Collecting: Uncanny X-Men (1963) 248-267
PRH: https://prhcomics.com/book/?isbn=9781302946814
Published 6th September 2022 (Reprint)
Epic's are good for big long stories. Only problem is this one is slightly too long for an Epic! It's a story that changes the X-Men personnel both in terms of in the comic and behind the scenes.
All issues are written by Chris Claremont and the Penciller at kick off is Mark Silvestri who'd been on board since 218. However his absences were becoming a bit more regular - he's missed 219 (Blevins), 223 (Kerry Gammill), 228, 231, 235 & 237 (all Rick Leonardi), and 245 - which will come to bellow before this volume but at 9 issues draws most of what's within so assume he's the artist unless otherwise stated.
Some story context from this issues before the Epic: Inferno finishes 243 and wraps up several long running X stories - when will X-Men & X-Factor meet - 40 plus issues, Madelyne Prior - 70, and Illyana/Magik - 80
Essentially the two issues following are light hearted fluff but
244 "Ladies' Night" is Jubilee's debut, and that really marks the start of the "dissolution of the X-Men storyline". She has another appearance in Annual 13 before Epic 17
245 "Men" is the only X-Men issue drawn by Rob Liefield who had also drawn previous month's X-Factor #40, which is about a year prior to his New Mutants debut
Annual 13 is dreadful, not written by Chris Claremont.
246 & 247 is the real start of the story - Wolverine takes a leave of absence to deal with some stuff - you can insert most of the early issues of t he Wolverine solo title in here - and while he's gone there's a battle with Master Mold/Nimrod which end with Master Mold/Nimrod and Rogue going through the Siege Perilous.
And that's where we find ourselves at the start of X-Men Epic Collection 17 Dissolution and Rebirth which is really what I'm here to talk about.
By the time 248 starts Longshot has departed as well and by it's end Storm appears to be dead, accidentally slain by Havok in a battle with Nanny & Orphan Maker leaving the team down to 4 members: Havok, Psylocke, Dazzler & Colossus. 248 is also the first issue drawn by Jim Lee http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/creator.php?creatorid=100 by this point Lee had already made a name for himself through his work on Punisher War Journal, where eyes had been caught when he drew a guest appearance on Wolverine, but I first encountered him drawing Alpha Flight. The Powers That Be obviously liked what they saw as he's back drawing a crucial three parter very shortly. In a time context this issue came out May 89 when I turned 16
249-250 - both June 89, we're running double issues in the summer here - is centred on Polaris, finally in her right mind following years (219-243) of possession by Malice. Finding her though takes us to the Savage Land, restores by Claremont in Annual 12 presumably for this very storyline, as Zaladane is revealed to be Polaris/Lorna Dane's sister, stealing her powers which then results in Lorna somehow gaining a new strength/invulnerability/increases size powerset. The origin of this is never really made clear and rather annoyingly she gets left behind when the team returns home.
If Zala is Lorna's sister then is Zala also Magneto's daughter? Which puts a dark spin on the later events of UXM 275....
251-252 - July 89 - is Wolverine's return to the Outback village where he finds the Reavers have returned, now bolstered by the Hellfire Club Cyborgs, Lady Deathstrike and former Hellfire Club White Bishop Donald Pierce. They crucify him outside the village where the events of the four surviving X-Men's escape through the Siege Perilous is shown to Wolverine in a fevered dream before Jubilee helps his escape.
I do have to question the timing of this long running "No team of X-Men" storyline" During it X-Factor are off Earth confronting the Celestials in Judgement War, which admittedly was over quite quickly Excalibur are involved in the Cross Time Cape and the New Mutants are missing in Asgard, the last two of which went on forever.
252 is drawn by Rick Leonardi and it's his last issue for the title after 201, 212, 228, 231, 235 & 237, which makes him the most regular fill n artist over this period. I didn't like his art when I was younger but warmed to him considerably in recent years.
253 - early August 89 - is a transition issue concluding Wolverine's escape, showing Storm is alive but regressed to childhood, bringing back Forge, who dreams of her, and having a fleeing Lorna Dane rescued by Banshee. This came as a shock to me at the time as I'd not read the Marvel Comics Presents (16-23, same months as UXM 243-6) Cyclops story where Banshee gets his powers back!
