Uncanny X-Men #166

"Live Free or Die!"
Published: February 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: Paul Smith
Inker: Bob Wiacek

What's Going On?
Instead of following up immediately on the rather confusing cliffhanger of last issue, this issue picks up with Binary, who has been MIA since exploding out of the side of the X-Men's ship.  In the meantime, it seems that she has been taking her frustrations out on the Brood empire, blowing bases and ships to smithereens.  You might think that she will never find her friends again in the vastness of space, but you would be wrong.  It turns out that Storm --- who is now a hologram projected by the consciousness of an alien Acanti that has swallowed the X-Men's spacecraft --- is able to track Binary down fairly quickly.  And the X-Men, who are all incubating Brood children inside their bodies, are all in pretty good spirits, considering that they are all going to die.  But instead of going on a revenge-fueled suicide attack to bring down the Brood, once and for all, they are given an alternative.  Instead of just trying to kill stuff, the X-Men could choose to free the Acanti alien race from the slavery that the evil Brood have imposed upon them.  How do they do that?  Mostly by killing stuff, but they are also going to free a soul from its eternal prison...somehow.  The end result is bye-bye Brood.  Oh, and the Starjammers arrive, just in time to contribute very little to the battle.

Subplots, Oh the Subplots!
- Finally!  We are returning to the subplot introduced in Uncanny #161, where it is revealed that Professor Xavier also has a Brood gestating within him.  Since this has already been used as a surprising twist, months earlier, I don't know what it is being used as a cliffhanger here, but I'm tired of the X-Men fighting aliens and am ready for this storyline to finally end.

- Hey, it turns out that the X-Men didn't completely forget about Binary blowing a hole in the side of their spaceship a few issues back!  Even better, they don't seem to mind at all that one of their friends almost killed them.

- This is the first appearance of Lockheed, although we don't get a name for him just yet.  It's a pretty sweet first appearance, too:

It gets even better when we see the relative size of the dragon:

What a fun introduction to this completely superfluous --- but lovable --- character.


Writing!
It's nice to see the X-Men given a way out of the suicide run that this storyline initially set up for them.  Granted, it's not a whole lot better than suicide, but I suppose the change of intention is worth a lot.  I'm not a fan of the Storm/Acanti subplot, but it was short enough to keep the ridiculousness of it from being irritating.  Really, at this point, I am just happy to have the X-Men coming back to Earth.  This is definitely one of the best "X-Men in Spaaace!" storylines, but I prefer supervillains to personality-free aliens.

One of best moments of this storyline comes in this issue, with the climax of Wolverine's conflict over whether or not to kill his infected friends. 

Yes, Wolverine is a badass for being willing to make the difficult and probably wrong choice here.  And yes, Carol's hair in this scene is pretty funny.

Art!
Paul Smith is clearly still getting used to some of the character designs here, specifically Binary's.  He doesn't seem sure what to do with her, especially when she is in her Carol Danvers form.  It's a minor point, but it still gives a few giggles looking at the various hairdos she has in this issue.  Smith does a solid job with the action in this issue without getting graphic.  I could have done with more alien guts, but that's just personal preference.

One of the cooler visuals in this issue comes when the Brood are crystallized.

Granted, this is a comic that features Iceman on a semi-regular basis, so it's not like the readers have never seen a character looking like this, but it is still well done and pretty cool looking.

Retroactively Amusing:
- Carol's hair.

- I love that Storm's body being regrown inside an alien that resembles a catfish is never really brought up again.

Holy crap, that should be a trauma that sticks with a character for ages, or at least results in her having short hair or something for a while.  But no, Storm's back to business as usual when the X-Men return to Earth.  Oddly enough, this experience isn't referenced as even a possible partial cause to Storm's extreme makeover Uncanny X-Men #173 in a few months time.

Worth Noting:
- This is the first appearance of Lockheed, although he is not named here.

Everything 80s:
Check out Spider-Man hawking a puzzle toy.

Fun fact: this relatively unknown toy is actually a follow-up invention from the creator of the Rubik's Cube.  I don't know if they meant to imply that only criminals would want to play with this toy, but I suppose theirs is an untapped market.

