Uncanny X-Men #175

"Phoenix!"
Published November 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Pencillers: Paul Smith and John Romita Jr.
Inker: Bob Wiacek


What's Going On?
Dark Phoenix has returned, and she wants to toy with the X-Men before destroying them.  Last issue, Madelyne Pryor transformed into Phoenix and attacked Cyclops.  This issue, she drops him off at the X-Mansion so he can prepare the team for the battle to come.  When she arrives, she easily defeats the team, but chooses to let them live for a while.  She then decides to destroy the Starjammers' spaceship and the entire city of New York (thus killing the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and most of the other Marvel super heroes).  This convinces the X-Men (minus Cyclops and Xavier, who are unconscious in the infirmary) that they must use lethal force when fighting Phoenix, for the good of mankind.  When Cyclops comes to, though, he puts together some clues and realizes that they are not facing Dark Phoenix, but the illusionist Mastermind.  But how can he convince the team that what they see, hear and feel is wrong --- especially since Mastermind can make Cyclops appear to be their enemy? 

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- The culmination of Mastermind's plot also serves as the last tease that Madelyne may actually be Jean Grey/Phoenix (for a while, anyway).

- The whirlwind romance between Scott and Madelyne climaxes with this elaborate evil scheme that also appears to serve as an X-Men wedding rehearsal dinner.  It's nice to see them get a happily ever after.  I wonder if we'll see these crazy kids again...

- With her new, edgy look, Storm admits that she now controls violent weather with greater ease.

Writing!
My favorite thing about this story is how it pits Cyclops against the rest of the X-Men, and how he manages (thanks to clever planning) to defeat them...if only for a limited time.  It's a statement to Cyclops' skill as a strategist and team leader; that is something that is often overlooked in this era of Uncanny, if only because Storm has taken a more active leading role.

I've really been enjoying the Claremont/Smith run so far, and this issue does a good job of finishing off the Mastermind subplot and puts any questions about Madelyne's similarity to Jean Grey to rest (for now).  With regards to just this single issue, though, I was left a little underwhelmed.  I get Mastermind's motivation --- he wants to destroy the X-Men by ruining their precious morality --- but his plan is dumb and his execution sloppy.  And why act now, instead of back in Japan?  It's still entertaining, but the logic is lacking.

Art!
This is Paul Smith's last issue of Uncanny for a good long while, and he goes out on on a high note.  His fight scenes are fluid and crisp, and he handles the illusions well.  I especially like his version of Phoenix, with the glossy long locks.

This issue also marks the first pencils from John Romita Jr. on an X-Men title (EDIT 07/30/2016: JRJR first drew the team in Uncanny X-Men Annual #4 from 1980  My bad).  It is interesting to see the distinct differences between Smith and Romita, because it is all the more stark with Bob Wiacek inking both, and with them both drawing the same characters.  Romita Jr's work is rougher around the edges than Smith's, but it fits the danger in this issue well.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Cyclops has a near death experience after being burned by Phoenix.  However, he was never really injured at all; it was all just an illusion.  So...was he really that close to death, or is his subconscious just overly dramatic?
 
- So it is pretty clear at this point that Wolverine's wedding was ruined due to Mastermind's intervention, right?  Well, maybe for the readers; the X-Men appear to not know that, despite Storm clearly remembering the time she saw a Phoenix image in the Japanese sky.  All we get is Wolverine glaring during Cyclops' wedding ceremony and absolutely no direct reference to Mastermind in Japan.  In other words, Cyclops once again gets the girl and Wolvie gets heartbroken (cue sad trombone).

- I think it's funny how many people come to Scott and Madelyne's wedding, especially given the fact that Scott was raised an orphan and Madelyne has no family or friends.

Worth Noting:
- Paul Smith's next issue of Uncanny X-Men will be #278, more than 100 issues from now.

- Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor get married at the end of the issue.

Daredevils #10

"The Sound and the Fury"
Published October 1983
Writer: Alan Moore
Penciller: Alan Davis
Inker: Alan Davis


What's Going On?
Picking up at last issue's cliffhanger ending, The Fury attacks Captain UK.  After some intervention from Merlin (see the Sub-Plots), Captain Britain comes joins in the fray, along with members of the Special Executive.  They don't stack up well against The Fury.  Wardog is immediately crippled; The Fury tears off his cybernetic arm. 

Legion, whose ability is to summon future versions of himself from his own timeline, has one of his future selves murdered.  Captain Britain survives a beating, but only because The Fury directed its attention to the others.  Things don't look good; Cobweb announces that the future of the multiverse has been cancelled.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Merlin and Roma continue their game of chess.  The appearance of The Fury on the game board takes them by surprise and, when he senses The Fury's imminent attack, Merlin protects Captain UK's real body by shielding her chess piece with his hands.  She survived a deadly blast unscathed, and Merlin's hands were badly burned as a result.

- Cobweb, the precognitive member of the Special Executive, starts seizing and foaming at the mouth as The Fury begins to attack.  She repeats "I didn't see it coming," over and over again.