By the end of this issue there's SIX main story strands going: Wolverine & Jubilee, Muir Island, the child storm, Callisto disptched to secure the remains of the mansion and Magneto, who shows up in UXM for the first time since the two teens to have an arguement with Moira. The Magneto one turns into a very slow burner, he goes off to be part of Acts of Vengeance and doesn't show up again till the last pages of 269 and then vanishes till 274! This is one of the major problems with this book, and more so the storyline as it unflolded month by month in real time, there's too much going on at the same time, too many threads to keep in your head and sometimes a gap of months between updates between even the three major threads: Wolverine/Psylocke/Jubilee, Forge/Banshee and Storm. Some elements won't even be touched until other plot threads come together.
254-255 - late August 89 and September 89, back to one per month as I go to sixth form college - is the Muir Island X-Men storyline and he debut of the updated versions of the original X-Men Uniforms.
It's an odd mishmsh of a team consisting of Dr. Moira MacTaggart, Banshee, Polaris (with her new poer set), Legion, Nightcrawler's Girlfriend Amanda Sefton & Brigadier Alysande Stuart (both Excalibur associates), Tom Corsi & Sharon Friedlander (Moira's staff, the cop and nurse turned into native American during Demon Bear) and the Morlock strongman Sunder. Got a tiny soft spot for Sunder, who was in the first issue of UXM I ever read 176. Sunder's pictured costumed up on the cover of 254 but he isn't wearing it inside ths issue though the dialogue makes it clear he should be when he's attacked here. Does he die in 254? The dialogue by the Reavers suggests he does but he does appear in the background of later issues in what's presumed by most to be an art error. More deaths in 255 as Stonewall, one of Freedom Force's old was superheroes who I never cared for, and more importantly Destiny get the chop. This later death will haunt the title and others for years to come. We also get The Shadow King starting to influence procedings, possessing F.B.I. agent Jacob Reisz and influencing Moira MacTaggert and Legion. It's confusing but I think, somehow, Polaris is responsible for bringing him to Muir island - there's been odd conflicts going on round her ever since here return in 249 - but this is never made explicit.
256-258 - October-December 89 - are the X-Men's contribution to Acts of Vengeance: Lady Mandarin drawn by the returning Jim Lee and at the time this was HUGE. Psylocke first reappears briefly in 255 where she's been found by Matsu'o Tsurayaba, who's introduced there. in 256 she's subjected to a long psychic programming session, which hints to the fate of the five missing X-Men who've gone through the Siege Perilous. This is Rogue's only appearance in the book, and Havok's last! In 257 Psylocke fights & captures Wolverine & Jubilee while in 258 she breaks her conditioning and all three escape. The Acts of Vengeance vilain swapping element is provided by Iron Man's nemesis The Mandarin.
Crucially in 257 Polaris is captured by Legion. She will remain there, writer errors aside X-Men Annual 15, till UXM 280 in July 1991 nearly 18 months in the future - See X-Men Epic 19 Mutant Genesis http://tmukhub.proboards.com/post/303011/thread
The same month as X-Men 258 is released New Mutants 86, Rob Liefield's Debut, comes
259-260 (Jan-Feb 1990) Brings back both Colossus - amneasiac in New York with Genoshan refugees Phillip Moreau & Jenny Ransome, last seen io issue 238 - and Dazzler - washed up on the beach outside Lila Cheney's house and rescued by Lila's butler Strong Guy. The Dazzler thread vanishes after 260 - she doesn't ppear again till X-Men 5 2 years later. Forge & Banshee plan to track her down when their plane is blown up by Fenris - who pop up out of nowhere having not been seen for ages and then, after another brief appearance in 268, disappear again!
The same month as X-Men 259 is released New Mutants 87, Cable's Debut, comes
261 (March 1990) Hardcase & The Harriers. Oh dear. This Claremont created team were obvious his play for a new book, having previously appeared in Wolverin 5. Think Furman's Neo Knights, a very similar situation. They're rubbish and thankfully this is their last appearance as a group even though their leader Harry Malone gets a back story cameo next issue.
This is also the last Mark Silvestri issue. Bar his first issue, 218, he'd never looked quite as good on UXM as he did when drawing X-Men vs Avengers but for the last year or so he'd been looking like he'd been runing out of steam and his run had become increasingly fractured by guest artists. This is what he had drawn:
218 1 issueHim leaving eventually does the title a world of good, but there's 5 months of fill in first.
220-222 2 issues
224-227 4 issues inc 1 double sized (225)
229-230 2 issues
232-234 3 issues
236 1 issue
238-244 7 issues inc 1 double sized (242)
246-247 2 issues
249-251 3 issues
253-255 3 issues
259-261 3 issues
The same month he draws a fill in X-Factor, which I think had been in the drawer for a bit, and then he resurfaces in July 1990 as the penciller on Wolverine alongside Larry Hama writing. He looks more energised there and their Wolverine run is probably the best his solo title had.