Marvel Graphic Novel #5: X-Men - God Loves, Man Kills

 "God Loves, Man Kills"
Published: January 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: Brent Anderson
Inker: Brent Anderson

What's Going On?
The story opens with two children running for their lives.  They don't get far before they are executed for being born mutants.

Magneto shows up on the scene shortly after to discover the bodies, but the killers are long gone.  It turns out that the killers are militant followers, or "purifiers," of the viciously anti-mutant evangelist, William Stryker.  Despite heading a profitable and popular religious business, Stryker is obsessed with ridding the world of the supposed evil of mutantkind.

Naturally, Stryker turns his attentions to the most prominent mutants in America, the X-Men.  He somehow has learned all about the team and their school, and sets his purifiers sights on taking them out.  The first step is to capture Professor Xavier, Cyclops, and Storm after Xavier is invited to debate Stryker on national television.  The second step is to torture and brainwash Xavier to the point where he wants to use his mutant power of telepathy to kill mutants.  Step three is to create something that will amplify Xaviers powers so they can be effective on a large scale.

From this point on, it is simply a matter of the remaining X-Men avoiding the same fate as their friends as they (and their arch-enemy, Magneto) try to prevent Stryker from using Xavier to kill all mutantkind.

Subplots, Oh the Subplots!
Since this is a stand-alone story, it would not make much sense for there to be many subplots percolating in the background.  This being a Chris Claremont story, though, he does manage to squeeze one in.  And which current X-Men subplot does he choose to bring up?  The notion of young love/statutory rape, of course!

Is it just me, or is it weird that Illyana seems so comfortable talking about her best friend having sex with her older brother?

Writing!
God Loves, Man Kills holds a fairly unique place in X-Men history.  This story was published in a prestige format with serious themes; heck, this was written by Christopher Claremont!

Chris writes comics, Christopher writes graphic novels

This story is considerably grimmer than the typical superhero comic in 1983.  Keep in mind that this was written years before The Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen; while I wouldn't argue that this story compares with either of those, it is interesting to see Claremont pushing the envelope in this direction.  The typical X-Men comic does not show or imply the murder of children, much less the difficult-to-punch-in-the-face concept of bigotry.  This story also draws a clearer line between the treatment of mutants and racial minorities.  This is a theme that Claremont spent a lot of time on during his X-Men run, but rarely as bluntly as here:

I wouldn't mind this scene so much, if it wasn't followed with a shot of Stevie admitting to herself that Kitty was right.  I get what Claremont was going for, but the man could be ham-fisted at times.

The story doesn't feel as daring as it probably did in 1983, but God Loves, Man Kills is still a pretty good tale.  It is easy for the team to fight super-villains, but deep-seeded prejudice is a complicated foe, and Claremont does a good job illustrating that.  In particular, I think William Stryker was given a surprising amount of depth for a one-off character.  Yes, he's a crazy bigot, but I thought the backstory he received did a fantastic job making him into a monster, instead of just a dangerous idiot.

It is Claremont's use of Magneto, though, that stands out the most in this graphic novel.  This is the first time readers would have seen the villain in action since Uncanny X-Men #150, where he had a major revelation; here, he is less of a villain, and more of a man weary of the cycle of violence.  Considering that Claremont had already established that Magneto was a survivor of the Holocaust, it shows remarkable restraint that Magneto's weariness and rage are not explicitly framed with that experience.  This Magneto feels older, wiser, and far more reasonable than in any other appearance he had made, up until this point.  In fact, he makes so much sense that a guilty Xavier briefly considers following Magneto's approach to mutant survival (!).

Is this story a classic?  It's definitely worth reading, but it doesn't stand up quite as well as Claremont's more famous moments on Uncanny.  If it wasn't for Brian Singer choosing this story as the basis for X2: X-Men United, I don't know if this would get much acclaim.  And that's too bad.  While it is a bit awkward in parts, this is a nice stand-alone story and it absolutely defines the Magneto character for the rest of Claremont's run.


