Uncanny X-Men #178 (Feb 84): Hell Hath No Fury...

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr., penciler; Bob Wiacek & Brett Breeding, inkers; Glynis Wein, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite, Rogue

In New Mutants #12: Sunspot confronts his father, vowing that he and the New Mutants will do everything in their power to stop him; DaCosta decides to join the Hellfire Club; Amara loses control of her powers in Rio de Janiero, and decides to join the New Mutants.

In Magik #3: Belasco trains Illyana in magic.

Synopsis: Kitty watches in horror as Colossus is frozen solid. She contacts Xavier through the mental rapport. He alerts Storm, Wolverine, and Nighcrawler, but not Rogue, since it involves the Brotherhood. Storm and Wolverine are in the Danger Room and take off immediately. Xavier is struck by mental scanning probe or great power, but it only worries him not harms him. Kitty remebers reading of an invention by Mr. Fantastic that might be able to help Colossus. She calls the Fantastic Four, but gets no answer. She decides to go there herself. Meanwhile, on the lower east side, Callisto, Sunder, and Masque of the Morlocks fight a young, dead junkie girl in an alley. Masque uses his power to make the girl look like Kitty. Back at Lincoln Center, Nightcrawler and Amanda Sefton's makeout session is intterupted by the Brotherhood's attack. They try to fight, but are captured by the Blob. Storm and Wolverine finally arrive to help. Kitty arrives at the Baxter Building and sneaks into the FF headquarters, past all their safeguards. She finds the device, then tries to escape through the roof. As she tries to cross from one building to the other, she loses her powers and starts to fall. Back at the battle, the X-Men defeat the Brotherhood. They easily surrender, not fearing jail because they know Mystique will get them out soon. Blob then reveals the whole attack was just a distraction. Back at the mansion, Xavier senses a psionic blocking field, but it's from a different source from the scanning wave. Rogue enters to check on him. She pulls a gun and shoots him. He manages to get out of the way enough to avoid a fatal shot. As she stands over the injured Xavier, the real Rogue enters the room. The fake is obviously Mystique. Rogue explains to her she isn't been forced. She needs Xavier's help to help her control her power. She says she still loves Mystique, but she can't help her. Mystique contacts the X-Men and trades Xavier's life for the Brotherhood's freedom. The X-Men agree. Wolverine threatens to kill them sooner or later because of what they did to Colossus. Destiny warns them of danger happening to Kitty. Outside the Baxter Building, the police are trying to identify a suspected jumper. It's Kitty.

Yeah, but is it good? This is a largely forgettable story. The whole point was to establish Rogue as sincere and not a traitor to the X-Men. Which is fine, but everyone knew that anyway. What everyone wants to know is what is Mystique's connection to Nightcrawler. The real shocker here is the two part story ends and Colossus is still a frozen statue! But then again, it ended with a dead Kitty (roadkill), so I guess the story isn't quit finished yet. Still, two X-Men "dead" at one time is pretty bad for the team. Oh and that scanning wave that hit Xavier is the Beyonder from the upcoming Secret Wars series. I'll explain that one where we get there.

Signicata: Rogue is sincere in her plea for help from Xavier. Mystique accepts it. Xavier scanned by Beyonder. Kitty dead too?  ¶ 8:45 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #177 (Jan 84): Sanction

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr., penciler; John Romita, Sr., Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Eliot Brown, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief; Virginia Romita, traffic manager

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite, Rogue

Guest Star: Cyclops, Havok

In New Mutants #10: As Amara battles Selene, the New Mutants help Amara's father defeat Gallio; Sunspot learns the truth about his father; the New Mutants rescue Psyche and Amara; and Amara, a mutant, wonders whether she will become like the New Mutants, or like Selene.

In Magik #2: Illyana is trained to fight by Cat. Cat kills Nightcrawler from the alternate timeline.

Synopsis: Mystique walks though a carnival and is attacked by Wolverine. She finds the one way to kill him instantly, she slits his throat. Kitty stumbles upon the fallen Wolverine and checks on him. It's really Mystique and she slices through Kitty. Colossus attacks Mystique in rage. She blinds him with a flash bomb, but she gets blasted by Cyclops. Mystique runs into a hall of mirrors. Colossus follows a does Cyclops. Cyclops thinks he sees Mystique drawing on him and blasts, but it deflects off a mirror and cuts through Colossus. Mystique sneaks up behind Cyke and strangles him with a wire. Storm attacks next, but Mystique causes a feul truck to explode and it takes Storm with it. The explosion also blows Mystique back into the big top, where she's attacked by Rogue. She doesn't want to hurt Rogue, but blasts her anyway and feels bad for it. Finally, Nightcrawler attacks. She gets the advantage, but can't bring herself to kill him. He takes the advantage and knocks her out. Mystique wakes up later with Destiny by her side. She's distraught by the fact she could kill her foster daughter, Rogue, but not Nightcrawler. Arcade enters and congratulates her on such a good showing against his X-robots. Mystique wants to use them again to train the Brotherhood. He agrees as long as the stakes are the same - one of them is programmed to kill. Mystique asks which one is was this time, and Arcade says it was the obvious - Rogue. Mystique then plots to retake Rogue, refusing to believe she left on her own. At dance class, Kitty starts to tell Stevie how worried she is about Storm's transformation, but Storm overhears. Storm tries to talk to her, but Kitty refuses. Aboard the Starjammer, Lilandra says her final goodbye to Xavier while Corsair does the same to his two sons. Their guests leave, then the Starjammers and Lilandra head off to war. In the city, Colossus, Kitty, Nightcrawler, and Amanda Sefton go to see the ballet. Colossus and Kitty go park the car while Nightcrawler and Amanda talk a bit. Nightcrawler wonders where he came from. Amanda tells him what her mother told her - they found him in a roadside shelter beside a dead man, which they assumed was his father. He tells her that Mystique looks curiosly like him and she when he asked about a connection, was told to ask Amanda's mother, Margali. Amanda says they will call her tomorrow. Colossus hears and explosion from a building and rushes to save the people inside. All he finds is the Blob. The Blob knocks him outside where Pyro heats him to an incredible degree. Then Avalanche ruptures a truck of liquid nitrogen to spill over on him. The effect is Colossus becomes a frozen statue. Kitty can't do anything but watch.

Yeah, but is it good? There really wasn't much happening here. Mystique killing the X-Men in the first half of the book obviously isn't for real so there's no sense of suspence. And for the love of God... would Corsair and Lilandra just go back to space already? We've done the "final goodbye" sequence countless times over the past year or so. Just go away. The main point of this issue to build Mystique's connections to both Rogue and Nightcrawler. We know he connection with Rogue - she was Rogue's foster mother and Rogue has run away to find help from Xavier, despite the X-Men's suspisions of her, and Mystique refuses to believe her daughter would leave her. Her conenction with Nightcrawler is still a mystery. Then we get poor Colossus getting his ass kicked and... is he dead? Poor Colossus.

Significata: Mystique has hired Arcade to help her train. Mystique has more of an emotional connection to Nighcrawler than her foster daughter Rogue. Kitty refuses to talk to Storm about her change. Lilandra and the Starjammers finally leave Earth to fight in the new rebellion. Colossus is killed?  ¶ 8:20 PM (0) comments

  X-Men Annual #7 (1983): Scavenger Hunt

Creative Team: plot and script by Chris Claremont; pencils by Michael Golden, except pages 28-32 penciled by Bret Blevins (thanks, pal!); inks by (whoo boy!) pages 1 & 2 Michael Golden, pages 3 to 7 Tom "New Mutants"Mandrake, pages 8-11 Bob Wiacek, pages 12 & 13 & 16 Terry "Cloak Dagger" Austin, pages 14, 15, 17, 18, 19 Brett Breeding, pages 20-23 Tom Mandrake, page 24 "Wild Bill" Anderson, pahe 25 to 27 Joe "The Rube" Rubinstein, page 28 Steve "Coyote" Leiloha, page 29 Sam De La Rosa, page 30 & 31 "The Rube", page 32 "Big Al" Milgrom, pages 33 to 37 Bret "DarkCrystal" Blevins, pages 38 & 39 Terry Autin; Tom Orzechowseki, lettering; Glynis Wein, coloring; Eliot R. Brown, editor

Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite, Rogue

Guest Stars: Nick Fury, Ka-Zar, She-Hulk, Iron Man

Synopsis: Here we go. The X-Men and Lilandra are enjoying a game of baseball. A spaceship starts to descend on them and Galactus appears. He says he comes in peace. Lilandra warns them all of his power and Xavier tries to mindscan him, but doesn't read anything. He tries another mind he senses, but it causes him pain. The X-Men start to fight. Galactus doesn't quite act like Galactus and takes the X-Men's mansion, the disappears.

Xavier uses his psi power to follow the mind he scanned. The X-Men follow in the Blackbird It leads them to SHIELD's helicarrier. Nightcraler and Kitty teleport/phase aboard (with Lockheed) to find the person they're following interrupting Nick Fury and Contessa de Fontaine getting it on. The one they're following appears in the form of a wooden indian, but disappears again. This time he stole Nick Fury's eye patch. The two teleport out before the SHIELD agents can attack them.