262-263 (April & Early May 1990 - we're bi-weekly again now) The storline here is kicked off in 261 as Forge & Banshee witness Jean Grey being abducted in the grounds of the mansion's ruin, bringing them into conflict with the Morlocks and reuniting them with the amneasiac Colossus and the mysterious lady he's been seeing, who turns out to be a Masque altered Callisto. 262 is drawn by Kieron M. Dwyer & 263 Bill Jaaska
In the same month as X-Men 263 came out, X-Men annual 14, set between X-Men 267 & 270, is released.
264 (late May 1990) Continues the Forge/Banshee/Jean Grey thread, throwing The Beast and Charlotte Jones into the mix but returning to the Genoshan refugees Phillip Moreau & Jenny Ransome and he attempts by the Press Gang to repatriate them. The X-Factor - Forge/Banshee link will become prominent in that summer's annuals. In the background the Shadow King moves in on Val Cooper. This issues is drawn by TFUK's own Mike Collins.
265-267 (Early & Late June and Early July) are really about Storm as we return top her in Cairo Illinois where she's busy robbing villains and being perused by the Shadow King controlled F.B.I. agent Jacob Reisz. 265's opening is most odd as a previously unseen alien race the P!ndyr confront a Shi'ar Psychic threat. I in no way got the hint at the time so the eventual reveal 10 issues later in 275 was a surprise. The P!ndyr planet briefly seen here returns in 276. 265 is drawn by Bill Jaaska again, as was the early May issue) and 266 by Mike Collins (who did the late May issue) but 266 is notable for being *technically* the first appearance of Gambit. I say Technically, because he'd already been in UXM Annual 14, which follows on storywise from the next issue but printed between 264 & 265. If you're asking me, Annual 14 takes place between 269 and 270 as 270 seems to lead on from it. Gambit's not the finished article yet by a long, long way and at this stage in the game it was thought he might be a new version of the long missing Longshot. The Storm/Gambit story concludes in 267 which is the first issue drawn by new regular penciller Jim Lee.
Phew!
It's a lot of story in here, and it is a frustrating read at times but it reads far better now when you know how it ends in the next book and that you're not having to wait a month for the next bit not knowing if you're favourites would be in it or not. The active threads at the end are Wolverine/Psylocke/Jubilee, Banshee/Forge - allied with X-Factor, and Storm/Gambit. Annual 14 is the first real step to there being a real X-Men team as two of those threads come together with the third uniting a few issues later during xTinction Agenda.
It's an unusual volume because it is 20 straight issues of the main title. No crossovers, no annuals - thanks to two doses of twice a month and one of the annuals either side of these issues being published out of sequence.
The next volume, 18, isn't out yet but 19 is so we know 18 contains 268-278, all by one drawn by Jim Lee, and Annual 14, published between 264 & 265.
268 (late July 1990) is Wolverine, Psylocke & Jubilee teaming up with the Black Widow and a flashback to Wolverine in Maridpoor in WWII.269 (August 1990) is Rogue - finally - against the Reavers, their last UXM appearance as they move onto Wolverine's solo title, then vs a separated Ms Marvel in a trip to the Savage Land which brings her into contact with Magneto.
Annual 14 - and the preceding Fantastic Four Annual 23, X-Factor Annual 5 & NM Annual 6 make up Days of Future Present where Storm & Gambit come into contact with Banshee & Forge. Finally a proper X-Men Team!
270-272 (September-November 1990) - and New Mutants 95-97 & X-Factor 60-62 - make up Xtinction Agenda, settling the Genosha issue, revealing Havok and bringing Storm's group into contact with Wolverine's
273 (December 1990) is a fab multi artist moving the pieces round issue which settles the X-Men's status quo
274 (January 1991) is more Rogue & Magneto in The Savage land, which continues into the next issue
275 (February 1991) double sized continuing the Savage Land story and featuring an event which confirms Magneto's return to villain hood and also looks very disturbing in retrospect. The X-Men meanwhile are in Shiar space and reunited with Professor X.... Or are they?
276-7 (March & April 1991) resolve the X-Men space story.
For me this run of issues - 269-277 - is the best the X-Men had been for a long while, good stories as the team comes back together and long running separate stories combine, all accompanied by great art. I so hope we get that volume in 2020 (But I also want v6 which will be 111- to something like 128 + Annual 3 and v11 - something like 177-188, Annual 7, Kitty Pryde & Wolverine 1-6)
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