Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 7

Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men #7

by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum (Illustrator), Mike Golden (Illustrator)

It's a lucky seventh volume chock full of memorable X-Men moments by the classic creator combo of Claremont and Cockrum! First up, Kitty's leaving the School For Gifted Youngsters. Her new academic destination? The Massachusetts Academy, run by none other than Emma Frost, the Hellfire Club's White Queen – setting up the inevitable showdown between the X-Men and Sebastian Shaw's minions, with a classic, no-holds-barred, Storm/Emma catfight in the clouds! Next, it's the immortal "Kitty's Fairy Tale," a storybook fantasy that introduced Kitty's loyal pet dragon, the lovable Lockheed! Then, the first half of the all-time great "Brood Saga," with four-issues of space operatics starring the Starjammers, the Shi'Ar, and those disgusting parasites from beyond the outer limits, the Brood! Topping off this marvelous mutant Masterworks is the return of Rogue and Mystique's Evil Mutants and the coming of Dracula in a tale only Bill Sienkiewicz could draw! Throw in a double-sized annual team-up with the X-Men and Fantastic Four combining forces against the Badoon, and, just because we love ya, Avengers Annual #10, featuring the first appearance of Rogue and her pivotal meeting with Ms. Marvel, and this is indeed the most masterful way to start off a blockbuster new year of Marvel Masterworks! Collecting UNCANNY X-MEN #151-159, X-MEN ANNUAL #5 & AVENGERS ANNUAL #10

Genres: Comics, X Men, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

287 pages, Hardcover

First published January 26, 2011

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 4 out of 5]

I said in my ‘review’ of the previous volume that Chris Claremont seemed to flounder a little after his co-plotter John Byrne left the book. Fortunately, by the time you get past the first few issues collected in this volume, he’s firing all cylinders again.

This is classic stuff. This might sound daft if you haven’t read it but the highlight of this volume is the X-Men’s clash with Dracula!

[Tom Ewing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chris Claremont's love of long-range plotting is well known, but there's also sometimes a distinct feeling that the subplots are an insurance policy, a way of jump-starting the comic when inspiration is at a lower ebb. Keep enough pots simmering and something will be ready when your hungry readers arrive. Claremont also liked large casts, which had a similar effect - strike disparate characters off one another on a monthly basis and you might get a spark.

Or you might not. Whatever the method, this stretch of X-Men comics feels listless, like Claremont and his collaborators are shuffling ideas and characters around in a kind of holding pattern, looking for an idea which has momentum. The storytelling has lost some of its fluency - particularly in the multi-part Deathbird/Shi'Ar storyline, Claremont's habit of on-panel peril and off-panel resolution starts to get tiresome. Plus there's the Dark Phoenix hangover - it only took 10 or so issues for the book to start trading on its newfound rep as The Comic That Killed A Main Character, and that continues here, with fake-out deaths (and fake-out "she's baaaack" covers) aplenty.

Still, there are themes and ideas here and Claremont's character work is as strong as ever when it clicks. Sometimes it even meshes with the action - the best sequence is the dogfight in Manhattan between Cyclops and Corsair and the Sidri (an alien race whose flat black design only comics could really pull off), with the stark differences in the two men's approach to combat and risk acting as an analogue for Cyclops' deeply mixed feelings on discovering Corsair is his Dad.

For most of the volume, though, Claremont doesn't seem especially interested in the cast he's spent five years turning into stars. If this stretch of X-Men has any particular focus it's on two characters, one of whom - Carol Danvers - is totally new to the book. Claremont wrote Ms Marvel before the X-Men took off and a lot of his focus here is on coming to Carol's rescue after her (notoriously awful, even by comics standards) treatment as a star in Avengers. Ties cut with her old team, she's integrated here into the X-Men supporting cast.

Hindsight makes it impossible to read the Carol-focused issues free of the knowledge that the deranged brat who steals Carol's powers goes on to be the linchpin of 90s X-Men, but it's impressive how spiteful Rogue is here - Claremont is going all-in on having the readers despise her and be as shocked as the cast will be when she makes a face turn. Meanwhile, it's a mark of how free Claremont's reins were that he's able to use Marvel's newly top-selling comic to deal with all this unfinished business.

That freedom also shows in the treatment of the book's star, and the fact she is, unarguably, the star at this point. This phase of X-Men is the Kitty Pryde show. The Magneto showdown in #150 (at the end of Vol 6) set long-term wheels spinning for Magneto but in the short term its main effect was to cement Kitty as the centre of the comic - both a point of view character for the story and a more abstract promise that the X-Men would continue to change and take risks.

