Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 10

Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men #10

by Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr. (Illustrator), Barry Windsor-Smith (Illustrator)

John Romita Jr. joins Chris Claremont as the Uncanny X-Men's chart-topping adventures continue! Drama abounds as Cyclops heads off on his honeymoon with Madelyne Pryor, Wolverine's relationship with Mariko takes a turn for the worse, and Kitty Pryde is kidnapped and forced to marry the Morlock Caliban. Meanwhile, Rogue is public enemy number one and anti-mutant sentiment threatens the passage of a law that will strip every mutant in the United States of their rights. There's no shortage of action either: Colossus battles Juggernaut, Mystique and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants return, Rachel Summers arrives on the scene, and the Dire Wraiths attack. Topped off by Claremont and Barry Windsor-Smith's stunning classic story "Lifedeath" and the Magik miniseries, there's no shortage of mutant masterworks!

COLLECTING: UNCANNY X-MEN (1981) 176-188, MAGIK (1983) 1-4, MATERIAL FROM MARVEL FANFARE (1982) 40

Genres: Comics, X Men, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Collections

430 pages, Hardcover

First published February 8, 2017

About the author

Chris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.

Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.

Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite era of X-Men continues, with John Romita, Jr. taking over from Paul Smith on the art duties.

This collection contains what may just be my favourite X-Men story of all time: ‘He’ll Never Make Me Cry…’ Despite the title, there were definitely tears in this reader’s eyes… gets me every time…

4.7 stars.

[Sjgomzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the era of X-men from my teen years that made me fall in love with this book. Claremont is at the peak of his powers here, and I always loved John Romita Jr’s take on this team. Perfection.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m probably under the influence of having already enjoyed these issues as a teenager but I really do think they aged well and still stand proudly on their own.

This volume is somewhat perturbed by 2 cross overs (Secret War and Rom) but it luckily doesn’t really affect the series. The 2 main characters focused on are Rogue- with an excellent and poignant issue where she’s overwhelmed by Carol Danvers personality- and Storm-who happens to lose her powers- with again a somptuous issue drawn by Barry Windsor Smith. These very personal dramas are wonderfully crafted by Chris Claremont. This early 80’s period was when he was at his peak imo.

John Romita Jr is on the drawing board and he does a truly excellent job, all the more when inked by Dan Green who adds his talent to the art. Comparing with Bob Wiacek’s lines, one can easily see the latter his perfect for artists such as Paul Smith when Romita Jr needs the likes of Dan Green or Klaus Janson.

The Magik mini series is very good as well-though I see in other reviews she’s not as much appreciated. I had never read it before and was agreably surprised that despite being wordy-that’s Chris Claremont for you, bub- it was a quite good pov of Illyana’s growing up as Belasco’s apprentice.
I think the problem lays in John Buscema and then Ron Frenz (who copies the master’s style with some talent, aided by Tom Palmer’s inks). Do not mistake me, I profoundly respect Buscema but I don’t think his style was best suited to illustrate this story.

Still, a very good Masterworks volume.

[Rob Marney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Romita run is underappreciated next to Byrne, Cockrum and Smith, probably because Claremont wanted to tell smaller, more focused stories, but it contains some of the strongest individual moments of the entire series. Rogue and Storm are the focus here, fighting their own guilt, their own emotions, and the climactic loss of Storm's powers. Colossus struggles with his new crush, leading to the classic bar fight with Juggernaut. Claremont keeps introducing new characters too - Rachel and Forge, both now X-Men mainstays, are suitably mysterious and untrustworthy, while the team fights a variety of shape-shifters, mind-twisters and liars. Romita's personal touch on Spiderman is perfect for these interior moments.

Now, these stories aren't perfect. The villains are clearly Claremont trying to make the best of multiple editorially mandated crossovers​, and Selene's ridiculous suite of mystic abilities is a bad match for the X-Men's grounded, fair powers, setting a precedent for future villains like Mojo, Sinister and Hodge to operate on nightmare logic alone. Even Rachel comes in at the wrong time, in a series that really didn't need another fragile, confused young woman right now. But the highs are just incredible. Rogue's talk with Rossi moved me to tears, and the emotional roller coaster of Lifedeath is famous for good reason. Even the backup story with Storm and a very glam Mystique is great.

