Uncanny X-Men #176

"Decisions"
Published December 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Bob Wiacek

What's Going On?
The newlyweds, Cyclops and Madeline, are on their way to their honeymoon destination when they encounter a storm while flying over the Pacific.  Their plane is hit by lightning, but they survive...only to encounter an aggressive giant sea squid.  But what chance does a giant squid have against the man who beat up all the X-Men last issue?

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Wolverine confronts Mariko for calling off their wedding, back in Uncanny #173.  He correctly attributes their breakup to Mastermind's manipulations, but she argues that the things she did (apparently off-panel) under his influence were so bad (read: criminal) that she is honor-bound to fix the situation on her own.  If she dies in the process, it is up to Wolverine to to slay her remaining foes.  Wolverine tries to give back the Yashida Clan Honor Sword (given to him by Mariko in Wolverine (Vol. 1)), but she refuses.  Basically, he proved himself worthy when he killed her evil father, regardless of the cost; it is up to her to show that she is equally worthy by cutting Clan Yashida's ties to the Japanese underworld.

- Henry Peter Gyrich, the Marvel Comics designated "political bureaucrat who has to be involved in super hero matters," is invited to a meeting where mutants are seen as an increasing danger.  Magneto is the textbook example of how dangerous mutants can be (based mostly on his exploits from Uncanny X-Men #150).  The other reason for worry (according to the bureaucrats) is that mutants are popping all over the globe, even in Communist nations.  Remarkably, the usually insensitive and abrasive Gyrich comes across as very reasonable, while the typically sensible Val Cooper looks like a bigot.

- Callisto tells Caliban that she wants to make Kitty Pryde fulfill her promise (made in Uncanny #170) to live forever with Caliban in the Morlock sewers. Masque warns Callisto that this may cause conflict with their new leader, Storm.  Callisto hopes it does.

- Cyclops decides to not join his father and the Starjammers in their space adventures (the choice was last mentioned in Uncanny #174).  He wants to live a normal, non-super hero life with Madeline. 

Art!
This is John Romita Jr.'s first full issue on art, and one if his more annoying (to me, anyway) habits shows up right away.  He has this weird thing where he likes to overdo the cheekbones on female characters at times, making it look like their lower jaw is caving in.

Is it a big deal?  Not really.  It's just a Thing He Does that I'm not terribly fond of.  On the other hand, I loved his cloaked-in-shadows Wolverine, and he did a good job with the sea monsters and the underwater sequences.  Overall, the man is off to a nice start.

Writing!
This is one of those "slow" issues that frequently come after a major storyline ends, and that is perfectly okay.  Chris Claremont (at least, according to interviews looking back at the character) had intended for Madeline Pryor to simply be a doppelganger of Jean Grey and nothing more.  This issue ended with a caption reading "The Beginning;" this was Claremont's attempt to give Cyclops a happy ending, as he retires from the X-Men and begins a normal civilian life.  How different would this series have been if characters were allowed to actually do this?  It would be weird, right?  This issue served as a well-deserved bon voyage to a character that had lived a pretty tortured life up to this point.  Unfortunately, when Marvel decided to launch X-Factor, a lot of this progress was lost...

On the bright side, Claremont decided to have Wolverine and Mariko realize off-panel that Mastermind undermined their wedding.  Why that had to be off-panel, I don't know, but I disagree with the choice.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Behold!  The color-changing bikini!  First it is black...

...and then it is white!

Could she have changed?  It's doubtful.  Is it important?  Absolutely not.  This is the sort of thing kids would try to get No-Prizes for.

- Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter spent half of a page complaining about Romita Jr.'s cover art.  That's an odd choice.

Everything 80's:
- Check out this ad for CBS' Saturday Morning Cartoon lineup.

The Little Rascals/Richie Rich?  Pac-Man?  Rubik, the Amazing Cube?  Menudo?!?  Good lord, what children went through in 1983!




Worth Noting:
- This is the last mention of the Yashida Clan Honor Blade/Sword for a good long while.  I think it next pops up in Wolverine (Vol. 2) #78.

- Finally!  Someone acknowledges that Mastermind ruined Wolverine's wedding!  The act that no one addressed this last issue really bothered me.

- Valerie Cooper makes her first appearance as someone that is alarmed with the "mutant problem."  This is an odd angle for her character, since she quickly becomes one of Marvel's most reasonable government (read: not bigoted) employees.

