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The Uncanny X-Men
#144
December 1980 |
Cyclops. Storm. Nightcrawler. Wolverine. Colossus. Children of the atom, students of Charles Xavier, MUTANTS - feared and hated by those they have sworn to protect. These are the strangest heroes of all! Stan Lee presents: The Uncanny X-Men!
Miscellaneous Comments: 31 July 1999
Solo Cyclops story.
Type of Series: Super-Hero Team; Action-Adventure;
Similar Comics:
Strengths:
Weaknesses: Co-incidence factor. The father of the woman Scott starting working for last issue tangles with a Super-Powered Demon called D'Spayre. And when she goes to see her father, she brings Scott with her.
Plotting: I dunno. I found the climax hazy enough, in many respects. Scott defeated D'Spayre because although he felt fear, his didn't feel despair. Hmm…
Logic: When you are dealing with magic you are dealing with a special kind of logic. But even before we get into the reality warping side of things, I'm not sure I understand why D'Spayre felt the need to masquerade as Lee Forrester's father and summon her to an elaborate trap.
Wouldn't anybody do?
And what was his long-term plan? Stay at the Forrester residence and keep inviting people over?
Originality: Villain makes hero re-live past pains as a means to defeat him. Not all that new.
Ending: Pretty much a comics-cliché, as the hero heads off into the sunset and the (not really) vanquished villain laughs his mad laugh.
Re-Readability: This issue is a tour of the fears/pains/hopes of Scott Summers, making it very re-readable for a Scott Summer fan, such as myself.
Impressive Characters: Scott. I'm not entirely sure I buy into the way he defeated D'Spayre, but I do understand the reasoning behind it.
Impressive Writers: Chris Claremont wrote this, with Louise Simonson acting as his editor.
Impressive Artists:
Less-Than-Impressive Characters:
Less-Than-Impressive Writers:
Less-Than-Impressive Artists:
Continuity: The issue re-tells aspects of Scott's entire life. Plus, back at the X-Mansion, we see the clean-up work in the aftermath of Kitty's battle last issue.
Guide:
Reviews:
Other Info:
Three Things I Really Like About This Issue:
Seeing Man-Thing. One of the most interesting characters in the Marvel Universe.
The passage of time. It's six weeks since Scott started working for Lee. Meaning this issue takes place in the first week of February. Because they are still cleaning up after Kitty's battle we can assume that it's been a quiet few weeks for the team. And it's good to see that they have quiet times, too.
Claremont writes another of those wonderful scenes where characters you never met before are introduced and killed off. And by the time they die, you have come to know them and care about them. In this issue, Jock Forrester wrestles with the news of his terminal illness before (with the assistance of D'Spayre) putting a gun to his head and ending it all.
Three Things I Really Don't Like About This Issue:
The vague ending. I know what Cyclops did, but why did it work, and how did he know it would? Just because he himself didn't give in to despair, why did that mean that D'Spayre would get beaten?
GRADE: B-
Review by Michael Leddy
Comments are welcome: dec@iol.ie
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