That role for Kitty at the team's heart drives a lot of the storytelling here: when Storm gets body-swapped by Emma Frost and later seduced by Dracula (Claremont at his most Claremont) it's Kitty, not any of her older friends, who establishes Ororo's bona fides and brings her back. Kitty is central to the Shi'Ar storyline, and most famously there's a whole issue devoted to her bedtime story retelling of Dark Phoenix: like most of Claremont's whimsical stories it works better as part of a larger-scale read.

Unavoidably, there's also the subplot about her crush on Colossus, and yes, it's grim that the same comic which rightfully scours the Avengers for enabling abuse is also happy to have Kitty's teammates telling a 14 year old girl how hot her adult colleague is going to find her new outfit. The crush from Kitty's perspective is better handled than I remember, though, and *most* of the time Claremont and Cockrum pull off the (apparently difficult for comics) trick of dealing with teenage sexuality without sexualising it. Making a teenage girl the centre of the most popular comic on the stands is a truly bold move: this era of X-Men shows the possibilities but also some of the pitfalls.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This classic volume of Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men run was a blast to read. It had so much packed into 9 issues and 2 Annuals.

We have the first appearance of Rogue! Guest appearance by the Fantastic Four, Tigra (of the Avengers), and Jarvis the Butler.

There is a Freaky Friday kind of body swap, space adventure with alien invasion, fairy tales, swashbucklers, Dracula, and even a "Cyclops, I am your father!" moment that could have come straight from the Star Wars films.

This set of issues also started the gears turning to tie the X-Men more deeply into the larger Marvel continuity with the anti-mutant politics, the involvement of Carol Danvers (former Ms. Marvel), and the crossovers with the Avengers.

Last, but definitely not least, the first salvo of the famous Brood saga is chronicled here. This is the beginning of the end for the lighter X-Men fare. After this (beginning with issue 160), the X-Men take a dark turn that they have never really pulled out of since.

Comics fans, fans of the X-Men movies, fans of space adventures, you should all consider going back and giving this a read.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Villain-era Rogue looks awful, not sure what they were thinking with that hairdo. I like that they fight Dracula in a one-off issue just because. We need to bring back random one-off issues in superhero comics!

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume includes the introduction of Rogue, though she won't join the X-Men for a while yet, and the beginning of the Brood Saga. Surprisingly, one of my favourite issues was "Night Screams," in which the X-Men fight Dracula. It is extremely silly but in a delightful kind of way.

[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.

[M. J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few notes on this collection:
▪️ What Chris Claremont did for Carol Denvers in the first story of this volume, fixing and calling out the messed up story line of her pregnancy and abuse in the Avengers, was a remarkable move. I'm already a fan of the man, but I'm still impressed with how much he seems to care for the characters. He managed to turn a misstep into a point of reflection on how sexual violence is perceived and accepted making Carol the protagonist of her own story (Avengers Annual #10);
▪️ (Issues #154 - #158) The Shi'ar are just the worst intergalactic bird empire ever, their Empress is kidnapped and brought to another planet and their executive decision is blowing up said planet? Just bad planning honestly, how were they able to conquer so many galaxies with that mindset I wonder. That whole thing turned out to be yet another Shi'ar backstabbing story, pretty cool team fighting scenes (kudos to Dave Cockrum on the art department), but I missed the character development Claremont is so good at;
▪️ The stories had a lot of foreshadowing (Chris' usual long game approach, preparing the ground) for the Brood Saga coming up soon, can't wait to read that, I love those savage alien cockroaches;
▪️ (#159) The story of Dracula falling in love with Storm and Kitty dressed as a vampire hunter solving the case just proved how fun and relevant an addition Kitty was to the team;
▪️ There were a few other tales in the collection that didn't click for me, like the Annual with the Fantastic Four (X-Men Annual #5) and Kitty's fairy tale (#153), a beloved story that I'd probably love as kid. Nevertheless it's always a good time reading this marvelous run.

[Josh Pilch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” as one of the great crowning achievements in comics, and probably my favorite comics story ever. But the mind-blowing thing is that Chris Claremont’s skills are so varied and constantly evolving, that he continues to hit new highs consistently moving past “Dark Phoenix”. A revenge story, a space story, a political espionage story, a story which simultaneously revived the character of Carol Danvers (an absolutely essential piece of the Marvel universe) and introduces Mystique and Rogue (absolutely essential pieces of the X-Men universe), and, of course, a story where Kitty Pryde delightfully imagines all the X-Men as swashbuckling fairytale heroes.

Great to see Dave Cockrum’s art back, as well as a slew of other great artists!

