X-Men and the Micronauts #4

"Doppelganger!"
Published April 1984
Writers: Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo
Penciler: Jackson "Butch" Guice
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Cover Artists: Jackson "Butch" Guice and Bob Wiacek

What's Going On?
At the end of last issue, The Entity took control of Xavier's body, while trapping Xavier in The Entity's body (which is dying).  Meanwhile, in the Microverse, the X-Men and Micronauts are in the process of escaping from the dungeons of The Entity, while Baron Karza (trapped in the body of Kitty Pryde) plans to kill both teams of heroes.  As this is happening, Kitty Pryde (trapped in the body of Baron Karza) makes the decision to attack the planet that The Entity is on (as are the X-Men and Micronauts, for that matter) with Baron Karza's forces.  Her plan is to destroy the entire planet to stop The Entity's ruthlessness, even at the cost of her friends and countless innocents.

But that was last issue!  As this issue opens, The Entity (in his Xavier flesh suit) sets out to control the New Mutants, as he successfully did to the X-Men and Micronauts in the Microverse.  He does this with ease.  His next plan is to use Cerebro to amplify his abilities to the point where he can destroy the entire Microverse (with his enemies inside it). 

While this is happening, the X-Men and Micronauts spoil Karza-Kitty's attempt to murder them all; in the process, they encounter Kitty (in Karza's body) and Xavier (in The Entity's body).  After some confusion, every body-switched person's true identity is revealed and everyone agrees to team up against The Entity.  The group manages to avoid The Entity's Cerebro-enhanced attack on the Microverse and makes their way to the X-Men's universe (Earth-616) to battle The Entity; unfortunately, after successfully escaping the Microverse, both the X-Men and the Micronauts are the size of action figures on Earth.  The New Mutants (under the sway of The Entity) attack the tiny heroes; with The Entity distracted by the battle, Xavier launches a psychic attack.  Xavier tries to resume control of his body and mind, and threatens to kill his body before allowing The Entity to continue. 

The Entity believed Xavier capable of this, and chose to take his consciousness back to his own body...which had just died.  With nowhere to go, The Entity ceased to exist and the battle stopped.  Kitty and Baron Karza managed to switch their minds back to the correct bodies, and the Micronauts used science(-ish) to enlarge the X-Men to their natural size before returning to the Microverse.  All's well that ends well...except for all those that died in the Microverse at the hands of The Entity.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Lockheed can sense the presence of Xavier's invisible astral projection.  So that's weird.

Writing!
The summary above may have given you a clue, but this is a plot-heavy issue where a lot of ridiculous things have to get wrapped up.  I would feel sorry for Mantlo and Claremont, but they painted themselves into this corner, so I'm glad they were the ones that set everything back to normal in this issue.  It was their mess, so it was only right for them to clean it up.  Well, as "clean" as a kid's comic with a hidden dick joke can be.

Art!
Like the previous three issues, the artwork from Guice and Wiacek is serviceable, but not terribly pretty to look at.  There are a few panels that made me wonder if maybe multiple inkers worked on this issue --- this panel featuring Dani Moonstar seems unlike anything else in the comic ---

but I don't see anything online to back up this notion, so I guess Guice and Wiacek were just trying a few new things here and there.  Art highlights for me include a new costume for Kitty in what I think was supposed to be Baron Karza's color scheme...

...and this panel of the action figure-sized X-Men fighting the New Mutants. 

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Whatever is going on here (psychic sexual assault?) is gross.  It's worth pointing out that The Entity can (and has) bent heroes to his will without his "psychic fingertips play[ing] a sensual caress" with any of them.

- I love that, when possessed by The Entity, the visual indication that Sunspot has become fierce and savage is to...give him Wolverine's haircut?

