X-Men face Doctor Doom, Dracula in Essential X-Men vol. 3

The third volume of “Essential X-Men” picks up right after what many consider the title’s “glory days,” following the Chris Claremont/John Byrne run.   The third “essential” volume contains most of the second Dave Cockrum run on “Uncanny X-Men.”

Collecting “Uncanny X-Men” #145-161, “Uncanny X-Men” Annuals #5-6 and “Avengers Annual” #10.

The collection begins with the X-Men facing Doctor Doom to rescue Arcade, after the X-Men’s friends are being held hostage.   John Byrne later retconned this story away, though as much as I like Byrne, the X-Men story doesn’t really make sense with a Doombot — a Doombot has an internal monologue and develops a crush on Storm? — so I think it’s sort of up to the reader as to whether they believe it was Doom or not.

I really like Josef Rubenstein’s inking on Dave Cockrum – it’s a very tight look that’s reminiscent of Byrne’s work in places.

The X-Men battle Magneto when he threatens to destroy the Earth’s governments unless they immediately disarm.  He tells Cyclops he hopes this will force the world’s governments to focus on improving the well-being of the inhabitants of the world rather than build weapons.    The X-Men of course oppose him, and even change his mind to some degree, though I was left feeling sympathetic to Magneto in this appearance.