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writer Chris Claremont begins a return to form with the stories in this volume, balancing often absurd action/adventure (Dracula? Really?) with the character beats that set his work above most of his contemporaries.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 3 out of 5]

Y con este tomo, además de la primera parte de la Saga del Nido, vamos a tener algunos de los episodios autoconclusivos más famosos de toda la historia de la Patrulla-X: Era Nochebuena y El Cuento de Hadas de Kitty. En el primero, Kitty Pryde se queda sola en Nochebuena en la Escuela, y va a tener que hacer frente a un demoniaco cazador N'Garai, en un remedo de Alien, que se había estrenado solo unos años antes. Y en el segundo, Kitty va a contar un cuento de hadas a Illyana, la hermana pequeña de Coloso y que estaba con la Patrulla-X desde que fuera secuestrada por los seguidores de Arcade en el tomo anterior, en el que va a reflejar de forma mágica a sus compañeros de la Patrulla-X.

Al margen de estos dos episodios independientes, en este tomo la Patrulla-X va a vivir su segundo enfrentamiento con el Club Fuego Infernal, esta vez con Emma Frost, que utiliza sus poderes telepáticos para intercambiar su cuerpo con Tormenta y emboscar a la Patrulla-X en la propia Escuela, utilizando a los Centinelas del Proyecto Amanecer, que Sebastian Shaw coordina junto al gobierno de los EE.UU, mientras Tormenta queda encerrada en el cuerpo de Frost. Y posteriormente, vamos a ver el primer encuentro de la Patrulla-X con el Nido, una raza de depredadores cósmicos que parecen haberse aliado con la hermana de Lilandra, Ave de Muerte, para dar un golpe de estado en el Imperio Shi'ar, lo que pondrá en peligro la Tierra, y llevará a que la Patrulla se una a los Saqueadores Estelares y a que Cíclope, de vuelta en el grupo, descubra que Corsario es su padre. Con el profesor Xavier en coma debido a lo que parece ser algún tipo de infección externa, la Patrulla-X volverá a la Tierra brevemente, lo que permitirá que Lobezno, Tormenta y Carol Danvers (la antigua Miss Marvel, que había perdido sus poderes en Vengadores), se infiltren en el Pentágono para borrar los archivos de la Patrulla-X, enfrentándose allí a Mística y Pícara (en su primera aparición en la Patrulla-X, aunque ya se la había visto en Vengadores); y luego vivir un par de números un tanto "místicos", que contarían con el dibujo de un Bill Sienkiewicz que ya comenzaba a acercarse a la órbita mutante después de su exitosa etapa en Caballero Luna y su paso por Los Cuatro Fantásticos antes de que llegara Byrne, y donde tendríamos la aparición del mismísimo Drácula y su enfrentamiento con la Patrulla-X (que se había instalado en la base de Magneto en las Bermudas para escapar del sentimiento antimutante creciente en los EE.UU) para convertir a Tormenta en una vampira; y luego el viaje de la Patrulla-X al Limbo para rescatar a Kitty e Illyana de mano del hechicero demoniaco Belasco, lo que resultará en el crecimiento apresurado de Illyana, que pasa de ser una niña a una adolescente de la edad de Kitty.

Y como veis, sigue siendo una etapa llena de cosas, con muchísimos acontecimientos en cada tomo, algo que va a ser significativo durante toda la etapa de Claremont, con historias que se abren y se abren, pero que no terminan de cerrarse, y que van a ir apareciendo y desapareciendo en una gran historia río, y que es historia de los cómics.

[Tshepiso · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always great to get back into Claremont X-Men especially after a long break from the comics.

This volume opens with the Avengers Annual #10. While it's most remembered for being the first appearance of Rogue what most fascinated me about the comic was everything Chris Claremont was doing with Carol Danvers. The story is her reintroduction after the infamously terrible Avengers #200. Here Claremont attempts and, in my opinion, succeeds at giving Carol the agency and empathy that was robbed from her in that story. It forefronts the callousness of the way her sexual assault and forced impregnation was treated in comics at the time. The directness of her final monologue to the Avengers felt like an indictment of writers that treat female characters as disposable and their bodies as sites of sexual violence without care. Sure Avengers Annual #10 is also a fun story filled with Brotherhood machinations and cool action (shout out to Rogue being an absolutely BEAST throughout) but its ending is what makes it a truly powerful read.

Outside of the annual the bulk of this volume deals deals with the X-Men getting wrapped up in Shi'ar Empire shenanigans. While I wasn't a fan of Shi'ar plots in previous volumes it largely worked for me here. In this volume the X-Men are forced to hunt down Empress Lilandra's kidnapper, her evil sister Deathbird, before the empire destroys Earth in retaliation. The political machinations of this plot were fun and well executed, but I most enjoyed the melodramatic character drama woven throughout.

