Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #225, Uncanny X-Men #226, Uncanny X-Men #227
Cover Date: Jan-Mar 88
Title: "False dawn!" / "Go tell the Spartans" / "The belly of the beast!"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Writer
Marc Silvestri - Penciler
Bob Wiacek / Dan Green - Inker
Ann Nocenti - Editor

Review/plot:
The Mutant Massacre was an unusual exercise in the sense that it had both the X-Men and X-Factor involved in a crossover while never actually meeting. It was an editorial decision that those two X-teams never meet, lifted when we get to Inferno, but i get the impression that Chris Claremont was happy to mostly ignore X-Factor anyway. Despite the non-crossover crossover nature (from the perspective of the two main X-Books) of the Mutant Massacre, everything intertwined nicely.

But now we are at Fall of the Mutants. And it's not really a crossover at all in the generally understood sense of the word. I guess "event" is a better way to put it. We have three major storylines going on in Marvel's three X-books (well, two major storylines and what's happening in New Mutants), and they have nothing to do with each other, but each book gets a Fall of the Mutants banner at the tops of their covers, and the middle issue of each three issue story is a $1.25 double-sized book. There are also a number of tie-in books, with a smaller "Fall of the Mutants tie-in" blurb on their covers, but all of those tie in to the X-Factor story only (with some references to what's going on in X-Men). The closest thing that you can find to a unifying theme is that the stories are happening in the aftermath of the passage of the Mutant Registration act, but none of the issues have the characters dealing with the MRA directly. The MRA is just used as a way to contrast the public's perception of mutants with the heroic efforts that are going on.

Here in the X-Men's book, Chris Claremont is really just concluding a storyline that he's had on the back-burner for several years and had been ramping up again beginning with issue #220. It's a story that utilizes (loosely) Native American lore and also elements of Captain Britain's series. That latter bit may seem especially surprising, but actually this story started as a plot that built off of Alan Moore's Captain Britain run. The Native American Trickster god - the Adversary, in the body of Forge's former mentor Naze - was originally going to be Mad Jim Jaspers, the reality warping mutant from Moore's Captain Britain. But the specifics of that original plot got nixed when Alan Moore raised legal objections, so instead we have the curiosity of Roma, the goddess-like daughter of Merlin, facing off against the Native American Adversary. It's not something that ever phased me when reading this in realtime and many times since, but in putting it down here it does seem a little odd, and that's the explanation. The original idea makes a lot more sense and makes this whole section of the Fall of the Mutants crossover feel more on-theme. We saw in Uncanny X-Men #200 that Jaspers was an anti-mutant government official (and in the Alan Moore appearances, generally anti-superhero). So having him be the reality warping villain for this story would have worked a lot better.

In addition to the Adversary and Roma, and of course the X-Men, Freedom Force, newly expanded to include the World War II era characters Storm and Wolverine recently encountered, are also players in this arc.

But we start with the return of Colossus. He was injured in the Mutant Massacre, and he's been staying at Muir Island along with the other injured X-Men, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler. This arc starts off with him in Edinburgh, Scotland, doing some sketches in human form, incognito.

The topic of the X-Men is on the minds of the local kids, due to the recent battle with Juggernaut.

In addition to the kids, Peter finds that he's got an adult female admirer.

She disappears after he finishes his sketch, which looks different than what she looked like in person. We'll learn that she was Roma. She leaves behind a chess piece shaped like Peter in armored form.

While some local kids were pro X-Men, another more violent group throws some firecrackers at Peter for defending the group, and this triggers his transformation into Colossus. This scares away even the pro X-Men kids, setting up the anti-mutant sentiment that will be the backdrop to this story.

We find that thanks to his injuries, Colossus has difficulty shifting back into human form, but he manages to contact his sister Illyana/Magik in the US, destroying a phone booth in the process as he finds out that he's stronger in armor than he used to be. Magik teleports in, babbles a lot about everything, and then teleports Colossus off to Dallas where the other X-Men are before returning to the events of her own story in New Mutants.

As far as i can see, no one lets the group on Muir Island know that Colossus is leaving.

Meanwhile, Roma becomes a prisoner of the Adversary.

The rivalry between the two is depicted as a chess game.

Marc Silvestri's layouts are normally pretty traditional, which allows for the contrast when the Adversary, agent of chaos, shows up and the chess board breaks outside of the panel border.

In Dallas, during a summer snowstorm, the X-Men have followed Storm's "weeks old" trail to Forge's Eagle Plaza skyscraper. Despite being derelict, the building's automatic defenses are still working, allowing Claremont and Silvestri to set up a nice power-demonstration sequence.

Repelled from the building, the X-Men immediately find themselves in a fight with Freedom Force. Poor Wolverine.

Some interesting points before we get further into the fight. Dazzler doesn't recognize "these lamoids", which is disappointing to me. She met Mystique and Destiny in Dazzler #22, but even if she was referring to the group instead of the individuals, we've seen her recently recognize both Juggernaut and Cloak from studying the X-Men's enemy files, so you'd think she would have come across the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants / Freedom Force. Maybe she's just trash talking.

Also note that Longshot recognizes Spiral, but only vaguely. This continues with the scene shown last issue where Longshot didn't remember participating in the movie from his mini-series. He should still know her from Uncanny X-Men annual #10, though, right?

Freedom Force are here for two reasons. Officially, it's to enforce the Mutant Registration Act. Mystique says that the law requires mutants to register only if using their powers.

But Mystique's main concern here is preventing her foster daughter, Rogue, from entering Forge's building, since a vision from Destiny says that any who are there at dawn will die.

Ok, on with the fight. Dazzler is knocked out with a "microsonic boom" from the speedster Super Sabre. That seems to be something of a mistake, since Dazzler's power is to absorb sound, but the script next issue (we'll see it below) will explain that away.

Longshot's fight with Spiral continues the mystery of their relationship.

Psylocke tries to rescue Wolverine from the Blob's bottom.

She simultaneously manages to dodge Super Sabre...

...but she's taken out by Crimson Commando, who says that he's "trained" to free his mind from thoughts, allowing him to be undetected by psi-powers. The Commando has yet to demonstrate any super-powers (besides being incredibly fit for a guy that was in World War II), and the idea that this ability comes from training seems to further suggest that he isn't a mutant.

