“DEATHSTAR RISING”

Thoughts

A relentlessly paced issue, this is Claremont not messing about when it comes to storytelling. Last issue’s cliffhanger is quickly resolved, alongside getting the remaining Earthbound X-men into Space, setting up a future storyline and bringing us to another cliffhanger.

Indeed, the whole shebang feels incredibly cinematic. Cockrum’s art captures a swashbucking action adventure tone, while the structure frequently cuts between players as the various storylines come together.

There’s not actually a huge amount of story here. Nor much by way of characterisation. But a collection of set pieces that lead nicely to a truly unexpected, and slightly odd, cliffhanger.

Fun Panel

This is the first issue I noticed that the cover collection of faces doesn’t have Thunderbird. Which made me think when had they removed him. Turns out, he was never there. A clue that he was never going to be on the team long term!

Also the old Nostalgic in me misses these on the cover. The little faces of the heroes you could expect to follow inside always seemed intriguing. It also, in a good way, reminds me of the faces that used to appear at the start of classic Hollywood cartoons. “Hey! This comic doesn’t feature Bugs Bunny or Droopy, but we can promise you the adventures of these freaks!”

None More Claremont

Claremont is rightly famous as a writer for his long-running story arcs, but in these early issues he’s dropping ideas and concepts that had the potential to be developed but which never actually are. Last issue we saw the abandoned concept of Wolverine being a mutated animal, and this issue we learn of Colossus’ lost cosmonaut brother. It’s a story Claremont never got round to telling, so its interesting what he ever had in mind for it.

Mutant Mailbag Mayhem

One of the joys of having seventies letters pages in the reprints is that it always feels like seeing into another era. This isn’t a page designed to push the corporate line, but instead to reflect the feedback they’re getting and earnestly trying to answer genuine questions. There’s a great question highlighting the somewhat sappy Lorna dialogue a few issues back, and the response builds a credible answer to this valid criticism. Maybe its coming from the age of Twitter but its fun to see disagreements aired like this.

You also get complete addresses printed with the letters! I wonder what happened to Murray Baughnon?