Namely the reveal that space pirate and Starjammer Corsair is Cyclops's presumed dead father. Don't get me wrong there are beats of the arc I don't love, mainly the relegation of Scott's mother Katherine Anne to a dead wife whose only role is giving Corsair pathos. This is a particularly striking character choice given Claremont's overall strong writing of female characters. But despite that, those moments of tension and connection between Cyclops and Corsair are genuinely moving. The narrative gives space for Scott feelings of abandonment and allows us to see how that childhood trauma has impacted his character. But Corsair isn't just left to be a deadbeat. Him and Scott genuinely connect over their shared loss and seeing them learn to be father and son again was beautiful.

Overall this was my exactly my shit. From Kitty trying on a million gaudy costumes on a Shi'ar ship to to Storms doomed romance with Arkon to neat crossovers with the Fantastic Four and Tigra and the grand fun space adventures that tie it all together. I just love the X-Men.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claremont crammed so much dialogue, characterization, and story into each and every issue. Modern day decompression kings would have made a trade paperback out of each issue. Claremont made these characters live and breathe. The X-Men were such great characters back then, before Wolverine became some lame ass immortal ninja, before Cyclops was a “tactical genius”, before Professor Xavier was a manipulative prick, before half of the team was killed off and the brought back from the dead for no real reason.

Dave Cockrum returns to the fold, and his art is sometimes great, sometimes not. His Storm, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler look great. His Ariel/Kitty Pryde looks like a space alien, with an oblong head and narrow, pointy jaw. The world lost Cockrum a few years ago to complications with diabetes. It makes me sad that we have lost so many of the Silver and Bronze Age creators, and at such young ages. Bill Sienkewicz does a fill-in issue, and his artwork is in it's earlier, Neal Adams clone mode. I love his early phase artwork.

The Brood and at-that-time villain, soon-to-be X-Man Rogue are introduced in this volume. Many of the exciting story elements that would unfold in the title over the next 3-4 years are laid out here. This entire book is an excellent read.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

60th anniversary reread.

More uneven than the Byrne era, but still has some important and good moments. And #153 is such an important bit of silliness. The inability to have that kind of fun in serial form is what sinks these movie franchises.

[Doom70 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh...

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good volume of the Uncanny X-Men collection. Some fun and interesting stories in this volume worth reading.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume is OK but not a lot of memorable material here.

[Matty Dub · Rating 2 out of 5]

Post-Byrne X-men has been a shit-show with the quality of the writing freefalling pretty fast. On the art side with Cockrum assuming the bulk of it, there’s been a significant downgrade as well.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda of a letdown after the Byrne run. I'm not a huge fan of the Sh'iar and Brood locations but I think there Re more to come :(

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

More from the core of Claremont's iconic run. The series remains one of my favorites, but the issues here have more ups and downs than when Claremont was working with Byrne.

For highs, we have a galaxy-jumping space opera that introduces the Brood and brings back the Starjammers and some rogue Shi'ar to threaten Earth with destruction. It's good stuff with solid teamwork and revealing character moments, particuarly for Cyclops, who decks his long-lost dad and commiserates about the strains of leadership with Storm. There's also a classic issue where they infiltrate the Pentagon only to run into Rogue and Mystique; top action, with some nice Carol Danvers moment.

On the flip side, we have a muddled Hellfire Club story that doesn't seem plotted out beyond an inciting incident involving some body swapping. Dracula makes an appearance (!), looking to seduce Storm only to decide she is too noble to be confined, the same conclusion we've already seen Doctor Doom and Magneto come to in recent issues. We also get some heavy-handed speeches about Wolverine needing to tamp down the violence, something that seems more like editorial fiat than natural character development.

The art by Dave Cockrum is pretty great, especially the space stuff with the Brood and their flying starship.

Ultimately, if you're a fan, you'll probably love it, and if you're not, you may find the whole thing a bit confusing and stuffy. I'm a fan.

[Trey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, I forgot how badass Rogue was, from the jump. Her first appearance she whups all the Avengers' asses. Some classic stories in here - Kitty Pryde's also introduced, we get the Hellfire Club, the Brood, Corsair and Deathbird and the Shi'ar, and oh yes, DRACULA. The only good thing to say about that last story is that Claremont takes every opportunity to show how awesome Storm is; in this case, only she is worthy to be the bride of Dracula. Otherwise, it's just kind of hilarious. The art is hit or miss -- Dave Cockrum shares credit with other pencillers on some issues and I imagine that's what makes it so uneven. Still, fun stuff overall.

[So · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh.... Talk about filler. This is coming off of one of the greatest comic book arcs of all time (The Dark Phoenix Saga). Sure we need some downtime after such an epic arc but this entire volume can be skipped. Claremonts run is infamous for incredible character development but non of it is on show here. Kitty Pryde is the only one who gets any character development in this volume and there is a fun issue involving Emma Frost switching bodies with Storm but it's not enough to save this collection.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this whole masterworks series of the Uncanny X Men. They were incredibly well put together.