Wolverine manages to negotiate his own freedom. And that's when Colossus arrives.

Like the X-Men power demonstration sequences, some nice fight choreography from Silvestri.

The fight is cut short when a hole is ripped in the sky.

Some of the X-Men have taken refuge in Eagle Plaza while others were captured by Freedom Force, so the fight continues even after the big tear in the sky. Dazzler wakes up, and says that the sonic boom that knocked her out was blunted by her sound absorption powers, and has also fully charged her up. So she makes an attack, trying to help Psylocke and Rogue, the other prisoners.

Her bid fails, though, and Spiral responds by mystically binding Destiny's mask to Dazzler's face with a dagger, blinding her.

As the fight continues, however, the teams realize the impact of the hole in the sky, as people and creatures from other time periods start spilling out (a standard if fun trope, but it's somewhat ironic that it's similar to the infamous Avengers #200. Not that the dinosaurs were the problem with that story.).

The X-Men and Freedom Force therefore call a truce and start helping the general public of Dallas (or at least the affected "Dayzone" area).

As the chaos affects the city, we're introduced to reporter Neal Conan and his technician, Manoli Wetherell.

The two take opposite positions on the mutant issue, so they provide our running commentary as the mutants deal with the crisis.

Claremont gets mileage out of the Native American themes and the parallels to mutant distrust and discrimination by having a group of time displaced Cheyenne, familiar with the Adversary, arrive to offer to help.

But they are shot down by a group of Texas rednecks.

While this is a nationally televised event, no additional help is forthcoming. The Avengers and Fantastic Four are said to be held in reserve (by who?), until it can be determined which threat is greater.

If only the Avengers had East and West Coast branches capable of handling both crises simultaneously. We'll learn a different reason for the Fantastic Four's lack of participation in their tie-in issue; i don't think there's anything more ever given regarding the Avengers. Which is fine except that it allows the X-Men to get self-righteous.

The truce between the X-Men and Freedom Force is fragile, especially when Spiral finds she can't remove Destiny's mask from Dazzler (prompting her and Colossus to role-play out a scene from Empire Strikes Back)...

...and the debate intensifies when the X-Men push to go to the top of Forge's skyscraper - something that Destiny's vision has warned will result in their death but which Colossus has felt an impulse to do thanks to his meeting with Roma.

Flying or teleporting directly to the top of the tower is met with overwhelming resistance...

...so the X-Men and Freedom Force are forced to go up the building floor by floor. In the process they encounter scenes from Forge's demon-infused Vietnam experience, and it's hinted that one of the rednecks is secretly the Adversary.

When the group get close to the top, Wolverine says that they'll press on alone without Freedom Force.

Interspersed with this, we see scenes of Storm and Forge, who have been trapped in an alternate dimension by the Adversary. Their Earth is a pristine one untouched by civilization. And the timeframe there is different, because the scenes there take place over the course of a year or more. Thanks to the machinations of the Adversary from previous issues, Storm is still not sure if she trusts Forge. So she travels all the way to Africa to seek guidance from her "Bright Lady".

Failing that, she returns to Forge who in the meantime has set up as close to a high tech paradise as he could given the technology he had access to (which includes his artificial leg).

The truth is that the pristine sanctuary is a trap, meant to keep the two of them out of play while the Adversary makes his move on the real Earth. Forge is able to use his remaining technology to create a gateway home, but he needs for it to be powered by Storm's lightning. He tells her that the Neutralizer gun that he built, which removed her powers back in Uncanny X-Men #185, works by erasing the RNA genetic codes that enable her to access them (i'm not qualified to say whether or not this is scientific gobbledygook), and that basically her powers have still been in her all along, and that she might have even accessed them subconsciously in times of extreme stress, as we've in fact seen a number of times.

He builds a De-Neutralizer out of the remnants of his leg, and zaps her with it. The powers don't return immediately, perhaps because Storm fears a return of the emotionless goddess persona that she had when the X-Men first recruited her, but a kiss from Forge rekindles the powers.

As Forge and Storm return to Earth...

...the Adversary reveals himself, and the top of Eagle Plaza explodes.

It turns out that the X-Men survived the explosion and they (including the powerless Madelyne Pryor) and Neal Conan continue to make their way through the demon-filled Vietnam scene, with Conan still broadcasting.

It becomes clear that Forge used the souls of his dying squadmates to summon demons during the Vietnam war...

...and that is both the reason the Adversary is able to act in our world and why Forge has since sworn off his magical powers in favor of his mutant ability.

Neal Conan convinces the X-Men to stop taking "perverse pleasure" in being "'outlaw, unsung heroes'" and let him show the world what they are up to, and they agree.

Madelyne Pryor explicitly compares the X-Men to Martin Luther King.

I'd argue there are a few differences. For better or worse, Martin Luther King never battled a Native American chaos demon. But i do think it's great how, perhaps because of the Fall of the Mutants crossover, Claremont adds the anti-mutant layer on top of this Adversary plot that he had been working towards anyway. The X-Men aren't directly fighting mutant oppression in these issues, but it's the quintessential "fighting to protect a world that hates and fears them" story.

Storm and Forge, meanwhile, immediately becomes captives of the Adversary alongside Roma. Roma's castle is floating in space above Forge's building, so the X-Men get there basically by using Longshot as a kite in a way that i've never fully understood but still think is awesome.

And this lets them take the fight to the Adversary.

Colossus is a surprise player in this battle thanks to Roma's earlier machinations, and it turns out that the Adversary is, like a lot of fantasy creatures, vulnerable to iron and steel, making Colossus uniquely suited to fighting him (Longshot's blades and Wolverine's claws have the same effect but they are more easily swatted away).

But that just forces him out of Naze's body and into his true form. Rogue had absorbed some of Naze's magical ability, and she's able to open a portal, but unable to completely force the Adversary through it.

That panel of a demon hanging onto a portal to avoid getting pushed back into its home dimension is a classic iconic but familiar thing. My first thought was ROM #41 and then the 1985 movie Legend.

The X-Men's physical powers are not enough to force the Adversary all the way back into the portal. To do that, Forge needs to cast a spell, and to do that he needs the souls of enough people to equal the number he used in his initial spell back in Vietnam. That works out so that it includes all of the X-Men, including Madelyne Pryor but not Forge (who has to cast the spell) or Neal Conan.

