181: 1998 Tier List

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