Uncanny X-Men #195 (Jul 85): It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...!Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr & Dan Green, artists; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Oliver, colorist; Ann Nocenti, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief
Starting Line Up: Nightcrawler (DNA), Wolverine, Colossus (DNA), Shadowcat, Rogue, Rachel Summers
Guest Stars: Power Pack
In New Mutants #29:
Sunspot and Magma are kidnapped; Cannonball and Magik seek aid from Lila Cheney; Dazzler realizes they have been captured by the Gladiators, and gets access to their next bout; Dazzler's loyalties are tested; Magneto seeks the aid of the New Mutants.Synopsis: The Power Pack kids are sleeping in the same bed as their parents. Everyone is awoken by a thunder storm. But the parents don't recognise their own kids. Once the kids no longer think they're kidding, they run to their room to find all their stuff gone. The kids freak out and run away. They ask their landlord for help, but he doesn't recognise them either. The parents and the landlord mistake them for dilusional runaways and call the police on them. The kids realise this must all be the doing of the Beautiful Dreamer of the Morlocks, whom they met in their own title, and go into the sewers to get to the bottom of it. Once they get down there, they are ambushed by some of the Morlocks. The youngest Power Pack kid, Energizer, is the only to escape, but not before Masque makes her ugly. She's found by the police looking for them. When an officer gets too close, she zaps him, but the rest get a hold of her and take her to the hospital. The next morning, Shadowcat sees a news report on the girl being found and recogises her despite being uglified. Wolverine and the girls on the team sneak her out of the hospital. Rachel scans her mind to find out what happened to the rest of the team. Wolverine elects Shadowcat as the leader of the group and they go into the Morlock tunnels to find the rest of Power Pack. They find the kids' bedrooms set up like they were in their home and the other Power Pack kids, uglified by Masque, calling Annalee mother. She tries to get Energizer to do the same, but she fights back. The Morlocks attack the X-Men. The battle rages on for a while, but Annalee and Power Pack disappear. Shadowcat goes after them. She makes Annalee feel guilty for essentially killing the Power Pack kids like her kids were. Masque isn't buying it and tries to finish uglifying them until Callisto steps in. She forces Masque to return them to normal. Annalee is willing to face a lethal consequences from Callisto, but Energizer makes friends with everyone and they all go home happy. The X-Men are summoned back to the mansion... by Magneto?
Yeah, but is it good? This story has two things going against it: character-less Morlocks (although many of them have names now) and the stupid mid 80s idea that was Power Pack. Marvel wanted to create a superhero comics aimed towards little kids, so they created a team of superhero little kids - the Power Pack. Their ages range from like 4 to 12 I think. Anyway, they are written to act like little kids with powers... except they never get selfish like true little kids are and irrationally destructive like little kids with super powers would be. The purpose of this issue seems to be showing the maturing of Shadowcat ever since she returned from Japan. She's now leading the team in Nightcrawler's place, who for some reason isn't present. And Magneto summoning the X-Men? It happened. It's a story going on over in New Mutants. Magneto is reforming his life and asking Xavier for help. How will the X-Men react to this? And what is he summoning them home for? It's the beginning of the sequel to biggest flop of the year before. It's time for Secret Wars II! This time, however, the heroes arn't being wisked away to another planet, so no disappearing stories are required. The heroes are free to interact with the crossover in their own titles and the Secret Wars II title at their own pace. All we need to know for next issue is Rachel meets the Beyond in Secret Wars II #1 and is amazed by his power. For a full explanation, look here: http://members.tripod.com/~MitchellBrown/xover/marvel_secretwars2.html
Significata: Shadowcat starts to mature and lead the team. Magneto summons the X-Men. The price of X-Men comics goes up to 65 cents.