The next stop is the Savange Land. They run into Ka-Zar who tells them Zabu has been kidnapped. Rogue guesses this is a scavenger hunt. Everyone thinks it's silly, but the only thing they have to go on.

Next stop, Avengers Mansion. Colossus and Rogue get their minutes too late, but are mistaken for the crook. She-Hulk tries to stop them, but gets taken down. Iron Man comes to her help. Meanwhile, the crook steals the big fancy window from Dr. Strange's sanctorum. Back at the Avenger's mansion, the two X-Men defeat the two Avengers. Kitty arrives to tell them the crook is on the move. The Avengers then reveal the crook stole all of the Wasps uniforms (using the Fantastic Four Fantasti-Car). The X-Men track the crook to the Hellfire Club. They break in through the basement and find the unconscious White Queen on a dais. Wolverine smells something funny about the flowers she's holding and slashes them just as Sebastian Shaw enters. The X-Men start to fight him, but the a balloon had appears when Wolverine slashes the flowers, and it floats over to the Black Queen costume and turns into a rocket, taking the costume away. Storm gets upset by this and uses a wind to blow her team out of the Club after the crook.

The crook arrives at 575 Madison Ave, Marvel Comics old address, to find it empty. But then he finds the new address, 387 Park Ave and goes there. The X-Men follow. The crook takes Ghost Rider's form and rides Zabu through the Marvel office. The X-Men charge through. There a shitload of inside jokes about the Marvel staff that I don't get here. Anyway, the crook turns out to be the Impossible Man (a FF supporting character) and he's looking for Stan Lee. The Marvel staff tell him Stan's now based out of Hollywood. The X-Men try to attack the Impossible Man. When he realises why, he sincerely appologizes.

Impossible Man takes them to where all his stolen goods are (lots of relics from many Marvel comics, including the Millenium Falcon). He explains that there are only four of his species left and they are holding a contest to see who can get the best treasures. The winner gets to be leader of the species. Impossible Man chose Earth since he loves Earth superheroes. A large alien fleet arrives to execute Impossible Man for his crimes. Lilandra acts as judge and when Impossible Man promises to give everything back, they leave him alone. Later, Impossible Man loses the contest and sulks by the pool with Kitty and Illyana. He gets turned on by them eating ice cream (I think) and becomes Tom Sellek. That's it. I'm out of here.

Yeah, but is it good? If my synopsis made no sense, it's because this issue didn't. The concept behind this was Marvel had an "assistant editor' month". The story is all of Marvel's editors were at a convention in California with Stan Lee, so their assiastants had complete creative control. In some cases, they editors chose to do nothing. In Spider-Man's case, the assistant editor himself drew one of the Spidey titles that month (and it looks like a 10 year olds art work) while in another, Aunt May fought Galactus. In X-Men, Eliot Brown was smart enough to stay the fuck away from the monthly title, but since the annual was released on this month (actually the one before) he decided to make Claremont write this... whatever this is. Maybe it was funny in 1983. It's not funny now. Claremont did try to get serious in at least one part, though. We finally find out for sure that it was in fact Mastermind who put the White Queen in her coma. The rest is garbage. Worst X-Men story ever.

Significata: Editor's month issue. Double size annual sold for $1.00.  ¶ 6:40 AM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #176 (Dec 83): Decisions

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Romita, Jr., penciler; Bob Wiacek, inker; Glynis Wein, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm (DNA), Nightcrawler (DNA), Wolverine, Colossus (DNA), Sprite (DNA), Rogue (DNA)

Guest Star: Cyclops

In New Mutanst #10: As Cannonball, Sunspot, and Wolfsbane try to figure out what's going on, Psyche and Amara are captured and taken to Selene for a sacrificial ritual; Selene throws Amara into a lava pool, and Amara re-emerges with super-human powers, demanding vengeance.

In Magik #1: Illyana is left behind in Limbo with the X-Men from an alternate timeline.

Synopsis: Cyclops and Madelyn and off on their honeymoon. They're flying a little spruce plan to a tropical island. They run into a storm, and are struck by lightning. In Japan, Wolverine confronts Mariko. He sent him back the Honor Sword and he wants to know why. He says it is rightfully his. He wants to know why she still won't marry him even after Mastermind's tricks have been exposed. She says because he killed her father and because, during her time under Mastermind's influence, she followed in her father's path and got her family involved with crime again. She has to undo it herself and will not allow Wolverine to help. He lets her know he will always be there to help. Back in the Pacific, Cyclops and Madelyn make repairs on the plane. Cyclops is nearly eaten by a great white shark, but then that shark gets eaten by a squid. In Washington, DC, Henry Peter Gyrich heads to a security meeting. A CIA agent recounts Magneto's last attack on humans (issue #150) when he created the volcano in Russia and sank their missle sub. He doesn't know what halted Magento, but believes Magneto could have defeated the Avengers had they tries to intervene. Valerie Cooper than addresses the meeting about mutants. She mentions how mutants have begun popping up all over the world and may soon be used as weapons or spies against the United States. She suggests doing so first. Gyrich objects on the grounds that that could be seen as enslaving mutants, proving Magneto right, and rallying more to his cause. Cooper doesn't believe other nations will have the same attitude and that they are in danger. Back in the Pacific, the storm starts to overcome the honeymooners as they continue to have trouble getting the plane started. In the New York City sewers, Callisto, Sunder, and Masque confront Caliban about his obsession with Kitty. Caliban is upset because Kitty promised to stay with him, but she hasn't return to him yet. Callisto promises to make her, and hopes Storm tries to stop her. Back in the Pacific, Madelyn is pulled under by the giant squid from earlier. Cyclops battles the squid for a while, then they rush to get the plane airborne before the storm hits full force. They finally make it. Cyclops decides against going into space with his father, since the Starjammers are headed off to fight in the next Shi'Ar civil war. He wants to stay on Earth and live a normal life with Madelyn.

Yeah, but is it good? Cyclops, the first X-Men, has gotten married and left the team. In his sendoff issue, he fights a squid. Not exactly Days of Future Past. Really, though. A squid? Give me a Spider-Manesque bank robber or something other than... well a squid. Anyway, take care Cyke. We'll see you in the future. The rest of the issue is there to set up future plots. Mariko still can't marry Wolverine and has to fight the Yakuza. Callisto will make Kitty live with Caliban and try to reclaim her leadership from Storm. And most importantly, the government is getting further worried about mutants. Gyrich, and possibly Cooper, have already popped up in New Mutants, but this is the first time we get these specific mutant specialist government agents here. Nasty things are in store for our merry band of mutants.

Significata: Cyclops leaves the X-Men to live a normal married life. Mariko still will not marry Wolverine and must fight to clear her family name. The US goverment becomes more paranoid out mutants, other nations' use of mutants, and plans their own use of them. Callisto plans to make Kitty live with Caliban and retake leadership of the Morlocks from Storm.  ¶ 6:00 AM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #175 (Nov 83): Phoenix!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Paul Smith (1-29) and John Romita, Jr (30-38), pencilers; Bob Wiacek, finisher; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nighcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite, Rogue

Guest Stars: Captain America (cameo)

In New Mutants #9: The New Mutants and Amara are taken to Nova Roma, a hidden city near the headwaters of the Amazon, where they are caught in a power struggle involving Amara's father; the boys are forced to fight in the arena; and Wolfsbane is hailed as a god.

