The Uncanny X-Men #143-147

The Uncanny X-Men #143-147

Originally released in 1981

Written by Chris Claremont

Art by John Byrne (#143), Brent Anderson (#144), David Cockrum (#145-147)

This is something of a transition period for the Uncanny X-Men, as John Byrne leaves the title and (after a fill-in story with Brent Anderson handling the art) David Cockrum returns to it.  Cockrum originally did the art when the team switched over from the original five to Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, and so on, and the story where he returns to work on the art for the book feels like a bit of a milestone, bringing back as many X-Men as possible. (Cyclops has his own sub-plot going on, Beast is with the Avengers, and Jean is dead at the time, but even they make cameos or flashback appearances)

There are times where a creator tends to be a big fan of a character and uses them a lot as a result, such as Jim Starlin with Thanos or Geoff Johns with Hal Jordan's Green Lantern.  I'm not sure if this applies to these issues, and this could be me reading way too much into this, but it kind stands out that John Byrne's final issue is mostly a solo issue featuring Kitty Pryde, while David Cockrum's first issues back write Kitty Pryde out and has a lot of focus on Storm. (though it could be a matter of Kitty being a character that John Byrne co-created, so his final story focused on her as a result, whereas David Cockrum could have wanted to stick with the X-Men that he was familiar with)

By comparison, the second issue of this set barely deals with the X-Men as a team at all, shifting focus to Cyclops as he travels the world, getting a job on a boat and coming into contact with a demonic villain named D'Spayre and the mysterious Man-Thing.  I'm guessing this isolated storyline was done to allow for the transition to be made from Byrne to Cockrum.  It's a solid storyline, with Cyclops facing his fears and trying to come to grips with Jean's death.

The remaining three issues deal with the X-Men having to save a villain of theirs, Arcade, from the clutches of Doctor Doom, with Arcade's minions taking loved ones of the X-Men hostage in order to force them to cooperate.  Storm gets a lot of focus here, with Doom immediately taking a romantic interest in her, and she serves as a distraction while Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, and Angel sneak in to find Arcade.  Meanwhile, Havok, Polaris, Iceman, and Banshee track down Murderworld, Arcade's base of operations and amusement park-themed deathtrap, to free the hostages.

Each of the X-Men winds up in a deathtrap designed to push them to their limits, though it's made clear early on that Doom intends to test their powers rather than kill them; the X-Men who go to Murderworld don't get that luxury, but they all survive, and it's interesting to see how they use their powers to get out of it. (especially when Banshee is suffering from an injury that leaves him powerless)  I wasn't familiar with Havok (Cyclops's brother) or Polaris, so seeing them in action was new to me, and it was interesting to see how they used their powers.

While not as groundbreaking as the previous issues from this series that I had read, the stories were still enjoyable, and this team seems to be coming into its own, with even Wolverine playing nicer with his fellow X-Men. (the absence of Cyclops seems to do wonders for his teamwork)  I like going into this relatively blind, because I'm not sure who winds up joining the team beyond this point in Claremont's run.