7 Underrated 1980s X-Men Comics You Must Read

In 1984, Marvel decided to essentially throw all of its comics into a blender and hit pulverize in order to make Secret Wars, a massive crossover event that sounded better on paper than it actually was in execution.

As far as the X-Men comics were concerned, it didn't have an outsized effect on the story - at least compared to the damage that was wrought by the even more head-scratching sequel - but it still was far from the best Marvel should have been able to do.

Ironically, the company wasn't even done publishing Secret Wars at the start of 1985 when a far superior two issue crossover arc involving most of Marvel's heavy hitters debuted in the pages of The Uncanny X-Men.

Essentially, a power-hungry sorcerer turns the entire city of New York, and anyone inside the city limits at the time, into a Hyborian mish-mash of wizards and sorcerers in the vein of Conan The Barbarian. From there, the story bounces between some of the affected members of the X-Men and key crossover characters like Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Captain America.

When all was said and done, although these issues had little to no effect on the overarching stories in the X-Men, the result was a far more enjoyable and streamlined comic than the frustratingly overproduced mess that was Secret Wars.

Who knows, maybe Marvel would have had a hit on their hands had this been their plan for Secret Wars all along.