- I love the nonsense pseudoscience used in this issue.  There are many instances of it (How do the X-Men regain their full size again?  How did the Micronauts return home?), but my favorite is this, the power of song:

- Last issue showed us that The Entity has the ability to raise the dead with no ill effects.  I had assumed that this would be used to make up for all the people in the Microverse killed by The Entity and the X-Men and Micronauts under his sway.  As the issue closes, Xavier states that he wished he could atone for The Entity's crimes, which could have easily led to someone saying, "Actually, maybe you *can* help..."  What actually happened was nothing.  The X-Men killed a bunch of Microverse people, Xavier's dark side killed millions in the Microverse, and two students were basically sexually assaulted by their trusted teacher.  The repercussions for all of this?  None, which is hilarious (in the bad way).  But at least Xavier takes the time to explain the ending and completely shrug off The Entity's crimes!

Worth Noting:
- The Micronaut's sentient ship, Bioship, dies in this issue.

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.

X-Men and the Micronauts #3

"Mine Eyes Have Seen the Gory!"
Published March 1984
Writers: Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo
Penciler: Jackson "Butch" Guice
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Cover Artist: Jackson "Butch" Guice

What's Going On?
Under the control of The Entity, the X-Men and Micronauts conquer a Microverse military outpost.  While they all kill their enemies, only Kitty Pryde (whose body is secretly being controlled by Baron Karza) is acting bloodthirsty enough for The Entity's tastes.  The teams (minus Kitty/Karza) are punished and sent to a dungeon, where they appear to be operating under their own willpower once again; they escape confinement and decide to take the fight to The Entity, despite their slim chances of winning.

Meanwhile, Xavier has been asleep, unable to wake, even when he falls out of bed and is lifted back into it by the New Mutants.

He sends his astral form to find and battle The Entity.  He notes that The Entity is wearing the psychic armor her used in Uncanny X-Men #117; he does not note a similarity, he states that it is his armor. 

Well, that makes sense when it is revealed that The Entity is the manifestation of Xavier's dark side. 

By defeating Xavier in psychic battle, The Entity is now free to control Xavier's body and attack the...hmm.  The Microverse?  Again?  Let's just assume that's a typo and he means that he will attack the main Marvel Universe (does that make it the Macroverse?)

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- The Entity kills Captain Ranin of the Micronauts (by turning him into dust!) for daring to have his own will...only to revive him in perfect health a few moments later.

- Deciding that life under The Entity's control is too horrible to contemplate, Wolverine decides to kill his friends while they sleep.  Colossus stops him by reasoning that --- since The Entity can revive the dead if Wolvie kills them --- if they despair, The Entity wins. The only way the heroes can "win" is to hold on to hope.

- Baron Karza (in the body of Kitty Pryde), after seemingly killing The Entity, decides that his next step toward Microverse domination is the death of the X-Men and Micronauts.

Writing!
Unlike the previous two issues, the X-Men and Micronauts share their scenes together, so we don't see as much of a focus on the Micronauts this time around.  The scene with Kitty/Karza and The Entity is shockingly awful and thankfully is never brought up again in any other Kitty Pryde comic I have read.  Giving The Entity the ability to revive the dead (or at least those he is responsible for killing) looks like it will serve as a convenient backdoor to erase any of the deaths the X-Men caused in this issue, but we will have to wait until next issue to see.  For the most part, though, we see heroes getting ready to be heroes and villains being villainous, so the writing is doing its job on a very basic level.

Art!
The art is not fantastic, but it tells the story well enough.  My personal highlight was Guice showing off how destructive an evil Kitty Pryde could be. 

It's not especially cool-looking, but I think this is the first instance of Kitty being show killing someone, so it's fairly unique in that regard.  A lowlight of this issue is The Entity appearing to have a 72" waist. 

I'm not much of a fan of this issue's cover, either, with The Entity being superimposed over the rest of the cast in bright orange inks.  I don't like the practice when it's used to exhibit Psyche's powers, and I don't like it here.  I do like that Guice wrote "Trapped" on the wall, but it would have made more sense if that was the title of the issue.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- At this point, it's still a rule that X-Men don't kill (except when they do), so it's kind of a big deal that the team are killing folks while under The Entity's sway. 