[Roybot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a definite mixed bag, but the highlights here overshadow the low by a wide margin. While it's nice to finally see the back story about what, exactly, happened to Magik and how she was aged up, it's kind of a long, verbose, boring story. We get a couple of "slice of superhero life" moments as the X-Men return from the Secret Wars and Cyclops and his new wife, Madelyne, have some plane trouble and fight a shark and a giant octopus (that Cyclops mistakes for a squid; but I won't hold that against him too much, since it was actively trying to kill him at the time). Amusingly, this volume both begins and ends with an mutant being attacked by a shark, as Magneto finally turns up, post Secret War, floating in an ocean conveniently discovered by one of Cyclops' previous love interests, Lee, and her fishing boat.

This volume also contains the wonderful Lifedeath issues, where Storm and Forge meet, and Storm loses her powers, and the classic "Juggernaut and Colossus get into a bar fight" issue.

This is still solidly in the "classic Claremont" era of X-Men, and when the focus is on the "mutant underdogs struggling in a world that fears and hates them" or on the Claremont style soap opera stuff, it's great. The forced intrusions by Secret War and the fairly dull Magik series break up the book's momentum, but this is otherwise a very solid X-men entry.

[Cameron H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not gonna lie, reading these in order really does give you an appreciation for Wolverine.

I know, I’m as shocked as you.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

what an absolutely stunning collection of stories........ jaw on the floor

[Bill Coffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Claremont's legendary run on the Uncanny X-Men is largely collected in a 12-volume (and counting) set in the Marvel Masterworks series that takes us through some of the most pivotal stories in X-Men lore. (As of volume 12, it gets up to Uncanny X-Men #200.) Here we see the launch of a new X-Men team that includes, over time, Cyclops, Jean Grey/Phoenix, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Rogue and many others. The stories include some of the most iconic in X-Men history, including the Hellfire Club saga, the Dark Phoenix saga, Days of Future Past and the Trial of Magneto. All told, the Marvel Masterworks - Uncanny X-Men series is must-read material for anyone who wishes to dive deeply into the rich (and often difficult to navigate) history of the X-Men. It is must-read material for anyone who wants to get a taste for what it was like during a period of time when the X-Men grew from an also-ran Marvel title into one of the greatest superhero tentpole franchises of all time. And if all that isn't enough, within these volumes are some of the most enjoyable writer/artist pairings you'll find from this era of Marvel comics, including Claremont's epic collaborations with John Byrne, Dan Green and John Romita, Jr. Within these volumes are stories that continue to resonate today, tales that beyond beyond people in colorful tights punching each other out and into an ongoing commentary on what it means to be hated for one's nature, on what it means to protect those who see you as an enemy, and what it means to live with heroic dignity in a world committed to stripping that very thing from you. These are some of the finest comic book stories ever published. They are deeply fun to read, and most of all, they are an important chapter of a beloved medium.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always tricky to know how much an editor at Marvel influenced a book - particularly during the Jim Shooter years, where Shooter's own somewhat overbearing editorial preferences were as likely to be a factor as any creator/editor relationship. When people talk about Ann Nocenti's contribution to the X-Men, it's generally as a creator - she came up with Longshot, Spiral, and the Mojoverse (and should probably have been the only person to do Mojoverse stories, but that's a gripe for another review).

But Nocenti's stint as X-Men editor, which starts with this volume's #183, coincides with the book's stint as the undisputed heavyweight sales champion of the Marvel line, which also happens to be its most idiosyncratic, free-wheeling phase. Chris Claremont's preferences and eccentricities as a writer were firmly in place already - his love of dangling plots, soap-opera subplots, genre mash-ups and enormous casts. The last couple of years of X-Men had shifted the comic firmly away from a superhero story about superheroes towards a more science-fiction story about multiple factions of superpowered mutants under existential threat - in other words, the mode X-Men has used ever since, with brief exceptions.

Editors before Nocenti showed signs of reining Claremont in, encouraging some traditional superheroic guardrails - discrete stories, identifiable primary antagonists - even as his style developed. His editor after Nocenti - Bob Harras - initially let Claremont do what he wanted except when it was crossover time, before clamping down and bringing about the end of the era. It feels safe to say that Ann Nocenti was Claremont's most sympathetic editor, not just indulging his idiosyncrasies but encouraging them.

You can speculate on whether this was a pragmatic choice - chances are the best selling comic in the line is already doing plenty right; why not do more of it? Or a more positive one - a young, feminist, extremely intelligent, strongly politically aware woman with no very heartfelt interest in superheroes, whose own storytelling tends to the highly symbolic, is exactly the kind of person to encourage Claremont to go further, faster and harder away from traditional Marvel comics.

