Fair. I probably couldn't read that whole era myself, lol. Though, the final stretch of that era (#56-63 & 65) was what Neal Adams worked on, which seems worth reading for a big X-Men read-through. I recently read my trade of the Neal Adams issues, and while they were super fast-paced without any breathers, and started in the middle of a story (which isn't the worst thing for this era, where issues constantly were recapping, lol), I generally enjoyed them. Definitely lots of big, dynamic pages.
I think I got through issue 35 or 40. It got to the point where I wasn't even reading dialogue haha. You basically got the story by following the art. I was surprised at how quickly Claremont gets Jean to be Phoenix. And the Shi'ar are showing up the next issue. I can't wait!
Ha. The Neal Adams stuff introduced the classic Havok costume and told the Sauron origin, if that makes it more appealing to you! When I have more $$$, I need to get the second Claremont Uncanny X-Men Omnibus, and then read through that first stretch. I already own the first volume. I could never do the big journey you're doing, lol, but that stretch covered in the first couple omnibus volumes would be fun to read through. Still gotta get back into my classic Amazing Spider-Man reading.
I feel like this run of Harley Quinn is like the metaphorical Joker to your metaphorical Harley. Having not read much of Harley or cared much, lol, I do at least like that the Conner era has let the character acknowledge and reject Joker's abusive nonsense. Dunno how much of that happened before this era, but independent Harley is way cooler than dependent and abused Harley, regardless of execution.
Did you read all of Avengers/New Avengers too? I'm making my way through those now before Secret Wars and they're real good, mainly New Avengers.
From what I can tell it seems like the whole of the New Avengers run is leading up to Secret Wars and it's really cool stuff imo. There's a lot of set up in Avengers too but that's more of a mixed bag so far.
Yeah, Avengers and New Avengers were both great and both part of the epic story leading to Secret Wars. New Avengers more blatantly, but Avengers still ties in a lot, especially during the Infinity crossover and during "Time Runs Out," when the two Avengers titles became essentially the same series. My brother read Secret Wars w/out the build-up and still loved it, but there's a lot more impact if you've seen the whole story. Also, yo, my episode of Welcome to Geekdom is up. Check it out and enjoy @Deanna anf my All-Star Superman conversation! I haven't listened yet myself to see how much I hate how I sound in podcast form, lol.
I liked the book but didn't think it translated very well to the animated movie, I don't know if you guys dive into that or just the book. You should link it.
Finally finished Y: The Last Man and damn, that comic was wonderful. Pretty sure I gave it 5 stars across the board hah. Gonna be podcasting on that by the end of the week hopefully.