Uncanny X-Men #180

"Whose Life Is It, Anyway?"
Published April 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inkers: Dan Green and Bob Wiacek
Cover Artists: John Romita Jr. and Dan Green

What's Going On?
Storm continues to deal with the emotional changes that led to her punk rock makeover back in Uncanny X-Men #175.  She confides to Xavier that she fears that she may be losing her mind; he gives her a cursory psychic scan and announces that he finds no obvious signs of mental illness.  She and Kitty later have a heart-to-heart about Storm's need to grow as a person, and Kitty's desire to keep things from changing.  After their talk, it appears that the rift in their friendship has been mended.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Professor Xavier is finally able to walk without pain.  In fact, he is healthy enough to play basketball.

- Professor Xavier suffers yet another unexplained psychic assault from an alien scanning wave.  As the issue closes, Xavier is able to zero in on the source of the attacks, and the X-Men head to Central Park to investigate.  There, they find a giant mechanical construct that they are drawn to.  When they enter it, the X-Men disappear.

- Kitty Pryde and Doug Ramsey continue to bond.  When Doug reveals that he has an appointment to visit the Massachusetts Academy (which is run by the villainous White Queen of the Hellfire Club), Kitty decides to accompany him on his visit.  She reasons that, since the White Queen is still comatose (ever since Uncanny X-Men #169), there is no real threat.  On the plane to Massachusetts, though, she finds out how wrong she was; the White Queen is awake, and appears up to no good.

- Peter continues to feel insecure about his relationship with Kitty, and threatened by the fact that Doug has a lot in common with Kitty.

- Colossus' arm sling indicates that he is still healing from the wounds he received in Uncanny #177. 

Writing!
There isn't much of a main plot in this issue, so this issue is mostly character development and the advancement of sub-plots.  I tend to like these change of pace issues, and this one is no different.  I liked that we finally saw Storm dealing more with her recent changes; this was definitely overdue.  It was also nice to finally see Xavier walking without pain --- that sub-plot had been dragging on for far too long.  What I was less thrilled about was the moronic way that Kitty got herself into trouble in this issue.  For such a smart character --- a genius, mind you --- to come up with a plan that basically boils down to "I think I'll go into enemy territory without reconnoitering and assume that everything will turn out okay," is insulting to the reader; even worse, Xavier and Storm agree to the plan.  I realize that Claremont is doing this to explain A) why Kitty is not in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars and B) give the New Mutants a reason to go to the Massachusetts Academy in their own title, but it definitely feels out of character for everyone involved.

Art!
The artwork is pretty solid once again, even with Romita Jr. having two inkers.  Honestly, I can't tell much of a difference between the work of Dan Green and Bob Wiacek in this issue, unless it explains this panel with Kitty's face being light on the details.

It doesn't have JRJR's typical wavy hair look, either.  I think it looks pretty good, honestly, but it stands out to me because faces and hair don't usually get a delicate touch with Romita's pencils.  I was a bit confused by the reveal of the White Queen, though --- what was going on with the shadows on her face? 

Since there's not a lot of action in this issue, Romita draws a lot of static images.  Still, he managed to fit in a nifty basketball scene with Xavier and a few panels of Storm looking intimidating.  I don't think the plot played to the art team's strengths, but it all worked out pretty well.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Professor Xavier is surprised to find himself attracted to Storm.  It's harmless, but still creepy.  I don't think this point was ever brought up again, thankfully.

Worth Noting:
- The whole sub-plot with Xavier and the psychic scans that popped up in the last three issues was a lead-in to Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars.  The Beyonder was the one that Xavier sensed scanning the globe.  It would have felt a lot less drawn-out if Xavier didn't suffer a similar (but unrelated and unexplained) attack back in New Mutants #6.  It does seem odd that Xavier is drawn toward Secret Wars, but a similarly powerful telepath like Emma Frost apparently feels free to go about her own business.

- This is the first issue where Xavier is able to walk without pain, and that will remain the status quo for the next seven-ish years.

Everything 80s:
- Ladies and gentlemen, I present Kitty Pryde: fashion icon!  Headband?  Goofy earrings?  Leg warmers?  Tall boots over pants and leg warmers?  Quadruple check!  I love it when artists have Kitty wear trendy clothes.

Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 1) Annual #6

"The Hunters and the Hunted!"
Published October 1983
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Penciler: Ron Frenz
Inker: Kevin Dzuban
Cover Artists: Ron Frenz and Klaus Janson

What's Going On?
Spider-Man has noticed a distinct drop-off in crime in the warehouse district, combined with an increase in dead teenagers and bad guys suffering from cold numbness.  Spidey recognizes this as the MO of superheroes Cloak and Dagger.  When he catches up with them, they reveal that someone is trying to replicate the process that gave them super powers; the bad guys are kidnapping teens, injecting them with experimental drugs, and those kids are dying.  Why are they trying to create a new Cloak and Dagger?  To fight the current C&D and become junkie criminal muscle.  Obviously.

Meanwhile, the New Mutants (Cannonball, Psyche, Sunspot, and Wolfsbane) were allowed to catch the muscial "Cats" in the big city by themselves.  Instead of heading back to Xaver's school right away, Sunspot drags the team to a video arcade.  Some local punks try to start some trouble, so Sam and Roberto publicly use their mutant powers to defend themselves.  They try to get to the bus station so they can go home, but get lost and encounter more angry punks.  In the ensuing scuffle, Roberto gets slashed by a switchblade, and Rahne has a bullet graze her head.  The two incapacitated heroes are captured by some opportunistic criminals, and they are taken back to the warehouse district.  Their idea is that, since mutants are already genetically special, they might stand a better chance of surviving the Cloak and Dagger drug.  As it turns out, the crooks are right. 

Roberto gains some Cloak-ish powers and Rahne gets more Dagger-y.  Spider-Man, Cloak and Dagger, and the New Mutants manage to all arrive at the church where C&D take shelter, so they all team up to punish the criminal and purge the drugs from Sunspot and Wolfsbane. 

Writing!
Well, this is the first issue of Marvel Team-Up that I have ever read, so I don't have much of a frame of reference for how good this is compared to the average issue.  That said, it's a pretty basic story, designed to highlight Cloak and Dagger right before they star in their first limited series.  As far as I can tell, all the characters are portrayed faithfully, which is not always the case with guest appearances.  It's not inspired, but Mantlo succeeds in shoehorning Spider-Man and the New Mutants into what is essentially a Cloak and Dagger story.

Art!
This isn't great work from Ron Frenz and Kevin Dzuban.  Frenz's pencils can tell the story well enough, in the typical Marvel house style, but Dzuban's inks highlight the fact that Frenz isn't great at drawing facial expressions.  While they might not be pretty, the characters are fairly distinct visually, so that's a plus.  I was less of a fan of the action scenes; I wasn't looking for realism, but you at least hope for Kirby-esque energy, right?  These scenes just looked awkward.

It's always interesting to see how artists choose to handle superheroes that wear "civilian" clothes.  I find the "their clothes evaporate" option one of the more amusing ones.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- For some reason, Dani seems to be assuming that Cloak and Dagger are homeless.  I think she's right (I'm not too familiar with the characters), but damn that's a big assumption about people you've barely met.  Do they smell like urine or something?

- Cannonball refers to Dani as "Psyche."  I don't know if that's happened once in New Mutants.

- I love this frame of Rahne in times Square:

- Check out how abruptly this issue ends.  Here is the last page:

"Yeah."  Nicely stated, Spidey.

Worth Noting:
- As far as I can tell, this is the first time someone other than Chris Claremont wrote any of the New Mutants.

- While this isn't as bad as some of the other instances of women being easily defeated in fights in New Mutants, it would have been nice if Rahne had stood up for herself here.

- Since I'm focusing this blog on all things X-related, I typically wouldn't spend time on a Spider-Man book.  Obviously, this issue happens to co-star the New Mutants, and is eventually referenced during Bill Sienkiewicz's run.

A Look Back at Magik: Storm and Illyana Limited Series

I have been aware of the Magik: Storm and Illyana for many years, but this was my first time actually reading it.  Not long after I started getting into comics, Illyana fell victim to the Legacy Virus in Uncanny X-Men #303; at the time, I didn't really know much about the character, but the fan letters eulogizing her in subsequent issues intrigued me.  I started to collect back issues of New Mutants and started to piece together her character's journey throughout the years.  She was never one of my favorite characters, but she was a teleporting sorceress with a sword and was occasionally demonic --- it's not like I didn't think she was cool.  When I started this blog, I thought it would be fun and interesting (for me, anyway) to finally pick up some of the ancillary X-Men-related comics from the era I'm reviewing, and that's what brought me back to Magik: Storm and Illyana.