- Cyclops has officially left the X-Men and is now considered (by Claremont, anyway) retired from super heroing. 

A Look Back on Paul Smith's Uncanny X-Men Run

Paul Smith took over as penciller on Uncanny X-Men with issue #165, toward the end of the Brood Saga, and he finished his run with issue #175, with the climax of the Mastermind/Madeline Pryor plot.  That's not an extensive run (Walt Simonson even filled-in for issue #171), but Smith's contribution should not be overlooked.  Paul Smith may not have drawn a lot of issues, but he had a ridiculously high percentage of awesome issues to draw.

That high percentage of awesomeness relied heavily on Smith's art, but it should be acknowledged that he came on to the title at the perfect time to showcase his stuff.  Do you want to see cosmic, space alien stuff?  Uncanny #165 and #166 have the X-Men fighting the evil Brood.  Did you want awesome action, with X-Men looking like total badasses?  If Wolverine vs. Silver Samurai in Uncanny #173 doesn't do it for you, then try out Storm vs. Callisto in Uncanny #170.  Of course, it's hard to improve on Cyclops beating down the entire X-Men team on his own in Uncanny #175.  Do you need a break from action and want some solid character-driven moments?  Uncanny #168 has some action, but is mainly focused on Kitty Pryde arguing to keep her roster spot on the X-Men.  If romance is your thing, Smith's run covers almost the entire first arc of the Cyclops/Madeline Pryor story --- and we get some cute scenes with Nightcrawler/Amanda Sefton, Colossus/Kitty Pryde, and we witness the tragic star-crossed plot of Wolverine/Mariko.  There is something for just about everyone in this run.

A promo for 1985's X-Men/Alpha Flight.  Nice perm, Kitty!

You cannot just ascribe the quality of this run to the writer, Chris Claremont, either.  He was writing garbage on The New Mutants at this time, so clearly Paul Smith was a valuable contributor.  But what did he ultimately bring to the table?  Aside from clean line work, characters with realistically athletic builds, and faces that were not interchangable, Smith clearly studied the importance of sequential art.  Some of his best moments are dialogue free, with his art doing all the storytelling.

If this had been written in the 2000s, Storm would have dropped a mic here

Personally, what I like best about Smith's pencils is the way he makes the innocent characters look.  It's a combination of clean lines and cherubic faces that I find charming.  He also managed to play up the humor in a title that has a tendency to get dreary with self-importance.  Plus, you gotta love the Herbal Essences-esque hair.

Adorable contemporary drawing from this period, taken from here

Admittedly, Paul Smith's run is peculiar in a few ways.  I understand that he took over mid-storyline when Dave Cockrum left to pursue The Futurians, but it was a pretty severe stylistic switch.  Smith had almost no prior experience (I believe a fill-in of Doctor Strange and a X-Men story in Marvel Fanfare), so he basically came out of absolutely nowhere.  He was also completely self-taught, aside from some airbrushing classes.  Here is a pretty cool contemporary interview with Smith, as he was about to start on Uncanny.  Modern readers can be excused for thinknig that Smith pulled Keyser Soze after he left Unanny; he didn't exactly vanish, but his career didn't skyrocket, like you might have expected it to.  He had a short run on Doctor Strange, he did the X-Men/Alpha Flight two-issue series, he did some time with X-Factor (on a pretty horrendous story), and then...what?  I think his most notable runs since have been the DC Elseworlds limited series The Golden Age, Image's Leave It to Chance, and the post-Darwyn Cooke issues of DC's The Spirit relaunch.  According to hearsay, Smith works so infrequently because he has other interests, like surfing, and he takes comic jobs to support his surfing habit.  Is that true?  I have no idea.  But if you're interested in his later works, check out Comics Should Be Good's Year of the Artist feature, which spent a few days examining Smith's development. 

Contemporary pencil sketch, taken from here

In case you're wondering why Smith would leave a title like Uncanny X-Men for  Doctor Strange, I would suggest checking out that interview I referenced earlier.  The man loved him some Steve Ditko, so it makes sense for him to take his newfound leverage as a popular artist and take on that title.  But if you want to know what he told the press at the time, here is a nifty article from Marvel Comics of the 1980s, who found this May 1983 article from the The Comics Journal.  So if anyone ever asks you why Smith left Uncanny, it is because he thought the writing and direction on the title were lacking.  This, coming from a guy who drew one of the all-time best runs on the title!  Some people can't be satisfied.

