Uncanny X-Men #182

Published June 1984
"Madness"
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Dan Green
Cover Artist: John Romita Jr.

What's Going On?
Upon returning to the X-Mansion after flying all the way from Japan, Rogue was supposed to check in on the New Mutants and Kitty Pryde.  Before she can do that, Rogue is distracted by an alarm going off in Professor Xavier's study; it is the alarm to the X-Men's emergency phone line.  Rogue listens to a message from Michael Rossi, stating that his and Xavier's suspicions have been confirmed and that he is on SHIELD's helicarrier.  The message is cut off abruptly, as if he was assaulted.  Rogue leaves to help Rossi without a second thought.

Rossi was caught trying to access SHIELD's files on Sebastian Shaw.  One of the SHIELD agents, secretly on the Hellfire Club's payroll, is instructed to kill Rossi.  Before he can do the deed, though, Rogue breaks into the helicarrier and rescues Rossi.  She then takes him to a safe location to recuperate.  There, it becomes apparent that the reason Rogue was so eager to rescue Rossi was because, after the physical exhaustion of flying halfway across the world, her mental defenses were weak, which allowed the personality of Carol Danvers to assert dominance in Rogue's body.  Michael Rossi and Carol were once lovers and colleagues, so Rogue-as-Carol tries to treat Rossi like a long-lost love.  It doesn't go well.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- The misdeeds that Illyana's phone message hinted at are the events of New Mutants (Vol. 1) #15-17.

- The White Queen's cameo sets the stage for an appearance by Sebastian Shaw in the next issue of New Mutants.

- Nick Fury has authorized deadly force to apprehend Rogue, and he wants her caught soon.  The main reason for this is because the secret Hellfire Club mole killed another SHIELD agent right before Rogue rescued Rossi, so the mole framed Rogue for the murder.

Writing!
Rogue had not really exhibited any signs of the craziness that drove her to join the X-Men since she joined the team.  This was a nice reminder of what she was dealing with as a character.  It's also a great showcase of Rogue's power set.  Granted, just about every super hero has broken into the SHIELD helicarrier at one point or another, but I thought that the concept of inflicting damage with a dollar coin was inspired.  Go figure.  Give a character a showcase issue, and you get all sorts of cool moments.

Art!
I think the highlights of this issue are the moments where Rogue's personality begins to clash with Carol's.  They are subtle moments, but I think JRJR does a good job capturing the mood.

This issue also gave Romita and Green to partake in one of their favorite hobbies: making a character ugly.  Not many artists would have made Rossi look borderline Elephant Man after a rough interrogation, but if there is a reason for a character to look lumpy, this is the art team to highlight it.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- I love how Rogue just dismisses Madelyne's worries about Cyclops.  If the X-Men were returned halfway across the globe, maybe Cyclops was dropped in an ocean or is stranded in Antarctica.  Sure, he wasn't (as we saw last issue), but I think his safe return is worth at least a fleeting bit of concern.

- The X-Men were involved in Secret Wars for about a week of Earth-time.  I like that Michael Rossi and the New Mutants apparently both left emergency messages only hours before Rogue returned to the mansion.  Good timing, right?

- Apparently, Rogue is constantly on her guard, trying to keep her personality dominant and Carol Danvers' locked away in her mind.  I say "apparently" because this is the first mention of the problem since Uncanny #171.

- Somehow, Michael Rossi giving Rogue a backhand slap across the face without the benefit of gloves does not cause her mutant power to harm him.

- This month's letter page has Storm answering the fan mail.  As luck would have it, this coincides with the mail from the debut of her new punk look.  The letters are split as to whether or not the change is good, but the more important thing to note is that there were letters written by someone named "Wolf" and someone named "Razorblade."  Edgy!

New Mutants (Vol. 1) #16

"Away Game"
Published June 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Sal Buscema
Inkers: Tom Mandrake and Kim Demulder
Cover Artist: Tom Mandrake

What's Going On?
After realizing that they had walked into a trap at the end of last issue, the New Mutants manage to distract the Hellfire Club's goons long enough to regroup and form a plan.  That plan: split up and try to rescue Kitty Pryde and Doug Ramsey.  As they go about their mission, though, they discover that the Hellfire Club has their own team of teenage mutant students --- the Hellions!  The two squads face off and when the dust settles, Kitty and Doug have not been rescued, and Cannonball, Magma, Sunspot and Wolfsbane have captured.  Dani and Magik escape via one of Magik's teleportation discs.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- The White Queen informs Kitty Pryde that her struggles against the Queen's psychic indoctrination are pointless; the White Queen has already broken her down.

