Comic Book Review – The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume Three

The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume Three (2021)
Reprints Uncanny X-Men #154-175, X-Men Annual #6-7, Special Edition X-Men #1, Marvel Graphic Novel #5, Wolverine #1-4, and Magik #1-4
Written by Chris Claremont
Art by Dave Cockrum, Paul Smith, Bill Sienkiewicz, Brent Anderson, Frank Miller, Walter Simonson, John Romita Jr., Michael Golden, Bret Blevins, John Buscema, Ron Frenz, and Sal Buscema

Chris Claremont’s X-Men run began as an engine running on sagas. The Phoenix saga started almost as soon as he began writing the book and dominated for three years. Following that, you had the Kitty Pryde era, where her joining the team and going through growing pains were crucial features. It wasn’t as saga-ish, but it gave us stories like Days of Future Past, which still ripple through X-Men media to this day. In reading these stories, I get the sense Claremont was trying to find the next big arc, but so much of what came out of the writing was circling around the same ideas or characters and fleshing them out a bit more. This is a time when the writer is trying to figure out how X-Men stays relevant and moves from the trappings of Silver Age storytelling into a more modern, mature era.

The following story arc is set up starting in issue 154 as Corsair, the leader of the Starjammers, comes to Earth in need of help. He’s being pursued by the Sidrian Hunters and reveals the Shi’ar Empire has come under fire from forces within. Storm & Cyclops help Corsair out, and eventually, Cyclops learns the space pirate is his father, whom he thought was dead. Storm and Phoenix had learned this early on but kept it a secret because they were unsure if Scott was ready to hear it.

We also have the thread of an unresolved plot point. The X-Men are setting up shop on Magneto’s strange Lovecraftian island, and Carol Danvers is coming along for the ride. She’d had her powers stripped away by Rogue and is trying to find a new direction in life. This island will disappear from the book in a few issues as there was disagreement with Editorial about specific elements. Dave Cockrum wanted to introduce some new mutant characters related to the location but did not want Marvel to retain ownership of them. The company said they would, so Cockrum held onto these, and they ended up being part of one of Marvel’s creator-owned imprint books.

These issues also introduce Deathbird, Lilandra’s evil sister who wants to be the empress of the Shi’ar Empire and has formed an alliance with the Brood. The Brood will be a big part of this collection as the X-Men end up in a direct war with them. I have never found either very compelling, but I have yet to read every story they are featured in. Deathbird has always seemed a generic supervillain, but I also note again how much New Teen Titans ripped off X-Men. The sister enemies of Starfire and Blackfire had to have been lifted from Lilandra and Deathbird. Blackfire was even allied with a group of aliens who were indistinguishable from each other, like the Brood.

We get a one-off issue that continues building on Days of Future Past elements. Senator Kelly is back trying to cause trouble for mutants. Carol Danvers says she’ll help the X-Men infiltrate the Pentagon to erase the government’s files on the team. Mystique and Rogue are there, too, and a battle ensues. This was Rogue’s first appearance in the X-Men comics after her debut in Avengers Annual #10. 

It provides a rematch between Rogue and Danvers, but it left me wondering when Claremont decided he wanted Rogue to turn good and join the X-Men (which happens a bit further down in this review). Her portrayal at this point did not point towards a character struggling with being bad. That turn is more interesting than keeping her a villain, but it happens abruptly. The appearance of Senator Kelly also reminds us of how often Claremont dropped a plot hook and then took a long time to come back around to it.

This is followed by another one-off where Storm is bitten by Dracula and becomes a vampire. It’s a beautifully illustrated story thanks to the penciling of Bill Sienkiewicz, who also handles the art on this issue’s sequel in X-Men Annual 6, also reprinted here. The X-Men and vampires have continued to be a thing, but the most important thing here for me is that, once again, Storm is the main character in Claremont’s X-Men, at least at this point. It is still wild to me that the media that have spun off of these books puts the emphasis on the white guys when the man who made the X-Men what they are today clearly saw Storm as the most crucial character.

Issue 160 has Claremont introducing another new thing. This time, it’s the transformation of Colossus’s sister, Illyana. The X-Men encounter Belasco, a demonic figure who wants to corrupt Illyana. Through some reality-bending shenanigans, the small child ends up a teenage girl who has spent her formative years becoming a practitioner of the occult. For the X-Men, this all happened in the blink of an eye. We get the follow-up to this at the end of the book through the four-issue Magik mini-series. 

The first two spin-off mini-series of Claremont’s run are Wolverine (which seemed like a given) and Magik. The Magik mini is interesting because I’ve never felt that she got much love outside of the comics. I can’t say she’s the most fascinating character here, but I know a lot of her development happens in New Mutants, so perhaps someday we’ll dive deep into that series.

Claremont continues his run of single-issue stories in 161, this time flashing back to the first meeting of Xavier and Magneto. This is an excellent example of how Marvel Comics seemed to get on the Israeli bandwagon around the early 1980s. I won’t go into my rant about occupied Palestine and the genocide going on as of this writing. You can check out my Palestinian film series to read more about that. Around this same time, the mutant Sabra was introduced in the pages of the Hulk, another pro-Israel element in Marvel. I’m guessing the lobbyists were buttering somebody at Marvel around this time? The story introduces Gabrielle Haller, who will be very important to some later stories about Xavier.