Daredevils #11

"But They Never Really Die"
Published November 1983
Writer: Alan Moore
Penciller: Alan Davis
Inker: Alan Davis

What's Going On?
Captain Britain and the Special Executive fight The Fury.  It does not go well at first; Cap and Fascination only give it pause, while Special Executive member Oxo was casually killed by The Fury.  When Zeitgeist finally joins the fight (against his better judgement), the tables turn, and the good guys are able to bury The Fury under tons of rocks beneath Braddock Manor...for now.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!

- The issue ends with CapBrit, Betsy, Tom, Saturnyne, and a traumatized Captain UK deciding to investigate Jim Jaspers, presumably because The Fury came from the reality that Mad Jim Jaspers had ruined.

- Zeitgeist's issues with Wardog's leadership come to a head.  The team has battled The Fury, with Oxo and (eventually) Legion dying, and they were not even paid.  With this battle over (at least temporarily), the Special Executive decides to cut their losses and retreat.  They will not be joining the fight against Jaspers.

Writing!
I am always a fan of when a writer surprises me with a fight scene.  While Moore has shown several instances of each character doing their thing and showing off their powers already, I did not expect Zeitgeist to pose such a credible threat to The Fury.  Well done.

Art!
I thought Davis did a great job showing The Fury's mind being impacted by Fascination, and its subsequent recovery.  There are a lot of ways to indicate disorientation, but I thought this was a cool and creative way to show it visually.

Worth Noting:
- Special Executive member Oxo is killed by The Fury.  Is that worth noting?  Did Oxo ever have any lines?

New Mutants (Vol. 1) #9

"Arena"
Published November 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: Sal Buscema
Inker: Tom Mandrake

What's Going On?
The New Mutants have been captured by English-speaking Roman Centurians (along with the mysterious Amara) and brought to Nova Roman, an isolated lost city, surrounded by mountains with heavy cloud cover, deep in the Amazonian rain forest.  After spending some time in a dungeon, the team is split up.  The girls are drugged and primped in preparation for their sale as slaves.  The boys are also drugged, but it is to make them bloodthirsty enough to fight in the arena as gladiators. 

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Roberto's mother is still missing, presumed dead, following the boat crash last issue.

- Amara was disguised last issue because she is trying to hide from someone in Nova Roma.  That "someone" is the mysterious Black Priestess and her evil cult.  Who is the Black Priestess?  Selene.  That mystery is solved almost immediately.

- Amara has been having awful headaches and hot flashes.  I wonder if this will be a precursor to anything?

- While she is drugged, Rahne calls Sam "my love," the first time there has been a hint at romance between the two.

Writing!
To be perfectly honest, this one could be a lot worse.  The concept is absolutely ridiculous (even by the standards of your average Marvel title), but there's enough action to keep the average reader from focusing on it.  So credit where it's due --- this should be incomprehensible garbage, but it's actually kind of fun. 


Art!
If you  think that the artwork looks a little different this issue, that is due to Tom Mandrake taking over the inking duties.  The effect is not drastic; he doesn't add the same level of detail as Bob McLeod did, but he seems to make a special effort in making the team look young.  For some reason, they went back to the hard-to-see neon pink coloring for Dani's illusion toward the beginning of the issue...

but tried a different (and clearer) color combination later in the issue.

They should really give up on the pink inks; they haven't worked well since the higher print quality of the graphic novel.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- So now Rahne has a crush on Sam?  So much for the Roberto/Rahne flirtations from issues #2 and 3.  That didn't last long.

- Both the boys and girls are drugged with wine that makes them aggressive.  The boys immediately notice that they have been drugged by the wine's bitter taste.  The girls, on the other hand...

I guess the lesson here is that the most responsible member of the team and the most innocent member were just waiting for an excuse to get loaded.

- Selene is described here as an "Inca lady."  Typically, if a comic book describes a character by their ethnicity or cultural heritage, they play it pretty broad, to the point of stereotyping.  Either Sal Buscema wanted to acknowledge that not every Incan looked Latino, or he had no idea what "Inca" meant.

Worth Noting:
- This is the first appearance of recurring X-Men villain Selene, as well as the first appearance of Nova Roma