Uncanny X-Men #128
December 1979
The Action of the Tiger!
Chris Claremont: Writer/Co-plotter
John Byrne: Pencils/Co-plotter
Terry Austin: Inker
Tom Orzechowski: Letters
Glynis Wein: Colours
Well here's a treat. Claremont and Byrne X-Men. Comics in this period rarely came with a pedigree like this. What can be said about this epoch-shaping, genre-defining, nailed-on classic run that has not been said already?
We find ourselves here on the road to the original Dark Phoenix saga, and of course, as this is Claremont, events are very much already in motion. Every mention of Jean's powers seems charged with foreshadowing, even though the Dark Phoenix story proper is still some way off. For the time being, Jean is simply Phoenix.
For now, the merry band of mutants find themselves up against the reality warping Proteus, the mutant son of Moira McTaggart, formerly held under the codename "Mutant X".
The story takes place in Edinburgh. Claremont was born in London, and many of his stories touch back on the island of Great Britain in one way or another. There are mercifully few cliched Scots accents on show, however, as Proteus is busy threatening reality itself.
One of the first things that strikes me on reading this in the context of other Marvel comics of the period (see other posts here for examples) is how dense the plotting is. How much story and character Claremont and Byrne wring out of this standard length issue. Some find his writing too verbose, and he certainly is unafraid to have characters make lengthy speeches, but every word, every thought, is revealing and necessary.
I imagine if Marvel was running this story today, the contents of this issue alone would be spread across a six part mini series, with spin-off titles all over the place. Instead, we get something tight, something that has urgency and immediacy. Almost every character has a significant role to play here. Most of them have meaningful character arcs throughout the episode.
Relationships between characters are convincing and significant. Cyclops and Wolverine working together despite the obvious tensions. Banshee's anger and blind terror. Colossus, still the youngest member of the team at this point, providing the dramatic solution, but also a much needed dose of humanity.
Reading these issues back is like catching up with old friends. Polaris and Havok were both on the team here, and both play a vital role in the fight.
And what a fight. The entire issue is really just an extended fight scene, as Proteus throws everything he can at the team and they just keep coming for him. Byrne's storytelling skills are at their peak here, with action flowing naturally from panel to panel.
If there is a weakness, it may be that we don't really get a sense in this issue of how Moira is reacting to all of this. Her mutant son, who she has kept imprisoned his entire life, has killed her ex-husband, his father, and is possessing his body. That's a lot to process, even if he was not also trying to end the world.
The X-Men under Claremont was rarely about simple right and wrong. Characters we love and respect make horrible decisions and do incredibly cruel things for what they see as the larger good, or just because they are too scared to ask for help. The villains they have to fight are all too frequently partially of their own creation. The good guys are far from perfect, and a lot of the bad guys have a legitimate grievance.
And then there's the art. If you do not love John Byrne's work on X-Men, I'm not even sure you like comics. I am not an art critic, let alone an artist, so I struggle to define exactly what it is that Byrne does so well on this book in particular. Part of it is about clean lines. Byrne has an incredible ability to render faces in particular, with astonishing economy. We can identify characters over and over, see them and know them as well as we know real people in our own lives, and yet when you look at what is actually on the paper, there is hardly anything there.
Then there is the way he draws the figure in action. In my mind Byrne is very much the successor to John Buscema in terms of establishing a Marvel house-style. I see a direct line from Buscema to Byrne to Jim Lee, and what the three seem to me to have in common is a gift for drawing the human(oid) body in action. While Kirby's great looming figures, huge perspective-warping hands in the foreground, helped establish an early identity for Marvel, for me he never quite managed to convey motion, action the way Buscema, and later Byrne and Lee (and others) did.
Ultimately, Colossus is able to use his metal body to disperse Proteus to the four winds, where he would remain until the "Kings of Pain" storyline that crossed over several Marvel annuals in 1991.
This is a pivotal story for Moira McTaggert, as you might expect. Her role in the X-Men's story would continue to grow from here, and questions over her methods and ethics would never really go away.
All this, and a George Perez cover. Marvel knew how to treat its fans back in 79.