Before casting the spell, Storm tells Forge that she might see him again even if she is giving up her life since their love is just that strong. And Madelyne makes an appeal to her husband Scott/Cyclops, saying goodbye "wherever you are" (i guess even after Wolverine heard from Neal that X-Factor were having their own big fight in New York, no one told Madelyne about X-Factor) and asks him to find their son.

Forge then casts the spell and seals off the portal.

It's worth noting that, contra Mephisto vs.... #3, Longshot seems to have enough of a soul for the purposes of this spell (as Michael points out in the Comments there).

But it turns out that the X-Men don't actually die. Roma is able to restore their bodies. It seems like the X-Men could have remained dead, in which case the Adversary would have been bound forever. But Roma says that chaos is still a necessary part of existence, so he needs to be able to be free again at some point. And in any event he is "bound for an age".

Roma then offers the X-Men a choice. She can return them to exactly where they came from, or any other era or reality, by which we'll learn she means Australia. We'll also learn that the X-Men will be virtually undetectable. Conveniently enough, this all dovetails with Storm's "Plan Omega" that was going to have the X-Men fake their own deaths to convince the Marauders to not attack their families; a plan that they never actually got around to. So after a little internal debate, the X-Men agree to go forward with this plan (the details of which aren't laid out yet).

Kitty Pryde watches the X-Men's seeming death on television, and conveys the news to a newly recovered Nightcrawler.

This is the first we've seen of these characters since Kitty was healed in Fantastic Four vs. X-Men. It's said to have been "months" since Colossus last saw the active team, and it's probably the same for Kitty and Kurt.

Mystique doesn't have a high opinion of Forge after the events here.

Worth pointing out for continuity purposes that this means Freedom Force was in Dallas through the defeat of the Adversary.

I've complained that after the Mutant Massacre, the X-Men book seems to have lost its direction, with the characters ambling along and not really pursuing the implications of the Massacre or anything else. And that continues to be the case here, in a sense, with this story being the resolution to a plot threat introduced several years ago that seemed to come up again out of nowhere recently. And it's arguable that the Fall of the Mutants banner and implied crossover with the other X-books was a kind of false advertising. But all of that can be overlooked thanks to the strong story in these issues. It's good that Freedom Force was brought along for the ride because three issues of the X-Men fighting demons and time-displaced cavemen might have been intolerable. But the way this was structured we get plenty of super-hero action plus dinosaurs and cavemen and demons, all with great sequences from Silvestri, and it is nice to see closure on the Naze/Advesary storyline. Plus the extra layer that Claremont adds with the Mutant Registration act and the commentary from the reporters bring what should be an off-topic plotline directly into the core theme of the book. So it's a real success on all fronts. The cynic in me, though, sees the beginning of a trend here: water-treading in between the big marketing events.

Quality Rating: A

Historical Significance Rating: 5 - Fall of the Mutants. Colossus returns to the team. Storm gets her powers back. "Death" of the X-Men. First (full) Neal Conan and Manoli Wetherell.

Chronological Placement Considerations: The X-Men appear in Hulk #340 between issue Uncanny X-Men #224 and this arc. Magik tells Colossus that the New Mutants have "this incredibly important mission", with a reference to New Mutants #58, placing her appearance in this arc during New Mutants #58 before the team heads to the Animator's island. The New Mutants will later, in New Mutants #61, see a television report showing the X-Men's deaths here, so this arc runs concurrently with New Mutants #58-61. A few members of Freedom Force next appear in Captain America #339, which may not be strictly possible since the X-Men's televised deaths also is shown at the end of X-Factor's Fall of the Mutants issue, while Cap #339 takes place during them. For placement purposes i'm simply placing the X-Men and New Mutants issues first in their own entries and then breaking down the X-Factor issues to fit in the tie-ins; the issues should all be understood to be taking place broadly at the same time. (As an aside, if anyone has the Fall of the Mutants omnibus, i'd love to know how they chose to order the issues, although just as a matter of curiosity.)

References:

• Colossus draws some scenes from the X-Men's recent battle with the Juggernaut from Uncanny X-Men #217-218 (Colossus wasn't a participant), and some of the kids in Edinburgh play out the battle as well.
  
• Among the pieces on the chess board, we see the Eye-Killers from Uncanny X-Men #222.
  
• Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Kitty were injured during the Mutant Massacre in Uncanny X-Men #211.
  
• The New Mutant's "incredibly important mission" begins in New Mutants #58.
  
• The X-Men were last at Forge's Dallas skyscraper in Uncanny X-Men #187-188, which was also the last time we saw the Adversary plotline (including Forge's use of demons in Vietnam) before it resurfaced in Uncanny X-Men #220. Rogue notes that the last time they were at Forge's skyscraper, it was also snowing during the summer, and she wonders if there's a connection. But there isn't; the original snow was due to the Casket of Ancient Winters from circa Thor #345. I guess Storm, who participated directly in the Thor storyline in Thor #352, never found out what it was all about or told the other X-Men.
  
• It's said that the FF and Avengers are being held in reserve thanks to the other big event, in X-Factor #26, going on in New York.

Crossover: Fall of the Mutants

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Yay! You've finally reached the important books. From "Fall of the Mutants" through "Inferno," I still look back on Claremont/Silvestri's "X-Men" as a high point. The muties had more important adventures, better stories, sometimes better artists, but when I was reading superhero comics, this was as good as it got. I can flip open any of the later Essential X-Men volumes and smile with the same warm glow of recognition. No disrespect to fans of JRjr, but the Kitty and Illyana appearances here make me wish Silvestri had been drawing the title for a year or two before he actually took over, just so we'd see what he did with the pre-Massacre characters, or the junior team. Hell, except for partially-drawing #211 with Bret Blevins, and the scene in #253, I'm blanking on any drawing of Magneto Silvestri did during his entire run, when he was the headmaster of Xavier's school.

There's a good argument to be made that this storyline is truly where the title jumped the shark - pretending to be dead? Invisible to cameras? Moving to Australia? - but on the other hand, I still love Wolverine's retelling of the Spartans at Thermopylae, and asked by Mystique when he became a romantic, answers "Darlin', how can anyone be an X-Man and not be a romantic?"