- Dani continues to get emotionally distressed when she sees the effects of her mutant power on others.

- Amara's control over her mutant ability belies how little she has used it.  Considering that she had never gone full "Magma" in Nova Roma before the New Mutants came, that means she has more or less mastered the basics of her powers within only a few issues (since New Mutants #12).

- Thunderbird on the Hellions doesn't seem like too bad of a guy.  He expresses concern for both Sunspot and Wolfsbane when they get hurt.

- The Hellions don't appear to be great at teamwork.  I wonder if this will come into play later?

Writing!
This is a pretty fun issue.  The New Mutants don't appear to be horribly outclassed by their new rivals, the Hellions; last issue made the excellent point that the team would be hopelessly outmatched by the Hellfire Club, so giving them opponents that they can actually compete against was a good choice.  This sort of fight makes so much more sense than say, fighting (and defeating!) Sentinels or Viper.  Now, was sending in the junior team to capture the New Mutants a good strategic choice for the Hellfire Club?  Good lord, no.  The fact that the White Queen elaborates on the Hellfire Club's general motives makes this even more nonsensical, but I'll take the small victory of having villains in the same proverbial weight class as the New Mutants.

Art!
I know I've mentioned this before, but the quality of Sal Buscema's pencils are always shown to be questionable when there is an issue with multiple inkers.  I've gotten used to Tom Mandrake's inking (and cover art) --- it's not super-dynamic, but he is a solid storyteller and he does a pretty good job portraying the team as kids.  I didn't hate Kim Demulder's work in the back half of this issue, but the difference is noticeable.  Here is Mandrake on the left and Demulder on the right.

Again, nothing against Demulder, but I prefer this comic when the characters look their age.

Another weird thing in this issue was the coloring.  On the one hand, we finally got to see Dani use her powers and not have it presented in the hard-to-see day-glo pink that has been her trademark since her debut.  I don't have any strong preference in how Dani's powers should be visualized, as long as I can see the picture on the page.

On the other hand, this issue sees a lot of questionable coloring choices.  Throughout the issue, the colorist had trouble deciding where the New Mutant costumes stopped and where necks began.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- I am always interested by the changing of the Marvel corner box on the front cover, and I am frequently amused when comics try to disguise how scantily clad some characters are.  This month's corner box, with the White Queen's super-high-waisted panties gives the best of both worlds.

- The White Queen gives some exposition to explain the Hellfire Club's attitude toward mutants; they are simply a means to an end, and that end is power.

- This is the first appearance of James Proudstar, the younger brother of the late X-Man John Proudstar.  But how can Claremont draw attention to their connection without announcing it via exposition or outright stating Jimmy's name?  If you answered "Have them share the same codename, Thunderbird" you are only partially right.  You forgot, "Use an exclamation that only a Native American in a comic book would use" and "Color his skin so red that it almost matches the magenta of his costume."  Racism is so much easier than subtext!

- I wonder if the New Mutants will escape next issue?  (cue last panel)

Worth Noting:
- This is the first appearance of the Hellions as a team.  Specifically, Catseye, Empath, Jetstream, Roulette, Tarot, and Thunderbird.

Everything 80s:
- Jetstream's "compu-scan" computer-aided visual equipment may have as many as 8 bits of graphic power!

A Look Back at X-Men and the Micronauts

Of all the completely nonsense crossovers X-characters have had over the years and there have been plenty), X-Men and the Micronauts excited me the least.  I can enjoy a dumb comic book story as much as the next person, but the facts of this series make it sound positively wretched.  The X-Men (Marvel's hottest property at the time) having a limited series crossover (so, maybe it could be an "event" or important to future stories?) with a licensed property (okay, so it's unlikely that anything important or "event"-ful would happen with characters that Marvel may lose the rights to) based on a toy line (ugh, but Innerspace Online is a great resource if you want to learn more about the toys) that had been discontinued a few years earlier?  That sounds positively wretched.  I can't be alone in that reaction, because I can find no proof that Marvel ever reprinted this story in any form.  I wasn't aware of the toys as a kid, so this doesn't even hold the promise of nostalgia for me.  What are the chances that this is enjoyable?

