Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Volume 5

Reprints X-Men 132-140, X-Men Annual #4, Phoenix:The Untold Story #1 and Bizarre Adventures #27
Written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.
Penciled by John Byrne, John Romita Jr. and John Buscema.
Inked by Terry Austin, Bob McLeod and Klaus Janson.

Summary:

The X-Men have been captured by the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club!

Jason Wyngarde, who has been driving Jean Grey crazy with illusions, succeeds in convincing her that she is living in the 1700s and is the Hellfire's new Black Queen! Before Cyclops is zapped unconscious by Black Queen, he notices that Wyngarde is actually Mastermind, master illusionist and one of the X-Men's oldest foes! Hellfire Club leader Sebastian Shaw takes down Colossus and Storm, while Nightcrawler is apprehended by cyborg Donald Pierce.

Elsewhere, Wolverine has been apparently killed by Harry Leland. The villain possesses the power to increase mass of any object. Leland makes Wolverine so heavy that he falls through several floors, into the sewers below.

The Hellfire Club is victorious and they celebrate with a toast to Jean, their new Black Queen.

Unbeknownst to Shaw and the others, Wolverine survived his fall and sets out to help his captured teammates. He starts with a brutal assault on the Hellfire Club's hired goons. When Wolverine locates the heroes, Jean break's Mastermind's spell and the X-Men turn the tables on the Hellfire Club!

Hank McCoy, the former X-Men known as the Beast is monitoring a police scanner nearby at the Avengers' mansion. When he sees that the NYPD is headed to the Hellfire Club to arrest the X-Men, he heads there himself to help his old friends.

While the X-Men are flying away in their skycraft, Cyclops notices something is wrong with Jean. Suddenly, she changes into a new red and gold Phoenix costume and announces she is now Dark Phoenix! She blows up the skycraft, which sends the X-Men falling into Central Park.

The X-Men do their best to subdue their teammate, but Dark Phoenix is too powerful. She defeats her fellow mutants with relative ease and departs into space. Dark Phoenix needs energy and decides to consume a star. Unfortunately, this star serves as a sun for the D'Bari system and it leads to the deaths of five billion D'Bari people.

A Shi'ar starship witnesses this and its captain contacts Empress Lilandra. During their transmission, Dark Phoenix destroys the ship. Lilandra says that she has feared that this would happen ever since Jean became Phoenix.

When Dark Phoenix returns to Earth, the X-Men battle her once again. She gains the upper hand again, until Cyclops tries to reason with Jean. While Phoenix is distracted, Professor X (who has arrived with the former X-Man known as the Angel) zaps her with a psi-bolt. Xavier engages Jean in a psi-war and succeeds in removing Dark Phoenix and her powers from Jean. It seems that the X-Men have won the day, when suddenly they disappear.

The heroes discover they've been teleported to a Shi'ar spaceship. Lilandra states that that Jean must stand trial before the Shi'ar since she committed genocide. Xavier challenges Lilandra to a trial by combat. The X-Men will battle the Shi'ar's Imperial Guard team. If the X-Men win, Jean may return with them. If they lose, Jean will be turned over to Lilandra.

The battle does not go well for the X-Men. They are far outnumbered by the Imperial Guard and the Shi'ar fighters are too powerful.

Scott and Jean are the only X-Men left standing. They somehow manage to defeat the Imperial Guard.

But Jean suddenly turns back into Dark Phoenix. Knowing that she will kill again, Jean sacrifices herself for the sake of the universe.

The X-Men are shocked and crushed by Jean's death. At her funeral, Scott flashes back to all of his experiences with the X-Men. He tells Professor X that he has "a lot to think about, to get straight in my head," and Scott decides to take a leave of absence from the team.

The rest of the X-Men are forced to carry on without their long-serving leader. Cyclops' departure is not the only personnel change. Storm takes over as team leader. Angel, an original member of the X-Men, returns to the active roster. The X-Men get their newest member. She's Kitty Pryde, a 13 year old who has the mutant ability to phase through walls. Professor X gives Kitty the codename Sprite and he hopes to train her to use and control her power.

Later, when Nightcrawler dies, the X-Men must got to Hell itself to save Kurt's soul. They're aided by Doctor Strange, master of mystic arts!

Finally, Wolverine visits Canada, hoping he can get its government to leave him alone and allow him to stay with the X-Men. While meeting with members of Alpha Flight near Hudson Bay, Logan and Nightcrawler are attacked the flesh-eating monster called the Wendigo!

Can the heroes defeat this savage menace?

Review:
I first read these stories more than thirty years ago. Sometimes, when we revisit great works, we're disappointed. We notice all the imperfections and decide that nostalgia has a lot to do with why we revere some things more than others. Or that something we loved when we were younger now seems dated. Having just re-read the Dark Phoenix Saga, I'm very happy to report that it's aged nicely and is as great as ever.

Story:
Chris Claremont and John Byrne serve as co-plotters and these tales are damn near perfect. We get inside the heads of all the X-Men and learn how much Jean means to them.

When Scott tells Jean he loves her "more than life itself," it doesn't feel sappy or melodramatic in any way, but true to the characters' shared history.

I'm not spoiling anything when I mention that Jean's death was retconned five years later (something I've never been crazy about). But that doesn't impact the greatness of these stories.

