You know the drill. At the end of each year (ish) I make a new Tier list of each character and explain how the character has changed in my mind since the last time I did this. Feel free to check out my 1990, 1992 , 1993, Favorites as of 1995, 1996, and 1997 lists.
Make your own here and share the link in the comments.
S Tier
Cable has been in the S Tier since he debuted in 1990, but I was very close to putting him in the A Tier. 1998 was a pretty weak comics year in general, and Cable was no exception. His solo comic has become borderline unreadable and he's not even in X-Force anymore.
Rogue is the only other member of the S Tier. I put her in the S Tier in 1997 because she had become team leader and I liked what they were doing with her. She definitely isn't team leader anymore, but she's just become a strong, solid, likable character.
A Tier
Bastion is a pretty good villain and deserves some love.
Deathbird just entertains me every time she's on panel.
Joseph was another pretty interesting new character.
Jubilee makes the leap from B to A because she's finally interesting in Generation X, even though she wasn't interesting enough to keep me reading Gen X.
Wolverine is starting to get well written again now that he's just starting to bond with Kitty, scold Colossus and Gambit, and fraternize with his best friend Nightcrawler.
Kitty is just fab. She's just re-joined the X-Men and magically, her character gets super fascinating again.
I'm surprised I put Marrow here, but I guess I'm getting pretty invested in her.
Meggan ended on a pretty strong note.
Monet is still a pretty interesting character even if Generation X failed to hold my attention.
Nightcrawler has just become such a solid character and a great leader. Can't wait to see if the leadership comes with him back to the X-Men.
Say what you want about Pete Wisdom, and I have, he's a pretty interesting character.
Storm's at her best when she's the sole leader and bonding with Kitty and Logan.
B Tier
Banshee is still sitting here. Again, he's not carrying Generation X, but he hasn't done anything to make me move him.
Cannonball is finally back where he belongs, with X-Force. I have a feeling the X-Force quality is going to stay low in 1999 and we'll see if that tanks Cannonball too.
Cecilia Reyes was a strong character that I'm glad we got to know.
Colossus doesn't completely suck.
How did Domino get so low!? I guess because she got dropped from Cable and barely has a role in X-Force. I want more Domino in 1999.
Emplate is a pretty strong villain!
Emma is always a boss.
Gambit is ok. I considered the C tier.
Husk is still strong. I stopped reading Gen X though.
Maggot was fun! Too bad he's about to drop off the face of the earth.
Sunspot got slightly more interesting with dating Tabby and the Sunfire stuff finally getting some closure.
Tabby turning into Meltdown was revitalizing.
Warpath is ok.
Wolfsbane was pretty great in Excalibur, but that's over now. Is the last we'll see of her for a while?
C Tier
Bishop was so bad and pointless after the traitor story was settled that he was literally sent off to space and disappeared.
The coolest thing about Beast lately has been his doppleganger, who also seems to have fallen out of favor with editorial. Beast isn't even in the current iteration of the X-Men under Alan Davis.
I like Caliban, but I guess the writer's didn't.
Ha, Cyclops. When am I supposed to start liking him? Clearly Alan Davis doesn't mind putting him on the sidelines.
I love Dani, and she's a regular in X-Force now, but she's not as fun as she used to be. I hope they use her more in 1999.
Douglock just barely got out of the F tier and now he's disappeared with the rest of the non X-Men Excalibur roster.
Siryn has turned into a square. I have a feeling she's probably a lot better in the Deadpool series, which I'm not reading.
Moira is still alive and kicking.
So I stopped reading Gen X, but I am up to date on Issue summaries. So Penance is the real Monet!?
Sabra is there.
Did I put Siryn on there twice?
F Tier
Angle is irrelevant.
Synch, is he still alive?
Good Riddance Captain Britain!
I like Amanda Sefton, but she barely showed up in 1999 and her comic is now dead.
Iceman is not very interesting. He can go back to taking care of his dad. But wait...he's struggling with controlling his powers!
Onslaught was a God awful villain and that crossover sucked.
Psylocke has been so irrelevant since Jim Lee stopped drawing her sexy, so now she has a red eye tatoo and can't use her powers.
Rictor is in Mexico with his boyfriend Shatterstar. Can't say I miss them?
Skin is a super hero. Where Synch just exists, Skin actually has a personality but it's really just a bad stereotype.
Favorite X-Comics as of 1998
Strong Interest
X-Men (Joe Kelly was doing better than Steve Seagle and now we get Alan Davis)
Uncanny X-Men (The X-Men were the only thing I was really interested in during 1998.
Passable
X-Force
On Watch
Cable
Gave Up, Never Started, or Recently Ended
Excalibur
Generation X
Deadpool
Wolverine
X-Man
X-Factor
Alpha Flight