- Zeitgeist refuses to join the battle because he was not hired to fight.

Writing!
The Merlin/Roma metafictional subplot is interesting, but I'm not really getting much enjoyment out of it.  I get it, Merlin is playing chess with human lives; making it a literal game for him is clever, but I don't think it really adds much to the story. Aside from that, Moore does a great job cranking up the tension.  One of the hardest things for a comic writer to do is to make the hero look hopelessly outmatched, and Moore makes it look like CapBrit ans co. are about to die.

Art!
Alan Davis keeps getting better, month after month.  Here, he gets to flex his experimental muscles a bit with Cobweb's monologue and it is pretty great.  

 (Note: two-page spreads are hard to scan properly)  Not only is the recurring Fury face repeating across this scene interesting, the 90-degree rotation of Cobweb's head along with the action of the scene was very cool.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- The revelation that Legion and Cobweb are lovers seemed a little out of left field.  Since neither character made the transition to Excalibur as part of the Executive Elite, I wonder if this is ever mentioned again.

Worth Noting:
- This is the first time we see Merlin and Roma's chess game directly impacting reality.

- The future version of Legion was killed by The Fury, but the current version lived.  The implication of this is that one day soon, current Legion will become future Legion and blink out of existence, which is a cool idea, right?

New Mutants (Vol. 1) #8

"The Road to...Rome?"
Published October 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: Sal Buscema
Inker: Bob McLeod


What's Going On?
The team continues its Brazilian vacation with Nina DaCosta, exploring an uncharted tributary of the Amazon River.  During one of their shore excursions, they encounter a group of aggressive female Native Brazilians and decide to capture one.  When Nina tries to interrogate the captured girl, Amara, she gets a lot of conflicting information; the girl does not appear to speak any recognizable language, some of her weapons are from far away lands, and one of them is surprisingly modern.  Meanwhile, Sebastian Shaw and Emmanuel DaCosta have a crew member on the boat that has been charged with ruining the expedition.  He does this by knocking out the New Mutants, Amara, and Nina; he apparently kills the rest of the crew and steers the boat down a waterfall.  After the boat crashes, the New Mutants all make it to shore, but Roberto's mother is missing.  Amara also survived, but it turns out that she was not really an indigenous person; she was a white blonde that was disguised as a Native. 

 

And then, on the shore, the survivors are confronted by the Roman Legionnaires, who decide to enslave them.  

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Cannonball has learned how to make turns while blasting.  It apparently happened off-panel between issue 5 (when he last lamented his skills) and now.  So much for that sub-plot.  I don't think it ever really comes up again.

- Speaking of the team's continuing development, Psyche has developed the ability to project specific thoughts instead of just someone's fears.  Here, she uses Rahne's memory of snow to cool her down.

- Professor Xavier is still teaching Team America?!?  I am 99% certain this is the last time this is mentioned in any X-book.

- Professor Xavier continues to encourage the team to assume that Karma is dead.

- Rahne is still sensitive about people's reaction to her mutant power.  She pours her heart out to Amara, assuming that she does not understand English.  When she learns otherwise, she is pretty upset.

Writing!
The poor writing continues with this issue.  Even ignoring the bizarre choice to have Sam and Dani capture Amara, or the completely illogical decisions made by Shaw's saboteur, this is an issue that ends with the Roman Legion showing up in the middle of the Amazonian rain forest.  There is no payoff on Earth that will make this ridiculous moment worthwhile.

Art!
The saving grace of the art in this issue is, once again, Bob McLeod's inks.   The action isn't too impressive in this issue, but there are some solid character moments.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- So this issue's action hinges on the choice to kidnap a Native Brazilian that was minding her own business, until Cannonball and Psyche ran into her.   Sure, they fought, but she was basically defending herself.  It's an odd choice for teenagers to make, but it's even weirder that none of the adults on the ship are shocked or tell them this is a terrible idea.

- Emmanuel DaCosta has a super-villanesque hidden map behind a wall in his home.  I love that this revelation receives zero comments from Sebastian Shaw.

- Sebastian Shaw's operative that is trying to ruin the expedition makes some bizarre choices.  First, he knowingly risks Psyche's life by attracting piranhas to the boat while she was swimming.  Then, he sticks up for the New Mutants when the rest of the crew considers mutiny when they realize there are mutants on their boat.  After that, he tries to beat information (what information?) out of Amara.  Later, he causes the shipwreck and murders some of the crew members...but not everyone. 

Worth Noting:
- As far as I can tell, this is Team America's last appearance for a while.  According to the Marvel Wikia, they next pop up in The Thing #27, almost two years after this issue.

- This is the first appearance of Amara, AKA Magma, AKA the girl who was apparently wearing body paint and hair dye to pass herself off as a Native Brazilian.

- It looks like Rahne will fall victim to the ongoing "beat the women easily" trend in this title, but she recovers nicely:

 

It's not exactly empowerment, but it is one of the better instances of a female character holding her own in battle in The New Mutants.