Also, the stuff about Storm's powers being removed because Forge's neutralizer erased the RNA codes is not scientific gobbledy-gook. A few issues after Storm lost her powers, the letter column printed a letter that basically stated what Forge says here. Whether it was by a respectable scientist or Claremont (or whoever) showing off their reading under an assumed name, in college I learned enough about biology that this is how RNA works, manipulating DNA but not actually changing it. [Think of it like Peter Parker losing his powers through subconscious guilt for a cheesy psychosomatic storyline - "Spider-Man" Annual #1, the second Toby Maguire movie - but instead it's a scientifically-accurate device that took the superpowers away.]

It's been many years, I'm sure biologists have made numerous other discoveries since then, but the essential claim of Forge's neutralizer is still accurate to my knowledge.

These three issues were a highlight of the series during my years of collecting X-Men. Between this and Inferno are a real highlight with some great stories and characterization.

I agree with ChrisW that some of the elements of this era are ridiculous - being invisible to cameras and pretending to be dead did very little for the characters. The exact same stories in this era could be told without that.

I did like the move to Australia though. The school aspect wasn't being used to any benefit, and the new HQ was just as good. Plus it introduced the Reavers. Despite Claremont mishandling them at the end, they made intriguing villains for a while.

I did not know for years that the reporters in this story were based on real people.

Only bad thing is the characterization of Storm. It's all over the place by now. I don't see her as being one character anymore. The voice keeps changing. Claremont writes her to be whoever he wants.

I think I liked this event more than the Mutant Massacre to be honest. Yes there is a nasty tread starting here of yearly events with needing about a year to start setting stuff up. Mutant Massacre was entertaining but it seemed to drag on a bunch a underground fights for too long, my favorite issue was the last issue with Psylocke escaping from Sabretooth.

Blob had some nice moments, flattening Wolverine, resisting Psylocke's persuasion, showing some sense of loyalty towards Mystique. Pyro had a nice moment by sharing credit with Longshot.

Yes this story is a bit more out there and could be a more 70s to early 80s story if not for all these Adversary elements being introduces years ago as well as being enjoyable.

On another bright side I think they do better with Colossus now, every since Rogue joined the team Colossus felt way too much like an extra wheel. Maybe he was stronger but Rogue could also fly and had a handy or unhandy power to absorb other powers. Here and afterwards Colossus and Rogue seem to be able to share strength jobs better.

And I think I'm a slight sucker for Rogue and Forge's romance.

Looks like this is the beginning of the X-men mania that we'll be seeing for the of our lives. Silvestri's storytelling and "acting" are very good.

The move to Australia works for what it is. Not to get all 'Jim Shooter' about it, but Xavier's school is a crucial part of the concept. They could leave it for a year or so, but if you look at Claremont's run, it often included a 'return home' scene [#109, #122, #129, #167.] This is where they belong, this is what they do. Not as superheroes, fighting for a world that hates and fears yadda yadda yadda, but as a school for mutants.

Mind you, there are benefits to the 'move to Australia' approach. Possibly my single favorite scene in Silvestri's run was at the end of "Inferno," where Havok is willing to let his long-lost girlfriend die if she doesn't help. Lorna begs for mercy "Alex, I love you!" Perhaps still possessed by demons, he does the exact opposite of what he learned from Xavier, and yells "Prove it! Talk!" And then the mansion blows up.

That scene wouldn't be as powerful without the extended fall-out from "Fall of the Mutants," including the 'move to Australia and pretend to be dead' part of the series. I see Claremont's original X-run as a giant on-going storyline (much like the Marvel Universe itself) and think it works perfectly for the middle of Act III [where Act I leads up to the death of Jean Grey, Act II leads to the rebirth of Jean Grey, Act III is the aftermath until Claremont gets fired.]

As to the Reavers, I also think they worked for what they were - and thought they were really cool in the first few appearances - but it would have been better if they had just been generic bad guys the X-Men trounced, instead of returning as part of Donald Pierce's on-going subplot, his vengeance against Wolverine and his use of cyborg henchmen after the "Dirty Harry" riff Wolvie pulled in the sewers during the "Dark Phoenix Saga." Granted, these are superhero comics, but there comes a point where the villain needs to die and the hero has to find other villains. The Reavers were just murderous cyborgs working for Pierce and starting the 'gritty era' that the Marauders had started in the title.

I also don't mind admitting I like Silvestri's use of "cheesecake" more than almost any other comics. They're sexy girls in tights. They could be housemaids cleaning out toilets and still be sexy girls in tights. I'm fine with cheesecake in comics. I think comics need more of it, but it has to be good. I think there's a legitimate difference between, say, Dazzler's pose as she shoots lasers to protect Longshot, Rogue's pose as she rescues Spiral, Psylocke falling ass-up as she gets chopped down, and the more-idiotic nonsense we've seen since these issues were new. It just happens to be a sexy girl doing this, but Silvestri includes plenty of examples of people-who-aren't-sexy-girls. The Blob is dropping down on you, ass first. That's a terrifying thought.

The cheesecake isn't too out of line, and it's combined with Silvestri's overall range of humor, mood, and emotion. These issues show off his talents nicely: where Bret Blevins's cute monsters seemed a bit of a clash the the tone of Doug Ramsey's death, here the Blob is like a Three Stooges character but never detracts from the epic grandeur of the battle. Also, while Silvestri isn't exactly an equal-opportunity offender in the sexiness sweepstakes, so to speak, this is the era when Colossus's costume gets reduced to a pair of briefs.

The wall that Roma and Colossus are sitting on in the third scan includes a graffiti line that says, "Orz 100th." Presumably this was the hundredth X-Men story Orzechowski lettered.

I read over the references and placement sections but has there ever been an explanation for how Colossus got better other than just 'I got better'? I mean Magneto rearranging his insides left him paralzed, that's not the same as a broken arm or needing months of rest.

Don't get me wrong, I was super happy he came back onto the team. We need a Peter and Nightcrawler team up movie.

Regarding Colossus' injuries, in issue #225 he only says that he was just released from the hospital. And he wasn't completely healed yet. He had to really strain to get back into steel form and then again back to human form for the "kite" sequence in #227. Transforming back into steel again, he didn't mention any pain, so maybe he just needed to go through the sequence a few times. (Unless this is addressed further in future issues, but i don't think so.)

As we'll see in issue 231, it's still difficult for him to change from steel to human and back.

