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

The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume Five (2023)
Reprints Uncanny X-Men #194-209, X-Men Annual #9-10, New Mutants Special Edition, New Mutants Annual #2, Nightcrawler #1-4, Longshot #1-6, and Marvel Fanfare #33
Written by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, and Ann Nocenti
Art by John Romita Jr, Barry Windsor-Smith, Rick Leonardi, June Brigman, Dave Cockrum, Art Adams, and Alan Davis

Chris Claremont is wondering where he can go with the X-Men in 1985. He’s been writing the book for an entire decade, and you can feel him struggling to find storylines to latch onto. Plot elements get introduced but seemingly forgotten in the next issue. Sometimes, they will resurface months or even a year later. Outside of Storm, the rest of the cast is just sort of there. If you stand back and look at the comics landscape at this time, the type of stories being told and the tone of comics were dramatically changing. The old Silver Age villain-of-the-month tropes had grown tired, and more mature writing was what people wanted. Well, mature in the case of someone like Alan Moore, but not so much with everyone else. At a minimum, stories were becoming grittier or making meta-commentary on the genre.

Uncanny X-Men #194 sees Juggernaut back, and the response of the X-Men to this news is annoyance. It comes in the wee hours of the morning, and we see each member grumbling or, in some cases, destroying their clock radio. It’s a reflection of Claremont’s own sentiments at the time. This? Again? Is this all superhero comics can be? Wolverine ensures everyone has coffee before heading into the city for the fight. In a twist, the X-Men end up protecting Juggernaut against the future Sentinel Nimrod. Nimrod also represents a continuation of this era of the X-Men as outcasts and at odds with the status quo.

Uncanny #195 is a crossover with the Power Pack, a team of super-powered primary school-aged siblings. The Power Pack will be continually shoved on readers of the mutants mainly because Ann Nocenti was editing their book, too. When Louise Simonson starts writing X-Factor, we’ll primarily see them there. I was never a big fan of the Pack, but they have their supporters. Uncanny #196 ties in with Secret Wars II, a sequel to the similarly titled series. Claremont makes some comparisons between Magneto’s youth in Nazi Germany with Rachel Summers’ upbringing in the possible dystopian future where mutants are relegated to similar types of concentration camps. Claremont is adamant that Magento will be a different person during his tenure and that recontextualizing continues here.

So John Byrne seemed to carry a grudge about his time working on X-Men and really disliked Chris Claremont. During Byrne’s tenure on Fantastic Four, he went out of his way to retcon elements from Claremont’s X-Men/Doom/Arcade story by saying that the Doom encountered in that arc was actually a Doombot, not the real thing. Claremont makes a big deal in #197 of pointing out how realistic Arcade’s X-Men robots are and how most people would mistake them for the real thing. It was his way of making fun of Byrne’s pettiness, a character trait of that creator that continues to this day. Arcade stories always bore me to tears because he feels ultimately out of place as an X-Men villain and more like someone Spider-Man should face off with.

Uncanny #198 is “Lifedeath II,” and Claremont brings Barry Windsor-Smith back in to continue the development of Storm. At this point, Storm has been powerless for over a year and will continue not having her weather-controlling abilities again into the late 1980s. Yet, she’s never kicked out of the X-Men. At this time, she has chosen to leave, returning to central Africa, hoping to rediscover something of her life from before. Claremont reveals that Storm is nearly identical to the hypothesized Eve, the proto-hominid from which all of humanity is theorized to have descended. It’s a reaffirmation of Storm as a “goddess,” Claremont reminds us how much he loves this character. It’s come out that a third Lifedeath installment had been bounced around as a way to “complete” the trilogy, but it was not to be. That won’t be Windsor-Smith’s last work on X-Men, though.

