Now we're into an era I'm familiar with. It's an odd stretch, with the X-Men contending with a sentient universe at the start, and a trickster god at the end. Those more unusual threats bookend more conventional mutant-hunting robots and other mutants. But variety makes for the spice of life, right?
The 200th issue brought a couple of major changes to the book. First, Xavier got badly injured attending yet another trial for Magneto and had to be whisked into space for advanced medical treatment by his bird princess girlfriend Lilandra. Then, before he left, Chuck asked Magneto to take over running the school.
This was followed up in the next issue by Cyclops losing a duel to Storm (still minus her powers) and being forced to relinquish leadership of the X-Men for the horrors of, gasp, marriage and fatherhood. How awful. Of course, as we covered in Saturday Splash Page #16, ol' Slim Summers couldn't bail on Maddy and Baby Cable to hang out with his school chums fast enough, but it would be a while (blessedly) before he'd befoul the pages of this book again. So that's the oldest of the X-Men gone, the teacher and mentor replaced by a guy who had repeatedly kicked this team's ass.
This could be considered a period of long, downward spiral for the team, as internal and (mostly) external forces dismantle the team. Rachel Summers first tries kill the Beyonder, who then tries to goad her into unleashing the neutron galaxy within the M'Krann Crystal, which would have wiped out the entire universe. After that, she tries to kill Selene (who is, after all, a vampire that's killed thousands to continue her own existence), only to nearly be gutted by Wolverine, under the questionable Logan logic it's better he nearly kill the girl than allow her to become a killer herself.
Rachel staggers off, into Spiral's waiting hands, at the same time Nightcrawler is nearly killed in battle with Nimrod. Wolverine had already nearly been killed by Lady Deathstrike, and then Rachel did a number on him on her way out the door. Then the Mutant Massacre starts, and the X-Men lose three of their number to severe injury.
Part of what I like about this stretch is how well Claremont makes it feel as though the tables are turning against the X-Men. Nimrod is out there, adapting even further with every encounter. No one has any real idea who is behind the Marauders, who take a break from attacking the X-Men to attack Maddy Pryor and abduct Baby Cable. Mystique's branch of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants get themselves declared a federal law enforcement group. The X-Men bucked the odds for a long time, but they couldn't keep it up forever, and they're left scrambling for answers, even as the damage spreads beyond their roster.
The Morlocks are decimated. Even the Hellfire Club is taking casualties. The Beyonder temporarily kills the entire New Mutant squad and erases their existence so no one, save Shadowcat (thanks to her "bond" with Illyana), even remembers them. They're brought back eventually, but so traumatized Magneto hands them off to Emma Frost to help deal with their psychic trauma. Predictably terrible idea, entrusting children to Emma. Meanwhile, Magneto's taking a spot in the Hellfire Club as part of an alliance. I think that's one of those Claremont subplots that never went anywhere.
Backs against the wall and roster depleted, the X-Men are pretty much whoever the holdovers (Storm, Wolverine, Rogue) can find. Psylocke's there as an instructor for the kids, but has to fend off Sabretooth by herself. Dazzler shows up controlled by Malice, and once she's free, sticks around for lack of anywhere better to go. Malice switches to Polaris, which has Havok looking for X-Men assistance, only to find the mansion abandoned. Longshot. . .just kind of shows up?
I especially like the few issues where Wolverine has to try and lead a team that isn't much of a team while Storm's hunting Forge in attempt to regain what he took from her. Logan had always resisted taking command, but now he had to take being responsible beyond just acting the gruff mentor to one teenage girl at a time. He can't stop to settle scores with Sabretooth, because Longshot doesn't understand the danger they're facing, Rogue and Psylocke are both overconfident, Dazzler doesn't trust Rogue, and Havok doesn't trust himself. Maddy's there too, doing her best to stay alive while not understanding why the Marauders are trying so damn hard to kill her.
John Romita Jr.'s the regular artist at the start of this stretch, although Rick Leonardi, Barry Windsor-Smith, Alan Davis and Jackson Guice, among others, pop in for an issue here and there. By the tail end, primary art responsibility is in the hands of Marc Silvestri. His lines are considerably thinner and lighter than Romita's, and his work is a lot busier as well. It gives the characters more of a harried look. They're on edge, worn down. Of course, Silvestri also tends to have every woman stand like she's wearing high heels, whether she is or not. It's distracting when Dazzler's got her heel four inches in the air for no apparent reason. (I do wonder if there was any connection between Silvestri becoming the new artist at a time when the cast shifted to being over 50% women.)
2 comments:
That's quite a run of great artists!
Yeah, Uncanny X-Men had a hell of a run of artists, from Cockrum and Byrne, Paul Smith, JRJR, BWS, Leonardi, Davis, Silvestri, all the way thru to Jimm Lee and the Kuberts.
Perks of becoming a flagship book, I guess.
Post a Comment