Just to add about the cheesecake (mmmmmm, cheesecake *DROOL*) considering how good Silvestri was at drawing it, what he and his fellow Image founders unleashed upon the world, and how many opportunities he had with this cast of characters, look at how many of the excerpted panels are just close-ups of heads, or medium shots featuring various characters in action, or long shots (pun intended) that don't really show anything unless you're the most-desperate kind of teenage boy (which most of us probably were.)

Jim Lee and his ilk would have probably drawn the Psylocke/Blob battle with pictures of Psylocke posing. Silvestri gave us facial close-ups to heighten the drama, then put Super Sabre up front, and showed him rebounding across the area. It was all about the story and not about how great Dazzler's breasts look from a particular angle while something else is going on. I can appreciate the look at Ali (Rogue, Betsy, Storm, etc.) but appreciate the discretion even more.

Take the Illyana cameo, it's all head-shots and word balloons, and she's the explicit hottest of the X-Babies. It all serves the larger purpose of giving Peter a reason to talk to his little sister (before he dies) and return to the fight. In the same storyline, Bret Blevins showed us Illyana posing and wearing less than a thong. I like cheesecake in comics, but there's a point where it becomes No! Stop! Ewwwww!

Same with Storm who, in the pictures shown here, never looks sexier than the panel where she has her powers back. Never even comes close. A hot babe superheroine has her powers back after far too long and is exuberant about it? That's worth a thumb's up.

Kudos to Marc Silvestri. Slightly more 'grown-up' for some of us readers than JRjr, but fully understanding that his job was to tell the story.

The Image guys were more like comic book fans writing fantagraphics rather than comic book fans writing professional comics. They forgot about storytelling and just wrote comic books that adult men would enjoy; which is usually, sex and violence. There art might have sold books but once people began to wake up and realise the stories were crap, it all fell apart.

Thank goodness Storm was stuck in that other reality for a long time. Her hair grew back to the right length. I didn't like her mohawk look at all.

Actually, Fantagraphics began criticizing the Image line for the poor writing almost immediately(they were also criticizing deficiencies in Claremont's dialogue before Byrne even left X-Men).

I always felt that Silvestri was the best storyteller of that bunch. McFarlane and Lee may have gotten the most praise (Lee still does), but Silvestri was always the bee's knees to me.

While adamantium is renowned for being unbreakable, a new property is demonstrated here with it appearing to be impervious to lasers since Wolverine indicates that while he can't move until his healing factor repairs the damage to his skin he shows no concern about it punching through his laced skeleton.

Still wondering what the "tender" relationship Longshot is referring to in relation to Spiral, since Ann Nocenti has since made it know she had no intention for Rita to have become the six-armed supervillainess!? So just who is Spiral really?

Crimson Commando was basically the mutant version of Captain America, in that his mutant ability was achieving peak human physical perfection.

The pristine Earth is the same one we saw during the Demon Bear Saga, also by Claremont, suggesting a link between it and the Adversary. And hints of the Bright Lady here who I've previously posited to be a Faltine (specifically Astriel from Claremont's Savage Sword of Conan #74).

The demons from Forge's Vietnam experience are also N'Garai suggesting some yet unexplained connection between them and the Adversary. Interestingly, Forge's unit in Vietnam, shown here having their souls used to cast his spell, were named the Marauders!

Longshot is able to act as a kite for the team due to his minimal weight due to his hollow bones enabling him to catch the updraft.

I don't consider the book was still losing its way here as this is the story that hooked me into becoming an X-Fan. And yep Silvestri is still the best X-artist, after Byrne!

Fnord, a continuity question in this issue that only you are fit to answer:

Roma tells Peter that he has twice taken a life. There's Harpoon in #211, but I can't figure out who the other is.

I do really like these issues, even if the way Silvestri drew Illyana made all the more obvious to me how much I was hating the art in NM at the time. A particularly favorite moment is Wolvie stabbing Blob, although how high he jumps is completely ridiculous.

I was stoked to see Peter back on the team, and with perfect timing.

I was also glad to see Storm grow her hair back - I like her look much better from here on out.

At this point though, every issue I was thinking, "Is Alex ever going to tell them about the Brood?"

The other one is Proteus, in Uncanny X-Men 128.

Well, since that's one of my favorite storylines I feel kind of dumb for not remembering that. Thanks, Michael.

Michael beat me to it...but yes, he killed his son with Moira in #128, and he killed Riptide in #211 for injuring Kurt. Harpoon was responsible for putting Kitty in her intangible state, IIRC.

Storm is wearing the "Alien Outlaw" outfit!

The X-Men's decision, will, of course, eventually bite them in the butt.

Havok's agreement with Neal Conan is a good (though inadvertent) foreshadowing of his role and demeanor for the second version of X-Factor and Uncanny Avengers.

I'm really impressed with Madelynn's actions and behavior here. Reemember, at this time she's a "normal" woman who's only involved with this in the first place because she's been "dragged along" with the X-team. And yet she's totally willing to sacrifice her life (twice!) and stand with the team (also note that at this point her contact with Cyclops is generally severed, so she's not doing this because she's "Scott's wife" and she has to put up with his kooky friends.)

Furthermore it should be noted that Maddie before she "dies" Maddie gets to have her say. Keep in mind that she COULD have used that time to go on a vindictive rant against the husband she feels abandoned her and left her to her fate, basically airing all of Scott's dirty laundry right there for the whole nation to hear (anyone who watches reality TV knows how much temptation THAT is.) She could have called Scott out for his behavior and had millions of viewers to lend a sympathetic ear. She would have had lots of justification for doing it too. Instead she simply wishes Scott well and implores him to find their son, all without assigning blame or nasty accusations. For a REGULAR HUMAN (again, as we are meant to understand it at the time) to show so much bravery and class is amazing.

These are the issues that not only made me love Madelyne Pryor, but honestly felt she was "better" than her template. (And also why I find the "she was evil all along" retcon so baffling. If that were so she has a public forum to cuss Cyclop out and belittle him. A "witch" would have leapt at the opportunity.

Now I totally want a "What If" story where Madelyne takes that opportunity. I recently purchased the "Inferno" issues of "Secret Wars," some of the first Marvel comics I've bought in ages, but they're nowhere near as good as this premise.

