UNCANNY X-MEN #125: There's Something AWFUL on Muir Island

The X-Men finally pick up the damn phone... but is it too late??

Originally Published September 1979

We begin our tale on Muir Island, where Moira Mactaggart is running a battery of tests on Jean Grey, to determine what - if any - is the limit of her Phoenix powers. What she's seeing is scary - there seems to be no end to Jean's reserves, and using her powers doesn't tire her out the way it used to. This had been a fairly convenient way to explain how Jean could lose a fight to, say, Magneto, when need be. Now it seems like "Phoenix" is on a whole 'nother level - like the kind of level where you could go slap Thanos or Galactus or somebody in the face for kicks.

While Jean and Moira conduct their business, they are unaware they are being watched by something... monstrous. The remains of Angus MacWhirter (you know, the hoverboat guy from like two years ago) are being possessed by some kind of ominous force, which appears to be draining his life essence, as evidenced by his skin taking on the dried out, withered appearance of beef jerky.

With Claremontian solemnity, Jean reflects on her newfound power and life after the deaths of all her friends, but back in Westchester, the decidedly-not-dead X-Men are back to working out in the Danger Room as usual, honing their skills as mutant superheroes and teammates.

The Danger Room is one of the best things about X-Men comics, partly because when the creators need to eat up a few pages they can just take it to a brief workout session. The old trick of Cyclops messing with his teammates by throwing them curveballs, putting them in situations where they can't take the obvious approach, always makes for a fun aside.

At the end of the workout, Cyclops reflects that he doubts these X-Men will ever mesh as well as the previous X-Men team, which is a joke considering he was the one who injured Angel for weeks with an errant optic blast and was then accused of doing it on purpose because they both fancied Jean, back in the earlier "finely tuned machine" original X-Men. But we tend to see the past through rose-coloured glasses... Cyclops more than most, har har.

I've actually always wanted to do a rundown of all the X-Men's adventures and determine how many of them they won because they were actually competent superheroes, and how many they won based on the bad guy literally slipping on a banana peel.

Back in Scotland, we see the enigmatic Jason Wyngarde reflecting on his interactions with Jean Grey. It seems this Mr. Wyngarde ("a name as false as the man himself!") has big plans for Jeannie, and has been appearing to her in various guises, the gentlemanly Wyngarde only being the latest after a kindly priest on the airplane and a hunky vacationer in Greece. He and his "partners" in something called the "Hellfire Club" seem to be planning on molding Jean into something called the "Black Queen," which involves convincing her to wear black bondage gear and wear her hair in a bun.

"Oh, just thinking how good I'd look in a leather bustier."

Out on the Shi'ar Imperial Center, Charles Xavier is not really enjoying his time in space. Lilandra's Imperial duties keep interrupting their alone time, and he feels like he's being treated like the "village idiot" to the Interstellar crowd - "And perhaps by their standards, I am," he thinks. Which, look, I have a few issues with the Prof's supposed moral fiber, but he invented a machine that can summon the Juggernaut from an alternate dimension and send him back among other fabulous devices so maybe he can intellectually hold his own in most rooms, alien intelligence or not.

Xavier steals away to the records room to finally debrief on what, exactly, Jean did inside the M'kraan crystal, which seems like something he should have done months ago. There he discovers exactly how much power Jean would have had to exert to pull off that operation, which indicates to him that her abilities may be reaching "godlike" levels, which is, you know, not ideal for a fragile human psyche.

Xavier determines to return to Earth at once, where Moira is quickly reaching a similar conclusion about Jean's limitations - or lack thereof. But, while Moira is pondering the Jean dilemma, she notices something amiss. Although the cell marked "Mutant X" appears to be sealed, with its occupant safely inside, a quick spot check reveals this is not the case.

Mutant X is on the loose!

We don't know what they means yet, but it can't be good. You know, if he weren't dangerous, he'd probably have a proper name, like Sprite or Glob or Sammy the Fish Boy.

Moira is attacked by the mysterious Mutant. Jean, who is out for a walk, senses this and flies to the rescue, but is suddenly sucked into a strange upside-down reality where she is a fancy Noble Lady from a Bygone Era.

Jean quickly snaps out of it but the momentary distraction allows the zombified, possessed Macwhirter/Mutant X to get the drop on her. From outside, Jamie Madrox (the Multiple Man) and Alex (the guy called Havok) hear her cry for help and rush to her aid.

Back in New York, Beast arrives at the supposedly-shuttered X-Mansion to investigate an alarm, when he is met by a surprising figure:

I love this panel - and while Byrne has always been a great artist, he had made a quantum leap from great depicter to master-level storyteller around this time. The material generally being better than "X-Men in the Savage Land" or "X-Men in Japan for some reason" helps.

As you can see, Hank is delighted to be reunited with his suddenly not-dead friend and his fellow teammates (with whom he is reasonable acquainted.) Beast explains that he and Jean survived Magneto's volcano base collapsing and made it back to civilization OK. With some trepidation, Cyclops decides to finally call Muir Island to alert Moira, Jean and the others that they will be arriving imminently, but they only reach Lorna, who is interrupted mid-conversation...

With no time to delay, the X-Men head out to Muir Island.

Further Thoughts:

This is one of those heavy-lifting issues that doesn't necessarily have its own self-contained storyline but addresses and advances a large number of points. There is a lot of fretting over Jean and her powers, which we are now coming to realize have truly advanced to a cosmic scale (I mean, that should be old news, right?) I love the attention paid to how other people perceive her, already wary of someone walking around with basically the undefined powers of a space goddess. But there's a great balance between her own grim thoughts, and feeling her oats. Plus, she can do this:

As Byrne tells it, Claremont was seemingly very fond of scripting moments like this which would seem to be impossible to depict in normal static comic images - comics don't really do "Jean walks across the room" as a direction. Because of this, they became something Byrne paradoxically became known for even though he has apparently never drawn a moment like this in his self-scripted stories.

In addition to the building suspense about who and what Mutant X is and what he can do, we get that check in with Wyngarde, who has big long-term plans for Jean that seem to involve her in fancy dresses and bondage gear. The cascading of plot lines will get a big problematic and out of hand as the franchise grows in the next decade, but for now it provides the series with a true backbone, a sense that even as the X-Men grapple with their current foe, the next one is right on their tail.

We even get a brief segment with Magneto, who surprisingly has not capitalized on his enemies being "dead," and instead prefers to sit around his asteroid base watching reruns. Somehow footage of a long-lost love named Magda gets in there and for the first time we get the sense Magneto might have been someone with a heart once - someone who has been places and seen things, maybe even someone tragic.

Lastly, the long-awaited resolution of the hilarious misunderstanding as to who is dead. As much as I enjoyed the X-Men spending some time being dead to the world, and likewise thinking Jean and Beast were lost, as  it enabled the creators to really do some heavy character work, the longer it wore on it became very difficult to believe.

So, the X-Men can't reach the mansion by phone because the Prof has gone to space and cut off the phone lines. They don't think to call his closest confidant, Dr. Mactaggart, to ask about that? Especially egregious because Banshee was constantly thinking about his relationship with Moira, and yet, stricken of his powers, he didn't think of maybe taking a week off to see her? Did the X-Men need him at the mansion that badly? They passed the point where this should have been resolved months ago, even allowing for difficulty in disseminating information back in 1979. If Juggernaut, Black Tom and Arcade know well enough to conspire to murder the X-Men, then they have no excuse not to reach out and let their friends know they're alive.

Other than that, we are geared up to go. The series is pretty much a nonstop freight train of excellence beginning with this issue and for the next two years' worth of stories. Get excited.