Whatever the case, the X-Men under Nocenti's editorship and during Claremont's commercial peak is a wonderfully messy comic - sometimes frustrating, occasionally downright bad but more often compelling, surprising and delightful in its productive chaos. The cast becomes porous, the team fluid, characters shift sides - but more often start questioning the idea of sides in the first place. Storylines slip around, often feeling almost directionless but always coming to an unexpected crescendo that feels more organic than an 'event'.

More than anything else, for these to be the best selling comics in America remains a very weird outcome. Something like "Lifedeath" is a deeply strange hit comic. It's a romance issue between two broken people, drawn beautifully and lyrically by Barry Windsor-Smith, which is also a middle part of a multi-part story about the government's attempt to bring in Rogue and its consequences, which is ALSO an unannounced crossover with, of all things, toy tie-in ROM: SPACEKNIGHT.

Why is Claremont happy to use the Dire Wraiths as his antagonists? Because of their thematic coherence with the rest of the storyline - they steal identities, as does Mystique, as does Rogue herself, and they're pitted against Storm and Forge, both undergoing multiple identity crises, though the depth of Forge's isn't explicit until years later. Plus they're magical, which at this point in his run suits Claremont very well - he was apparently fascinated by the occult around this time anyway, but he also loves the potential for possession, corruption, exploring the hidden reverses of the people he's writing about. (This volume also contains the Magik miniseries, which delves into this stuff at length: I talked about that one in a New Mutants review elsewhere)

The result is a story that swings between tense, sharply choreographed action - the river scenes where Storm loses her powers - and a world of lies, chaos, and fluidity. Forge's penthouse is a chaotic environment inside (thanks to his holograms) and outside (thanks to another unannounced crossover, this time with Thor) and the comic revels in its sudden wild looseness. By the end of this volume we're a world away from the clean lines of Byrne or even Paul Smith, and the relatively straightforward dilemmas of the Phoenix saga.

Not content with storytelling chaos, Claremont is merrily expanding his cast. The focus is on Storm, Rogue and Forge - one new character, one new-ish one, and one exploring a radical shift in identity. To them he adds Rachel Summers, freshly arrived from an alternate future, who simply tumbles into the cast without that much fanfare and becomes one more plate to spin and mystery to eventually solve.

I love the back half of this volume, but I think in general fans prefer the more stable stories in the first section, with new penciller John Romita Jr (who turns out to be a terrific fit for the chaos of Forge's Eyrie and the gross solidity of the Wraiths) settling in. The Morlocks sequel isn't up to the standards of the Storm v Callisto story, but almost nothing is: it's still good. And there's an excellent one-issue Rogue spotlight which introduces the idea that "Carol Danvers" lives on as a sub-personality - again, something that pays off years later.

This volume also includes the bookends to the X-Men's Secret Wars experience, a series in which they're horribly characterised by Shooter but which does the useful work of finally scotching the Kitty/Colossus relationship. The aftermath issue of that is justifiably seen as one of the series' high points - pages devoted to an awkward teenage break-up which segues into a bar-room brawl between Colossus and a passing Juggernaut. Romita's obvious joy in drawing two massive dudes pummelling each other, and the enormous property damage they cause, is one of those moments where an artist really 'arrives' on a series they'll make their own. That story also happens to be Nocenti's first as editor. It's 1984, and the X-Men are in delightfully unsafe hands.

[Crazed8J8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting mix of stories in this collection. The Magik mini gives us some valuable insight into Illyana's time in Belasco's realm. In the X- books, we get to see John Romita, Jr come on board as the artist and see some weird tales, including Cykes honeymoon adventure, Storm losing her powers, intro of Forge, and Rogue trying to fit into the team. It's a mishmash of stories, but mostly all done, and for sure advanced the lore of the x-men!

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solucionadas en el tomo anterior las cuestiones relacionadas con Madelyne Pryor, en este tomo vamos a ver como la Patrulla-X se dirige hacia los dos grandes eventos del momento, Secret Wars y la guerra contra los Fantasmas Espaciales que habían saltado de la colección Rom a todas las del universo Marvel. Y lo harían con dibujos de John Romita Jr, que poco a poco iría dejando de parecerse a Paul Smith para ir cogiendo su propio rollo, y su propio estilo.