She'd completely ruin the whole point of bringing a cameraman along by trash-talking her estranged husband right before the muties head off to die. She'd embarrass the hell out of the X-Men. ["Psst. Betsy. Make her shut up." "I cannot, Alison. Plot-convenient reasons are preventing me. I'll try to get Alex to intervene."] It would make Scott's head explode, maximize the guilt he feels about their missing son, and probably poison his relationship with *the other woman,* which would be Maddie's whole motivation in the first place, never mind the "cloned by Mr. Sinister" storyline.

This is why I want to write a mature readers "Dazzler" series. I don't have any interest in writing standard hero vs. villain stories, but I love the idea of introducing believable human reactions to a superhero universe.

Jon, you're right, this is basically as good as Maddie gets, and the pain and degradation she'll undergo are only just getting started.

I think there were a lot of us who got to like Maddie a lot in issues 223-227. She’d been likeable from her first appearances in 168-176, and she’d already been a big part of the Alpha Flight teamup. But that was as a character that was not seen regularly, as someone who was married to Cyclops who’d left the book and only came back for some special stories, annuals etc. (Though since Claremont made her both the universe’s gift to Cyclops -- an exact duplicate of Jean who just happened to work for his grandparents -- and also a pilot like Claremont’s mother, this probably meant Maddie was always going to be a character CC was fond of.) But from 221 onwards, CC made her a centre stage character who was basically one of the team in her own right, and Claremont (along with Silvestri’s art) made her cute, brave and vulnerable. And at this point Silvestri, for all his famed cheesecake, is drawing her as a good looking but “normal” woman, she’s not yet glamorous in the way the actual X-women are. Little do we suspect that she’s about to totally outdo them when S’ym corrupts her into becoming the Underboob Queen. But one thing that I don’t think has ever been confirmed is exactly when it was decided (presumably by Bob Harras?) that Maddie was going to become an evil clone. I may be wrong but I’ve long assumed that it was decided by the time Sinister tries to kill her, which would mean that all of this making-the-readers-love-Maddie from 221 onwards is at least partly Claremont twisting the knife before the big reveal that she’s an evil clone. (I think the other attacks on friends and family of the X-Men are red herrings to stop you wondering why Maddie got attacked.) There’s plenty of online comment about how annoyed people are that Maddie is turned into an evil clone and that this is a sexist way of trying to make it okay for Scott to leave her for Jean. And I think that would always be the case, but it wouldn’t have quite the same impact if CC hadn’t made the extra work into making us like the character more and see her as a hero, before she gets killed off. (One of the few times Byrne ever complimented CC is in his X-Men Companion interview where he praises CC for making us like one of Proteus’ victims before she is killed off, and he notes this is a typical Claremont thing to do. Claremont fan Joss Whedon is also well known for doing similar things.) Since CC portrays even evil Maddie is somewhat sympathetic and right to be angry, it seems reasonable to assume most people are correct in thinking CC was against the whole idea of Maddie becoming evil. But in these issues where Maddie gives her speech to the cameras and sacrifices herself with the rest of the team, we’re only about 5 issues away from the start of the dream sequence that will turn her to evil. (And CC likes her enough to make it so she only becomes evil because she is tricked in a dream.) So I do think it was already planned at this stage, and Claremont recognised that in order to make the reveal more dramatic to the reader, and also to create conflict between the two teams in Inferno, he first had to put the groundwork in by bringing Maddie in as a regular character and making the reader like her more. (On a similar note, I recently read an essay in “Give My Regards To The Atom Smashers” where the writer says how he and other readers were made to love Terra in the Teen Titans, which broke his heart when it then turned out all to be part of Wolfman’s plan and -- 30 year old spoilers! -- she betrays them.)

Keep in mind, though, that as has been pointed out several times, Claremont's dialogue in the Inferno issues and after suggest that Maddie was a good woman before S'ym, while Simonson, implausibly, suggests that Maddie was already evil by this point. Also keep in mind that Harras became editor of the X-Men around the same time that Maddie started going evil. And in X-Factor, Scott's largely treated as responsible for abandoning Maddie until around issue 27, with no hint that she was evil. And in issue 223, the narrator describes Maddie as a "born survivor", which is odd wording if she was a clone. Plus we don't see the "dead" Marauders in issues 221-222. So all the evidence suggests that Harras forced the "Maddie is evil" plot down Claremont's throat around the time Nocenti left.

Someone really needs to conduct a book-length interview with Claremont, surrounded by all the collections of his mutant run, based on the premise that it's all ancient history and he can tell us how the stories were intended to end. Sure, it'll be biased by time, memory and maybe contracts he's signed with Marvel during his multiple returns, but it would be something.

Anyway, I think Claremont's immediate intention was to reclaim Maddie as soon as "X-Factor" became a reality. Both to preserve the integrity of characters he created and to add drama for the existing title [Scott/Jean/Maddie.] Ann Nocenti was still the editor when a miscolored Jane Doe appeared in that San Francisco hospital in #206, and when Maddie woke up in #215 to a dream/memory of walking out of the plane crash surrounded by the Phoenix Force and then being hunted by the Marauders. She was also editor in #221 when Mr. Sinister first appeared to send the Marauders back after Maddie.

#221 was the last issue with Jim Shooter as editor-in-chief. Mr. Sinister was an idea Claremont had been working on since Dave Cockrum was the artist, though it's not clear which run. Bob Harras makes a convenient villain [a lot more believable than Maddie anyway] but he wasn't there until the second Brood story (the one where Sy'm corrupts Maddie) by which point Claremont, Simonsen and Nocenti would have put a lot of thought into the progress of their titles for the next couple years.

This is why Claremont needs to give a career-spanning interview. I see Bob Harras was editing "X-Factor" with #2, and everything is just speculation on how the series was regarded by Marvel editorial in relation to "X-Men," and vice-versa. How much was decided behind-the-scenes? ["Lousy mutant books, always so standoffish."] How much changed when Tom Defalco replaced Jim Shooter? {"Start wrapping up storylines that have been left dangling forever."] How much was internal negotiations? ["If you'll let Louise write, maybe she can get her husband to draw, and with Ann, the four of us will work out a crossover."] How much was Bob Harras the villain? ["Someday, when I'm in charge of the X-Books, we're going to do a story where Madelyne is Dark Phoenix reborn and she's going to show off her amazing rack! BWAH-HAH-HAH!"]

