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.