Estas primeras historias de Romita se van a centrar en Tormenta, Kitty y la incorporación de Pícara al grupo, que poco a poco tendrá que irse ganando la confianza de sus compañeros. El tomo abrirá con la luna de miel de Cíclope y Madelyne, que se las tendrán que ver con tiburones y un pulpo gigante (no pueden tener un día tranquilo también estos pobres), mientras el equipo, liderado por Tormenta y formado por Rondador, Coloso, Lobezno, Pícara y Kitty, se van a ver emboscados por la Hermandad de Mutantes Diabólicos de Mística que trata de recuperar a Pícara, en un conflicto que dejará a un muy malherido Coloso, y a Kitty en manos de los Morlocks, que intentarán que cumpla su promesa de casarse con Caliban, aunque será finalmente este el que la libere y la permita volver a la superficie... y así solucionar sus problemas con Tormenta (Kitty no había llevado nada bien el cambio de look ni el cambio de actitud de esta), y lo van a hacer justo a tiempo, ya que mientras Kitty acompaña a Doug Ramsey a la Academia de Massachussetts, como se vio en Nuevos Mutantes, la Patrulla-X va a ser uno más de los equipos de superhéroes en ser llevados (Profesor Xavier incluido) al Mundo de Batalla del Todopoderoso durante las Secret Wars.

A su regreso, la Patrulla-X aterrizará en Japón, donde tendrán que hacer frente a la dragona con la que Lockheed se había emparejado en el Mundo de Batalla, y que en nuestro mundo tiene un tamaño muy distinto y va a causar grandes daños en Tokio. Y mientras el grupo combate en Japón, Pícara va a volar hacia Nueva York para comprobar el estado de Kitty, pero se va a encontrar con un mensaje en el contestador de Michael Rossi, un viejo aliado de Carol Danvers... y la parte de su mente que es Carol Danvers la va a llevar a infiltrarse en el Helitransporte para rescatar a Rossi (que ni la conoce), consiguiendo así que el departamento de Seguridad convierta a Pícara en su objetivo número uno, y que va a irse gestando con la aparición de nuevos personajes, como Valerie Cooper, enlace del gobierno para asuntos mutantes, o Forja, un mutante que trabaja para el gobierno de Estados Unidos utilizando sus poderes para desarrollar tecnología militar, entre ellos, un arma que puede privar a cualquiera de sus poderes... y que va a despertar también el interés de los Fantasmas del Espacio, ya que consideran que con el tiempo, el arma de Forja podría ser una amenaza para sus intereses.

Tras un breve encontronazo entre Coloso y el Juggernaut que parece servir para que Coloso salga del estado de estupor en el que ha quedado sumido tras la muerte de Zsaji en Secret Wars y su ruptura con Kitty al volver a la Tierra, y la aparición de Rachel (Summers) y Selene, vamos a llegar al punto cúspide de este tomo, con las fuerzas gubernamentales atacando a Pícara y Tormenta, y esta última, recibiendo por error un disparo destinado a Pícara con el arma experimental de Forja y que va a dejar a Tormenta sin poderes de forma indefinida...

Y que a nivel de cómic, nos va a dejar con Muerte Viva, una historia escrita por Chris Claremont y dibujada por Barry Windsor Smith, en la que Tormenta tendrá que rehacerse después de haber perdido sus poderes, y lo hará junto a Forja, estableciéndose el inicio de la relación entre estos dos personajes, que con la ayuda de Naze, el maestro chamán de Forja, tendrán que hacer frente a un ataque por parte de las Brujas, que buscan la muerte de Forja y de todos aquellos que se encuentran en el Nido del Águila, el refugio de Forja en Dallas.

En fin, un tomo con mucho de todo, y que quizá al verse interrumpido por Secret Wars y el tema de los Fantasmas (aunque como es habitual Claremont sabe sacar provecho incluso de sus obligaciones), donde quizá no veamos al mejor John Romita Jr del mundo, pero que va cumpliendo, sin duda.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

My last big Claremont read ended prior to this, so Romita Jr's start has a little more dust on it. A very little.

I think an argument could be made for this era of X-Men being a little more wandering and boring. (After Massacre it may be wandering and crazy.) I think that was my argument in college when I was collecting these in the Essential trades. It doesn't have the pizzazz of the early days. It doesn't have the art of Byrne or Smith. The team is reducing from its All-New, All-Different days.

