...the subplots in Captain Britain (Daredevils #1-11 and Mighty World of Marvel #7)? On the whole, Alan Moore and Alan Davis did a pretty good job keeping the story self-contained and resolving their plots (or at least promising to) in '83. There were a few threads left, though.
- Vixen: this crime lord's identity, her infiltration of STRIKE (the UK equivalent to SHIELD), and her hiring of Arcade to kill Captain Britain were all but forgotten plot seeds as the story barreled toward CapBrit's inevitable fight with The Fury and Jim Jaspers. The good news is that Cap eventually has to take a break from fighting multidimensional threats, so I am actually confident that this will be resolved. Maybe not by Alan Moore, but maybe by the next writer.
- Elizabeth Braddock: she has not played a major part in the title so far --- I would argue that even Wardog has been spotlighted more --- but since I know that she eventually becomes Psylocke, I am intrigued by the fact that her power set does not match the character I grew up reading in the pages of X-Men. When did she stop having precognitive visions and just become a high-level telepath?
...the subplots in New Mutants (#1-10)? Well, Claremont was definitely not at his best in this series, with the best example being the nearly incomprehensible Team America crossover. My biggest problems come from the substantial subplots that were left unresolved with no indication that he would be resolving them soon.
- Legion: Xavier has a powerful, autistic, mutant son, and Moira MacTaggert and Illyana Rasputin know about it. This is mentioned in #1, but not brought up again in 1983. This will be addressed, eventually, when Legion makes his first appearance in New Mutants #25...in 1985.
- Sebastian Shaw: Shaw sics the Sentinels on the New Mutants as part of a plot to frighten them enough to come to the Hellfire Club for protection. As part of this plan, he tries to help Emmanuel DaCosta sabotage his wife's (and the New Mutant's) plan to explore the Amazon River. When that doesn't work, he doesn't seem to care when Emmanuel risks the lives of the mutants for his own gain. I don't mind Shaw being a sneaky bastard, but I would at least like him to be consistent in his machinations. The way Claremont writes him in this title, the man seems to operate without logic or long-term memory.
- Xavier attacked: In issue #6, Xavier suffers a debilitating psychic attack. While this could have been used to tie into the Mastermind plot over in Uncanny, Xavier specifically hypothesizes that it felt like it was coming from a newly manifested mutant. But who? Is this an early reference to Legion? Or maybe Xavier was wrong about how new the mutant was, and this was a reference to Shadow King returning to the physical plane? Whatever it was supposed to be, it was not mentioned again in '83. UPDATE 05/25/2016: Apparently, as I detailed in an update to New Mutants #6, the behind the scenes explanation is that the mutant Xavier detected was going to be an enemy in a second New Mutants graphic novel that never got published (or, as far as I can tell, officially announced) and the plot thread is never mentioned again.
- Karma: Poor, poor Karma. She was presumed dead by the New Mutants after she disappeared, following an explosion. Before she disappeared, a telepath (or some other type of psionic) threatened to possess her, body and soul. While Xavier implied to the kids that Karma had died, he told the X-Men that she was alive; he would have felt her death through the telepathic link he shares with his students. Instead, Xavier suspects that a maleficent psychic is hiding her from his scans. No serious attempts are made to locate Karma by the X-Men or New Mutants.
- Training: The New Mutants was initially supposed to be a book about mutants learnign how to control their powers. Aside from Cannonball having trouble for a few issues with his mid-air turns, and Psyche complaining about how useless her powers are, there is little to no development or teaching shown. The team was supposed to stay out of combat situations, but that is almost exclusively what they have spent their time with. Sunspot and Wolfsbane show zero progression with their abilities, Psyche shows some control but no struggle to learn, Cannonball had problems for a few issues but then resolved them, and Karma seemed to just get more powerful (before she vanished). So...school's out, I guess?
...the subplots in Uncanny X-Men (#165-176, Annual 7, Marvel Graphic Novel 5: X-Men - God Loves, Man Kills)? This was a great year for Uncanny, arguably the best single year on the title that did not feature John Byrne. That doesn't mean that Chris Claremont wrapped up all his plot threads neatly, though.
- Mystique: Before Rogue goes rogue and quits the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to join the X-Men, Mystique has a nightmare featuring Jason Wygarde. Her BFF (because they could not explicitly be lovers in 1983) Destiny tells her that the party responsible for the nightmare "operates on fundamental levels of space and time." That seems like a vastly overblown view of Mastermind --- who would be the only person who might plant an image of Jason Wygarde in anyone's mind --- but the reasons for this "attack" are never revealed. Apparently, they were supposed to have been chronicled in Ms. Marvel's series at the time, but the title was cancelled.
- Starjammers: While Cyclops eventually chose to stay on Earth with his new wife instead of becoming a space pirate with his father, the membership and roles of others were not so clear cut. After Carol Danvers became Binary, she decided to leave Earth with the Starjammers when the X-Men opted to let Rogue join them. That makes sense, right? Kind of? Okay. Meanwhile, Xavier's girlfriend, Lilandra, is also supposed to be joining the Starjammers to fight for her rightful spot as the leader of the Shi'ar empire. But...maybe she wants to hang out on Earth and help Xavier recover the use of his legs. So what's going on? Are the Starjammers actually leaving, or not? What is their deadline?
- Lilandra, part 2: Lilandra threatens the Fantastic Four (in Uncanny #167) for saving the life of Galactus. This is not addressed in Uncanny, although is does become the plot for Fantastic Four #262), ten months later.
- Kitty: To save the X-Men, Kitty Pryde promises to essentially become the Morlock Caliban's bride in Uncanny #170. She does not stay with him. There is a hint in #176 that this will be resolved soon.
- Kitty, part 2: Kitty hates being compared to the kids on the New Mutants team. Even after she earns her permanent place on the X-Men team, she keeps referring to the younger kids as X-Babies. Some people cannot win gracefully.
- White Queen: Emma Frost is left comatose after a psychic attack. Initially, Sebastian Shaw stats that only Xavier could have committed the offense, although he doubted that Xavier would have. Mastermind is later revealed as the attacker --- so Mastermind is on Xavier's level in some respects?!? --- even though she is still comatose, as of Annual #7.
That's pretty much it for 1983. Let's see what 1984 has in store...
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