Art!
Let's not forget Brent Eric Anderson's artwork!  I think Anderson's art is well-suited for an issue like this, where the focus is on characters talking, rather than on dynamic action scenes.  That is not because Anderson cannot draw solid action, but he is definitely better at conveying subtle emotions than most comic artists.  When he inks his own work, it is a little reminiscent of early (read: not weird) Bill Sienkiewicz.  What makes the artwork stand out most in this graphic novel, though, is the coloring by Steve Oliff.  The super-heroing scenes were more subdued than usual, and the use of sepia tones in Stryker's origin was just lovely.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- This story was actually not considered canon until Marvel wanted to tie into the second X-Men movie, which was partially inspired by this comic; the main reason for this was because it was published without the Comics Code Authority seal of approval.  It took twenty years for there to be any acknowledgement of this story in the pages of another X-Men comic, which eventually ended up being Claremont's "God Loves, Man Kills II" storyline in X-Treme X-Men.  Unfortunately, Styker and the Purifiers (now capitalized) have just become unsympathetic punching bags to be trotted out whenever unreasoning hate is needed to explain a plot point.

- Kitty Pryde is referred to as "Ariel" in Stryker's files.  I suppose that places this issue, continuity-wise, somewhere in-between panels of Uncanny #168.

-Cyclops' optic beams are force beams, not lasers.  I don't think his powers work this way:

- Despite the many, many opportunities this plot presented, there is no mention of Nightcrawler's religious beliefs in this graphic novel.  The contrast between a bigoted preacher and a forgiving monster seems too good to pass up, and yet somehow Claremont kept Nightcrawler in the far background of this story.  

- The explanation given for Styker knowing so much about the X-Men was that he gained access to the files of Fred Duncan, the team's old FBI liason.  If you don't recall Duncan or FBI involvement with the team, that is because the last time Fred Duncan was mentioned in an issue was 1968's Uncanny X-Men #46.   Claremont rarely referenced the stories that came before he took over this title --- with good reason, honestly --- so the fact that he pulled out this random factoid is both amusing and unusual.

Uncanny X-Men #165

"Transfigurations!"
Published: January, 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: Paul Smith
Inker: Bob Wiacek


What's Going On?
This issue picks up where the last one left off, with the X-Men (minus Storm and Binary) about to be sucked into the vacuum of space.  Naturally, this only distracts them for a few moments.

Not even long enough for Wolverine to not remind them about his skeleton

Once they are safe again, the team reflects on their mortality.  Meanwhile, in her escape pod, Storm almost transforms into a Brood (Broodling?  Broodite?), but is saved by her elemental powers in the vacuum of space, which apparently has more atmosphere than I have been led to believe.  She is able to use her abilities to flare up like a star, which kills the Brood egg inside her and destroys her escape pod in the process.  She does not die, however.  She reappears in the X-Men's ship as a hologram (or maybe a ghost), right before she reveals that she has become one with a living Brood starship and swallows the X-Men's ship whole.

Subplots, Oh the Subplots!
- Moira MacTaggert makes an appearance to pressure Professor Xavier to stop sulking about his missing and possibly dead students and get back to recruiting young mutants to train.  I mean, come on!  He's been sad for, like, two issues!  Get over it!  Actually, this scene does have a pretty cool moment when Moira suggests sending a prospective student to Magneto or the Hellfire Club-run Massachusetts Academy; in a rare moment that shows a moral grey area, Moira explains that it is better for mutants to be trained by potentially evil people than to be left untrained.

- Wolverine and Nightcrawler share a moment as they discuss religion.  Fun fact: this is only the second time Nightcrawler's Christianity is mentioned.

- Colossus and Kitty have their first kiss and Peter politely declines to have sex with a fourteen year old.  Way to live by society's rules, Russkie.

When they rejoin the group a little later, Kitty is wearing Peter's ugly shirt as a robe.  It's a nice, subtle sign of their deepening intimacy.  It's a little weird that no one asks why she is wearing his clothes while Peter remains half naked, but maybe the team is confused by the coloring of Scott's hair this issue.

Art!
This is the first issue of Paul Smith's stellar Uncanny X-Men run, which means that Uncanny X-Men #164 was the final issue of Dave Cockrum's run.  It feels a little odd, in retrospect, that no mention is made in the letters section or in the credits; Cockrum played a major part in the look and feel of this team, and doesn't seem to get enough credit for it.

On to Paul Smith!  I love the simple lines on his pages and the way he conveys age in the faces of his characters; just compare his Wolverine to Colossus to see how much he does with only a few lines around the eyes.  He is also one of the few comic artists that can manage to draw a teenage girl without a DD cup size.  I'm looking forward to reviewing the rest of his run.