Yet this stretch adds a lot of humanity to the mainstays. And we get some new bodies that may not be as big of names, but are more than worthy additions to the mutant menagerie.

And there's some really solid issues in this collection.

The Colossus/Juggernaut bar fight
Lifedeath
Rogue losing herself in Carol's memories

JRJr's art will never be my favorite, and I prefer him more on Spidey and DD, than these team books. But especially once Dan Green starts inking him, the art is effectively solid.

The collection does suffer a hair from the intrusion of outside Marvel events. Secret Wars isn't too bad, unless you really favor a specific relationship.... But the Dire Wraiths War bleeding over from ROM while not terrible (in my opinion) feels out of sync with the X. It can easily disorient a reader.

Maybe my favorite bit is Rachel. Sadly, I know her resolution in the pages of Uncanny is a dud, but despite that (or perhaps in defiance of that) she stands as one of my favorite characters in the medium. Bearing the scars of the outcome of mutant persecution, she is the battle of the light and darkness of their struggle. In this collection she takes her first steps and so I will always love these stories for that fact.

[Lance Grabmiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reliving my youth again. Contains Magick #1-4 (December 1983-March 1984), The Uncanny X-Men #176-188 (December 1983-December 1984), part of Marvel Fanfare #40 (October 1988) and some other odds and ends. I did not read the Magick stuff because I read those in the Uncanny X-men Omnibus Vol. 3 a couple of months ago.

After the long, complicated and epic stories in the previous Omnibus, these are more down to earth (literally). Much more about Chris Claremont's great, if occasionally angsty, character development. Despite the more low-key nature of this collection, there are some important events which will shape the X-men comics for years to come, such as Storm's loss of her powers (and the beginning of her rocky relationship with Forge), Rachel Summers showing up in the present (though an incorrect timeline for her), Rogue's further development as an integral part of the team and the rise of Selene to become The Black Queen in the Hellfire Club. The Lifedeath story is still pretty incredible for the time in mainstream superhero comics. Almost 100% just a conversation between two people falling into and out of love (Storm and Forge).

One begins to get a whiff of what, many years later, became a real headache for collectors and completionists. Almost every issue references a story in the Secret Wars event, The New Mutants comics or a past plot point from the main X-men line. As the many X-men offshoots blossomed exponentially and the series had almost endless crossover, it became a headache, but here it is still phenomenal world-building from a tight knit team of writers, artists and editors who love the characters and the stories. This is part of the reason that its real nice to read The New Mutants side-by-side like I'm doing now (though I'm a few months ahead of this collection in The New Mutants books).

[LibrarianMel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of the issues in this collection were new to me, which was very exciting. Through the years, I've caught up on a lot of the story threads, but it was nice to read the full original content. These issues also contain the beginning of John Romita Jr. on the X-men, which, by the 90s and my introduction to comics and the X-men was not particularly enjoyable to me, in these earlier days, is much more pleasant to me. I think it boils down to the linework as shadows for me, by the 90s there are lines ev-er-ree-where and my eye reads that as dirty. Everything looks dirty and messy.

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris Claremont continues to demonstrate his talent for writing relatable characters with just the right balance of teen angst and wish-fulfillment fantasy, and John Romita Jr's artwork develops it's own unique style very quickly. A lot of this material will seem dated to modern sensibilities, but for anyone who was a teenager in the 1980s it's a delight.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main villains of this arc, the dire wraiths, are kind of weak. They're body snatching aliens, which should be cool but just feels like a pale imitation of the Brood.

However, everything else in this volume is great and two excellent characters are introduced: Forge and Rachel Summers, Scott and Jean's daughter from a dystopian future.

[Andri Nugraha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Resep menulis komik ala Chris Claremont makin kentara: drama ala sinetron plus aksi. Dalam banyak segi, porsi drama ini justru jauh lebih banyak, menjadikan X-Men sebagai judul paling sukses pada masanya.
Di buku ini juga kita bisa lihat debut penampilan Rachel Summers, Valerie Cooper, dan Forge.

[Chad Heeren · Rating 5 out of 5]

X-Men at its finest.

[Shoumik Hassin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe that Storm has secretly been the absolute best X-Man and I didn't know about it.

[spanning skylines · Rating 4 out of 5]

That Magik series was roughhhh

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claremont was the architect of the X-Men's 80's ascendancy, and this volume collects so many moments of mutant drama that you will want to time travel back to the days of the spinner racks!!!!