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This makes Storm’s appearance in New Mutants Special Edition, acting as the team’s chaperone, a bit jarring. Apparently, a story arc in their monthly book brought her back to the States. This is one of many instances where the X-Men and New Mutants get tied up in Asgard and the world of Thor. I’ve never understood how this came to be, but the X-Men and Thor’s lore got entangled in the 1980s in ways that permanently changed characters. Storm and the New Mutants get spread across the Nine Realms by Loki, still ticked off from the events of the two-issue series X-Men and Alpha Flight.

Each New Mutant deals with their particular situation, but the one that continues out of this story arc is Danielle Moonstar, aka Mirage. Dani is inducted into the ranks of the Valkyries and even given her own winged horse, Brightwind. As far as I know, this is still an aspect of the character today and is one of those instances of how the X-titles would surprise you during this era. The story concludes in X-Men Annual #9, where Storm has also temporarily become a Valkyrie, and Loki tries to seduce her. By the end, everything gets reset to how it was, except for Moonstar, who receives a brand-new pet horse from the deal. 

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Uncanny #199 is focused on further developing Rachel Summers by finally having her take the moniker Phoenix to acknowledge her late mother. This story also reveals where Rachel’s timeline broke off from the current one. In her reality, Jean Grey’s father accepted his daughter despite the horrifying figure she became due to the influence of the Phoenix. In the main Marvel timeline, the opposite happened, which is what drove the Dark Phoenix into its final acts. Based on what we’ll later learn when Jean Grey returns, the Phoenix was not her but a copy of her. Does this mean Rachel’s mother was actually not Jean Grey but the Phoenix form of Jean Grey? I don’t know if this has ever been addressed, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s one of many contradictions that get swept under the rug.

Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants resurfaces; this time, they have a new member, the multi-armed samurai-dressed Spiral. I have always wondered if Spiral qualified as a mutant because I’ve never fully understood what she is. This is mainly a way to tie in X-Men with Ann Nocenti’s pet project that was being published simultaneously, Longshot. Longshot has also not made much sense to me, but he will become a member of the X-Men in a somewhat confusing way. 

The Longshot mini-series reprinted here is obviously Nocenti’s homage to Jack Kirby’s Mister Miracle. In the same way, Jack Kirby used Mister Miracle to talk about American society during the counter-cultural revolution, and Nocenti used Longshot to talk about media and other social issues. I can’t say I enjoyed the writing style of this book; it’s extremely wordy, and the sense of humor just isn’t quite what I enjoy. I have zero doubts that Nocenti is really into this character and hopes to turn him into one of Marvel’s big stars, something that just never quite happened. These elements have become a longstanding part of X-Men lore, though, especially Mojo, the grotesque cyborg who wants to turn everything into media for consumption.

The Mojoverse Saga continues into New Mutants Annual #2 which also sees the introduction of Betsy Braddock aka Psylocke into American Marvel continuity. She existed in the U.K. as part of Claremont’s Captain Britain series; she is the sister of the titular Captain. Mojo kidnaps Betsy due to her psychic powers, and the New Mutants get involved. By the end, they help bring her back to Earth, where she decides to make Xavier’s School her home. Betsy is clearly older than these teenagers, so I never thought she’d join their team. In our following review, we’ll see when she becomes an X-Man proper.

In X-Men Annual #10, Longhost joins the X-Men…or maybe not? This issue is incredibly annoying to me because it doesn’t fit smoothly into the continuity, and Claremont wrote it. When the Marvel Essentials books came out, this was placed between Uncanny #213 and 214. The reasoning is that Psylocke is an active member of the team in this story, and she officially joins in 213. However, that story takes place during the Mutant Massacre, and Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat get taken out of commission very brutally. Yet, in this annual, they are an active part of the narrative, showing no injuries. Thus, this annual doesn’t fit anywhere, yet Longshot is just there as a member in Uncanny #214. I don’t know how any of us will sleep tonight. You can tell Marvel is also confused about where this one goes, as it’s reprinted here.