Writing!
This issue is a great example of Claremont in his Golden Age.  The main plot, the incubating Brood eggs, is advanced.  It's actually advanced in an unpredictable way, as the team gets Jonah-and-the-Whaled at the end of the issue.  Allowing the team to take a break from senseless action (aside from the explosive decompression scene) lets us see some great character reactions that deepened the connections between Wolverine and Nightcrawer, as well as Kitty and Peter.  The "Ghost Storm" that appears at the end of the issue is weird, I'll admit, but it leaves you wanting to know what is going on.

I also really liked the check-in scene with Professor Xavier, back on Earth.  It is clearly meant to foreshadow The New Mutants, but it felt natural enough.  I especially liked Moira giving Xavier some sass; her character had a lot of history with Charles, and her best moments are when she's not afraid to disagree.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Despite the fact that she punched a hole in the side of the damned spaceship, which sets up the first scene in this issue, no character mentions Carol Danvers, her transformation into Binary, or the fact that she blew a hole in their damned spaceship.  They're just like, "Man, that explosive decompression sure sucked.  What's for dinner?"

- Recurring non-mutant cast member Stevie Hunter makes a brief appearance to talk about dance and her knee injury.   Aside from an early issue of The New Mutants, I'm pretty sure that's the most she contributes for the next hundred issues or so.

- Storm's psionic ability to manipulate the elements apparently work even better in space, to the point where she basically goes supernova.  I'll have to remember this, because I'm fairly certain she has had trouble working in space at other times.

- There is a house ad in this comic for The New Mutants graphic novel, "coming this Fall."  This comic has a published date of January 1982.  I've been pacing my reviews to coincide with the alleged publication dates of these comics, but they appear to toy with time and space.

A look back at Wolverine (Vol. 1)

It's hard to imagine these days, but there was a time when Wolverine was not the omnipresent corporate mascot that he is today.  When his first series was launched in 1982, his character had only a few defining moments.  Aside from the times where he went berserk and attacked his own teammates, his biggest issue to date was in Uncanny #133, when he killed loads of anonymous Hellfire Club henchmen.  He was the X-Man who was truly dangerous, and was defined more by what he was not (a team player, a nice guy, etc.) than by what he was.

That helped make the character popular, but it was painting Chris Claremont into a corner, development-wise.  As legend (and Claremont, in numerous interviews and the foreward to at least one of the paperback collections of this series) has it, Claremont wanted to explore the character more, and make him more than just a psychopath.  Frank Miller wasn't interested in the character at all.  However, over a long car ride together, they hashed out the ideas that eventually became this limited series.

And what a productive series it was!  The concepts introduced here have had a direct impact on the character ever since.  This may be one of the most important limited series of all time, given the major character changes it introduces.  After this series, we don't see Wolverine as an uncontrollable psycho again until his ill-advised nose-free era.

Easily the worst thing in the X-comics (until the Draco)

The concept of honor becomes central to this character in this series.  This is what allows Wolverine to become a father figure to Kitty Pryde and Jubilee.  This is what allows him to co-lead the team after the Mutant Massacre.  This is what drives him to open the Jean Grey school.  This is the point where he begins building up the respect of the Marvel Universe to the point where he could become an Avenger.  None of those major character developments would have been remotely plausible without this story.

In terms of the writing, Chris Claremont does a great job with the story and the larger concepts at play.  The writing style is a little restrained for him, with the only prose-heavy part in the entire series being Logan's epiphany on the last page of #3.  I wouldn't say that this is the best example of Logan's narration you are likely to find --- I think the tone falls in and out of character, personally --- but Claremont hits enough of the right notes for this to work.

Frank Miller and Josef Rubinstein's artwork has some truly iconic imagery on display, but it is pretty inconsistent.  Miller has always had a talent for bringing out the ugly in his characters (that's not a knock, just an observation), but some of the less important scenes look like they were rushed through and the page layouts are uncluttered to the point of appearing incomplete.  Happily, the action scenes are uniformly fantastic --- and in a Wolverine comic, that is what is most important.  Whenever there is a sword fight or ninjas to be slain, the artwork jumps off the page.

