Uncanny X-Men #144Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #144 Review/plot: Then Cyclops "teams-up" (as much as is possible, anyway) with the Man-Thing to defeat D'Spayre... ...but it's also more metaphorically a way for Cyclops to get over the death of Jean. I'm not a big fan of overt metaphors like D'Spayre. Take him out of this story and you've got a decent emotional issue. With him, it's just a silly fight. Lee is developing an attraction for Scott in these issues. When Scott starts responding in a few issues, it'll be a bit soon after the death of Jean, in my opinion, but even so the romance doesn't really go anywhere. There's basically a cameo with the rest of the team repairing the Danger Room after Kitty's adventure last issue. Nightcrawler, perhaps conscious of the fact that she's afraid of him, teases her a little too hard. Fill in art by Brent Anderson, and you can't ask for a better guest penciler than that. As Corey notes in the comments, this is the first time we see the scene with young Cyclops and Havok sharing a parachute while being separated from their parents. Quality Rating: C+ Chronological Placement Considerations: Pushed back in publishing time a bit to account for the X-Men's Spider-Woman appearance. References:
Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: X-Men Classic #48 Inbound References (4): showCharacters Appearing: Angel, Colossus, Cyclops, D'Spayre, Lee Forrester, Man-Thing, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde), Storm, Wolverine CommentsBrent Anderson went on to much bigger and better things, and for a while he was a bit of a Neal Adams clone. Posted by: Mark Drummond | September 11, 2011 1:55 PM This was the first issue of the Claremont run that I didn't tihnk was very good. Posted by: Dave B | October 5, 2011 9:20 AM I can see the Anderson/Adams similarities when you point them out, Mark, but I see even more of a resemblance between Anderson's work during this time period and John Buscema's. This is, of course, a compliment. Posted by: Jay Patrick | July 20, 2013 7:58 PM I agree on the heavy-handed metaphor point. I can see Mark Bagley was inspired by Brent Anderson. Jock's suicide has somewhat similar panel layout and framing to Chord's attempted suicide in New Warriors #18. Not a copycat though. Also, I'm surprised you didn't mention Scott's memory of he and his brother jumping out of the plane returning for the first time. While referenced and alluded to in the past, I think this is the first time we see how the whole thing played out (well, the whole,thing from Scott's POV). We also learn that Havok is 4 years younger than Cyclops. Posted by: Corey | January 23, 2016 7:20 PM This is the issue where the X Men started going downhill. Slowly but surely. Posted by: Jay Gallardo | July 28, 2016 5:53 PM If Alex is 4 years younger than Scott, he must have graduated REALLY young from college in his first appearance. I always assumed he was Iceman's age (18 at that time) and was just a regular genius). Otherwise Scott was way older than 17 in X-Men number 1. Speaking of Neal Adams X-Men, the panels aren't reproduced here but there is a segment of Scott's "fear" nightmare that shows Beast, Angel, Iceman, Havok and Lorna killed by Sentinels circa X-Men 59 ... except that the Sentinels are the new team. It's one of my favorite segments of the issue. Posted by: Jeff | January 17, 2017 12:35 PM You can see the "Bubble Yum" advertisement bleeding through the paper on that last scan, so clearly that it's actually hard to ignore. This was such a common thing with the older newsprint quality comics-- however I think I'd rather put up with the lousy paper quality, and keep the extra few dollars per issue I'm paying for the better paper stock nowadays.:-p Posted by: Holt | April 25, 2018 8:29 PM Ditto. Comics used to be garish in every sense of the word, and I think the cheap production values were a large part of that. Dazzler is the only mainstream comics character I want to write, and I'd still be the first to say hold back on the computer coloring and use crappy paper that still has chunks of wood floating in it. I have some Silver Age Marvels and DC and [I'm particularly thinking of a Sekowsky "Justice League"] I find the stories unreadable but mind-bogglingly awesome to look at. The greatest comics can be on slick paper with full computer coloring. Everything else - and I include Lee/Kirby/Ditko in this - should be on cheap paper with four-color separations. Posted by: ChrisW | April 25, 2018 11:25 PM Comments are now closed. |
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