Synopsis: The X-Men are working together to cut down a dead tree when they see firebird Phoenix affect in the sky. It startles the Hell out of them. They see a man falling from the sky and Rogue catches him. It's Cyclops and he tells them what they already know - Dark Phoenix has returned. Xavier summons everyone inside. Cyclops explains he always suspected Madelyn was really Phoenix. Xavier uses Cerebro to detect where she has gone, but is overwhelmed with feedback. Nightcrawler rushes him to the infirmary while Kitty checks the equipment. She discovers it has been tampered with and set up to send Xavier's mental pulses back at him. As the ponder what could have happened, Phoenix appears out of Cyclops' body, knocking him unconscious. The X-Men battle Phoenix and promptly lose. She leaves to take care of some errands, but promises to return and finish the fight. The X-Men try to contact Lilandra and the Starjammers, but find that Phoenix has already attacked them. Corsair is the only one left alive, but then they witness Phoenix destroy his ship. The X-Men then contact the Avengers. As they try to explain things to Captain America, Phoenix launches an attack. The X-Men check satalite photos and see she has destroyed all of New York City. Later, in the infirmary, Storm and Nightcrawler check over Cyclops. His body shows absolutely no signs of damage. He starts having an out of body experience. But then he realises it's his soul heading toward the light. Amidst all the souls, he seeks out Jean's, but doesn't find it. Before he reaches the light, he stopped by a woman who tells him to return to his living state. As he goes, he realises it's his mother. Cyclops wakes up in the infirmary alone. He realises this is the second time he's been attacked by Phoenix and suffered no physical damage. He also clues in that it took her twelve hours for her to fly him to New York when Phoenix should have been able to do it in seconds. He finally clues in that Mastermind is behind it all. Before he alerts the X-Men, he makes some preparations to flush Mastermind out in case he tries to use an illusion to stop him. Later, when Cyclops tries to alert the X-Men, they see him as Phoenix and attack. Cyclops actually manages to take on all the X-Men at once, using his tactical knowledge, and knowledge of their weaknesses. When he tackled by Kitty, he uses it to his advantage and gets her to phase him to where he wants to go - the Danger Room. He knocks her out cold, then has then room circuitry mildly electrocute Nightcrawler, knocking him out. He then uses a remote to set the room scenario to the Savage Land. Meanwhile, Madelyne wakes up to find herself in the Dark Phoenix costume by Jason Wyndarge's side. Mastermind explains his plan to her in typical supervillain fashion: After Phoenix made his mind touch all knowledge in the cosmos, he went catatonic, but eventually recovered. Now he's tormented by the constant yearning to achieve that state again but knows he never will. So he wants revenge. Since Phoenix is dead, he's taking it out on the ones she loved. First he ruined Wolverine's marriage, and next he will have the X-Men kill Cyclops' love, thinking it's Phoenix. Back in the Danger Room, Cyclops takes out Wolverine, Colossus, then Storm. Having no way to physically defeat Rogue, he has the room emit a gas that would even knocked her transformed body out. He takes Rogue to the infirmary and has her absorb a little bit of Xavier's powers. He then has her read his mind to prove it's really Cyclops. When the X-Men arrive, she convinces them. But then "Phoenix" appears. Cyclops proves her attacks cannot harm if you know it's all an illusion. So Mastermind shoots him with a gun from somewhere in the room. Luckily it only grazes Cyclops' arm. Storm creates a flash flood in the room so terrible she scares the rest of the team, but she manages to finally flush Mastermind out. Wolverine goes for the kill, but Storm stops him. He argues Storm looked ready to do it a minute ago, but she explains that was in the heat of battle. Mastermind is defeated now. Rogue, still posessing Xavier's powers, caught Storm's thoughs during the flood and realises not only would she have killed Mastermind, but would have sacraficed the X-Men to do it. Cyclops finds Madelyn face down in the water. He gives her CPR and she recovers, happy to see him. Some time later, Cyclops, in a tux, visits Jean Grey's tombstone. He finally realises Madelyn is not her and Jean is gone forever. He says his final goodbye his old love and goes to marry his new one. At the wedding (with more cameos than I will list), everyone is gathered and happy... except Wolverine, but he does crack a small joke about his own wedding. Scott Summers and Madelyn Pryor are joined in holy matramony.

Yeah, but is it good? Ok so I did this one instead of Annual 7. That one comes later anyway. Cyclops finally marries a red haired love of his... just not the one everyone expected. As far as major villains to use on in a double sized special, this is an odd choice. Phoenix is a big deal, but it wasn't really Phoenix. Mastermind wanting revenge on the X-Men, sure. Creating a fake Phoenix, sure. Taking advantage of Madelyn looking exactly like Jean, sure. Ruining Wolverine's wedding... I'm not so sure about that. Ah well. At least Cyclops' wedding went off without a hitch. Few superhero weddings do. Cyke becomes the first X-Men to get married. As far as the action in the issue, it was good, and neat to see how Cyclops can use strategy to hold off the entire team. But he seemed to stragize a little to perfectly. He created this plan to reveal his identity, as if he knew Mastermind would make him appear to be Phoenix, and it worked out perfectly. Sure Cyclops is one of the battle smartest X-Men, but this is a little much. While it's never officially states anywhere, I'm removing Cyclops from the roster, since, now that he's married, he won't be around much. And next month is the start of the Magik mini-series. It's a four partner about the seven years Illyana spends in Limbo with the Belasco, evil Nightcrawler, and witch Storm. Sounds like I'd hate it, but I'll include brief synopsis like I do for New Mutants.

Significata: Cyclops marries Madelyn Pryor. Madelyn revealed to be neither Jean nor Phoenix. Mastermind was behind the Phoenix appearences, Wolverine's wedding disaster, and the White Queen going into a coma (not stated, implyed). Double size issue sold for $1.00.  ¶ 5:30 AM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #174: Romances

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Paul Smith, penciler; Bob Wiacek, inker; Glynis Wein, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Louise Jones, editor; Tom DeFalco, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite, Rogue

Guest Star: Binary

In New Mutants #8: The New Mutants and Sunspot's mother, journeying down the Amazon River, are attacked by natives; Cannonball captures one, who turns out to be not what she seems; their ship is destroyed, and they are captured by -- Romans?!?

Synopsis: Cyclops shows Madelyne the Earth from orbit in Corsair's ship. Corair reveals Binary as the newest member of the Starjammers. Corsair asks Cyclops if he's like to come with him when he leaves Earth. Cyclops doesn't know. Elsewhere on the ship, Xavier continues to rehab his legs. Lilandra says it is in fact a physical problem and not just in his mind. She also says she has to return to her Empire soon as Deathbird's rule has caused another rebellion. She feels she must lead this rebellion. They also wonder if Madelyn is Phoenix reborn, but feel either way Cyclops deserves the love either way. Cyclops himself is wondering the same thing, but is afraid to ask her. She realises the dead Jean Grey is in a way a rival for his love. She asks him if he's going with Corsair or not. He still doesn't know. In Japan, Wolverine storms the Yashida home. The guards try to stop him, but Mariko tells everyone to lay down their weapons. Wolverine demands to know why she broke off the wedding. She gives him the same answer, he isn't worthy, and also mentions the fact he killed her father. Wolverine returns the Yashida Honor Swords she gave him (I'm guessing in the Wolverine mini-series). Mariko sends her beaten up half-brother, Silver Samurai, to collect the sword. Samurai gloats and Mariko banishes Wolverine from her home. Back at the mansion, Kitty is reading the July '83 issue of the Star Wars comic. She wants to show Colossus something, but interrupts him painting. She takes him off showing him a) she can cause someone else to phase with her if they're in contact, b) they make out and c)... they don't get to c. Unfortunately for them, they had made it up to Storm's attic and she promptly returns to interrupt. That's when they notice Storm had gotten rid of all her plants. Nightcrawler checks up the still ailling Rogue. He recaps Phoenix' story for her. Elsewhere, Cyclops and Madelyn are piloting a plane back to Alaska. Cyclops propsed to Maddy and she accepted. As he checks on the passengers, a familiar looking roly poly priest hands him a picture he dropped. It's a picture of Jean in Greece before she became Dark Phoenix. This puts a lot of thoughts into Cyclops head. The priest enjoys his look of bewilderment. Later that night, Madelyn returns to her home and looks for Cyclops. Jason Wyngarde is in the house, but she doesn't see him. She finds Cyclops and finally flat out asks if she is a reincarnation of Jean Grey. The answer is a right hook to the jaw. She storms off while he realises that was the worst question he ever could have asked her. He follows her into the next room, but is blasted out... by Phoenix.

Yeah, but is it good? The whole point of this issue is to stop and reflect on the romantic situation of all the X-Men. The biggest one is Cyclops and Madelyne. He finally proposes to her, but asks her the question we were all thinking but afraid to ask (Who does he think he is? Drunk Kevin?) But was he right in asking? He was blasted by Phoenix! There's a master plan going on... (Get it? Jason Wyngarde is Mastermind.) Then we have Wolverine and his ended romance. He gets no satisfactory response, but we're still left to assume Wyngarde also had something to do with it. Then we get Kitty and Colossus, whose relationship has progressed to make out sessions. And Petey finally gets a creative output. His words always failed him despite his poetic nature, so he's giving painting a try. Then we get Xavier and Lilandra, once again having live galaxies apart, but their love will last. There's even mention of Nightcrawler and Amanda Sefton, even though she doesn't appear, just to remind us they're still together. Hell, there's even a reminder that Corsair is in love with fellow Starjammer Mam'selle Hepzibah. As for the X-Men without romantic lives, Storm and Rogue... well they don't get much time in this one. It's a quiet talky issue before the storm... Phoenix? You'll have to wait for that one because I'm reviewing annual #7 next :)

Significata: Cyclop and Madelyn get engaged. Cyclops is attacked by Phoenix. Jason Wyngarde is involved somehow. Mariko Yashida has forgiven her half-brother, Silver Samurai, and he has returned to the clan. Xavier's leg problems are physical afterall. Lilandra returns to lead another rebellion. Colossus takes up painting. Binary joins the Starjammers.  ¶ 1:45 AM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #173 (Sep 83): To Have and Have Not

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Paul Smith, penciler; Bob Wiacek, inker; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite, Rogue

Guest Stars: Havok, Polaris

In New Mutants #7: Prof. X, suspecting foul play in Karma's disappearance, sends the New Mutants to Rio de Janiero with Sunspot's archaeologist mother, who is captured by the Hellfire Club; the New Mutants rescue her, unaware that Sunspot's father is plotting against her.