Marvel house ad, circa 1984

Slightly different pencil-and-ink version of the house ad

Well, let's look a the story first.  Charles Xavier's repressed "dark side" manifests itself as a destructive entity (fittingly called The Entity) that decides to massacre everything he finds in the Microverse, with the ultimate plan of taking over Xavier's body and the "real" world.  Why did The Entity show up in the Microverse?  How did it get a corporeal form?  Why did it have the ability to create massive destruction, when Xavier's ability is telepathy?  The bad news here is that none of these questions is answered in this series.  The good news is that nobody bring them up, so at least the only people that ask these frustrating questions are the ones who wasted their time to think about the miniseries in the first place; I'm imagining that number is pretty small.  Thanks to some plot contrivances (characters switching bodies, Kitty Pryde's powers acting in a way they have never worked before or since, mind control, etc.), we see the X-Men and Micronauts fight and later team up.  And hey, they win!  The only casualties are the unnumbered masses in the Microverse, the Micronaut Bioship (AKA Biotron), and the innocence of a few of Xavier's younger students (more on that later).

So...story-wise, it's not great.  Surprisingly, it's not truly bad, aside from having a ridiculous premise and enemy. I think the characters come off reasonably well-represented (thanks to the regular writers of each title, Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo, participating), and there were some fun and clever moments.  I really liked how they pulled off having the small-scale Micronauts fight against the X-Men (and later, the New Mutants).

And in case you were wondering whether or not Wolverine's claws can cut the armor of Micronauts villain Baron Karza, you finally have an answer: yes.  Also, it is pretty funny to see Wolverine go full-out against a character that is maybe six inches tall.

I am not a huge Jackson "Butch" Guice fan, but it was kind of cool for the then-current artist on Micronauts to get a chance showing them off on a (presumably) larger stage.  At least readers that are unfamiliar with the Micronauts (like me) can be reasonably assured that the characters are being drawn on-model.  I found some interesting inked pages online that show off Guice's skills.  He wasn't doing a ton, detail-wise, but he can tell a story, at least.

How essential is X-Men and the Micronauts? I can't say definitely for Micronauts fans, but I'm gonig to go out on a limb and say "not at all."  A lot happened to the Microverse in this series --- a seemingly huge portion of the population was massacred --- and the balance of power between Karza and the Micronauts seemed to be heavily swayed toward the good guys.  Also, the Micronaut Bioship died!  However, if you search for "Bioship" online, hoping for a character biography or anything like that, you come up short.  For whatever reason, he was also known as Biotron, and if you look up info on him, this miniseries is not mentioned.  This may be because Micronauts only lasted two issues more after this miniseries ended, but it's still damned odd.  Why even bother to kill him off?

As for X-Men fans, X-Men and the Micronauts holds an interesting place in history.  It is similarly unessential reading for X-fans, but it is one of the earlier instances of a writer highlighting Xavier's dark side.  It wasn't the first time --- Uncanny X-Men #106 is the most obvious precursor --- but it may have helped plant the seeds that eventually resulted in the infamous Onslaught storyline in the 1990s.  More interesting to me, though, are the implications that come from the fact that this series is never mentioned by anyone, ever, in any other X-Men comics.  Think about all the potentially disturbing things that happen in this series: body swapping for the teenage Kitty, the X-Men killed a bunch of people, and Xavier was revealed to be a sexual predator with a taste for underage girls.  Let's take another look at those gross sexual scenes with Xavier:

"Other aspects of your...personality --- intrigue me."  Okay, maybe that's more innuendo than anything else, but Karza/Kitty spells out that this is a lusty villain, so it's not like the grossness is taken out of context.  The scene with Psyche was far, far worse, though.

 

At least The Entity got distracted before going too far with Kitty.  Here, Dani basically has her mind raped.  There isn't much grey area here, either; the only real argument you can make would be the degree of how much Dani was violated.  Since Chris Claremont co-wrote this series while writing both Uncanny and New Mutants, I guess we're left to assume that Xavier basically mind-wiped this entire experience from the minds of his students, and that's why they never seemed traumatized by it?  I guess the other explanation would be that this is entirely out of continuity, but that's a less interesting reading.

What's the bottom line?  Well, X-Men and the Micronauts is a completely unnecessary miniseries that never needed to happen.  I'm assuming that Claremont and Mantlo wanted to work together, and had hoped this would improve the sales of Micronauts.  It didn't, and it looks like the only people who ever thought about this series after 1984 are retro reviewers on the interwebs.  If it wasn't for the truly awful decision to make Xavier's dark side into statutory rape (and I'm being generous with that description), this would be an inoffensive series that ends with the X-Men shrugging off all the death that they caused.  But that was in another country, and besides, the wench is dead.  I guess.

