.