Synopsis: Wolverine and Rogue go hunting through scumbags to find information on Nabatone Yokuse, head of the Yakuza. They finally scare up some information. Elsewhere, Storm and Yukio look for a place to hideout, but they both have a Yakuza deathmark on their heads. Some thugs come to collect. Yukio gleefully obliges them in a fight. Storm finds herself enjoying the prospect as well. Wolverine and Rogue arrive at Nabatone's and get past all his safe guards, but the place is deserted. They find Nabatone's body, but he's been dead for a week. Someone has been impersonating him. And they realise it's a diversion for an attack on Mariko and the X-Men at the hospital. Storm and Yukio win their battle, and Storm is reveling in the wild freedom. Viper leads some assassins into the hospital, but they are stopped by Rogue. Wolverine finds Silver Samurai alone and the two go into battle. After a brutal fight, Wolverine is ready to make to end Samurai with his claws, but is stopped by Mariko, wishing to spare her half-brother his life. Wolverine tries to argue the point, but Viper arrives with a gun. They Samurai return to her. Before Wolverine can get Mariko out of the room, Viper fires. Rogue busts on the scene, outraces the bullet, and harmlessly takes it for Mariko. Viper then fires with a blaster. It doesn't hurt Rogue at first, but Viper keeps firing, and the compound effect does a lot of damage. She fires until the blaster overheats and explodes. Having no other option, she and Samurai teleport away. Rogue thinks she's going to die, but Wolverine lets her touch him and use his healing factor. A week later, it is Wolverine's wedding day. Mariko is having a private moment in the garden beforehand when a mysterious stranger interrupts her and wishes her well the leaves. Mariko is stunned for a moment, then forgets she ever saw anyone. Inside, the recovered X-Men (Rogue is still in bad shape) without Storm, along with Xavier and Lilandra, greet other guests arriving, Havok, Polaris, Corsair, Cyclops, and, for meeting for the first time, Madelyn Pryor. Lilandra assumes it's Phoenix and rushes at her, to be stopped by Colossus. Lilandra appologizes for her reaction. Storm arrives in a complete leather punk girl outfit and mohawk. Kitty is extremely upset by Storm's new look and the rest of the X-Men are stunned. Kitty, who is in the wedding party, asks Madelyn to watch Lockheed for her. It's at this point Madelyn realises just how strange Cyclops' life really is. As the wedding begins, Mariko walks to Wolverine's side. Then stops the wedding. She tells Wolverine he is not worthy, then walks off. As a myserious stranger (ok, Jason Wyngarde) looks on, Wolverine sheds a tear.

Yeah, but is it good? There is so much going on in the wedding sequence alone. But the one major action scene, Wolverine vs Silver Samurai, is beautiful. It's done in all art. No dialogue, no thought bubbles, no narration. And it's extremely well done. Wolverine would of course be the first one to accept Rogue into the group, letting her take his power. I believe this was used in a movie or something :) Then in the last six pages, we get the X-Men reacting to Madelyn Pryor, the X-Men reacting to Storm, and Wolverine reacting to Mariko breaking off the wedding. This is pretty powerful stuf. The last page alone, divided in four panels with no words, is fantastic. First it's Mariko walking away from Wolverine, then Mariko leaving while Jason looks on, then a closeup of Jason smiling, then Wolverin sheding a tear. This is building to something, alright.

Significata: Mariko leaves Wolverine. Wyngarde is behind it somehow and for some reason. The X-Men meet Madelyn Pryor. Storm changes her look. Kitty is upset by it. Wolverine accepts Rogue as an X-Men.  ¶ 1:15 AM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #172 (Aug 83): Scarlet in Glory

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Paul Smith, penciler; Bob Wiacek, inker; Glynis Wein, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite, Rogue

Guest Star: Havok

In New Mutants #6: Karma tries to gain help from Gen. Coy, her crime-lord uncle; Team America recovers the crystal Viper wants from an AIM fortress in Mexico; the New Mutants rescue Psyche; and a mysterious assailant "claims" Karma, body and soul, forever.

NOTE: In the Wolverine mini-series, Wolverine travels to Japan, where we discover he is a ronin.. Mariko Yashida's father turned out to be a Yakuza crime boss, and her half-brother is the Silver Samurai, next in line to take over the family (with his lover, Viper). Wolverine, with help from his old pal (and possibly ex-lover) Yukio, another ronin, battle the Samurai and kill Mariko's father. The family leadership falls to Mariko instead of Samurai. Mariko plans to rid her family name of crime. Wolverine and Mariko become engaged.

Synopsis: The X-Men arrive in Japan for Wolverine's wedding. Wolverine has the same aprehensions about Rogue as the rest of the team, but realises he was felt about the same way once. They are being watched by the Silver Samurai. He is sneak attacked by Yukio. Wolverine hears the battle and has Nightcrawler teleport him next door. The join Yukio in the battle, but Samurai teleports away. Yukio makes a hasty exit. As she jumps rooftop to rooftop, she slips and starts to fall, but is caught by Storm. Storm is amazed by Yukio's carefree attitude and fearlessness. Back ay the Yashida home, Storm explains Silver Samurai's role in the current New Mutants storyline, while Wolverine explains the importance in his mini-series (in case you didn't read them). Kitty is quietly reminded of Wolverine's killer nature. Mariko is summoned to a private meeting by Samurai. She tells no one she if leaving and has her maid tell people she is asleep. Viper invades the home and takes the place of the maid. She serves the X-Men tea. Storm and Wolverine sense the change in each other. Wolverine starts to explain his new found hapiness when he realises the tea is poisoned. Storm is the only one who didn't drink and the rest pass out. Mariko gets in her private car, but her driver has been replaced by Yukio. In Alaska, Cyclops is going throuh Madelyn Pryor's personel file. Havok finds him and explains the two have an uncanny ressemblance and that's it. Cyclops isn't so sure. She seems to know too much about him for a person he just met and he found out that Madelyn's crash happened at the exact MOMENT of Jean's death. Back in Tokyo, Mariko arrives at the private meeting with Silver Samurai. Viper is present as is Nabatone Yokuse, to mediate. Samurai belives the family should have been left to him. Mariko refuses to serve any Yakuza lords. Samurai tries to attack Mariko. Nobatone allows it since he realises that Mariko is a fake. It is indeed actually Yukio. Yukio battles Samurai while Viper goes to find the real Mariko. She checks the car but is blown back and knocked unconscious by Storm. Storm tries to help Yukio, but her powers go wild again and she electrocuts Samurai pretty bad. She also sets explosives on fire. Yukio shoves Storm into the bay just as the warehouse goes up in flames. In the midst of the slames, Storm sees the firebird image of the Phoenix. Storm is stuned while Yukio is having the time of her life. Samurai and Viper also survived and Samurai vows to kill Yukio after he kills his half-sister. Nabatone watches on as Storm and Yukio escape. In the hospital, the X-Men have been given an entire ward to themselves. Wolverine's healing factor and Rogue's Ms Marvel powers have allowed them to recover while the rest of the X-Men are in critical condition. Wolverine leaves to get revenge, but Rogue wants to come along. He says no until she begs for a chance to prove herself. Wolverine allows her to come as long as she follows his every word.

Yeah, but is it good? I think my synopsis came off a little confusing. The actual story isn't that bad, but it really does help if you've read the Wolverine mini-series, I'm sure. The X-Men fighting the Japanese underworld is interesting, but, like the X-Men in space, it's not something I'd want to read very often. But the X-Men's adventures in Japan do come up from time to time after this. The part of this story that has the greatest importance is Storm's powers continuing to go out of control and her newfound admiration of Yukio. Had this story been written today, they'd probably become lesbians, but in 1983, the admiration takes a different route as we'll see. Rogue really didn't do anything all issue until asking Wolverine if she could tag along at the end. Oh well. She's got a bigger role next issue. And our series of weird events continue... Maddy's crash and knowledge of Cyclops... and Storm seeing the Phoenix effect. There's a master plan of some sort afoot.

Signicata: Storm starts to admire Yukio. Storm's powers continue to get out of control. Storm sees the Phoenix sign. Cyclops wonders if there's something more to Madelyn Pryor.
  ¶ 3:00 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #171 (Jul 83): Rogue

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, scripter; Walt Simonson, guest penciler; Bob Wiacek, finisher; To Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Louise Jones, editor; Tom DeFalco, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (DNA), Colossus, Sprite

Guest Star: Binary

In New Mutants #5: The New Mutants meet Team America at a fair, where they are attacked by Viper and the Silver Samurai; Viper captures Psyche and blackmails Team America into stealing a certain object; the New Mutants and Team America join up to go to the rescue.

Synopsis: Storm commands the Morlocks to never again attack humanity for any reason. The weakened Callisto vows to someday kill Storm and retake her spot at leader. Nightcrawler worries about Storm's attitude change. In Alaska, Madelyne Pryor awakens from a nightmare and Cyclops comforts her. She tells him she used to be a pilot for a commercial airline and one day ran into an electrical storm that caused to her to crash. She was the sole survivor. The crash happened the same day Jean Grey died. In Beverly, Mass, Binary says goodbye to her parents. She reveals Xavier has helped her regain her memories that Rogue absorbed, but there are no emotions attached to them. So she may remember a person from her past, but not feel anything for them. At the school, Kitty throws a temper tantrum over nothing until Illyana calms her down. Xavier still has trouble rehabing his legs. Lilandra wonders if it might be something physical after all. Colossus tries to follow a cookbook until Xavier warns him of danger at the front door. He opens it to find Rogue begging for help. Later, she explains to Xavier she needs his help. All the memories she's absorbed over the years are becoming too confusing for her to straighten out. None of the X-Men trust her and doesn't believe she deserves help. Xavier tells them all to leave so he may question her in private, to learn her motives. Storm has the team blow off steam in the Danger Room. Illyana sets up the program. It's a recreation of Belasco's Limbo. Kitty doesn't think it's funny, so she shuts it down. Illyana goes nuts, summons a sword out of nowhere, and attacks Kitty. Kitty is cut by the sword even when she phases. Kitty still manages to subdue her. Illyana breaks down and cries over the memories of living in Limbo. Storm broods over how bad things have gotten for her since becoming leader of the X-Men. She feels she had to give up her life out of Xavier's responsibility. Her powers suddenly go out of control, but she quickly restrains them. Xavier summons her to his study. She angrily curses him before doing so. Once the whole team has assembled, Xavier announced the Rogue has been admitted to both the school and the X-Men. Storm immediately objects. Binary shows up to visit and instantly clobbers Rogue into space. The two beging to fight, but Colossus restrains Binary. Xavier explains that Rogue is now a member of the team and under his protection. Storm and Nightcrawler threaten to leave if Rogue is an X-Men. Xavier explains that once upon a time nobody thought Wolverine should have been an X-Men, but he proved himself. He asks that they give Rogue the same chance. They all agree. Binary refuses to forgive Rogue and takes off. Storm has another moment of brooding. She realises to be the leader, she must sacrice a part of herself. Or if she can simply leave the team and escape the responsibility Xavier has engrained in her.