New Mutants (Vol. 1) #15

"Scaredy Cat"
Published May 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Sal Buscema
Inker: Tom Mandrake
Cover Artist: Tom Mandrake

What's Going On?
Worried about Kitty Pryde's safety as she visits the Massachusetts Academy, Magik decides to cast a spell that allows her astral projection to visit the academy without being noticed.  There, she witnesses Kitty tied to a chair, in the clutches of the villainous White Queen; the Queen somehow senses Illyana's presence and disrupts the spell.  With the X-Men missing, the team tries to get help from other adult super-heroes, but has no luck.  Desperate, they decide to take the bus --- because unlicensed teens driving Xavier's Rolls Royce would be suspicious --- to the Massachusetts Academy to save Kitty, but instead fall into a trap!

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- The White Queen tells Kitty that Doug Ramsey is in love with her --- and that Kitty secretly loves him back.  Gasp!

I love that it looks like Doug is crooning into an invisible karaoke microphone as much as it looks like he's dancing with himself.

- The New Mutants are now aware of Illyana's powers of sorcery.  So I guess the memory-erasing spell she cast on Stevie Hunter last issue wasn't really needed.  Well, that secret lasted all of one issue.

- Both Kitty and the White Queen can see Illyana's astral form.  When Illyana reflects on that fact, she is confused because he astral form is "invisible to mortal eyes."  For some reason, Kitty seeing her seems more confusing to Illyana than the White Queen.  Are telepaths not considered mortal by Illyana?

Also, I love that the White Queen's (presumably) psychic attack is coming from her hand.  And she knows who Illyana is?  She's got quite the information network, since Illyana returned from Limbo after the last time the White Queen encountered the X-Men and is now several years older than any official records of Colossus' family would indicate.

- The New Mutants try to call the Avengers and Fantastic Four for assistance, but they are also missing, thanks to Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars.  It's a small moment, but it makes the kids seem less idiotic when they go to save Kitty; at least they tried to get help first.

- Illyana is reluctant to use her mutant power of teleportation, because her control over it is still shaky.

- Sunspot and Wolfsbane find themselves distracted and almost hypnotized by the sight of Cloak and Dagger's church refuge.  This is another reference to their appearance in Marvel Team-Up (the last one happened in #13)

- Sam compliments Dani's leadership abilities while criticizing his own lack of skills.  Dani also makes a good point, building up the imminent confrontation with the Hellfire Club as a serious problem.

- Sam and Rahne share a moment where they discuss their Christian faith and how Rahne is not the spawn of Satan.  It's a nice scene.  Sam doesn't often get portrayed as the religious type --- a little bit country, sure --- and it's a sensible thing for him to bond with Rahne over.

Writing!
This is a solid issue, and it has some good character moments.  I especially like that Chris Claremont takes the time to have at least Dani and Sam realize that fighting the Hellfire Club is going to be way out of their proverbial weight class.  Unfortunately, this issue brings to a head something that has been bothering me for a few issues.

I don't like the presence of Kitty Pryde in the pages of these recent issues of New Mutants.  Now, she's an X-Man, lives in the mansion with the kids, and is best friends with Illyana, so it makes sense that she pops up from time to time.  I just don't like her being instrumental to the plot of this title.  She hasn't had much time on the page, but her relationship with Doug Ramsey (including them hacking into Project: Wideawake!) happened here; the team doesn't have any emotional investment in Doug, so rescuing Kitty is the impetus for the team's trip to the Massachusetts Academy.  You know what would have made more sense?  For Doug to befriend one or more of the New Mutants (as a computer tutor, perhaps?) and then be unwittingly drawn into the clutches of a X-enemy.  That would have been a more satisfying narrative.

Art!
It's more of the same from Sal Buscema and Tom Mandrake.  Solid storytelling with a focus on non-action scenes.  It's not super-pretty, but it works well enough.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- I'm keeping track of how many times the New Mutants refer to Illyana as scary/evil.  Since she joined the team last issue, we are now two-for-two!

- While this issue does not explicitly state where it falls in the Secret Wars timeline, we have some clues.  First off, the New Mutants are not worried about the X-Men being missing, so it probably has not been too long.  After learning that the Avengers and Fantastic Four are not home Dani concludes that the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men all vanished on the same night.  That means 1) this issue takes place on the evening/morning after Secret Wars started 2) the Avengers' butler, Jarvis, is happily willing to speculate the fate of the Avengers to complete strangers

3) Dani appears to know something (like Marvel's publishing initiatives?), stating that the Avengers, FF, and X-Men all disappeared on the same night.  She didn't get the Fantastic Four's disappearance from their robot receptionist, though.  According to it, they might have just been out to dinner.