We finally hit the core of the Brood Saga, which has been going on throughout the book this whole time. The X-Men were secretly implanted with Brood eggs during their fight with Deathbird. These Brood will hatch and subsume the host. In the case of the X-Men, the emergent Brood will have their abilities. A pretty fun Wolverine solo story kicks this off; his healing ability allows him to fight off the infection, but not without temporarily physically altering him. Carol Danvers has mutant powers triggered by this encounter and becomes Binary, a being powered by the stars – which resembles Havok, Cyclops’ brother. Storm’s arc here is the beginning of many significant changes for her, and she becomes a literal god at a point. 

When the X-Men finally make it back to Earth, they must battle with Xavier, who is being taken over by the Brood. They also have their first meeting with the New Mutants, which starts off as a fight like all comic book team meetings. Lockheed, Kitty Pryde’s pet dragon, gets his introduction here. Xavier gets a new cloned body to save him from the Brood, which means he’s able to walk again…but of course, the big rest button is also lying in wait, and in a few years, he’ll be back in a wheelchair, waiting for the next story that restores use of his legs only to lose them again.

The most crucial change, in my opinion, is bringing Paul Smith in to do pencils. Cockrum was not bad; his style just wasn’t my taste. Smith’s clean, fluid line and physicality is what I love. I can see how Smith’s X-Men work likely influenced Kevin Maguire (Justice League International). Smith might be up there with Byrne in drawing what I consider the iconic versions of these characters.

The flow of monthly issues is paused as the book reprints God Loves, Man Kills. This was one of Marvel’s prestige graphic novels, which were what they sounded like – a novel in picture form. The story introduces Reverend William Stryker, an evangelical zealot whose wife’s death during the birth of their mutant son has led him to become a crusader against these new types of humans. Claremont is trying to be more serious in this one, touching on relevant socio-political points, but it comes off extremely clunky. There are moments of profound pathos where he really elevates the metaphor of mutants for marginalized groups. However, there are embarrassing bits, like Kitty Pryde using the n-word to make a point about the use of the term “mutie” to her Black dance instructor. I think Claremont wasn’t writing with the sensitivity level he should have. Putting a scene in your story about prejudice where a white girl calls out a Black woman by using a racial epithet is, um…really dumb at minimum. There are some outstanding elements to God Loves, Man Kills, and I can see why it’s held up as one of the great X-Men stories, but it did not age well at all.

In the monthly book, Xavier thinks about demoting Kitty to the New Mutants because of her age, and she doesn’t like that at all. There’s some catching up on the personal lives of our heroes, including Cyclops, who meets the mysterious Madelyn Pryor, a dead ringer for his lost love Jean Grey. It’s another plot element where I wonder if Claremont already had an explanation in mind because we won’t be getting that for almost a decade.

This leads to the introduction of the Morlocks, mutants who live in the sewers beneath New York City, many of whom are physically different enough that they cannot blend in with the population the way Storm or Cyclops could. Angel is kidnapped and serves as a plot device to get the X-Men underground. The main attraction here is the clash between Storm and Callisto, the leader of the Morlocks. Once again, the weather witch shows us why she is the star of this book. There’s also Caliban trying to make Kitty stay with him, and she promises she’ll come back, a plot element that leads to the subsequent encounter with the Morlocks later in the series.

The X-Men discover that Xavier has allowed Rogue to join, which they don’t care for at first but end up trusting their mentor. I can’t really say I had a firm bead on Rogue’s personality at this point. The Rogue who joins feels very different from the one fighting these characters earlier. Claremont tried to tease this with some subplots where Mystique and Destiny discuss their protege disappearing, but I felt he needed to have developed that storyline better for it to help me understand why Rogue changed her ways. Regardless, she’s here now and has remained a part of the X-Men without a break for the next forty-plus years.

There’s another break as the Wolverine mini-series is presented. Having the context for how he was presented in these days makes sense as to why you would separate him to tell a story. I also don’t find Wolverine to be a character Claremont is vastly more interested in than, say, Storm or Kitty Pryde. This is a really great four-parter, though. Frank Miller is handling pencils. Miller is great at drawing ninja action and gets the chance to do that a lot here, as Wolvy is back in Japan. The big outcome of this book is the engagement of Wolverine and Mariko, which leads into the next X-Men storyline.

The team shows up in Tokyo to attend the wedding, but there’s trouble in the form of Silver Samurai and Vampire. Wolverine teams up with Rogue, which leads to their bond as trusted teammates beginning. We also see Storm continue her journey of self-discovery & transformation. This results in a radical change to her look. Apparently influenced by Callisto, she emerges with a shock of white hair in a mohawk, wearing a leather punk-inspired look. Kitty finds Storm’s recent behavior disturbing, especially how she is honest about her desire to hurt and sometimes even kill enemies.

The book’s last big story (aside from a meh annual featuring Impossible Man) is a two-parter where Mastermind has returned to try and destroy Scott & Madelyn’s happiness. This results in a lot of emotional rehashing of the Phoenix saga. Mastermind uses his illusory powers to make Madelyn appear as the Phoenix and turns the X-Men against each other for a brief time. Of course, things resolve for a happy ending. Scott & Madelyn get married with their friends and family in attendance. I did enjoy the sullen look on Wolverine, whose own wedding fizzled out from the fallout of the fight in Japan and Mariko’s familial duties. This also begins the troublesome saga of Scott eventually being the biggest piece of shit to his wife ever, but that is a story for later in our reviews.