Anyway, X-Fans, that's all for now.
I think Kitty Pryde makes a debut in the next issue, so look out for that when I get to it!
December 1979
The Action of the Tiger!
Chris Claremont: Writer/Co-plotter
John Byrne: Pencils/Co-plotter
Terry Austin: Inker
Tom Orzechowski: Letters
Glynis Wein: Colours
Well here's a treat. Claremont and Byrne X-Men. Comics in this period rarely came with a pedigree like this. What can be said about this epoch-shaping, genre-defining, nailed-on classic run that has not been said already?
We find ourselves here on the road to the original Dark Phoenix saga, and of course, as this is Claremont, events are very much already in motion. Every mention of Jean's powers seems charged with foreshadowing, even though the Dark Phoenix story proper is still some way off. For the time being, Jean is simply Phoenix.
For now, the merry band of mutants find themselves up against the reality warping Proteus, the mutant son of Moira McTaggart, formerly held under the codename "Mutant X".
The story takes place in Edinburgh. Claremont was born in London, and many of his stories touch back on the island of Great Britain in one way or another. There are mercifully few cliched Scots accents on show, however, as Proteus is busy threatening reality itself.
One of the first things that strikes me on reading this in the context of other Marvel comics of the period (see other posts here for examples) is how dense the plotting is. How much story and character Claremont and Byrne wring out of this standard length issue. Some find his writing too verbose, and he certainly is unafraid to have characters make lengthy speeches, but every word, every thought, is revealing and necessary.
I imagine if Marvel was running this story today, the contents of this issue alone would be spread across a six part mini series, with spin-off titles all over the place. Instead, we get something tight, something that has urgency and immediacy. Almost every character has a significant role to play here. Most of them have meaningful character arcs throughout the episode.
Relationships between characters are convincing and significant. Cyclops and Wolverine working together despite the obvious tensions. Banshee's anger and blind terror. Colossus, still the youngest member of the team at this point, providing the dramatic solution, but also a much needed dose of humanity.
Reading these issues back is like catching up with old friends. Polaris and Havok were both on the team here, and both play a vital role in the fight.
If there is a weakness, it may be that we don't really get a sense in this issue of how Moira is reacting to all of this. Her mutant son, who she has kept imprisoned his entire life, has killed her ex-husband, his father, and is possessing his body. That's a lot to process, even if he was not also trying to end the world.
The X-Men under Claremont was rarely about simple right and wrong. Characters we love and respect make horrible decisions and do incredibly cruel things for what they see as the larger good, or just because they are too scared to ask for help. The villains they have to fight are all too frequently partially of their own creation. The good guys are far from perfect, and a lot of the bad guys have a legitimate grievance.
And then there's the art. If you do not love John Byrne's work on X-Men, I'm not even sure you like comics. I am not an art critic, let alone an artist, so I struggle to define exactly what it is that Byrne does so well on this book in particular. Part of it is about clean lines. Byrne has an incredible ability to render faces in particular, with astonishing economy. We can identify characters over and over, see them and know them as well as we know real people in our own lives, and yet when you look at what is actually on the paper, there is hardly anything there.
Then there is the way he draws the figure in action. In my mind Byrne is very much the successor to John Buscema in terms of establishing a Marvel house-style. I see a direct line from Buscema to Byrne to Jim Lee, and what the three seem to me to have in common is a gift for drawing the human(oid) body in action. While Kirby's great looming figures, huge perspective-warping hands in the foreground, helped establish an early identity for Marvel, for me he never quite managed to convey motion, action the way Buscema, and later Byrne and Lee (and others) did.
Ultimately, Colossus is able to use his metal body to disperse Proteus to the four winds, where he would remain until the "Kings of Pain" storyline that crossed over several Marvel annuals in 1991.
This is a pivotal story for Moira McTaggert, as you might expect. Her role in the X-Men's story would continue to grow from here, and questions over her methods and ethics would never really go away.
All this, and a George Perez cover. Marvel knew how to treat its fans back in 79.
Anyway, X-Fans, that's all for now.
I think Kitty Pryde makes a debut in the next issue, so look out for that when I get to it!
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