Everything 80s:
- Illyana (who shares a room with Kitty) has a Garfield stuffed animal and a Tom Selleck poster on the wall.

Worth Noting:
- Kitty's outfit in this issue is the first appearance of the typical "Hellions" uniform.  So there's that.

Uncanny X-Men #181

"Tokyo Story"
Published May 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Dan Green
Cover Artists: John Romita Jr. and Ron Zalme (the Zalme credit is from marvel.wikia.com)

What's Going On?
Between last issue and this issue, all 12 issues of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars happened (even though Secret Wars #1 only hits the sales rack this month).  This issue picks with the X-Men returning to Earth --- but landing in Japan, for some reason, instead of New York.  That reason may have something to do with the gigantic dragon that appeared out of nowhere, only moments before they arrived.  The dragon, who had gotten friendly (in the Biblical sense?) with Lockheed during Secret Wars, does not appear to be malicious, but is destroying Tokyo nonetheless.  The X-Men and Sunfire join forces to combat the dragon and limit the damage/casualties, but it ultimately falls to little Lockheed to end the battle.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Teasers to get readers to pick up Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, part 1: Rogue and Xavier are sporting new costumes! 

- Teasers to get readers to pick up Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, part 2: Lockheed apparently finds himself a lady dragon friend in Secret Wars, and she apparently thought it was true love.  He disagreed.

- A week has passed since the end of Uncanny X-Men #180, which means that the X-Men were off-world when Kitty Pryde needed their help with the White Queen at the Massachusetts Academy.  Rogue is assigned to fly home as quickly as possible to check on Kitty and the New Mutants.

- Xavier undercuts Storm's authority by commanding the other X-Men.  Xavier realizes that it may be problematic, but Wolverine thinks it straight up sucks.

- Mariko Yashida makes a cameo appearance (why wouldn't she be in Tokyo whenever the X-Men are?), and it turns out that she misses Wolverine. 

- Even though he's "retired" from super-heroing, Cyclops was involved in Secret Wars.  Madelyne Pryor forgives him for missing a week of their honeymoon.  The woman is a saint.  Nothing bad will happen to this couple!

- Teasers to get readers to pick up Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, part 3: Colossus mentions the emotional pain he is in, having recently lost a love.  But...Kitty didn't attend the Secret Wars...what is he talking about?

- Xavier finds himself buried in some wreckage and he panics, thinking that he is paralyzed once again.  It's a nice (and rare!) moment that humanizes Charles "The Saint" Xavier during Claremont's run.

- Senator Robert Kelly is show in an epilogue pushing upcoming legislation called "The Mutant Affairs Control Act."

Writing!
This is almost like a slow, character-based issue, but with a dragon.  The X-Men didn't really face a huge change of status after Secret Wars, so it makes sense that the biggest changes were in the soap opera department.  Xavier, Wolverine, and Colossus all had good characterization scenes this issue, and it was much-needed for Xavier.  A lot is mad of how much Claremont humanized Magneto, but he did nearly as much work adding depth to Xavier's brusque teacher persona.  I don't think the title needs a leadership controversy, but it is an organic result of Xavier joining the team as a superhero in the field, so at least it doesn't feel forced.

Art!
The main takeaway here is that Romita Jr. can draw a good dragon.  That's really all you need to know.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Kitty Pryde appears on the front cover (in the top right of the cover), even though she is not in this issue.  What makes it strange is the fact that she is wearing either street clothes or another new uniform.

- The kids in this issue don't look like they have disproportionately large heads.  For readers of Kick-Ass, it may be strange to see Romita Jr. drawn child characters without spindly limbs.

- Mariko Yashida, as head of the criminal enterprise that is Clan Yashida, apparently has enough clearance to be in the military control center, where they plan attacks against kaiju.

- The giant dragon and Lockheed disappear from the Japanese military's radar, thus ending the incident.  Lockheed reappears soon, although no explanation is given for either the disappearance or his return.

Worth Noting:
- For only the second time since starting this blog, I find an issue of Uncanny X-Men that is actually missing "Uncanny" in the title.  The other instance was the double-sized #166.  Thrilling, I know.

- This is the first appearance of Wolverine's adopted daughter, Amiko/Akiko (I'm reasonably sure the name changes at some point).  She won't be showing up too often.

- The letters page returns this month (letters answered by Wolverine this time) features a fan letter from future comic writer Lee Allred!