At its simplest, this exists to explain what happened to Illyana between panels in Uncanny X-Men #160; she was taken as a seven year-old to the dimension of Limbo and returned as a thirteen year-old, even though only a few minutes passed on Earth.  As the series explains, Illyana became the magical apprentice to the demonic lord of Limbo, Belasco, who corrupted her soul. 

Illyana eventually defeated Belasco, but never regained her innocence or the bits of her soul that had been sullied.  That's a pretty clear narrative, and it sets Illyana up with a tragic background that plants the seeds for her eventual tragic demise.  I like the basics of the plot, and I like what it does for the character.  It's less of a superhero tale and more of a swords-and-sorcery fantasy story, but there's nothing wrong with that.  The execution of that plot, though, is pretty rough.

The writing on the series was done by Chris Claremont, who co-created the character and made sure to feature her in both the pages of Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants before this series came out.  He formatted the story so that each issue has a different character teaching Illyana, until she is ready to act of her own accord.  Since there are only four issues in this series, having Belasco, Cat, and Storm take turns teaching in sequential issues makes the repetition of the theme obvious and boring.  Claremont also had a hard time selling the concept of Illyana actually having a dark side.  There are some panels where the art makes her look demonic --- and that does the lion's share of the work for this concept --- but the writing essentially has Illyana telling the readers that she loves Belasco, despite no evidence of it.  As the series ends, it is hinted that this has all been an introduction to her joining the New Mutants. 

If they had had any part to play in the story, that may have been exciting.  But they don't.

Despite having three different pencillers (John Buscema, Ron Frenz, and Sal Buscema), the art is fairly consistent throughout.  I'm assuming we have Tom Palmer's inking to thank for that.  Unfortunately, the artwork isn't anything special.  None of the artists have a good grasp on how to make Illyana age subtly; she looks like a little kid until they decide to give her breasts and a bikini.  Here's a typical page for you --- vaguely young Illyana, some swords, a monster, and dull backgrounds:

For a series that takes place in an alternate dimension and features sorcery and magic, there is precious little imaginative artwork here.  That's a damn shame.  If Marvel had assigned an artist with a tendency toward the surreal or imaginative (I'm thinking maybe Bill Sienkiewicz or Walt Simonson, given the time period) to this title --- this could have been a classic, even with dull writing. 

Perhaps I should back up and mention one of the oddest things about this limited series.  As mentioned above, this entire series takes place during a scene in Uncanny X-Men #160.  That was published in August 1982.  The first issue of this series was not published until December 1983, concurrently with Uncanny #176.  That's a long time to wait for a comic story to resolve itself, especially one about a character that wasn't very popular at the time.  In all fairness to the character, she was mainly kept in the background of scenes in that sixteen-month span, so there was no reason for her to become a fan favorite.

Why was this released so long after the story began in Uncanny #160?  I haven't found anything online that addresses this delay, but it is likely the result of Chris Claremont's workload at the time--- at this point, he was writing Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants and pretty much any special project that came up, like the Wolverine limited series and the God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel, which both came out during the sixteen-month gap.  According to retrospective interviews with Claremont and others, it also seems likely that Claremont's desire to not let others write "his" characters also played a part; I'm sure this series could have been published earlier if he had been willing to take a "plotting" credit and outsource the scripting to another writer.  I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel's publishing policies played a large part, too.  It took them seven years to put out the Wolverine limited series, so I can imagine they were a bit more hesitant to publish a limited series that was not guaranteed to be a hit.  Any or all of these may have been factors in the timing of this comic, but I think it's safe to say that, once Claremont was given the green light to proceed, there was not much time left to actually make the comics.  Three pencilers in four issues is an obvious sign that there were problems getting these issues published on time; maybe Claremont spent too much time trying to make the script worthwhile, or (more likely) maybe there was a tight delivery window between when the first issue was started and when the last issue needed to be completed.

So how does this series rate, on the whole?  It's pretty inessential, to be honest.  You would think that an origin story like this would be must-read material, but everything here is presented in later comics, and those summaries feel more effective than this series.  It does help flesh out Limbo, but no writer (even Claremont) since has treated it like anything more than a generic Hell substitute.  It does explain the Soulsword a bit, so that's noteworthy; it's kind of weird that it was introduced in the pages of Uncanny, in retrospect, though. 

The comic definitely has a reason to exist --- Illyana's story had been begging to be told for a while --- but Claremont undermines the importance of this series by doing a good job summarizing it in future New Mutants issues.  I would recommend this for major Magik fans or completionists only.