Wolverine (Vol. 1) is definitely a must-read for any fan of the character.  Hell, it's even a good read for folks who hate his current ubiquity.  The odd thing about this story is that, despite its importance, this is not a definitive take on the character; it's more like the first chapter of the rest of Wolverine's life.  Is this the best Wolverine story ever?  Probably.  But if you haven't read it before, it's worth keeping in mind that this is character-shaping, not character-defining.

Wolverine (Vol. 1) #4

"Honor"
Published: December 1982
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Frank Miller
Inker: Josef Rubinstein

What's Going On?
After pulling his shit together at the end of last issue, Wolverine decides to take the fight to Shingen.  And by that, I of course mean running directly at Shingen and going with the stabby-stabby Wolverine neither attacks his enemy head-on, nor does he sneak his way toward his target.   Instead, he terrorizes Shingen's illegal businesses for all of two pages before sending Shingen a message, announcing his attack.  While that conflict approaches its natural conclusion...

...Yukio and Mariko do their best to come to terms with their concepts of honor.  Yukio tries to redeem herself for betraying Wolverine by saving Mariko's life.  After Shingen's death, Mariko is faced with a choice.  Does she honor her evil father and try to kill the man who murdered him, or does she honor the good man who killed a bad man?  Hint:

It looks like Wolvie starved himself to fit into that dress

Art!
The art in this series went downhill as it progressed.  It's still Frank Miller, so the bad isn't wretched, but his work is inconsistent.  The battle scenes between Shingen and Wolverine?  They're very cool.  But there are so many odd instances in this series.  Wolverine looking like an emaciated corpse in his wedding invitation?  That's awful.  The odd proportions of this shot are less obvious, but equally bad.

I'm still not a fan of the sparse page layouts, either.  Regardless, I would gladly take Miller's stylized choices over almost any other penciller's work in 1982.

Writing!
There are moments that I really like about this issue, and there are moments that stick out, especially in hindsight.  While there is something bad-ass about warning your enemy that you're coming for them --- letting the terror build with the anticipation --- it doesn't really feel like Wolverine's particular style of bad-assery.  Neither does spending the time to ruin Shingen's criminal network.  I suppose you can argue that Logan took this approach to force Shingen to face Wolverine as an equal, in honorable combat...but that ignores the fact the their last "honorable" fight, in issue #1, involved Shingen poisoning and manipulating Logan.

The supporting characters get a little space in this issue for some well-timed growth.  I really liked Wolverine's reaction to Yukio here, and it's a damn shame that the complexity of their relationship was never (I think) addressed in their future meetings.  It was nice seeing Mariko be more than a damsel in distress for a change, too.  Claremont never went to any great lengths to give her a definite personality before, but I really liked the potential of her trying to kill Wolverine to avenge her father.  It doesn't happen, of course, but the fact that it is something that is even considered --- especially since she obviously would not stand a chance if Wolverine wanted to defeat her --- gives her more credibility as a character Wolverine should be with.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- I love the shot of the X-Men receiving the invitation to the wedding for many reasons.  As a married man, I find it utterly hilarious that Wolverine sent the X-Men a wedding invitation that was completely blank on the outside.

The fact that theirs is a very formal and high-profile wedding makes that even funnier to me.  While Colossus' Cosby sweater is pretty amusing, too, I find it amusing that Nightcrawler is apparently always in uniform.  What's the matter?  Was Miller afraid that the audience wouldn't recognize him in a T-shirt? 

Uncanny X-Men #164

"Binary Star!"
Published: December 1982
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Dave Cockrum
Inker: Bob Wiacek

What's Going On?
The X-Men are aboard their spaceship, on the run from the Brood.  Since the X-Men are unwittingly acting as incubators for the next generation of Brood queens, the Brood are at a disadvantage; they need the X-Men alive, but some of the X-Men are willing to kill the Brood to escape.  Actually, we just see Carol Danvers destroying Brood ships without remorse.  When Storm accidentally kills some Brood with her (space?) lightning, she freaks out and stops fighting.  Predictably, the X-Men fight off the Brood and escape to the relative safety of...um...somewhere else in space.  The less predictable part of that escape was the emergence of Carol Danvers' new cosmic powers and code name.  As Binary, Danvers is a heavy hitter, able to take out several spacecraft and fuel another without breaking a sweat.  Once they have a moment to breathe, Storm uses her women's intuition to determine that she's pregnant with evil; she freaks the hell out and takes off in an escape pod.  At that point, Wolverine pretty much has to tell the team about the Brood eggs.  While everyone is furious, only Binary has the power and lack of consideration to blow a hole in the side of the hatch and fly off to hunt some Brood, leaving the rest of the team to experience the joy of explosive decompression.