Yeah, but is it good? Looking back through, it's been a while since a new X-Men joined. I guess I'm just used to the days when X-Men came and went and switched teams without any thought or reason. So I guess at this time a new member is a pretty big deal. Rogue gets to take the Wolverine spot of being the untrustworthy one. Rogue would have made a great counterpoint to Kitty. The young girl who was instatly accepted and loved vs the young girl who isn't accepted and hated. That really never developped. We finally get some insight to Illyana after he adventures in Limbo. She obviously has powers if she can make a sword appear out of nowhere. What other mysteries does she hold? We finally cast off Binary as a regular supporting character. I can't say I'll miss her as she really didn't add anything. Well... now she would as Rogue joined the team. But whatever. Enough people hate Rogue at this point. Storm's mental state continues to change. A few issues ago when she "lost" her power was a preview of what becomes Storm "losing control" of her power. Her emotions are affecting her control of the weather. When she can't keep her emotions in check, she can't keep her powers in check either. This is nothing new, as we've seen it before, but now it's getting to be a major part of her character. And Madelyn Pryor has a plane crash on the same day Jean Grey died... something sinister is going on.

Significata: Rogue joins the team. Binary stops hanging out with them. Storm is becoming darker and losing control of her powers. Madelyne Pryor reveals she crashed on the same day Jean died. Illyana has flashbacks of Limbo.  ¶ 2:27 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #170 (Jun 83): Dancin' in the Dark

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Paul Smith, penciler; Bob Wiacek, inker; P Becton & J Casey, colorists; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine (DNA), Colossus, Sprite

Guest Star: Angel

In New Mutants #4: Regrouping after the realization that Prof. X had been under Brood influence, the New Mutants set out to find the person who is threating Stevie on the telephone -- who turns out to be another student in Stevie's dance class, a victim of child abuse.

Synopsis: In Alaska, Cyclops is spending his time dating Madelyne Pryor, and the two are getting along extremely well. He's unsure of how to feel about her. He tells her about Jean and shows her a picture. She asks him if he likes her for who is or who she looks like. He doesn't know, but wants to get to know Madelyne. In the NYC sewers, Callisto is preparing for her wedding with Angel. Sunder gets too rough with Storm, so Nightcrawler and Colossus attack. Nightcrawler manages to capture Callisto and tells them he will trade her life for Angel's release. Plague then touches Storm and the condition becomes Storm's life for Callisto's. Nightcrawler gives in. The X-Men are captured again. Elswhere, Kitty wants to help the X-Men, but Caliban doesn't want to let her go. She promises to stay with him if he helps her rescue the X-Men or else she'll hate him forever (careful there, Kitty). Before he can make up his mind, Kitty collapses again. Elsewhere, Mystique is being hunted by Jason Wyngarde and Lady Jean Grey in a recreation of one of Mastermind's Phoenix illusions. Grey slits her throat. Mystique wakes up from her nightmare. She talks to Destiny about it. Destiny gets a precognition that Rogue is in danger. Mystique checks on her, but Rogue is gone. Rogue is on a bus, leaving DC behind her. Back in the sewers, Masque reveals his power is to rearrange anyone's face except his own disfigured one. Callisto offers Nighcrawler a spot in the Morlocks since he's as much a misfit as they. He prefers to gain acceptance from humanity despite how her looks rather than condemn them for not giving it right away. Caliban arrives with an extremely ill Kitty. The site enrages Colossus so much he breaks his bonds but Nightcrawler calms him. Callisto refuses to let them help their teammate. Caliban tells Nightcrawler the only way is for someone to challenger Callisto for leadership and win. Nightcrawler does so, but Storm, being leader of the X-Men, steps in to take his place. The challenger is a knife fight to the death, no mutant powers allowed. Storm shocks everyone by winning the duel... by stabbing Callisto in the heart. Storm did it because she knew Callisto would never expect it. The Morlock's healer prevents from Callisto from dying. Storm offers the Morlocks a place at Xavier's school, but they decline, not wanting to leave their home. The X-Men go home. Back in Alaska, Madelyne tries to take Cyclops' sunglasses, which causes him to freak out. When she asks for an explanation, he's actually quite willing to show her his mutant power. The two are still getting along quite well.

Yeah, but is it good? Pretty much like last issue. But what really bothers me is Storm is so willing to stab Callisto in the heart. This is following a story arc where she refused to kill a Brood embryo that would kill her because that would be taking a life. We are never given then rationale that Storm knew Callisto could be healed by the healer and not die, not are we given a reason like she was so enraged by seeing Kitty near death that she acted without thinking. All we get is Storm stabbing someone in the heart. There are changes happening in Storm, and it's going somewhere, but so far there is just no consistency to the character. The love story between Cyclops and Madelyne feels very rushed, but this story has to get somewhere in a short period of time... so what can you do? I'd like to point out Angel has appeared in two issues for this storyarc... and got absolutely no lines of dialogue. You'd almost think Claremont didn't care for the character. And since when did he become the world's prettiest man? That Thor is pretty dreamy. Caliban is less retarded, love starved Elmo. Rearranging someone's face is the stupidest mutant power ever.

Significata: Storm becomes leader of the Morlocks. Cyclops reveals his power to Madelyn Pryor. Their romance progresses. Rogue runs away from Mystique.  ¶ 8:34 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #169 (May 83): Catacombs

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Paul Smith, penciller; Bob Wiacek, inker; Bob Sharen, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops (DNA), Nightcrawler, Wolverine (DNA), Colossus, Sprite

Guest Star: Angel

In New Mutants #3: Psyche wonders whether the monster that attacked her is the Demon Bear that killed her parents; Illyana remembers how she killed some of the X-Men; Psyche's monster strikes again, this time attacking all the New Mutants.

Synopsis: Candy Southern, Angel's girlfriend, returns home but doesn't find Angel anywhere. She realises there was a struggle and calls Xavier for help. He attacked by a large man named Sunder. Nightcrawler is at Amanda Sefton's apartment and the two are having a bath together. being the closest to Angel's place, Xavier summons him to help Candy. He catches her as she is thrown from her window and returns her to Amanda's. Keep in mind he was naked the whole time. At the Hellfire Club, a recovered Sebastian Shaw is alerted theWhite Queen had come to see him in urgency, but was mentally struck down and is now (you guessed it) catatonic. Back at Amanda's apartment, the team has gathered (with Wolverine off in Japan and Cyclops in Alaska). Nightcrawlers says he saw Sunder enter the sewers, so the four X-Men go into the sewers to search. Xavier refuses to let any New Mutants aid the short handed team. The X-Men use a mini-Cerebro to track down Angel. On their way, they are attacked by a large band of sewer dwellers. Storm sends Kitty to scout ahead. She finds Sunder with a few other strange looking people. One of them, Plague, reaches for Kitty, but barely touches her before she phases and runs. The leader of the group says if one one molecule of her body made contact with Plague, she's as good as dead anyway. The three other X-Men win their battle and all the sewer dwellers flee. They continue on to find Angel without the missing Kitty, which causes them all some distress. Elsewhere, Kitty is feeling extremely weak and collapses, but it saved by Caliban, the weird looking mutant from issue #148. He wants to help Kitty so she will recover and fall in love with him so he'll never be lonely. The three X-Men enter a large tunnel are confronted with a large group of dwellers. Their leader introduces herself as Callisto, her people as the Morlocks (giving direct credit to the source, an HG Wells novel), a band of disfigured mutants who cannot blend into regular society, and her plans to marry Angel, the most beautiful man on Earth. She clips his pinfeathers so he's unable to fly again. The X-Men attack. The Morlocks retaliate. Nightcrawler is immediately overcome by their numbers, Storm is knocked unconscious by Callisto, and even Colossus cannot take them all alone. Elsewhere, Kitty awakens in a strange room. She tries to stand, but immediately collapses. Caliban worries she is dying, but will do whtever it takes to make sure she lives and that she will remain with him forever.