Gee, I wonder if The Entity's ability to revive the dead will help erase their misdeeds from history?

- Baron Karza has a mustache and mohawk beneath his fearsome Darth Vader-esque helmet. 

Oh, and he's apparently also a "rocket-powered centaur?"  I realize that is something taken from the toy line, but that made me tear up with laughter.

- The Entity has romantic plans for Kitty Pryde (controlled by Baron Karza) as a "reward" for her ruthlessness in battle.  While having the still extremely young Kitty engaged in a sexual scene with a grown man is certainly disturbing, it gets a lot creepier after it is revealed that The Entity is Charles Xavier's repressed feelings.  For my money, because The Entity is trying to act on these urges, this is creepier than the Stan Lee-era scene where Xavier revealed that he is secretly pining for the then-teenage Jean Grey.  On the bright side, Kitty/Karza stabs The Entity in the back, so it's not like Kitty is portrayed as a victim here.  How much of that is due to a man's mind controlling her body, I prefer not to speculate on right now.

 Everything 80s:
Check out this ad for some Masters of the Universe merchandise:

Please note that these are not the toys from Mattel --- these are hobby kit versions (think model cars) of the toys that people can purchase and assemble.  I can't imagine the intended audience for this.

X-Men and the Micronauts #2

"Into the Abyss!"
Published February 1984
Writers: Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo
Penciller: Jackson "Butch" Guice
Inkers: Bob Wiacek and Kelley Jones
Cover Artists: Jackson "Butch" Guice and Bob Wiacek

What's Going On?
After being defeated last issue, the Micronauts find themselves split up as a team, fighting an enemy that is attacking them on a physical and emotional level; one by one, they are defeated...and then healed by The Entity as his loyal followers.  Meanwhile, the X-Men split up with Baron Karza, leaving him on Homeworld to build up an army to attack The Entity.  They then use Bioship's mental connection to Commander Ranin to figure out where in the Microverse the Micronauts are, and they go there.  When they arrive, they find themselves in an incredible facsimile of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, only they are about six inches tall and are attacked by full-sized Micronauts, dressed as X-Men and led by Professor Xavier.  Once the X-Men have been defeated, it is revealed that the "Xavier" leading the Micronauts is actually The Entity in disguise.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Baron Karza still has his consciousness switched with Kitty Pryde's.  While he is awake in Kitty's body, he has enough control over his mental powers to control his own body and keep Kitty from assuming control of it.  When he is defeated in Kitty's body by the Entity, it looks as though Kitty has been freed to control Karza's body.

- When Professor Xavier falls asleep in the X-mansion, The Entity weakens and swears to go after the cause of his weakness.

Writing!
Like last issue, the story is pretty evenly split between the Micronauts in the first half and the X-Men in the second half; perhaps Manto and Claremont split their writing chores that way?  In this issue, each member of the Micronauts has a moment in the spotlight, but the X-Men are largely handled as a team.  It makes sense, I suppose, for the lesser-known characters to be fleshed out a bit, since the point of a crossover like this is to draw some of the X-Men readers over to the Micronauts title.  The New Mutants make a brief appearance in this issue, but they primarily serve as background decor.  There really aren't any great moments in this issue, but it does move the plot forward, at least.

Art!
Jackson Guice gets to have some fun with the character spotlights on the Micronauts, but other than that this issue is pretty bland; he seems to have some problems with some of the faces in this issue, but nothing too distracting. 