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In the core title, Uncanny hits its 200th issue, which seemed unimaginable in the late 1960s when the book was on the verge of cancellation. Claremont chooses to make his most daring development with Magneto yet. The mutant has been taken into custody and stands trial before the world court in a trial arranged in Paris. What has happened is that the writer has retconned almost everything about Magento from before he started working on the title. I felt when I read those old Stan Lee and Roy Thomas-penned issues that Magento was nothing but a Doctor Doom knock-off, and finally, here we get a complex, layered character that cannot simply be classified as a villain. 

Magneto is given space to explain why he behaved the way he did; he doesn’t want anyone to excuse him; he just wants to explain why he hurt so many people and why Magneto now knows that he was never going to provide mutants with peace. I can’t see how Magneto could have continued as a straight-up villain, and this is the right choice. The most significant change here is that Xavier’s body is dying, and he’s taken by Lilandra to receive advanced medical help. Thus, he leaves Magneto in charge of the school and the X-Men, entering us into yet another new era for the team.

Uncanny #201 is a reminder of how far the team has come, with Cyclops attempting to claim the title of leader again. He’d been absent after marrying Madelyn Pryor, and I can’t say I missed him. Claremont also seems to actively dislike Scott Summers as he shows the character being nasty to his wife and newborn son. This comic also serves as a prelude to a significant change coming, the introduction of X-Factor. I read and reviewed the first Epic volume of X-Factor, Genesis and Apocalypse. I did not enjoy it. Claremont seems to be pointing Cyclops in one direction, but the “Return of Jean Grey” storyline (happening in Fantastic Four and Avengers, mind you) will propel the former X-Men leader into a new story. Storm, still powerless, manages to beat Cyclops, proving why she deserves the leadership role. 

Uncanny #202-203 are Secret Wars II tie-ins that I didn’t find all that compelling. They do serve the purpose of relocating the X-Men to San Francisco, where they briefly become roommates with Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman. Rachel proves she won’t allow the Phoenix power to corrupt her like it did her mother, so things end on a reasonably happy note…but the story isn’t over. Uncanny #204 is a Nightcrawler spotlight and sees Arcade returning (ugh). Kurt’s longtime love, Amanda Sefton, breaks up with him, and he laments that it’s not fun to be an X-Man anymore (Claremont’s own feelings?). This was supposed to transition into a more extended storyline that would finally reveal the origin behind Nightcrawler’s parentage. Claremont and Nocenti hashed the story out but abandoned it when they couldn’t make it work.

Uncanny #205, on the other hand, is one of the best-looking and paced X-Men stories I’ve ever read. In a rare Wolverine spotlight, we see the Canuck teaming up with the youngest member of the Power Pack when Lady Deathstrike and her Reavers attack. The opening sequence of Deathstrike being transformed through Spiral’s other-dimensional cybernetics is well done. The following battle through the streets of Westchester is as enthralling as any ’80s action flick. Barry Windsor-Smith’s artwork is a big part of this, which just elevates any story to another level. Remember, Wolverine has no monthly ongoing series yet, so this is still a rare event.

The problem, though, is in Spiral’s portrayal. We saw her as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which isn’t explained. Now, she’s operating a clandestine org where people are transformed by Mojo cybernetics. Uncanny #206 has her back with the Brotherhood, now Freedom Force, after Mystique negotiates with Val Cooper to make her team official employees of the U.S. government. When Mojo’s stories occur, Spiral will be there as his henchwoman. 

Uncanny #207 through 209 make up a very impressive fight between the X-Men, Hellfire Club, and Nimrod. Yet again, Spiral shows up back in her capacity of Body Shoppe operator and serves to usher Rachel Summers out of the series. Rach is seduced into coming into the other-dimensional space and disappears. Nightcrawler is also harmed to the point that he goes into a coma. This will be the last relevant Nightcrawler appearance in Uncanny for a long while. He’ll remain in a coma throughout the subsequent couple of collections. I finally got a taste of the story I wanted: seeing the Hellfire Club and Morlocks together. It’s not exactly the storyline I imagined, and I still think there was something better to tell about the class division among mutants. Nothing could have prepared readers for what came next, though, as Claremont is about to plunge our mutant heroes into a total abyss.