Comics I Love - Claremont and Smith's X-Men

After Byrne left the book, X-Men hit a bit of a lull, and you would not be a fool if you thought that the book would never reach the heights it reached under Claremont and Byrne, and, well, I that the book DIDN'T.

THAT BEING SAID.

When Paul Smith joined the book, the title came pretty darn close.

I would put the storyline in Japan with Wolverine and Rogue up against any X-Men story ever written, with its mixture of great art, action, intrigue and more than a little bit of emotional wreckatude.

Paul Smith was on top of his game so much at this point in time, and he managed to spin these amazing designs and layouts - what a storyteller.

If I had to pick one issue to encapsulate the run, I would go with the last part of the Japan storyline. What a brutal issue.