In the wake of an epic volcano collapse, UXM 114 starts out with a simple scene of Hank and Jean trapped in an Antarctic blizzard. Brief though it is, the scene highlights a depth of skill and craftsmanship by all creators involved, achieving a rare emotional impact. #xmen 1/12
The opening splash shows a haggard-looking Hank fighting the elements with Jean in his arms. In true Will Eisner style, the hill Beast is climbing forms the stylized title of the issue: “Desolation.” Ice crystals form all across his fur and his face is mired in shadow. 2/12
The previous issue had ended with Hank’s strength failing, causing him to collapse in the snow. The opening splash thus portrays his heroic second wind. Claremont’s narration accentuates this by highlighting Hank’s indomitable will within an utterly doomed enterprise: 3/12
“He should have died hours ago. In fact, he almost had, lying face-down in the snow, sleeping his life away. But something deep within forced him to his feet, forced him to pick up the girl, forced him to start walking across the Antarctic Wastes.” 4/12
“It would have been so easy to stop. But he didn’t. Hank McCoy, Avenger. Jean Grey, X-Man. They need only one thing to survive this night…A miracle!” Interestingly, the choice to list their full names and professions connotes an obituary. 5/12
The reader is primed for this death imagery through the flagrantly misleading (maybe delightfully so) cover which seems to portray a wake and shows all but Hank, Jean, and the Professor as ghosts with the caption “The Day the X-Men Died!” 6/12
Though beautifully pencilled by Byrne and starkly inked by Austin, the MVP of the scene has to be Glynnis Oliver whose myriad of deep blues and then brilliant yellows against the black backdrop create a viscerally immersive blizzard. 7/12
The juxtaposition of fire and ice is also poignantly felt – to escape from lava only to find yourself freezing to death in the dead of night. This dichotomy is revisited when Jean’s fire and light come alive to save them, made all the richer through the contrast. 8/12
That starkness then informs Jean’s reaction to waking up: immediately summoning unfathomable power in a desperate bid to find her teammates. Though she’d later explain that it’s the X-Men she wants to find, her first reaction is to scream “Scott” alone. 9/12
As rescue arrives, Hank pleads with Jean to accept the unthinkable – the X-Men are dead. Turn the page, however, and the truth is revealed, but seeing the depth of Jean and Hank’s grief – which is not resolved for months - keeps the scene from feeling cheap or misleading. 10/12
This transition is also important structurally, signalling a deviation from the compartmentalized story arcs that dominated comics of the time, and still today. Magneto is gone, but the story will just keep moving, first to the Savage Land, then to Japan, then to Calgary. 11/12
All combined, it’s a simple scene with a remarkable volume of craft and innovation on full display. Every piece of the machine connects to create a brief harrowing moment of grief and despair and acceptance that informs the characters and scenes to come for months on end. 12/12
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While the circumstances of Rogue’s absorption of the Carol Danvers persona are surreal and supernatural, they nonetheless provide an intriguing example of the concept of “restorative justice” in a manner that makes a compelling story at the same time. #xmen #rogue 1/9
Restorative justice is a system that focuses on “providing an opportunity for the parties directly affected by the crime – victims, offenders and communities – to identify and address their needs in the aftermath of a crime” instead of simple punishment. 2/9
Though more recently popularized, RJ was commonly practiced by First Nations communities in North America, forming the basis of entire judicial infrastructures (where most Western justice systems, up until recently, focused on the familiar penal structure). 3/9
As a collaborative medium, comics are sometimes denigrated for their committee approach to character-building, but a closer look at the 'committee' behind Wolverine shows how a character like Logan offers a multifaceted connection to creative genius. #xmen #wolverine 1/10
As noted by Marvel historian Sean Howe, Wolverine was first “named and conceived by Roy Thomas, who detected a need to exploit the Canadian market” before being “developed further by Len Wein and John Romita” ahead of Logan’s debut in “The Incredible Hulk.” 2/10
Throw in Claremont, and the pedigree is quite impressive already. Thomas is perhaps best known as the greatest writer of Conan comics, a character that later artists would draw from quite directly in their interpretations of Wolverine. 3/10
In UXM #220, Claremont takes a moment away from a chaotic era to touch back upon the longstanding, well-evolved relationship between Storm and Wolverine, giving readers another character-revealing scene between this iconic X-Men duo. #xmen #wolverine #storm 1/9
The scene initiates a journey of self-discovery for Ororo, one of many throughout the series but this one will specifically create the rising action for the “Fall of the Mutants’’ event. She has to go alone, but someone has to lead the X-Men in her absence. She recruits Logan 2/9
The power dynamic is foreshadowed in the simple fact that Wolverine (an archetypal hunter) has literally scaled the highest mountain to be alone, but it doesn’t matter. Even without her powers, Ororo has tracked him down. 3/9
In an introductory essay penned in 1980, John Byrne recounts his personal perspective on Jean Grey and her transformation to Phoenix. His candid account paints a less grandiose view on the cultivation of the character within the series than we normally hear. #xmen #JeanGrey 1/7
“I’ve never liked Phoenix. There, I said it...It’s not that I don’t like Jean Grey. I have an abiding fondness for readheads, and have been in love with Jean since we first ‘met,’ about a millions years ago when I was 13.” 2/7
“Granted that her power were not nearly as spectacular as Cyclops’, or Angel’s, or even Iceman’s, but she looked real good in a tight uniform and could – and did – serve to get the X-Men out of tight places.” 3/7
Placing Kitty Pryde into the position of viewpoint character has to represent one of the most groundbreaking decisions within the entirety of the Claremont run – a move that ultimately impacted the series, comics as a whole, and even Western media in powerful ways. #xmen 1/10
The Claremont run begins with Cyclops as the main viewpoint character. Kitty joins the team right at his departure and soon enough takes over as a main viewpoint character for the rest of her tenure, as reflected in our data (noting that Kitty’s only on for 70ish issues). 2/10
At the time of her arrival, Claremont had already executed a turn toward more adult-oriented stories (something that becomes even more pronounced after the death of an X-Man in DPS). It’s therefore perhaps odd to bring on a teen protagonist. 3/10
Despite having all manner of characters (good and evil) express romantic interest in her, Storm’s first canonical love is Forge, a possibly counter-intuitive choice. But this might be the point, as Forge can better connect Ororo to her humanity. #xmen 1/10
Storm is routinely courted (or abducted – or both) by the wealthiest, most powerful beings on the planet/cosmos. She could be a queen, a goddess, a vampire, you name it, but she rejects all of these suitors out of concern for her own independence. 2/10
When asked in interview why it took so long for Storm to receive a relationship partner, Claremont would often reply “because nobody was good enough for her.” 3/10