Primary mutation: weather control.  Secondary mutation: vaguely fish-like head

We do get a slightly better look at The Entity in this issue, but there isn't enough detail to show his face beneath the helmet.  There are two inkers in this issue.  I expected Kelley Jones' inks to have an obvious difference to Wiacek's --- Jones is a very distinctive penciller, so I assumed that his inking would be similarly stylized --- but, for the most part, their work here is difficult to distinguish.  Some of Kelley's trademark tendencies toward teh grotesque do show up in this panel, though:

The Entity's face appears to be inspired by Jason Voorhees

Retrospectively Amusing:
- The Entity comments that all living beings are like toys to him.  Since half the characters in this story are based on toys, I thought that was cute.

Everything 80's:
I'm not saying that comic readers do not enjoy fishing, but this advertisement is targeting an audience that you don't see ads for in modern comics.

Uncanny X-Men #178

"Hell Hath No Fury..."
Published February 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: John Romita Jr.
Inkers: Bob Wiacek and Brett Breeding
Cover: John Romita Jr. and Dan Green

What's Going On?
It is X-Men vs. the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants time!  After doing harm to Colossus last issue, the Brotherhood (Avalance, Blob, Destiny and Pyro) try to ambush Nightcrawler and his girlfriend, Amanda Sefton.  Storm and Wolverine act as the cavalry and manage to subdue the Brotherhood with surprising ease.  Surprising, that is, until Blob reveals that their attacks were just a distraction to allow Mystique to attack Professor Xavier.

Meanwhile, Rogue convinces Mystique that she joined the X-Men of her own free will in an effort to learn to control her powers; this helps convince Mystique to not kill Xavier.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Cyclops has sent the Professor a letter from his honeymoon; his (and Madelyne's) post-X-Men plan is to work for his grandparents' airline in Alaska.  But who took this photo of them in their honeymoon bed, and why did Scott send it to his father figure?

- After the attack last issue, Colossus is still a chunk of frozen metal.  Kitty Pryde breaks into the Baxter Building to grab one of Reed Richards' inventions that could help Peter, but something surprises her as she tries to escape; it appears as though she fell from the roof of the building and died.

- Callisto has Masque alter the body of a dead junkie.  From their conversation, it sounds like he is going to create a doppelganger for Kitty Pryde.

- Xavier suffers another strong psychic blow, although this one is foreshadowing the Beyonder and Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars. 

- Mystique seems to accept Rogue's claim that she is willingly trying to learn control over her abilities under Xavier's tutelage.  I'm reasonably sure this is the last time Mystique's Brotherhood acts as (potentially) deadly enemies of the X-Men. Sure, they later become Freedom Force and are still enemies, but from this point forward, Mystique's team is usually trying to arrest instead of murder.

Writing!
Chris Claremont does a good job making Mystique out to be a legitimate threat.  I liked the tactics and attitude of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants; they showed teamwork that X-Men villains rarely display, and I liked the joy Blob seemed to get out of Colossus' injury.  It is interesting to see Claremont starting to round out Mystique's character; his run is famous for his evolving treatment of Magneto, but this change with Mystique feels kind of like a dry run for that.

Art!
The very first page shows off the difference between the inking styles of Bob Wiacek and John Romita Sr.; compare the roughness of Colossus on this page and compare it to the final page of last issue. 

Personally, I think Romita Jr.'s pencils look better with inks that leave the art looking a little rough, so I actually like this change quite a bit.  Romita Jr. still has a couple of panels where he gives the female characters some unfortunately prominent cheekbones, but that is something he will continue to do for the rest of his career.  Overall, though, I think JRJR is a great action artist, and this issue plays to his strengths well.  Something I particularly liked was how he drew Amanda Sefton's magic spells.  How has he never drawn a Doctor Strange series?!?

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Apparently, when Wolverine shows up to a danger room session, he brings his jacket and a six pack of beer.

- Angel answers the letters page in this issue.  Keep in mind that Angel has not been an active team member since the All-New, All-Different team was launched.  It seems like a weird choice, but the last words on the page are a reminder to X-fans to check out Angel's further adventures in the pages of The Defenders, so I guess that explains that.