Yeah, but is it good? I've never been much of a fan of the Morlocks. There are just too many of them, their powers range from absurdly unbelievable to just looking funny. And most of them lack any character or personality. They do, however, become fairly important later on. Angel's pinfeathers being clipped and being unable to fly was a plot point soon dropped. He would join the Defenders soon after this and I'm pretty sure he was flying there. He was damn sure flying by the time of X-Factor in a couple of years. So either this was quietly forgotten, or there was some story explaining (retracting) it that I'm not aware of it. This issue does suffer quite a bit by not featuring two very important characters. Storyline wise, Xavier doesn't wany any New Mutants going with the X-Men since their purpose is not to be a fighting team like the X-Men (despite fighting villains in their own title every month). But this may have been a good chance to introduce one of two of them further to the X-Fans not yet buying that title. Speaking of the missing X-Men, I would love to be able to summarize what is happening in the Wolverine mini-series going on at this time, but I can't find a synopsis of it anywhere. All I know if he ends up in Japan with his lady, Mariko Yashida. This is debut of Kitty's blue costume she would go on to use for many years. She also mentions she's tired of the Sprite codename (that no one uses). Our little Kitty is growing up. Oh, and one last thing. Why does Claremont continually use a catatonic state to put away villains he wants to go away but not die? Why can't some just go to jail for once?

Significata: First appearance of the Morlocks (Callisto, Sunder, Plague, and Masque are named). Caliban is revealed to be a member. Kitty debuts her lasting blue costume. She wants to get rid of the name Sprite. Sebastian Shaw has recovered, but the White Queen is catatonic.  ¶ 8:00 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #168 (Apr 83): Professor Xavier is a Jerk!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Paul Smith, penciler; Bob Wiacek, inker; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, ed.-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus

Guest Star: Sprite, Havok

In New Mutants #2: The Sentinels attack the New Mutants, who learn that they are caught up in a web of intrigue involving the government; the Hellfire Club wants the New Mutants; Col. Rossi returns from the dead; and Psyche's attack seems to have been initiated by Prof. X.

Synopsis: Kitty is extremely upset that she's no longer an X-Men and unloads it all on Illyana. Illyana just makes her go to their dance class. They're being watched by something in the mansion. Wolverine gets ready to go on a little alone time in the rockies and Nightcrawler is driving him to the airport. They have a conversation about whether or not Kitty should be on the team and ethics of putting a child in danger. They both agree that Kitty earned he spot on the X-Men. Xavier begins to rehab is legs, but his mind is still having trouble letting him do it. Lilandra tells him that when the Starjammers return to space, she's going with them to reclaim her empire. They are being watched by something in the mansion. Kitty is moody at dance class until Illyana and Stevie tell her to just try and reason with Xavier. Storm has a walk outside the mansion, but suddenly loses the ability to control the weather for a moment. Kitty tries to reason with Xavier with logic, emotion, co-operation, and flattery. Nothing works. Cyclops visits Lee Forrester in Florida. He tells her he can't get involved with her. Amanda Sefton returns home from work to find Nightcrawler waiting for her and they spend Christmas Eve together. Colossus and Illyana are going chopping fire wood and invite Kitty but she has homework to do. She hopes keeping her grades up will convince Xavier to let her back on the X-Men. She notices an unidentified being in the Blackbird hangar tunnel. She goes to investigate and finds... her dragon. But she also finds Sidrian Hunters, the creatures that destroyed the mansion many issues ago. She alerts Xavier, but tackles them herself. She defeats the hunters except one, which almost blasts her, but Colossus arrives to save her. Kitty's dragon burns the entire nest containing the rest of the hunter eggs. Xavier is so impressed with her ability, he lets her back on the X-Men under the condition she keeps her grades up. In Alaska, Cyclops and Havok are about to meet their grandparents, Corsair's parents, for the first time. They run a private airline. They are met by one of the employees... a redhead named Madelyne Pryor, who looks exactly like Jean Gray.

Yeah, but is it good? This is a fantastic issue. It really has everything except a major villain. There's just enough action with the Sidrian Hunters to keep it from being a total talk issue. But the talk is great. Kitty spending an issue trying to outwit Xavier is hilarious. Nightcrawler and Wolverine have a great conversation about Kitty and children in general being put in harm's way when they have the ability to help in the dangerous situations. He's leaving for a bit to star in his own mini series, which was already released during the Brood story arc, but he will be missing four issues of X-Men to match up with the time. Weird, but smart. There are other scenes, like Nightcrawler visiting his girlfriend, that may seem pointless, but it's really only a page and it's there to remind us that fuzzy-elf does still have a girlfriend. I have to admit I forget what the deal with Storm losing her powers for a brief second was. Something tells me it's a plot point soon forgotten. But we'll see what happens. And of course... Cyclops finds an exact double of his dead lover. Is something sinister afoot?

Significata: Kitty is put back on the X-Men. Wolverine takes a leave of absense. Kitty's dragon turns up Earth, is named Lockheed (from way back in Kitty's Fairytale), and, essentially, joins the team (he won't appear in either the roster or guest star sections, however). First appearance of Madelyn Prior, who looks exactly like Jean Grey.  ¶ 7:25 PM (1) comments

  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.  ¶ 6:55 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #166 (Feb 83): Live Free or Die!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, scripter; Paul Smith, penciler; Bob Wiacek, inker; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite

Guest Star: Binary

NOTE: In Marvel Graphic Novel #4, Xavier recruits the New Mutants before Pierce, formerly of the Hellfire Club, does. Pierce wanted to use them to overthrow Sebastion Shaw.

Synopsis: Binary attacks a Brood outpost where they capture and lobotimize the Acanti with a slave virus. She destroys the base, and sensing the Acanti's slowly dying mind's last request, kills the creature. The spectre of Storm appears and leads her back to the young Acanti containing Lilandra's ship and the X-Men. Binary appologizes for blowing a hole in the ship earlier. The X-Men contemplate a suicide attack on the Brood homeworld. Storm explains the Acanti: They are ancient peaceful beings, led by a Soulsinger. Whenever a Soulsinger dies, it's spirit is transfered to a younger replacement Soulsinger. The last Soulsinger's bones are now the citidel on the Brood planet and the soul cannot escape. The Acanti that Storm is bonded with is a young Soulsinger, the first since the death of the last, but needs the Soulsinger soul to lead its people. The Acanti found Storm in a state of neardeath and took her in to a) repair her body and b) allow her consciousness to guide the still juvenille Soulsinger. The X-Men decided to attack and at the same time rescue the soul. Wolverine suggests only he and Binary do since they are free of the embyos and the killers in the group. Cyclop gets on his case bad and asks him to just kill everyone now since they're going to die anyway. He considers it until Kitty stops them. Storm gives Cyclops leadership of the team for this mission (as if he hasn't usurped the position since returning back in issue 150 anyway). The Acanti/Storm leads them to the planet and the X-Men and Lilandra teleport down. The Brood are alerted to their arrival by a traitor, one of the X-Men who has already begun transformation. The X-Men head towards the location of the soul. Binary attacks the Brood spaceships to protect the Soulsinger/Storm. On the planet, Wolverine and Cyclops start arguing during battle like they did in the old days. Kitty gets seperate from the team. She ends up in a giant next with one hatched egg and lots of Brood skeletons. Binary starts to lose the battle in space, but is rescued by the Starjammers. Cyclops' aim starts getting worse and worse. Wolverine realises that he's alreay transformed and that he's the traitor. Cyclops joins the Brood and defeat the X-Men. Meanwhile, Kitty is being elsewhere being chased by the Brood. She's about to caught when the Brood run in terror from... a flying dragon... the size of a cat. It fries all the Brood in sight except one. The three are greeted by a brilliant light (the soul) and enter. Meanwhile, the X-Men have been captured and taken before the Queen Mother. Cyclops' transformation continues and he loses control of his optic blast. Wolverine takes the opportunity to break out of his bonds and take the Queen hostage. He demands the rest of the Brood surrender and free the X-Men, or he kills her. They comply. Kitty then returns from the soul and invites them all to follow. The Queen insists on going too since one of them is almost a Brood now. They enter. The Queen manages to catch Wolverine off guard and injects him with lethal venom. Binary arrives to help and uses to her power to free the soul. As the soul escapes, it destroys the Brood embryos in everyone and turns the Queen into solid crystal. The disruption causes the planet to start to destruct. Everyone (except the Dragon) beams away just as the planet explodes. The X-Men are reunited with the Starjammers and Storm is returned to her rehealed body. The X-Men then realise there is still someone who is impregnated with a Brood embryo... the first... Charles Xavier.

Yeah, but is it good? The conclusion (sort of) to the Brood epic story and it's a big fight issue. Some of it gets a little ridiculous like the soul of the Acanti soulsinger and all that BS. But this is mostly a big action issue. Lots of Wolverine, too. He's clearly the most popular character at this point, taking center stage in the Brood storyline. Hmm... what could this be leading to? More X-titles, of course. But that's still a ways off. As for the Kitty's dragon... you either love it or hate it. Actually, I guess you don't have to since I sort of like it in a silly sort of way. Kitty is obviously Claremont's favorite character and he wants to make sure she always gets her moment.

