The Uncanny X-Men #148-152

The Uncanny X-Men #148-152

Originally released in 1981

Written by Chris Claremont

Art by David Cockrum

Claremont's X-Men run continues to have me hooked.  Issue 148 starts with the departure of Angel, and I feel like it works out for the best for the team; he felt kind of out-of-place to me, at least among this particular group. (he's the last of the old guard, but anything that he can do, Storm can do much better, and he didn't really seem to connect to the rest of the team)  It ties into Avengers Annual #10, where Spider-Woman saves Carol Danvers (known as Ms. Marvel at the time, and currently known as Captain Marvel) and takes her to the X-Men's mansion after the disastrous events of Avengers #200. (the less said about that, the better - it's one of the low points of mainline Marvel continuity)  I know Carol becomes a supporting character to the X-Men at some point, but that's not the case yet; here, she's little more than a cameo.

When Kitty, Spider-Woman (in her regular identity of Jessica Drew) and Storm go to see a Dazzler concert, they encounter a mutant named Caliban who keeps his body hidden at all times.  To my knowledge, Caliban is the first of the Morlocks, a group of mutants who live underground. (from what I know, all of them are deformed, unable to pass as human like most of Xavier's school, though I could be wrong about that)  This issue is the extent of Caliban's appearance, and we don't find out about the Morlocks, though I believe they become important later.

Throughout this, Cyclops has a subplot where he's shipwrecked with the captain of a boat that he had been working on.  Unfortunately, they soon discover that this seemingly uninhabited island is the new base of Magneto, the master of magnetism and one of the X-Men's oldest foes.

Issue 149 builds up to the milestone issue 150, while debuting Kitty Pryde's new costume, seen above.  It's... a work in progress, where she seemingly threw together whatever articles of clothing she could find. (after this storyline, she wears ordinary clothes, though I'm guessing the creative team were ready to move on from her being stuck in the training uniform)  It's interesting to see that some details changed as the series went on.  For example, Magneto's island base has a power dampener that keeps the X-Men from using their mutant abilities, but Wolverine's claws are specifically not considered to be a mutant ability. (I'm guessing they were originally intended to be part of his gloves - I think the claws were only revealed to be part of his body when Magneto ripped the adamantium from Wolverine's very bones in a later storyline)

Professor X also describes Magneto's history as being unknown when creating a profile for him in the X-Men's computers, so their history together was not established yet. (though admittedly, I don't know how much of that was created for the movies)  However, after a fierce battle with the X-Men where he believes that he killed Kitty Pryde, Magneto breaks down and reveals (seemingly for the first time in the series' history) that he is a Holocaust survivor, and that combined with his self-reflection seems like it's setting him on the path to being a more heroic, or at least morally ambiguous, figure in the Marvel universe.

On a side note, as villains start to become more three dimensional, we get more reasons given for their actions.  Wanting to take over the world is a standard supervillain goal, but with the likes of Magneto and Doctor Doom, it's been established over the years that they think that the world is flawed and it would legitimately be better under their rule.  I like how Cyclops's forward-thinking nature is demonstrated here, with him having a rebuttal to that mindset:

The final two issues bring back Emma Frost for the first time since the Dark Phoenix Saga; when Kitty Pryde was introduced, it was established that Emma had a school of her own, but here, we get to see some of it as Kitty's parents force her to leave Xavier's school and go there. (from what we see, none of the other students are mutants)  This is all part of a nefarious plot to swap minds with one of the X-Men in order to infiltrate them and avenge the defeat of the Hellfire Club.

The line-up of X-Men at this point (Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Kitty Pryde) is a really solid one.  It doesn't feel like there's a weak link in the bunch, personality-wise, and they're all entertaining characters with good/fun interactions with one another.  Combine that with Magneto becoming more of a fleshed-out character, and this is a solid set of issues.