Uncanny X-Men #158 (Jun 82): The Life That Late I Led...Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Dave Cockrum & Bob Wiacek, artists; Joe Rosen, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Louis Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief
Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite
Guest Stars: Carol Danvers, Havok, Polaris
Synopsis: Carol Danvers is sparing with the Starjammers (minus Corsair) on Magneto's island while Dr. Peter Corbeau and Moira MacTaggart watch on. Despite no longer having powers, she does incredibly well. Corbeau explains that when she first got her powers, her DNA was changed to make her the perfect human speciman. Without her powers, she still remains above regular humans. Colossus spends time teaching his little sister about American ways while Kitty remembers how excited she was to find out Colossus hadn't died at Deathbird's hands afterall. But she's also confused by the strong feelings she has for Colossus and doesn't know who to turn to. They are then ready to try and snap Xavier out of his coma. Oracle of the Imperial Guard, a telepath, tries to enter Xavier's mind. All she can feel is incredible pain and sorrow from Xavier and the insatiable hunger from another presence. Fire and the a Broodlike image is all she can see. Xavier then takes over Oracle's mind and tries to make her kill him. Wolverine manages to break the psychic link with his claws (?). Kitty interrupts them and tells them of something important on TV. Footage of the X-Men's battle with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in Washington (issues 141 & 142) is shown followed by an interview with Sen. Robert Kelly who denounces them as heroes, despite them preventing his assassination. He sees mutants as a threat to national security and plans on doing what it takes to stop the threat. Moira gets worried since the X-Men were originally founded with government support and there are probably files on all of them, linking them to the X-Men. She suggests destroying the files. Kitty comes up with the idea of the Starjammers creating a virus that will wipe any references of the X-Men from federal databases. Meanwhile, in New Mexico, Cyclops introduces Corsair to his other long lost son, Havok, and Polaris. In Washington, DC, Storm, Wolverine, and Carol Danvers arrive at the Pentagon. Wolverine (Canadian Secret Service) and Danvers (US Air Force) use their credentials to get them inside. Danvers accidentally bumps into an intern, who turns out to be Rogue, and she attacks them. The battle begins with Rogues pretty much tearing them apart. Mystique, in her guise as Pentagon official Raven Darkholme, watches as Danvers slips away from the battle to complete the mission. Nightcrawler, who was outside in the car, teleports in to join the battle. He wants to know where Mystique is as he has many questions for her. Being unable to defeat Rogue, Storm creates a whirlwind to blow her as far away as possible and ends the fight. Mystique is following Danvers and changes her shape to that of Col. Nick Fury, someone Danvers is familiar with, in order to get close enough to kill her. It doesn't work, and Danvers is able to defeat Mystique. She's arrested (but in her natural form, not that of Raven Darkholme so her cover isn't blown). Danvers then goes on to the computer database and inserts the virus to erase traces of the X-Men. She then brings up her personel file as both herself and Ms. Marvel. Since losing her memory and abilities, she feels these two people don't exist anymore, and deletes them too.
Yeah, but is it good? Yeah, this is a good story. Except it's not much of an X-Men story. Sure there are elements there, but this is a Ms. Marvel story. Claremont had a habit of using stories from one of his series he was writting in another. Problem is Ms. Marvel was cancelled, so he stuck a character he liked in another title he was writting. Unfortunately for me, it's X-Men. It's a good character. It's a well written story. But she's just not an X-Men. So why do I have to read about her? Deleting her personel files, thus erasing that last remnants of her old life, is a pretty powerful moment, though. But it's taking away from a story that will come to dominate the X-Men series in the coming years: government control over mutants. First we started with the Days of Future Past classic, and now we continue with Sen. Kelly still speaking out against mutants and Mystique manipulating the government for her own means. This is intriging stuff. Wolverine also gives some past on his time in the Canadian service, so that character is slowly unravelling more and more details about his long, storied life. Although using his claws to distruct a psychic connection is downright silly.
Significata: The X-Men are completely erased from government databases. Their relationship and connection to the government, no matter how long it's officially been used, is totally severed. Rogue's first appearance in an X-Men comic. Government paranoia over mutants begins. Wolverine revealed to be a decorated captain in the Canadian Armed Forces. Kitty is falling in love with Colossus and doesn't know what to do about it. Havok is reunited with his long lost father. Xavier is fighting another (Brood) consciousness within his mind. He's so desperate he's willing to commit suicide to end the battle.
