Uncanny X-Men (band)

Uncanny X-Men are a pop/rock band which formed in Melbourne in 1981, and temporarily disbanded in 1987. They are fronted by lead singer Brian Mannix and originally included Chuck Hargreaves on guitar, Steve Harrison on bass guitar, Nick Matandos on drums and Ron Thiessen on guitar. John Kirk replaced Harrison and Craig Waugh replaced Matandos by 1984.

The band's debut album, 'Cos Life Hurts, peaked at No. 2 on the Australian Kent Music Report in 1985, and included their highest charting single "50 Years" which reached No. 6 on the singles chart. Thiessen left to be replaced temporarily by Joey Amenta on guitar and more permanently by Brett Kingman. Their second album, What You Give is What You Get!, was released in 1986 and peaked at No. 11, it included the Top 20 hit single "I Am". After disbanding in 1987 there was a brief reunion during 1998. In March 2011, the band played three gigs with Tim Rosewarne (guest keyboards); The Chelsea Heights Hotel (17 March 2011), Trak Live Lounge Bar, Toorak Melbourne (18 March 2011) and the V8 Supercar Clipsal 500 event in South Australia (19 March 2011). The band played a new original song, 'Take it from Me', for its encore performance at the Chelsea Heights Hotel. In March 2011, the band re-entered the studio to record a number of new original songs.

Uncanny X-Men

Uncanny X-Men, originally published as The X-Men, is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of superheroes called the X-Men, a group of mutants with superhuman abilities led and taught by Professor X.

The title was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, met with a lukewarm reception, and was eventually cancelled in 1970. Interest was rekindled with 1975's Giant-Size X-Men and the debut of a new, international team. Under the guidance of David Cockrum and Chris Claremont, whose 16-year stint began with August 1975's Uncanny X-Men #94, the series grew in popularity worldwide, eventually spawning a franchise with numerous spin-off "X-books", including New Mutants, X-Factor, Excalibur, X-Force, Generation X, the simply titled X-Men, and a number of prefixed titles such as New X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, Essential X-Men and All-New X-Men.

Publication history

1963–1970: Original run

Uncanny X-Men 94

Uncanny X-Men #94, (originally published simply as The X-Men), is a comic book starring the X-Men that was published by Marvel Comics in August 1975. From issues #67-93, cover dated December 1970 to April 1975, the X-Men series consisted of reprints due to lack of sales. In May 1975, Giant-Size X-Men #1 was published, in which Professor X recruits a new international team to save the X-Men. With issue #94, the magazine was revived, and all of the original X-Men quit, save and team leader Cyclops, and are replaced by such "All-New, All-Different" X-Men as Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Colossus. A former X-Men adversary, Banshee, also joins the team at this point. Sunfire returns to Japan in this issue, and Thunderbird dies in issue #95.

Publication history

Uncanny X-Men #94 is the beginning of writer Chris Claremont's 16-year run on the title. Under his guidance, Uncanny X-Men would become the industry's top title, and, along with Spider-Man, the driving force behind Marvel Comics for the next 20 years.