Unfortunately it’s so long ago for Claremont that I doubt he can remember exactly anymore. He gave a few interviews in the early 90s, but yeah not indepth enough for a lot of us who are still there going “why the hell did he write this bit that he never explained?” But I guess that keeps his stuff fascinating, I probably liked other writers’ 80s/early 90s work (Simonson, Miller, Peter David etc) just as much as Claremont’s from the same period, but I obsess over Claremont’s more because the others didn’t leave so many plotholes and odd decisions to wonder about.
I didn’t mention Simonson’s “evil all along” reveal doesn’t really fit with Claremont’s attempt to make her a “victim who was tricked in a dream” because it’s already been gone over. I don’t think the “evil all along” reveal makes any difference to my theory, that when Claremont was writing Maddie in the 221-227 I think he was writing Maddie in the knowledge that he would later have to write her out. He didn’t know that when the time came to write her out, Simonson would put a different spin to it than he did. Really the whole point of Inferno (ignoring the Illyana side of it) was to “fix” the fact that Scott leaving his wife had broken him as a lead hero character, and the way they figured to do that was by claiming it was all somehow Mr Sinister’s fault and that it didn’t matter that Scott left his wife and child, because his wife was a clone and she was evil, and once she was dead he was free to be with the original and we can forget the whole thing. Now obviously that is a very poor fix, but CC’s side of Inferno has a lot of Maddie being justly angry and maybe even in the right (apart from the whole babykilling thing). So I wouldn’t be surprised if Harras told Simonson to put the “evil all along” thing in, because there’s no point doing a whole crossover designed to fix your lead hero character if the crossover is still showing that hero to be at fault.
From the moment X-Factor starts, it will have been clear to editorial that they want to get rid of Maddie somehow, because it makes Scott look bad. It takes 3 years after X-Factor begins for them to establish that Maddie is a clone. I’m not sure exactly when it was decided that she was a clone, and Harras doesn’t take over X-Men until 232, but he’s already been X-Factor editor for sometime at that point and I’m sure it wouldn’t have taken years for Harras to come up with “woman who is exact lookalike of Jean is Jean’s clone”… especially with the suspicious links between Maddie and Jean’s death established in “From The Ashes” and issue 215. (Plus, the lucky coincidence of her surname being explained as a joke about her “prior existence”, rather than a joke about the singer in Steeleye Span.)
As far as I can tell, the very first thing the Marauders do, in 206, is attack Maddie. The Marauders start killing all the Morlocks in 210, and it’s then said that Scalphunter had already killed Morlock babies in 193, but it’s clear this wasn’t what CC was thinking at the time as when he wrote 193 he would have intended the Massacre to be done by the Fury, not by the Marauders. So I think 206 is the first issue where CC was aware he was writing the Marauders, even though they don’t appear yet. After the Massacre, a few other friends and family are attacked, but Maddie is the only one attacked before the Massacre. In 215, we get the confirmation that the Marauders attacked her (and she realises they are taking her baby), and also we get an explicit link between Maddie and the Phoenix, both in the art and in the narration. Before that it could still be considered some cosmic coincidence that Maddie’s plane crash happened at the same time, but the art seems to be implying that the Phoenix may have actually protected Maddie from the crash. And in 221 we get confirmation that Mr Sinister was the person who wiped out records of Maddie’s existence, and that now Maddie has woken up, he’s very worried that she will get in touch with either X-Factor or X-Men and this is of great concern to him. He doesn’t specify exactly what he is worried about, but them finding out some link between himself & Maddie seems the most logical thing he could be worried about. Both teams would already be very interested in getting revenge on the Marauders anyway (the X-Men supposedly already are intending to track down the Marauders) and both teams already know that friends and family have been attacked (both teams know Sara Grey was attacked, the X-Men think all of their friends are being attacked, and X-Factor already know that Maddie’s records have been wiped) so it’s not as if finding out that the Marauders attacked Maddie would have been a big surprise to either team, or make them much more keen on finding the culprits than they already should have been. It’s also worth noting that the whole thing about Maddie’s records being wiped was an X-Factor plot done under Harras. There was no reason CC had to make Mr Sinister behind this. At the time, someone (Cameron Hodge) seemed to be trying to drive Scott mad, and it would be easy to assume that Hodge was behind the records being wiped. (It does seem a bit beyond Hodge’s capability, but so does having his own super-tech militia, owning ruby quartz armour, and being able to contact interdimensional demons, so why not?) So even though Claremont is not edited by Harras at this stage, he’s more than willing to collaborate with X-Factor storylines. Mr Sinister doesn’t try to wipe out anyone else’s records, so what makes Maddie special? And when Mr Sinister told the Marauders to attack her, what happened to her baby? In other words, by issue 221 when Maddie “joins” the team, it’s already been established that she has some real connection to the Phoenix, and that Mr Sinister has a particular interest in her, and possibly her baby too. This all fits in with what is revealed in Inferno. As to why the cloned Marauders don’t appear yet, I think it works better how it happens in 240-241, that it’s established that Mr Sinister can clone the Marauders in the exact same storyline that it’s revealed that Maddie is a clone. If it had already been established in 221 that Mr Sinister was cloning people, it would have been easy for readers to guess what the link between Maddie and Mr Sinister was before they were ready to reveal it.