Subplots, oh the Subplots!
- Well, Carol Danvers' journey to becoming a new superhero was less of a slow burn and more of a "Hey, I've got new powers now!"  One issue of her suffering from a mysterious malady, and the next she has a new power set, uniform, and code name.  Why would she need a new code name?  What part of her new abilities would not make sense with the name Ms. Marvel?

- While the X-Men continue their space story, we check in with Professor Xavier and Colossus' sister, Illyana back at the mansion.  This is the first time we've seen Xavier in this title since the X-Men disappeared; he is understandably depressed, but his attitude is hilarious:

It's like Xavier is a Goth kid who is too cool to care.


Art!
Check out Colossus' "thinking" face:

Did he just admit to being stupid?

Writing!
Kitty Pryde actually utters this line: "Star Wars was never like this!"  Way to tap into the mind of an American teenager, Claremont.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Xavier shows absolutely no signs of having a Brood egg inside him.  This winds up being a major subplot in The New Mutants when that title launches a few months later, so it's interesting that Claremont was not foreshadowing this bit from the start (or hadn't come up with that plot yet).

- The ad for Saturday morning cartoons included a show called Pandamonium, which appears to involve talking pandas and...an evil sorcerer?  How did this show fail?!?

Uncanny X-Men Annual #6

"Blood Feud"
Published: November 1982
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Bill Sienkiewicz
Inker: Bob Wiacek

What's Going On?
This is a follow-up to Uncanny X-Men #159, which first had Storm and Dracula cross paths (and also featured Claremont, Sienkiewicz, and Wiacek's work).  In that issue, Dracula tried to turn Storm into his vampire mistress, but her willpower (and some help from the X-Men) proved too strong.  This time around, Dracula imposes his will on Ororo once more; he basically blackmails her into helping him, with the threat of turning her into a vampire that will kill the X-Men keeping her in check.  What help does Dracula need?  He needs a particular book stolen, and Storm's background as a child thief apparently makes her his best option.  Because turning a professional thief that is NOT an X-Man would be too much trouble.  Meanwhile, Kitty is acting strange and seems to know an awful lot about the book Dracula wants.  Is this character development, or possession by a villain?  Possession.  It's not even written for suspense.  Figuring out who is possessing her, though, isn't nearly as easy.

Art!
I'm a pretty big fan of Bill Sienkiewicz, but this issue doesn't show the growth he showed in the early issues of Moon Knight.  It's not as abstract as his later work in New Mutants or Elektra: Assassin, but it is still pretty stylized for a mainstream Marvel comic of the time.  There are a few odd moments, though...

Not that I am complaining about the art in this issue, but the photocopied transition panels seem out of place in here.  For the record, though, I have so say that I'm surprised that A) Cyclops does not sleep with some sort of eye protection and B) Wolverine apparently sleeps with his head hanging over the side of the bed.

Writing!
This is a nice callback to a previous issue, with a quality art team in place to support Claremont's vision.  Uncanny X-Men has never been great at dealing with fantasy, but Claremont does a good job establishing Dracula as a credible threat to the team.  There are some odd plot moments, though:

So Wolverine strikes a wooden stake with his razor-sharp adamantium claws, and it just reflects into Nightcrawler's hands without splintering?  Okay, sure, why not?  It would have been far less believable if Nightcrawler nimbly grabbed a shard of the stake and drove it into Dracula's heart.

Worth Noting:
- Kitty Pryde gets the news in this issue that her parents are getting a divorce.  While this isn't the first, or even highest profile, divorce in Marvel Comics at this point, it is still fairly unusual.  Of course, they are peripheral characters, but Kitty is certainly the highest profile child of divorce in Marvel Comics at this time.

Paying Tribute to My Namesake:
This isn't even close to a fastball special but it is pretty damn funny seeing Wolverine getting backhanded like a little bitch.

Wolvie's surprise show an emotional hurt much deeper than the physical assault