Thoughts

Another fill-in? Just when things were getting really interesting in the last issue with so many dangling story ideas regarding the likes of Phoenix and Wolverine?

That said, while this is clearly a standalone issue – it is still one that fits quite well into the continuity. There’s a scene that pretty much crystalises the fact that Wolverine has fallen for Phoenix, while Nightcrawler’s developing ability to teleport with passengers gets shown.

After the riches of Cockrum and Byrne in the last few issues – the art here is a bit underwhelming. Everything seems a bit static, with the frame capturing characters in poses that don’t seem either credible or exciting.

Story-wise, though, it works well as a one-shot and the defeat of the enemy is nicely inventive. Plus, of course, Xavier tells his pupils at the end that he was just working for greater evil forces out there. Which is just a tiny hint as to what’s coming.

Fun Panel

For one issue only, Phoenix acquires a curious Telepathic Vomit ability. Can’t imagine why it never came back.

Any Googling

The main villain in this story seems a relatively lame character called “Warhawk”. I wondered whether he was just a character created for this story – but he’s got quite a backstory. A Vietnam Vet, he was experimented on with a variation of the Super Serum that gave Luke Cage his powers. Becoming a CIA agent and then an increasingly erratic killer. There’s really none of that here, though.

None More Claremont

The “X-men Play Baseball” is a trope linked to the team, but Claremont only has it happen three times in the Claremont Run. Which is surprisingly because its an event that plays really well with his strengths. Firstly, it portrays the characters interacting while on downtime – last issue demonstrated how good he is at that. Alongside when he has different powers interact creatively with the action, normally in a slugfest. Still its nice to see it.

Mutant Mailbag Mayhem

As ever the honesty of the Mail page is just heartening. We’re told why this issue is another fill-in, in an almost apologetic tone. I genuinely appreciate that they treat the readers in this way.

Thoughts

Ah – the dreaded fill-in issue. At the end of the previous issue, we were left on a great cliffhanger with Lilandra kidnapped and hurled into Space, with the X-men in pursuit. A great tease for what’s next, especially given that we know this is going to be Cockrum’s Space which is certainly going to be awesome.

And this issue… well, we don’t see any of that. Instead getting a fill-in issue. The plot of which – Fake versions of the original X-men turn up to attack the new X-men was already done just six issues earlier. We’re introduced to the Evil Xavier / Mr Hyde to Xavier’s Dr Jekyll, a slightly batty concept that Claremont clearly never comes back to.

I remember how annoying fill-in issues could be when collecting monthly titles, but it must have been even worse back in 1977 when this comic only came out every two months. Fans were going to have to wait a whole third of a year to get to what happened next after the great cliffhanger.

None of that matters too much in an Omnibus. You can sail through this fill-in and on to the next one in a matter of minutes.

Mutant Mailbag Mayhem

Kudos once again to the Letter’s Page, the Editorial staff and even Chris Claremont for giving a blunt and honest explanation of the fill-in issue on the letter’s page. They even remark that this issue was effectively drawn with the hope that it would never be necessary to actually print it! It’s a nice touch, especially as it allows Claremont to pay tribute to the artist who had recently died.

Another nice touch that not all fill-in issues had is that they actually take a few pages to add new art to at least turn the fill-in story into a genuine flashback. We open with Firelord, and we slip into Xavier’s memory of Evil Xavier, before returning to basically leave us back at the same cliffhanger. With the promise of Dave Cockrum Space Adventure next time!