I've never read anything but Giant-Size before and was shocked to see how much stuff Claremont fit into his first six months. It's pretty awesome really. And yeah, there are hints at stuff that we now know don't come around for years (or ever) and the Banshee and McTaggart accents are painful to plow through, but I get it now. I get the love of these stories - fun, exciting, non-stop action with tons of fresh ideas and big plans. I actually had to read the first issue of the next volume just so I could wrap up the Jean becomes Phoenix space shuttle flight sequence. Fun stuff.