The X-Men are home at last!
Originally Published June 1979
The X-Men are at long last home from their travels, safely baxk at their Mansion in Westchester. It's time for a little rest & relaxation, which for Colossus, means a light workout in the Danger Room.
Colossus has been having some issues lately accessing the full extent of his strength. Cyclops and Wolverine watch as the man of organic steel struggles to hold off two massive pulverizing hydraulics, which should normally be well within the scope of his abilities. Wolverine has some interesting thoughts on how to motivate his Russian comrade.
Sabotaging the device, Wolverine steps inside the box and basically makes it easy for Colossus - press the smoosher-walls away and rediscover his inner warrior, or let both himself and his teammate* be mashed into a flavourless goo.
*At this point in X-Men history it was assumed Wolverine could be killed by pedestrian means such as this.
The results:
Wolverine 1, self-doubt 0.
With that taken care of, Cyclops assigns Wolverine cleanup duty while he daytrips with Colleen Wing to have a serious talk about their burgeoning relationship, all while internally wondering where exactly Professor X went that he had to disconnect the phones and mothball the place.
It is likelý the Prof won't be back soon. He is, in fact, in outer space, on the Shi'ar home planet of "Imperial Center." There, he observes the pomp and circumstance surrounding Lilandra's coronation - some of Lil's advisors note that the crowd turnout indicates she will be a truly beloved ruler. Maybe they're just worried that she'll be like her brother and embark on some psycho mission to harness the ultimate weapon of the universe and they might face some reprisal by not showing up.
Back on Earth, Jean is settling in on Muir Island with the crew there - Moira, Jamie, Havok, Madrox, Polaris, and the Multiple Man. Doing some shopping in town, Jean stumbles into a dapper gentleman who introduces himself as Jason Wyngarde.
While Jean tries to brush off the feeling that she's seen this guy somewhere, the charming, mutton-chopped squire says he hopes to see her again in a way that indicates that she definitely will and that the name Wyngarde is one we should remember - as if anybody could forget that facial hair.
One person who is not present is Angus MacWhirter, the Hovercraft-rental agent with a vendetta against the X-Men, last seen being attacked by the mysterious Mutant X. But more time for that later, I presume.
Back in New York, Wolverine drops Storm off in Harlem, where she is intending to reconnect with her roots - as the daughter of Harlem native David Monroe, a photojournalist who met and married a Kenyan Princess somehow.
Storm finds her way to a shooting gallery - a pad where young heroin addicts inject, and threaten any innocent-looking white-haired ladies who are clumsy enough to stumble in.
Although she does not seek a fight, the troubled teens attack and draw first blood. Ororo whips up a storm to defend herself, and luckily, Harlem's own Luke Cage shows up just in time to run interception before one of the smackhead teens can land the killing blow.
Our last segment, after checking in with Cyclops and Colleen one more time, acts as a "Prologue" to the upcoming story, as Black Tom and Juggernaut - last seen presumably plunging to a watery grave on the rocks below Cassidy Keep - arrive at the office of a famed assassin, who Tom intends to let contribute to their efforts at X-Men-killing. Juggernaut has some misgivings, and they bicker, until their host arrives.
This is Arcade, and the fact that he rocks this look makes him perhaps the deadliest foe of all. Should be fun!
Further Thoughts:
The ever-vocal John Byrne has noted, with more than a little negativity, that Chris Claremont's ideal X-Men comic book basically just features the X-Men hanging around the city, out of costume, thinking about their drama and not fighting anybody. I suspect he was specifically thinking about this issue, which was structured more as a loose series of vignettes that examine the various X-Men's mental and emotional states rather than any strong throughline - the closest thing to a conflict in this issue is the confrontation between Storm and the junkies, followed by Colossus vs. his inner turmoil.
There's no reason to begrudge an issue like this, in my eyes. The old axiom goes that every issue is someone's first and while this is notably short on laser-faced mutant superhero action, it is still possible to be enticed by the larger, deeper world it presents. Even when I was a kid I liked knowing my favourite heroes were out and about when not punching Magneto, and if this isn't the most gripping introduction to the X-Men you could have, you would be rewarded soon enough if you were intrigued by the personalities on display here.
Perhaps - and I can only speculate - this is the reason for Terry Austin's "Finished Art" credit, that Byrne wanted to disassociate from an installment like this, or perhaps that credit is due to an attempt to evolve the understanding of the inker's role in the book's production.
Now, I wouldn't want every issue to be exactly like this - you've got to get your fix of dinosaur-punching and exploding islands - but it's not a bad note to hit every once in a while.
There's some utility in an issue like this too, where the pressure is off to serve up a big baddie of the week but you can kick a few of your subplots a few yards further along the field or start up some new threads: Colossus' self-doubt about his place on the team has been threaded through their last several adventures. Cyclops' burgeoning relationship with Colleen, his big "what now" after feeling empty over Jean's apparent death, has been simmering a bit, leading to her giving him a key to her place. Wolverine, too, is feeling the love bug, as he sees Mariko of all people from afar while in the city, but is unable to reach her. And of course there's the question of Jean's new friend:
The book kind of tips its hand a little by drawing too much attention to Wyngarde, but comics aren't generally known as a subtle medium.
The scenes of Storm in Harlem are a little clumsy, and not just because of Wolverine's inner monologue where he refers to its denizens in the racially-charged terminology of "Bucks." The scenes of Storm confronting these drug-addicted teens are clearly striving for some relevance, but they don't have any answers. And I know, I don't really look to comics for concrete solutions to complicated life problems, but something better than the fatalism we get here would be nice. Luke Cage, who lives in Harlem and has basically made this his problem, says literally "We can save humanity from Galactus... but not from itself," an admission that hey, these are fictional characters and only equipped to deal with fictional problems.
Well okay, but you brought it up. Maybe show Storm working with an outreach program or something, to say that punching a mugger isn't the only way you can be heroic in this world.
The book clearly wants some insight points by acknowledging that the drug addicts are themselves victims of an uncaring society, but still tries to have it both ways by painting them as dangerous thugs. It's a disingenuous way to broach the topic.
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| Wolverine, on the other hand, has a multitude of solutions to real problems. |
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