Significata: The X-Men's embryos are destroyed and everyone is returned to normal. They realise Xavier still has his. The Queen Mother is turned to crystal. Kitty's dragon debuts (and she calls it Lockheed at one point). Double size issue sold for $1.00.  ¶ 2:45 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #165 (Jan 83): Transfigurations!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Paul Smith, penciler; Bob Wiacek, inker; L. Varley, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Louise Jones, editor; Jimm Shooter, ed.-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite

Synopsis: The X-Men hold on for dear life as they are being blown into space. Cyclops orders Colossus to become steel and plug the hole. Nightcrawler teleports Lilandra to the bridge. Wolverine starts to cut a slab of steel to plug the hole in Colossus' place and everything is back to normal. Back on Earth, Moira, Stevie Hunter, and Illyana are lounging by the mansion's pool. Stevie explains her knee injury to Moira. Moira gives Xavier a letter from the Fantastic Four about a young mutant named Xi'an Coy Mahn aka Karma that they've discovered. They are requesting Xavier's help on the matter, but he doesn't want to do anything. He's so upset over the "deaths" of the X-Men that he doesn't wish to have anyone else die because of his dream again. Moira explains that child can easily find support from Magneto or Emma Frost instead. She reminds him that, unfortunately, it's the evil mutants or him. He picks up the phone. This changes the X-Men and comics forever (see below). In space, Storm is alone on her one man ship. She feels she either has to kill the creature within her and go against her beliefs, or preserve her beliefs and let it kill her. As her transformation begins, she decides on a third option - kill herself. She creates a cosmic storm and launches herself into it. Killing her. The rest of the X-Men are repairing their ship. Wolverine and Lilandra want to return to the Brood world and kill them in revenge. Cyclops, facing his own death soon, reluctantly agrees. Wolverine spots Nightcrawler praying and they have a discussion on faith. Kitty has a dream of attending her own funeral where her corpse becomes a Brood and attacks her soul. She wakes up to find Colossus with her. He tries to lighten the mood with jokes, feeling he's going to die anyway and might as well smile. Kitty worries about no dying when the transformation happens and being aware of what she's become. Kitty then essentially says she wants to have sex with Colossus (being cryptic enough to get around the Comic's Code) because they're going to die anyway, but he thinks she's still too young. But they are interrupted by the spectre of a vampire Storm but she disappears. Wolverine and Nightcrawler are having some coffee when they see a spectre of jungle goddess Storm who then disappears. A child Storm appears, then disappears. Everyone comes together to tell what they saw and teenage thief Storm appears. Finally a spectre of X-Men Storm appears. She appologizes and says she's having trouble getting her form right. One of the giant beasts the Brood use as a space ship appears and swallows their ship. Their ship has lost all power and cannot escape. Storm explains it was her doing because she did not want the beast, an Acanti, to be harmed. She explains that she and the Acanti are now one.

Yeah, but is it good? Let me see... Storm won't kill the Brood embyo, taking a life, but she's commit suicide, taking two lives. Riiiight. Storm has not been very well written in this story so far. But this is a good quiet issue to build up to the climax in the next. The conversations between Wolverine and Nightcrawler are getting better and better, and their discussion on faith here is really good. And the Kitty/Colossus discussions about sex (which they never say, only allude to) is very well done and is pretty tasteful considering one of them is 14 and the other is 18 at the youngest. And what is so damn important about Xavier's decision? Here we go.

The X-Men by this point have become a huge success. They are the second best selling title for Marvel behind Amazing Spider-Man. When Spidey got to a success, he got a second title (Marvel Team-Up) and then a third (Spectacular Spider-Man) and as the years went on more and more Spider-Man related comics a month. With X-Men, this was harder. Claremont's writting style was very soap opratic, continuing issue to issue. Creating a second X-Men title, especially with a different writter, would have caused many story telling and continuity problems. So Marvel did the next best thing, create a new team of X-Men. Storyline wise, Xavier recruits Karma and then four other mutants, Sam Gunthrie aka Cannonball (launches his body at high speeds and is invulnerable in that state), Roberto de Costa aka Sunspot (channels the power of the sun), Rahne Sinclair aka Wolfsbane (becomes a wolf) and Danielle Moonstar aka Pysche who channels people's fear. They became the New Mutants. Now with two different X-Men related titles (and more will come), events taking place in one comic affects the other, and if you don't read both, you can easily get lost on characters and plot points. Reading both became very helpful, but not necessairy. But eventually, Marvel would start running crossovers between the X-titles. It then became necessairy to read ALL the X-titles to understand the overall story. And when they started running six titles a month, it became very expensive. This wasn't limited to X-Men. Soon, Spider-Man was running long crossovers in all of his titles, basically havign weekly instead of monthly installments. Then the crossovers would spread to unrelated titles (Captain America and Ghost Rider, for example) to boost sales where normally a guest appearance would have sufficed. This (expensive) trend would continue until Marvel collapsed in on itself and stopped gouging it's readers (as much).

I will update my reviews with New Mutants happenings as they affect the current X-Men story. Fortunately, direct crossovers are ways off yet.

Significata: Storm commits suicide but becomes one with an Acanti. The Acanti are named for the first time. Kitty wants to express her love for Colossus physically but he feels she is too young. Xavier is decides to create a new team.  ¶ 2:00 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #164 (Dec 82): Binary Star!

I already typed this up once, but my computer ia PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT and now I have to retype it. I may give less detail out of being PISSED OFF.

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Dave Cockrum, penciler; Bob Wiacek, inker; Joe Rosen, letterer; Janine Casey, colorist; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite

Guest Star: Carol Danvers

Synopsis: The X-Men are escaping the Brood in Lilandra's yacht. They are attacked by the Brood, but the Brood are under orders from teh Queen Mother to capture them unharmed. The X-Men man the weapons and start fighting back. Storm is using her power to create cosmic storms, but accidentally kills one of the Brood's living spaceship. She is so upset she refuses to attack anymore. The ship is hit and has to be externally repaired. Kitty volunteers since she can phase through and shots that come at her. Cyclops reluctantly agrees. During her repair, the ship is hit again and she's cut pretty bad by shrapnel, but refuses to quit until her task is finished. Inside, Carol starts to feel funny and is soon overcome with cosmic amount of energy. She uses her new power to destroy all the Brood ships. Back on Earth, in the newly rebuilt mansion, Xavier is alone with Illyana. He explains mutants to her. She hints she may have gained some powers while in Limbo. Xavier finds her mind shielded from him, but doesn't care to investigate why. He just wants to be left alone. Back in space, Nightcrawler is taking care of the injured Kitty while Carol uses her new powers to fully restore the ship's engines. This causes her to reach a limit in her power. Colossus takes Kitty's place in repairing the ship and Carol joins him (without a space suit). He asks her to join the team, but she says she's rather use her new powers to explore the universe. He renames herself Binary. Inside, Nightcrawler finds Kitty has recovered fully from a very bad wound. He voices his concern to Cyclops. Wolverine snaps and tells him to stop asking questions. Storm tries to relax after killing the space beast, but has a severe pain attack (like Wolverine did a few issues ago). Cyclops tries to help her, but she goes off on a rant about how much she hates being in space, away from the Earth. She then senses a life growing in her, and knowing what it is, takes off in a one man fighter aboard the yacht (convenient). Cyclops wants to go after her, but Wolverine suggests letting her go. Cyke demands Wolverine tells them what he knows. Reluctantly, he tells the team that they have all been impregnated with a Brood embryo and will soon die. Binary is so upset she tears off towards the Brood homeworld for revenge, busting a hole in the side of the ship. The X-Men start to get blown into space.

Yeah, but is it good? A bit of a drop from last issue. This suffers from being the middle chapter of this Brood epic tale. A couple of things bother me. First, Storm. She got on my nerves in this issue, and I don't think that was Claremont's intention. She hates being trapped in space? Yeah well I'm sure the rest of the team does too. And how does she detect the lifeform growing in her? Her powers are weather related. Oh, right, she's a "goddess of life", whatever that is. Seems like a convenient plot point to me. And I don't buy her creating cosmic storms. I know that's been a part of her character since the early days. I'm not meteorologist or cosmotologist, but I'm sure planetary weather patterns and radiation in a vaccuum are two completely different things. Yes, I AM allowed to expect a little bit of reality from an X-Men comic. It's not a Dr. Strange comic where you have to take a huge leap of faith to enjoy the stories. Second, Binary. This was Claremonts attempt to recreate Phoenix. The difference is, Phoenix came from Jean Gray, a member of a rejuvinated super hero team who existed in that self same title. Binary comes from Carol Danvers, who's Ms. Marvel title was cancelled and has no title of her own to move on to. It's almost pointless. She does kick around still in whatever "cosmic" comics exist. But this comic has some good points, especially Wolverine. He spends the issue debated on telling the team they're going to die. He feels guilty that his power saved him, but they're doomed. And Kitty gets a nice moment of bravery fixing the ship, showing how far she's come. And Xavier brooding over the X-Men's "death" does lead somewhere... important... and industry changing.

Significata: Carol Danvers becomes Binary. Possible mutant and mystical powers for Illyana are hinted at. Xavier broods (npi) over the "death" of the X-Men.  ¶ 12:57 AM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #163 (Nov 82): Rescue Mission

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, scripter; Dave Cockrum & Bob Wiacek, artists; Joe Rosen, letterer; Bob Sharen, colorist; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite

Guest Stars: Carol Danvers, Havok, Polaris

Synopsis: The Brood are running tests on Carol Danvers. They're amazed by her altered human DNA and alter her body into a myriad of shapes. Wolverine finds her and kills all the Brood torturing her. Her body is in a state of shapelessness that he hopes will be fixed by destroying their machinery. If not, he'll kill her anyway since she's got a Brood embryo in her. She returns to her human shape, but has a strange sense about her that both she and Wolverine detect. They go looking for the rest of the X-Men. Back on Earth, Havok, Polaris, and Corsair are rebuilding the mansion and are also worried that the X-Men are now dead that they've been captured by the Brood. Corsair plans to go looking for them or to avenge them, but without Havok. Meanwhile, Cyclops dreams of fighting the Brood in their alien jungle. He spots the other X-Men, but they turn into Brood. He fights them until he's saved by a giant Xavier. He wakes up, still seeing the world as Lilandra's homewold, and finds Storm also having a nightmare. They know something is wrong. Wolverine and Carol find them and get them to see the world as it is. They find the rest of the X-Men who follow and believe, but still see the illusion. Storm, Nightcrawler, and Kitty go towards the yacht to get an escape, while Cyclops, Wolverine, Colossus, and Carol go rescue Lilandra. Wolverine picks up the scent of the Queen Mother of the Brood and wants to go kill her (not telling them why) and Cyclops won't let him. As they fight, they are attacked. Carol sneaks away from the battle to rescue Lilandra. Cyclops tries to withdraw back to the yacht, but Wolverine takes off after the Queen. Meanwhile, Storm flies Nightcrawler and Kitty as high into the atmosphere as she can, then Nightcrawler teleports with Kitty to the ship, and Kitty phases inside. She's attacked by a Brood, but ends up blowing out to space when she tries to let Nightcrawler in. Back on the planet, the team has fought their way to teh Queen and Wolverine is about to finish her off when the team is teleported onto the yacht. They start to flee, but are soon followed by Brood ships.

Yeah, but is it good? Lots of action. The recuring theme of this issue is the justification of killing. Wolverine wants to kill the Queen out of revenge for what she did to the rest. No one knows his motivation, but Carol and Lilandra, seeing it as war, are willing to follow. Cyclops is reluctant. Kitty feels remorse for killing the Brood warrior to save hers and Nighcrawler's life. This is an issue the X-Men will move more towards. Some are warriors who kill out of necessity, others are there to preserve life, any life, at the risk of their own. Some are in the middle and confused. There's also a lot of conflict in Wolverine on whether to tell the X-Men what he knows or not. One could argue he hasn't had much of a chance yet.

Significata: Carol Danvers goes through Brood experiments. The mansion is rebuilt. Corsair leaves to find the X-Men.  ¶ 5:30 PM (0) comments

  X-Men Annual #6 (1982): Blood Feud!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Bill Sienkiewicz, penciller; Bob Wiacek, inker; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shootr, ed.-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite

Guest Star: Dracula, Lilith, Rachel Van Helsing

Synopsis: At Bard College, Rachel Van Helsing finishes teaching her class to return home to find Dracula waiting for her. Back at the X-Men mansion, Kitty is throwing a tantrum. She recieved a letter from her parents saying they're getting divorced. The rest of the team try to console her, but she won't listen. She storms off to her room and cries herself to sleep. In the middle of the night, Kitty wakes up to find Storm in her room. Kitty tries to appologize for earlier, but Storm bites her neck and drains her blood. Storm then drains the blood of all the X-Men one by one. She then turns into a bat creature and flies off to find Dracula and embraces him. It was all a nightmare. Storm wakes up and checks on the team. They're all fine. But she knows Dracula is summoning her, so she takes off to find him. Kitty sees her go and is strangely aware of what is happening. She find Colossus writting a paper and tries to seduce him. Behind a closed door, he screams.

Storm arrives at Dracula's castle in England. She's greeted by Rachel Van Helsing. Storm is upset Dracula did not release his hold on her last time like he promised. He says he needs her. She finds out Rachel Van Helsing is also a vampire now too, thanks to Dracula. Dracula says after Storm helps him, he will free her until her natural death when she will become a vampire anyway. Storm agrees to help as long as no one is harmed and the X-Men arn't involved. He wants Storm to steal a book which contains a spell that can obliterate vampires. The book is held in a fortress in Pendarrow, England. The fortress is built on a site so holy Dracula cannot go near it. Storm enters the castle, but is shot in the shoulder from a crossbow by Kitty. Kitty won't let Storm serve Dracula and is trying to kill her. Storm tries to fight back, but Colossus comes to Kitty's aid. Kitty gets the book and vows to destroy Dracula. She and Colossus flee. The cops arrive, so Storm escapes with Dracula and Rachel Van Helsing.

Storm relives the bombing of Cairo and the death or her parents as well as being buried alive. She waked up to find herself in a coffin. Dracula appologizes for forgetting her claustrophobia. She is so made she attacks him. He vows to make her a vampire forever, but Cyclops, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler show up to help. They followed Kitty and Colossus. The X-Men battle Dracula and Rachel Van Helsing. Kitty and Colossus arrive and attack Dracula. He flees and Kitty follows. Colossus attacks his own teammates when they try to get in his way of following Kitty. The rest of the X-Men enter the catacombs to follow. They find Colossus battling Dracula and help him out. Rachel tries to attack Storm, but Storm forces her realise she has become the slave on the creature she vowed to destroy. Kitty arrives and starts to cast the spell to destroy Dracula until Nightcrawler stops her. Everyone suddenly realises Kitty is posessed. She turns out to be Lilith, Dracula's daughter. Rachel rushes in and impales Dracula through the heart, melts him with a cross, and Wolverine cuts off his head to fully destroy him. Then the castle starts to collapse. Everyone escapes. Being almost dawn, Rachel asks that Wolverine give her a quick death, which he does. Lilith then leaves Kitty's body and returns Colossus' free will back to him. The X-Men go home.

Yeah, but is it good? Remember when I said these un-X-Men like stories belong in annuals instead of the regular series? Well I was wrong. They don't belong anywhere. I really don't care if Claremont likes these macabre tales or not. They don't belong in X-Men stories! Go write another series in that genre if you want to do them. This wasn't even as fun as the first X-Men vs Dracula story as the plot in this one is just a dream. Between people being posessed and and the nightmares, it's hard to figure out what's happening. And if you're wondering why Dracula and Rachel Van Helsing got to be killed in an X-Men book, it's because Dracula's own title, Tomb Of Dracula, was cancelled long before this. Yeah. What a great idea for a guest star. Of course he would come back some time later. Hey, it's comic books. Oh, and if you want to know why Rachel Van Helsing becoming a vampire is a big deal or why Dracula's daughter, Lillith, wants to kill him, don't ask me. It's not an X-Men story.

Significata: Dracula and Rachel Van Helsing die (Dracula comes back later, but thankfully not in X-Men). Storm is free of ever becoming a vampire. Kitty's parents get divorced.  ¶ 10:50 PM (0) comments

  Uncanny X-Men #162 (Oct 82): Beyond the Farthest Star

Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Dave Cockrum, pencil; Bob Wiacek, inks; Glynis Wein, colorist; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, ed-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite

Guest Star: Carol Danvers

Synopsis: Wolverine has escaped the clutches of the Brood and is fighting his way through an alien jungle. He gets an intense pain in his stomach then has a hallucination of going horseback riding with Mariko Yoshida and being captured by the Brood while she's killed. He comes to to find the Brood actually chasing him. He fights them fairly well but falls off a cliff into a giant web. The web is between bones of the skeleton of one of the large living beings the Brood uses as a spaceship. The Brood figure Wolverine for dead since many predators like down there. In the web, he gets another intense pain and hallucinates of Deathbird and the Brood taking them all hostage. The rest of the X-Men thought they were still on Lilandra's yacht but only Wolverine could see the world for what it was. The Brood take Carol Danvers off to run tests on her. The X-Men and Lilandra are taken to, in their view, recieve awards, but are really being taken before the Brood Queen for implantation. Wolverine comes to to find predators coming for him. Despite the pain, he fights them all off, then collapses, ready to die. He hallucinates of waking up after being taken before the Queen but still none of the X-Men will believe him. He says goodbye to Kitty and leaves. On his way, he spots Fang of the Imperial Guard, apparently the Shi'Ar traitor who helped the Brood attack. The Brood watches on as their ally is transformed into one of their own thanks to an egg implanted in him. Wolverine is spotted, and that's how we get to the start of the issue. He comes to again and refuses to die. He hijacks a flying Brood and demands it take him to the X-Men. He gets the pain again, and the Brood uses the chance to dump him in front of a bunch of Brood warriors. Wolverine goes berzerk again and destroys them all. He gets the pain again, and this time his transformation into a Brood begins. But thanks to his healing factor, his body fights it. In the end, the Brood cannot take over and he remains alive, although with a minor scaley affect on his skin. Wolverine vows to go back and prevent the X-Men from turning into the Brood... even if it means killing them.

Yeah, but is it good? It's good to be back in the Claremont era. This is a great one. If you like Wolverine, and we all do, this is an issue for you. It's told in a first person narrative and it's almost poetic. Maybe a little too poetic for Wolverine. But it's great to see Wolvie going berzerk and killing things.

Significata: The X-Men have been implanted with Brood eggs. Wolverine kills his. The Brood take Carol Danvers for medical experiments.  ¶ 10:15 PM (0) comments