Thoughts

And so we come to the end of the Claremont/Byrne era. It’s a great little finale, the story of Kitty Pryde alone defeating ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶A̶l̶i̶e̶n̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶A̶l̶i̶e̶…a Demon from the Cairn we previously saw in issue 96.

It also serves as a great summary of the era. Firstly Byrne’s visual story telling has always been dynamic and incedibly cinematic. And in this story he really captures the tension of the chase. I compared Kitty Pryde to Sarah Conner last time, but here she’s gets to be teenage Ripley.

He also gets one of action-packed dynamic single page panels, opening the title with Storm at war with demons.

It’s not just Byrne’s strengths on display here. We get Claremont delivering on what he does well. There’s a few pages as everyone prepares to leave for Christmas, and it’s a study in how he can deliver character stuff in just a panel or two. The dynamics between all the characters is succinctly caught here, a snapshot as to how they’ve all developed and where they’re going.

There’s even time for Claremont to continue adding yet more women to the supporting cast with ship captain Alettys Forrester. Little by little the time of the book is changing.

And finally it’s a story about Kitty Pryde. Still an unsure awkward team trying to find a place in the team. Combined Byrne and Claremont capture that awkwardness – in the way her action scenes are drawn alongside the inner monologue she’s given. It’s a neat little encapsulation of how they work well together.

And, alas, the issue comes to an end. An era comes to an end. Re-reading their run again just shows how brilliantly they knew how to deliver a team book.

Both Claremont and Byrne separately are going to go on to many interesting things. As the nature of this blogs suggests, I prefer what Claremont gets up to. The route Claremont takes with the X-men is going to deliver so many more fascinating and unique takes on characters in a comic book. But – as with Byrne’s later stuff – it never quite capture what this era does: a cinematic team book – a general standard for mainstream success, repurposing existing ideas brilliant well while also adding a truckload of their own creativity. Anyone who wants to write a superhero team book would do well to read this run. Cheers raconteurs!

Fun Panel

The closest a comic can get to a great cinematic jump cut. Fabulous.

None More Claremont

Another death of innocent bystanders. But even more this death sees the victims consumed “body and soul”. It’s really not quite clear what’s meant by that, but it’s a concept Claremont is going to keep coming back to. Poor Douglas and Ellie Moore are pioneers of Claremont’s interest in Clive-Barker-lite death/possession.

Mutant Mailbag Mayhem

A pre-fame Kurt Busiek gets quite angry over a good comic. Fingers crossed nobody ever gets him to maybe undo what’s powerful about this story…