I mean, what even needs to be said? It’s the best-selling issue in comics history.

I was a little kid when this book came out, and I remember seeing this ad in a book (I want to say it was X-Force #1?) I was so excited. I was calling my local comic book shop every week asking if it was out yet and when the guy finally, FINALLY told me that it was going to come in that week I was counting the minutes until I could finally read it (and stare at the amazing Jim Lee artwork, of course). I even got all of the different covers, the first (and only) time I got multiple copies of the same book just for the covers.

The X-Men have been one of Marvel’s most popular properties for decades, but this was them hitting a new level, and you could almost feel it coming, starting with this ad.