X-Men: The Hidden Years #3

X-Men: The Hidden Years was launched by Marvel Comics in 1999 as a creative project spearheaded by John Byrne. The series was designed to revisit and fill in the continuity gaps between the end of the original X-Men run in 1970 and their 1975 relaunch in Giant-Size X-Men #1. Byrne, who served as both writer and artist, sought to honor the tone and style of the Silver Age while providing a bridge that explained the characters' evolution during their period of publication limbo.

Issue #3 continues the arc established in the series' opening, focusing on the core team of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel, and Iceman. Byrne’s aesthetic approach for this series was deliberately retro, utilizing storytelling techniques and visual cues reminiscent of his earlier influential work on the title in the late 1970s. The series was generally received as a nostalgic excursion for long-time readers, though it remained a niche project within the broader, more modern X-Men narrative landscape of the late 90s.