Uncanny X-Men #167 (Mar 83): The Goldilocks Syndrome! (or Who's Been Sleeping in my Head?)Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Paul Smith, penciler; Bob Wiacek, inker; Yachus & Wein, colorists; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief
Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite
Guest Stars: Binary, Cannonball, Karma, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Psyche, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, The Thing
In New Mutants #1:
The New Mutants get acclamated to their new home, new talents, new friends, and new teachers, unaware that they are being watched; Moira learns that Professor X has a son; and Psyche is attacked in the Danger Room by an unknown assailant.Synopsis: The New Mutants are having a quiet night watching Magnum PI. The X-Men burst into the mansion trying to find Xavier immediately. The X-Babies (get used to the term) don't know who the X-Men are and defend their school. Kitty slips away in the battle to find Xavier. She finds him too late, and his transformation is beginning. The X-Men easily take care of their junior counterparts, but are soon confronted with a Brood Xavier. Having his mental abilities, the Brood Xavier avoids all the X-Men's attacks easily. Storm and Binary combine their powers to bring down Xavier. Wolverine goes in for the kill, but Cyclops feels it's his responsibility. Xavier's mind is still partially in tact and begs Cyclops to do it. Knowing Xavier is still partially alive, Cyclops wants to take him aboard the Starjammer to see if he can be helped. Aboard, the Starjammer's medic, Sikorsky, says there's nothing they can do to save Xavier's body, but they can clone him a new body and transfer his psyche into it. Kitty starts spending all her time with Colossus and Illyana, making Storm feel left out. Cyclops has a talk with Corsair about how Xavier is equally a father to him. Corsair isn't jealous, and in fact grateful Xavier did such a good job raising Cyclops. Gladiator then arrives aboatd the Starjammer and begs Lilandra to return and lead another rebellion against her mad sister, Deathbird, who has taken control of the Shi'Ar Empire. He also mentions that Galactus had come to Earth to die, but the Fantastic Four convinced him to live. Lilandra sends them an angry holographic message saying they will be held responsible if Galactus devours anymore worlds. Finally, Xavier, in his new body greets his students and, for the first time in years, stands. But soon collapses. His new body has fully functional legs, but his mind is so used to the extreme pain associate with trying to stand that it won't let him do so. But he'll begin rehabbing until he can walk again. Xavier then demotes Kitty to the New Mutants.
Yeah, but is it good? It has some good elements. It's not quite the quiet post-epic story you'd expect (that comes next issue) because the X-Men are still battling the last Brood. But there's still a lot of character development going on. Obviously with Xavier since his whole purpose and story is about to change. At one time that would have been a bad idea, but by this point he wasn't such a major force on the team that it would ruin the character. In fact, maybe the mentally strong cripple angle had been played out. What if Xavier could walk? What if Xavier ws just like the rest of the X-Men? A good story to explore. Storm, once again, has feelings of lonliness. This will lead somewhere. But I think the best part of the issue is with Cyclops. He's the one who feels the need to kill Xavier if he absolutely has to, but once he sees a glimmer of hope, he takes it. Despite the fact that the Silver Age stories never gave you the feeling that Xavier was a father figure to Cyclops, it's only logical he would be. And it's nice to see Corsair not overly jealous by it. That story has been played out and wouldn't work with Corsair only an occasional character anyway. And of course, it's great to see the X-Men beat the New Mutants. Some writters might have blown their load and have the new team beat the old one to make them look like a big deal, but the readers would have shit on it. A team of trained adults should not lose to a team of untrained kids... RYAN.
Significata: X-Men meet the New Mutants. Xavier's body is killing, but his psyche is put into a new body. He now has full use of his legs. Sprite is demoted to the New Mutants.