Michael, you make a good point that in 223 Maddie is described as a “born survivor”. I guess it’s possible CC is using this as some irony for the later reveal, obviously it’s the same formation as saying (for instance) “born leader”, using the definition of “born” as referring to the person “having a particular natural talent or innate character trait” (thank you, Encarta dictionary) rather than literally having been born of another human. But that may be too obscure a joke for CC to make. Either way, he’s not kidding about her being great at surviving. If CC had some connection between Sinister and Maddie and Phoenix but wasn’t thinking of Maddie being a clone at this time, it wouldn’t be outrageous to suggest the Phoenix was her guardian angel watching over her or something. She’s the sole survivor of a plane crash, and not only does she survive but she does so with no long term health issues. (That only one person survives a plane crash and they’re fine? Seems about as likely as getting powers from a radioactive spider.) She is attacked by professional assassins who have no trouble killing hundreds of Morlocks, at least some of whom are superpowered. During the attack, she falls out of a moving vehicle without any major harm, after which she just gets up and fights the assassins, doing well to begin with. These professional assassins then leave her believing her to be dead, a mistake they presumably don’t usually make. The doctors at the hospital comment they weren’t expecting her to survive the night due to blood loss etc, but she does without explanation. When the Marauders then attack the hospital, she gets out of bed and fights them perfectly well before the X-Men turn up, and even continues to fight them afterwards (decking Scrambler and nearly shooting him before she gets interrupted). She then hangs around as a non-powered member of the team, even during dangerous missions where they fight Freedom Force, the Adversary and the Reavers, at no point coming to real harm. This is probably just Claremont making his female characters super-competent rather than something intentional, but really if you think about it, she’s completely a “born survivor”.
It’s true that 232, Harras’ very first issue, has Maddie knocked unconscious, leading to the dream sequence that turns her evil. So it’s clear that either Harras immediately told CC to make Maddie evil, or it had already been decided and possibly Harras told CC to quit dragging his heels and get on with it. There is a reference in 230, at which point Nocenti is still editor, where Maddie says she will do whatever it costs to get revenge on the person who has her baby, and the narration says she should be careful what she wishes for. This could mean anything really, but it does perfectly fit in what eventually happens, that she literally does whatever it costs (making a deal with a demon) and it doesn’t turn out well for her. So it’s possible this was a reference to Inferno even before Harras took over.
I don’t particularly remember it all being portrayed as Scott’s fault before X-Factor 27, from what I recall they tried to portray Maddie as being irrational by jumping straight to “if you leave, I’m never seeing you again” without knowing where he was going to, then Scott dithered too long before looking for Maddie, but when he did do the right thing and try to find Maddie she seemed to be dead and the baby was gone and Scott spent a few issues seemingly going insane. I don’t remember a lot of blame on Scott, beyond Scott (correctly) feeling guilty it had taken him so long.
So even before Harras takes over in 232, we’ve had Maddie attacked (206), a link between Maddie and the Phoenix (215) and a link between Maddie and Mr Sinister (221). So I think by 221 when Maddie joins full time, CC had some plans for Maddie that were not obvious to the reader. Whether the plan was the same “evil clone” plan that is eventually revealed, I don’t know, but he was planning something.
I don’t claim my theory is definitely true, but I do think it makes sense. And if it is true, it shows what a smart writer CC could be with his long plots, building up a character for the audience, in the full knowledge that she will be knocked down.

(For the sake of clarity, the Simonson whose 80s/90s work I mentioned being a big fan of in my first long post was Walt. Sorry, Louise!)

That's one of the great things about long-running storylines, that you have so much time to think about them behind-the-scenes and change them. Claremont had been developing the concept of Mr. Sinister for a long time, and might well have abandoned it if he hadn't suddenly needed a reason for Madelyne to be Scott's ideal woman and still have Jean walking around. The death of Analee's kids was probably intended as prelude to the Mutant Massacre, but that was when the Massacre was still supposed to be conducted by Nimrod/Sir James Jaspers. Claremont had to change his mind as he went along, responding to different circumstances, and one of the things that made him so great was that his stories could handle those kind of changes and he was capable of making them happen.

I like the story of Claremont and Byrne fully plotting together the 'Storm yells at Scott in the Savage Land' sequence, and Byrne draws it exactly the way he thinks it should be done, and when he sees the scripted pages, they're totally different. He complains to Claremont about the changes, and gets the response 'that's just what I felt at the time.' Claremont, as the guy being paid to put the words in these character's mouths, looked at the finished pages and realized that Storm would say something completely different than he or Byrne expected. Scott would respond the way he thought best and Storm would finish it off.

I know it'll never happen, and I agree that Claremont probably wouldn't remember most of this stuff after so long, but I'd at least like to help by making sure there's a stack of Essential X-Men, Classic New Mutants, Classic Excalibur, etc. And give him the space to elaborate, whether on Ms. Marvel storylines, backstage editorial shenanigans or late-night chats in the Bullpen about "Marvel Team-Up." Unless he's totally senile, I think it would be totally worthwhile.

I mean, how many words would it take to explain Rachel? Now there's a character who totally changed when the Jean/Maddie comparisons did, from a skinny Holocaust survivor with a dark past to a trendy, large-breasted spiky leathergirl.

Like reclaiming Maddie, Claremont had Rachel assume the Phoenix Force almost simultaneously with Jean Grey returning from the dead. [Claremont learned the news when he and Barry Windsor-Smith went out to dinner to plot #198. Rachel became Phoenix in #199. Cyclops left the team in #201 after Cable was born, and ditched his family immediately.] Rachel went straight downhill after that - "Secret Wars II" might have helped - and was taken out for a potential limited series in Mojoworld, and didn't become viable again for a couple years.

Seriously, how much would Claremont have to forget to not be able to monologue for a half-hour on what made that happen? Especially when he/the interviewer can point to Selene, Longshot, the M'Kraan Crystal, Saturnyne, etc.

Properly, the form the Adversary was using should be that of the Dire Wrath that was impersonating Naze when the Adversary claimed it in #188. One might argue it had absorbed Naze's psyche, and Rogue absorbed Naze's psyche from it in turn. (Or have I missed something?)

I just can't follow Claremont. Nothing makes sense in his mid 80s stories.

After taking nearly a year off from reading older comics (during which I reconnected with current Marvel, with mixed results), I recently started back, reading Uncanny 220-227 and a few assorted issues of other titles around Fall of the Mutants (last year I read the NM and X-Factor portions of the event, including the non-mutant tie-ins to X-Factor). I gotta say....while I generally like this period, this roster, and this creative team, and I like some of the things they're doing in that particular run of issues, the Storm-Forge-Adversary story took WAY too long to build. It's like, every time I'd see a page focusing on Storm, I'd roll my eyes and set my trade aside to do something else for a little while. It took me like two weeks to get through those eight issues because of how boring the story was (also because I get ooh-shiny'd very easily...like how I finally read Infinity Gauntlet just before Infinity War's release).

Ultimately, while I am fine with the X-Men's space jaunts (as long as they're not TOO frequent, as they definitely were in Claremont's earlier days), I think they are maybe the single worst team to have mystic stories. It just feels incredibly out of place. So we'll see what I think when I get back to Inferno. Here, though, anytime the action in Dallas (or San Francisco, etc.) was going, I loved it. Literally anything with Storm in the mountains or on the other Earth? Totally lame and boring.