Readthrough: Uncanny X-Men 101

[sheliak]

Against all odds, the X-Men have survived their adventure in space. The shuttle crashes into the ocean, but they escape it easily enough... all save one.

Scott, of course, wants to go back and save her, despite Kurt pointing out that the radiation makes this a very bad idea. While Scott is still refusing to listen, the point is made spectacularly moot.



Then she passes out. Not unreasonable, under the circumstances. So the X-Men hide themselves from onlookers±in the original, Ororo uses the unstable molecules of her costume to change into something less conspicuous; the rewrite adds a sequence where Kurt hides the entire team using his image inducer. There's also a new page, by one Tom Morgan, in which a semi-conscious Jean telekinetically rearranges the molecules of her costume to create normal clothes for herself, a demonstration of her powers that wouldn't have nearly the same effect if Ororo was still using a bit of technobabble to the same effect. In both versions, Doctor Corbeau stays behind and claims to be the sole survivor, while the X-Men take Jean to the hospital.

While they're there, the narrator has some fun at poor Wolverine's expense.



Wolverine decides that whatever he feels for Jean Grey, it's not worth having feelings in front of his teammates, so he throws the flowers away.

As the characters wait, we get a bit of introspection. The Professor confides to Moira--who's just shown up--that he's worried about the toll his powers are taking on him these days. And Scott realizes how central his love for Jean is to his life, admitting that he'd focused on the X-Men over her but now--in the face of her possible death--regrets that.

When the doctors come to reassure everyone that Jean will be all right, the X-Men celebrate raucously--Kurt bouncing off the walls (and looking rather odd since he's got his image inducer on), Moira and Scott embracing, Piotr physically picking Ororo up--and Scott slips away to cry in relief on his own. Kurt follows him, and politely closes the door, figuring that he needs privacy more than anything else.

... And then the Professor tells the non-Cyclops X-Men they're going on vacation. This swerve is as startling to them as it is to us; Wolverine actually draws his claws and yells that they're not going anywhere while Jean is incapacitated. Professor X, though, holds firm. He argues that he and Scott are all that's needed to take care of Jean, and the rest of them can only get in the doctors' way. At this, Sean suggests that they all visit his family home in Ireland, Cassidy Keep, which he has just inherited.

He would probably be less enthusiastic about this relaxing vacation if he realized that the lawyer who informed him of this fact had been attacked by a supervillain immediately after sending the letter. Still! Cut to County Mayo, and the X-Men are already complaining about both Sean's driving and the quality of the car he hired. Piotr goes so far as to call the machine a "four-wheeled torture chamber".

As they arrive at the very imposing castle--which the narrator informs us has been in the Cassidy family for over a thousand years--Sean cheerfully explains that they'll get in by ringing the doorbell and waiting for Mr. O'Donnell to lower the drawbridge. But all is not well in Cassidy Keep, as a swift scene change informs us: Black Tom Cassidy is plotting his cousin's murder within, and he's quite willing to add his cousin's friends to the tally. Mr. O'Donnell does not wish to aid the murder of the innocent, but Tom Cassidy reminds him that he has hostages. Cursing Tom's "butcher's heart", Mr. O'Donnell reluctantly complies.

Ororo is uncomfortable in the castle, but holding herself together for now.

How can anything live here, grow here--

--this place is nothing but cold, dead stone.

Later, she says that it gives her "bad vibes", a phrase she attributes to Jean's influence. Nonetheless, she gets dressed (including a truly memorable hairstyle), and Kurt arrives offering to escort her to dinner. When she questions him doing so in his costume, he decides to show off his image inducer, which he is definitely still treating as a toy.



Maybe not the best choice of movies there... Still, she laughs, and they head off together.

Wolverine is annoyed that Sean gets to dress so casually when the others have to dress up, and Piotr wants to flirt...



... but this pleasant bickering is interrupted as they all fall into a pit trap in the ground. (At first I assumed that Black Tom had added that since he moved in--but really, what do I know about the Cassidy ancestors? Maybe it's an ancestral pit trap, and Tom just dusted it off.)



I have to say, I appreciate the thought they put into this! They don't come to their enemies--they make their enemies come to them! And Tom is even lounging on a throne as he waits for the heroes to arrive.

Sean angrily asks if Tom plans to talk them to death, and Tom retorts that these dungeons shall be the X-Men's tomb. That image is apparently too much for Storm: already ill-at-ease in this stone castle, now underground, trapped beneath tons of rock and further than ever from the open sky, she's overcome by her worst memories.

And so the issue ends...


(Oh, and the editor on the original is now an Archie Goodman, replacing Marv Wolfman. Just wanted to mention those names, because they’re great and I keep forgetting to point them out.)

Poll #21472

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

View Respondents

Favorite Scene

View Answers

Jean's resurrection
4 (66.7%)

Wolverine buys flowers
3 (50.0%)

Scott in the hospital
0 (0.0%)

The X-Men learn Jean is okay
0 (0.0%)

The "four-wheeled torture chamber"
0 (0.0%)

Kurt and Ororo flirt
2 (33.3%)

Kurt, Ororo and Piotr on their way to dinner
2 (33.3%)

Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut make their entrance
1 (16.7%)

Something else, which I will explain in the comments.
0 (0.0%)

Sunday: While waiting for news of Jean, Kurt makes a friend.
Next Thursday: Nightcrawler must save his teammates from Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut!