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With this issue, Dave Cockrum is off the book (although he'll be back) and John Byrne is replacing him as the regular artist. I have mixed feelings about that--I actually started with Byrne's stuff (and his uncolored inks are gorgeous; in the Essential collections), but as time goes on I've gotten more and more fond of Cockrum. I'll miss him.

(As a random side note, because I keep forgetting to mention it: the editor on this one is Archie Goodwin. A past editor was named Marv Wolfman. I just want to mention that I really appreciate those names.)

( Armageddon Now! )

Poll #21815

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

View Respondents

Favorite Scene

Corbeau and the Superheroes
0 (0.0%)

Jahf fight + Wolverine's orbital adventure
1 (25.0%)

Modt + Raza throws the Emperor
1 (25.0%)

The nightmares
1 (25.0%)

Ororo's offer
3 (75.0%)

Jean saves the universe
4 (100.0%)

Added Dark Phoenix foreshadowing
1 (25.0%)

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

Do you like the Dark Phoenix foreshadowing here?

Yes
0 (0.0%)

No
4 (100.0%)

Favorite artist so far?

Cockrum
2 (50.0%)

Byrne
2 (50.0%)

I like both equally
0 (0.0%)

I would like to stand up for someone else
0 (0.0%)

Next: Starjammer origin story!
After that: Vindicator interrupts a picnic.

Since 106 was left out of the Classic reprints (entirely fairly), this is two Uncanny posts in a row. Next up is Classic again (Lilandra!) and then we're back to Uncanny with John Byrne's first issue.

Speaking of, this is Dave Cockrum's last for a while, and it has some great pages...
( Where No X-Man Has Gone Before! )

Poll #21768

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

View Respondents

Favorite scene(s)

Those establishing splashpages
4 (57.1%)

Kurt outwits the shapeshifter
4 (57.1%)

Kurt rescues Lilandra
1 (14.3%)

Wolverine loses his clothes and steals a replacement
0 (0.0%)

Lilandra Explains
0 (0.0%)

Starjammers!
2 (28.6%)

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

No pictures today--my scanner wasn't cooperating; all of the scans I took had large blurry edges. From now on I may be at the mercy of Marvel Unlimited.

In this one, Misty Knight guest stars. She punches a shark!

( Lifesigns )

( Phoenix Unleashed! )

Poll #21688

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

View Respondents

Favorite Scene(s)

Firelord makes an entrance
1 (14.3%)

Eric the Red is manipulative
0 (0.0%)

The Shi'ar do Star Trek
3 (42.9%)

Lilandra meets Xavier face-to-face
1 (14.3%)

Phoenix kicks Firelord out of her house
5 (71.4%)

The creator cameo
0 (0.0%)

Jean is surprisingly good with alien tech
0 (0.0%)

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

Now that Eric the Red has been revealed... who else should take on the mantle of Eric the Red?

( Like a Phoenix, From the Ashes! )

Poll #21472

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

View Respondents

Favorite Scene

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!

Twenty-seven minutes to Earth's atmosphere.

Not long at all.

Just the rest of my life.

Nothing like going out in a blaze of glory.

So long as I don't take the X-Men with me.

Keep it up with the jokes, girl. Anything to keep from screaming.

( Phoenix )

Poll #21445 That Retcon

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12

View Respondents

What do you think of the Phoenix retcon?

I’m glad it happened and that Jean wasn’t responsible for killing a planet anymore.
1 (8.3%)

I hate it, and I think she should have stayed dead.
1 (8.3%)

I think it weakens an era of stories, but I’m glad we got Jean back anyway.
1 (8.3%)

I’m glad to have Jean back, but I wish she’d been allowed to come back without being absolved of her guilt.
1 (8.3%)

Well, it’s been retconned enough times that I’m happy to just take the pieces I like and ignore the rest.
8 (66.7%)

Next Thursday: Another view of the Phoenix. Also, Cassidy family drama.
Next Sunday: A ghost story.

( Greater Love Hath No X-Man... )

Poll #21428

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

View Respondents

Favorite Scenes (Battle)

Steven Lang's villainous rants (of which he must be very proud)
1 (16.7%)

Nightcrawler vs. Beast
0 (0.0%)

Havok vs. Colossus
0 (0.0%)

"Jean" vs. Storm
3 (50.0%)

"Xavier" vs. Wolverine
3 (50.0%)

"Jean" vs. Wolverine
3 (50.0%)

Scott breaks out
1 (16.7%)

Last fight with Lang
0 (0.0%)

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

Favorite Scene(s): Jean's Plan

Corbeau explains the situation
0 (0.0%)

Jean makes her plan
1 (16.7%)

Jean and Scott
1 (16.7%)

Jean and Logan
1 (16.7%)

Jean and Ororo
4 (66.7%)

Jean in the shuttle
6 (100.0%)

Any other thoughts about this issue?

As a head's up, this is the last Uncanny X-Men issue I've got collected in a color hardcover, so later posts may be rather less image-heavy--I don't want to wreck my poor Essentials, and I don't think they'd scan well anyway.

Next Sunday: Retcon damage control. Alternately, a dance with the devil within.
Next Thursday: The X-Men return to Earth.

( Deathstar, Rising! )

Poll #21388

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

View Respondents

Favorite Scene(s)

The News
1 (20.0%)

Colossus mourns his brother
0 (0.0%)

Liftoff!
1 (20.0%)

Poor doomed Lawyer Flaherty
1 (20.0%)

Ned Buckman out-sinistering Sebastian Shaw
0 (0.0%)

Storm vs. a Sentinel (again)
1 (20.0%)

The big fight (including the Cyclops+Nightcrawler tiff and Colossus's defense of Olga Korbut)
3 (60.0%)

Storm is reunited with the rest of the team
0 (0.0%)

The rescue of Banshee and Wolverine
0 (0.0%)

Scott, Jean, and Lang
0 (0.0%)

That cliffhanger!
1 (20.0%)

Something else.
0 (0.0%)

Any thoughts on this issue?

Next Sunday: Betrayal at the Hellfire Club!
Next Thursday: X-Man vs. X-Man... sort of.

For me, Classic X-Men's quiet stories were always its strong point; this one is quieter than most. Chris Claremont called it a story without words; it's not quite that, but it's a story told primarily through the art, without dialogue or narrative captions.

( A Love Story )

Poll #21352

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

View Respondents

Does this count as a story without words?

Yes, the lack of dialogue, thought balloons and captions is enough.
5 (50.0%)

No, the notes and poster disqualify it.
0 (0.0%)

No, but for Claremont it's close enough.
5 (50.0%)

What did you think of this issue? Would you like to see other X-Men stories told without dialogue? Is there an artist you'd like to see draw one?

(Also, how much do you think Jean and Misty know about each other at this point?)

Next Thursday: The X-Men mount a rescue mission in space!
Next Sunday: Skullduggery at the Hellfire Club.

Current Mood: contemplative

This issue opens with the X-Men celebrating Christmas! They’ve gone out in a group to the city, and are about to split up, largely along romantic lines: Jean and Scott together, Sean with Moira, and Piotr and Kurt off with some ladies they just met. (Or in Kurt’s case, “just met”. But we’ll get into that later.)

Wolverine is not onboard with the festive spirit of the day. Before going off to be grumpy alone, he responds to Jean's polite inquiry about his plans with, “What about me, Miss Grey--? I got no use for Christmas.” That line amuses me way more than it has a right to.

There’s a new page added in Classic, in which Amanda Sefton’s thought bubbles reveal that she knows way more about Kurt than he does about her, and Piotr thinks wistfully of Anya Marakova. Apparently, this issue marks the point when Dave Cockrum was no longer able to draw the add-ons; instead, they’re done by James Fry. (I didn't end up scanning anything from his pages, but still wanted to mention it.)

( Merry Christmas, X-Men--The Sentinels Have Returned! )

Poll #21328

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8

View Respondents

Should Professor X be able to mind-blast Sentinels?

No, they don't have brains for him to blast!
3 (37.5%)

Yes. Sentinels are jerks and have it coming to them, whether or not it particularly makes sense.
0 (0.0%)

How do we know that they don't have brains? They were built by comic book scientists, who are not logical beings.
5 (62.5%)

In your understanding of (Claremont-era) canon, how does Cerebro work?

Only telepaths can use it.
3 (37.5%)

Other psychics can use it.
2 (25.0%)

Any mutant can use it.
0 (0.0%)

Anyone can use it.
0 (0.0%)

It's inconsistent.
3 (37.5%)

I have a different theory and will explain it below.
0 (0.0%)

Did Steven Lang build his sentinels to be sexist jerks?

Yes. He built them in his own image.
6 (75.0%)

No. They're still basically Silver Age robots, and would have been that way anyway.
2 (25.0%)

Favorite moment this issue?

Stan and Jack disapproving of this kissing nonsense.
4 (50.0%)

Scott and Jean's short-lived date.
2 (25.0%)

Professor X and Peter Corbeau's equally short-lived fishing trip.
0 (0.0%)

Ororo wipes the floor (well, sky) with a Sentinel.
7 (87.5%)

Professor X vs. Sentinels that swim.
1 (12.5%)

Lang's short-lived gloating.
0 (0.0%)

Logan sticking up for Jean.
2 (25.0%)

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

Next Sunday: Jean was really looking forward to that date, damnit.
Next Thursday: Space adventures! Although alas, not the fun kind.

In this issue, the X-Men return Thunderbird's body to his family, and mourn him. Along the way, both they and the reader learn a little more about John Proudstar, and why he made the choices he did.

This is the story that made me care about John Proudstar. I still think it’s one of the best of the Classic backups.

(Apologies in advance—some of my scans have a blurry edge, on account of being taken from a large and not entirely cooperative hardcover.)

( Mourning )

I adored this story as a teenager; it made me care about (and yes, mourn) John Proudstar, when before all I'd felt was that it was a shame he'd died before getting fleshed out at all.

I’m fairly sure that this was published after James Proudstar made his first appearances in New Mutants and X-Men; that surprised me, as this story read like foreshadowing, and as a teenager I assumed it really had been his first appearance. And James’s furious speech in the end is by far the weakest part of the story, for me. I’m afraid it put me off of the character for years; I thought of him as the ‘boring’ brother even though he’s had much more characterization, simply because he’s so much less nuanced in this story.

Poll #21162 Favorite Scene

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3

View Respondents

Which scene(s) are your favorite?

Jean and the Professor
2 (66.7%)

Sean's internal monologue
0 (0.0%)

Kurt and Piotr's flashback
0 (0.0%)

Ororo's flashback
1 (33.3%)

Logan putting the pieces together
2 (66.7%)

James at the funeral
0 (0.0%)

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

What did you think?

Next Thursday: Cyclops mourns, and also quarrels with the narrator, with catastrophic results.

Next Sunday: Wolverine and Nightcrawler bond.

Current Mood: contemplative

This time the backup story has nothing much to do with the "main" storyline of Uncanny X-Men; rather than involving team-building or Count Nefaria (I for one am glad about the latter), it's about the beginning of Jean and Ororo's friendship.

( First Friends )

What did you think of this story?

And also...

Poll #21121 Favorite Friendship

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

View Respondents

Which early Claremont-era friendship is your favorite?

Jean and Ororo
3 (50.0%)

Kurt and Logan
6 (100.0%)

Scott and Hank
0 (0.0%)

Professor X and Moira MacTaggert
0 (0.0%)

Someone else, as I will explain in the comments.
0 (0.0%)

Next readthrough post will be X-Men 94 on Thursday; next Classic X-Men post will be #3, next Sunday.

Current Mood: tired

In this issue, Chris Claremont comes aboard as scripter! Len Wein is still plotting, though, and I assume Wein is the one responsible for splitting the story into chapters (which he also did in Giant-Sized), since later issues don’t use them.

Sunfire storms off on the first page, giving a speech about how he will definitely not be helping the X-Men again, because they’re “a pack of idealistic fools” and his duty is to Japan anyway. Given his absence from last issue’s backup story, I’m going to assume that he spent that evening in his guest room, planning his dramatic exit. Everyone needs a hobby!

The original X-Men—aside from Cyclops, of course—also leave, although more politely. (Given how quickly Claremont brought Jean back, I tend to assume that her departure was Wein’s choice as well, and Claremont was just stuck with it.)

( The Doomsday Scenario! )

Poll #21105

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

View Respondents

Which character would you have liked to see remain on the team longer?

Sunfire
1 (16.7%)

Jean Grey
2 (33.3%)

Iceman
0 (0.0%)

Angel
1 (16.7%)

Havok
1 (16.7%)

Polaris
3 (50.0%)

Thunderbird
4 (66.7%)

Also, on the subject of Classic X-Men and the new material it added: in that situation, what would you add? Which characters would you like to spend more time with, or introduce early?

Classic X-Men reprinted the early Claremont run a few years after the fact—but with a lot of edits and new material. Ads were removed and replaced with new pages and panels of story; dialogue was edited to bring it into line with later continuity or characterization (e.g. Ororo would not say ‘Good Lord’ in a moment of stress, so in the reprints she says “Goddess!” instead; Kurt can’t teleport blind). There was new cover art, fancy frontispieces (some of those are pretty cool) and most importantly, a new short story in each issue.

Most of the new stories were character-focused standalones. The best of them are some of my favorite X-Men stories ever.

The first issue was a bit of an odd case. Giant-Size X-Men #1 was huge; there wasn’t room to stick in a backup story. So, they cut a lot out to make room. Classic X-Men #1 kept the character introduction scenes from Giant-Size, and nothing else. It opens with a new version of Cyclops staggering home from Krakoa (costume in tatters, of course) and Professor X deciding to recruit a new team. (Remember when I said that I always misremember the order of events in Giant-Size? I'm pretty sure that this story is why.) Cyclops gets to angst a bit about the return of his powers, which he’d briefly hoped were gone for good; the Professor advises against self-pity, but sympathizes more with Scott’s worries about losing his friends. Then it segues to the original intros, and then quickly summarizes the actual fight against Krakoa before settling in to tell a new story about the combined team at the mansion, the evening before half of them decide to leave. That's the bulk of the story, and my favorite part of the issue.

It’s a bit of a mission statement for what Classic would be at its best: character studies and slice of life.

( First Night )

Poll #21078 Favorite Scene

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

View Respondents

Which interaction did you like the best?

Scott and the Professor
0 (0.0%)

Alex and Lorna
2 (33.3%)

Scott and Jean
0 (0.0%)

Sean, Piotr and Kurt
3 (50.0%)

Sean, Kurt, and Bobby
2 (33.3%)

John and Bobby
1 (16.7%)

Jean and Logan
1 (16.7%)

Jean and the Professor
3 (50.0%)

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

Current Mood: content

In my efforts to make a comm icon, I got.... carried away. The results (below) are free to anyone who happens to want one.

( Icons )

If you'd like an icon of an X-character or characters, let me know and I'll see what I can do! (Just specify if you want one without or without text, or with a particular background color, or if you have a particular issue in mind. And if you want a different series logo it may take a bit longer.)

( Banners )

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X-Men Classic

June 2019

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