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1979-07-01 00:01:10
Previous:
Ghost Rider #36
Up:
Main

1979 / Box 14 / EiC: Jim Shooter

Next:
Captain America #240

Uncanny X-Men #123-124

Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #123, Uncanny X-Men #124
Cover Date: Jul-Aug 79
Title: "Listen -- stop me if you've heard it -- but this one will kill you!" / "He only laughs when I hurt!"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Script
Chris Claremont & John Byrne - Plot
John Byrne - Penciler
Terry Austin - Inker

Review/plot:
Again, Arcade is a villain that just shouldn't work in modern comics, but somehow Claremont and Byrne make it possible.

I'm a little disappointed by the fact that Colleen Wing, a samurai, doesn't manage to escape her trap package and extract a little vengeance.

I'm with Wolverine on this one.

I should note that issue #123 has the scene with Storm coming out of the shower where, in the b&w Essentials, her nipple is clearly drawn, but it was covered up in the original colored books (and my Classic X-Men reprint). No need to reproduce the images here; you can see it at Comic Book Legends Revealed if you are interested.

The Classic X-Men backup in #29 has Colossus going back to the USSR to visit his family...

...and he ends up being accused of being a traitor. The KGB lets him go.

Apparently the use of enhanced power beings in the armed forces is illegal based on a treaty with the US, so it's easier to let Colossus remain a part of the outlaw X-Men (although we know that both sides are in fact in violation of the treaty). The back-up is by Claremont, and it's pretty good. Colonel Alexei Vazhin is a minor repeat character, but his hair isn't usually colored red (which makes him look a lot like Henry Gyrich here).

Issue #30's back-up is by Nocenti, and it's not very good. It's got Arcade being attacked by his own Murderworld program which he apparently set in his sleep.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

  • Spider-Man sees Colleen and Scott walking in NYC and swings down to say hello. Colleen knows Spider-Man from the fight with the Steel Serpent in Marvel Team-Up #64, and Scott last saw Spidey in Marvel Team-Up annual #1.

  • Spider-Man also recognizes the sound of Arcade's garbage trucks from Marvel Team-Up #65. He thinks to himself "I'll take time out for a quick search -- and then I'd better start making phone calls. I've got a lot of folks to warn." But he's too late in contacting the X-Men - Arcade picks up the phone.

  • Banshee's vocal chords were injured in Uncanny X-Men #119.
  • Facing a robot Hulk, Wolverine says he's been waiting for a rematch with the real thing since Hulk #181.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? P - (Classic X-Men Reprints add new scenes)

My Reprint: Classic X-Men #29, Classic X-Men #30

Inbound References (4): show

  • Uncanny X-Men #145-147
  • Uncanny X-Men #194
  • Hulk #340
  • Excalibur #4-5

Characters Appearing: Alexandra Rasputina, Amanda Sefton, Arcade, Banshee, Betsy Wilford, Colleen Wing, Colonel Alexei Vazhin, Colossus, Cyclops, Magik, Mariko Yashida, Miss Locke, Mr. Chambers, Nightcrawler, Nikolai Rasputin, Spider-Man, Storm, Wolverine

Previous:
Ghost Rider #36
Up:
Main

1979 / Box 14 / EiC: Jim Shooter

Next:
Captain America #240

Comments

That's Dr. Strange's house in the background of the garbage truck panel.

The title to #123 refers to a 1960s Avengers TV episode.

Posted by: Mark Drummond | September 4, 2011 4:10 PM

"Issue #30's back-up is by Nocenti, and it's not very good."

..."Nocenti" and "it's not very good" in the same sentence is redundant, IMO...

Posted by: BU | July 28, 2014 3:52 PM

This is probably the story that provided the inspiration for the "Spider-Man & X-Men in Arcade's Revenge" video game, but I'll try not to hold that against the comic.

Posted by: TCP | October 9, 2014 9:39 AM

"I been waiting months for a rematch with the Hulk."

And that, right there, is why there is the sliding timescale. Because that battle happened before Wolverine joined the X-Men and we had Christmas in #99 and Christmas again in #119. Years is more like it.

Posted by: Erik Beck | April 15, 2015 10:16 AM

Interestingly, Uncanny X-Men 124 might be one of the first official mentions of the sliding Marvel time scale. In the letter's page, an editorial response to a letter notes that at Marvel, the staff operate under the assumption that only 5 to 6 years have passed since Xavier formed the X-Men, instead of the approximately 15 years of actual publication time. Roger Stern, who was the series editor at the time, probably wrote the response.

Posted by: Aaron Malchow | September 13, 2015 6:26 PM

We've known Logan's claws are adamantium, but is page 6, panel 4 of #124 the first reference to “Wolverine’s unbreakable bones”?

Posted by: Matthew Bradley | December 3, 2016 12:51 PM

In issue 116, Wolverine says "The beast ain't been born that can break my bones".

Posted by: Michael | December 3, 2016 12:58 PM

Ah, forgot about that--thanks so much.

Posted by: Matthew Bradley | December 4, 2016 1:04 PM

Probably the worst issues of the Claremont/ Byrne run, though #114-116 might take it. You've gotta try pretty hard to be a worse villain than Mojo, but Arcade accomplishes it.

Posted by: Michael Booth | July 16, 2017 1:57 AM

Byrne has said he and Claremont felt they could toss off a silly story (not his exact words) because they knew the big, heavy storylines they had coming up. I remember reading this in real time. I had enjoyed Arcade's first appearance in Marvel Team-Up, but I felt a second story would be repetitive, and it would be ridiculous if a team of heavyweights like the X-Men couldn't beat Arcade in ten minutes. I was right on both counts. But of course the worst of the Claremont/Byrne X-Men is still way above almost anything else at the time.

Posted by: Andrew | July 16, 2017 9:13 AM




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