As great as the characters are, comic book stories depend on action and Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Volume 5 delivers plenty of excitement. The Hellfire Club proves to be a tough opponent for the X-Men and we get lots of great fight scenes. Wolverine's encounter with Leland and subsequent solo attack on the Hellfire Club is a defining moment for Logan.

The duel on the moon with the Imperial Guard is one of the best battles in Marvel's history. It's a bold move by Claremont and Byrne to (more or less) put the X-Men in the unusual position of defending a genocidal criminal. But it's consistent of the heroes to do anything to help one of their own.

The Dark Phoenix Saga was a tough act to follow, but Byrne and Claremont do a great job with the later stories as well. Kitty Pryde joins the team in these tales and she would go on to be a long-serving and very beloved character. The Wendigo/Alpha Flight two-parter is also a strong story.

Claremont gets sole writing credit for "Nightcrawler's Inferno." It's okay, but it pales in comparison to everything else in this book.

Art:
Byrne and Terry Austin continue their fabulous art in these tales. Their depiction of Dark Phoenix makes us believe Jean has become an embodiment of evil. Things that could have looked ridiculous, such as a tree that Phoenix turns into gold, look fantastic.

The fight between the Imperial Guard and the X-Men features dozens of characters and I imagine Byrne and Austin were exhausted when they finished its art. But it looks great and their art is the reason it's one of the best fights in Marvel history.

The great art continues during Scott's flashback of the X-Men's adventures during Jean's funeral. It's great to see Byrne and Austin's depictions of all the X-Men's early foes.  These villains never looked better.

Austin and Byrne also do a great job on the Wendigo/Alpha Flight adventure. Wendigo never looked as fearsome and frightening before this art team got to draw him.

John Romita, Jr. and Bob McLeod serve as penciler and inker for the Doctor Strange/Inferno story. They provide good art, but it's not in the same class as the work of Byrne and Austin.

How does it look?:
Here's how pages 2-3 look scanned from a copy of X-Men #137:

This is how the two-page spread appears in Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Volume 5:

Extras:
The biggest "bonus" feature is the alternate ending to the Dark Phoenix storyline where Jean is allowed to live. It's followed by "The Dark Phoenix Tapes", a transcript of a conversation between the X-Men creative team and their editors about why the decision was made to kill Phoenix.

We also get Phoenix solo tale that was originally published in Bizarre Adventures #27, a black and white anthology magazine. It's a good story, written by Claremont with pencils from John Buscema inked by Klaus Janson.

Rating:
The Dark Phoenix Saga is one of the best and most influential storylines in comic history and it has defined the X-Men for more than three decades. Claremont, Byrne and Austin would break up shortly after these stories were published, but if you need any evidence that they were one of the greatest creative teams of all time, Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Volume 5 is the best place to look. This is one of the best reprint books you'll ever read and I give it my highest recommendation.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Reprints Uncanny X-Men #138-143, Uncanny X-Men Annual #4
Written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.
Penciled by John Byrne and John Romita, Jr.
Inked by Terry Austin and Bob McLeod.

Note:This is a review of a 2011 tpb. Another tpb of the same name was recently published, but I do NOT recommend that book because I feel it contains inferior material. 

The X-Men have gathered together for the funeral of Jean Grey. She took her own life when she reverted back to Dark Phoenix, so that she wouldn't kill again. Everyone mourns Jean, but the loss is felt hardest by Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, who lost the woman he loved.

During the funeral, Scott meditates upon his career as an X-Man, from the early days up to the present.  Cyclops decides that Jean's death has brought him to a crossroads, and that he will take a leave of absence from the X-Men. But on the same day he announces his departure, Kitty Pryde arrives at the X-mansion to join the team.

Exit Cyclops, enter Kitty Pryde.

Shortly after the funeral, the X-Men celebrate Nightcrawler's birthday. All is well, until Kurt opens a present that turns out to be a crystal figurine of himself. The figurine explodes and kills Nightcrawler!

His teammates are shocked, but their leader Professor X thinks that there is one man who can help Kurt. Xavier calls on Dr. Strange, the Master of Mystic Arts!

 

Doctor Strange examines Nightcrawler and determines he isn't dead, just in suspended animation.  Suddenly, Strange and all the X-Men are attacked by a witch who calls herself Margali. The witch sends all the heroes descending into Hell itself! The X-Men and Doctor Strange find themselves in an adventure that's straight out of Dante's Inferno!

Can the heroes save Nightcrawler's soul and escape from Hell?

Following that adventure, Wolverine heads back to Canada to make peace with his former teammates in Alpha Flight and with the Canadian Government. When he resigned from Canada's Secret Service to join the X-Men, his resignation was not accepted. Nighcrawler accompanies Logan to "keep him out of trouble."

Wolverine looks back on the first time he encountered Wendigo.

But trouble is exactly what they encounter when they're attacked by the Wendigo! Wolverine will need the help of Vindicator, Snowbird and Shaman of Alpha Flight to stop the mythological flesh-eating monster.

Sometime after that, Kitty is participating in a training session in the Danger Room, when she suddenly collapses and falls unconscious. When she awakens, she calls herself "Kate" and speaks in the voice of a much older woman.  We learn that she has psychically exchanged places with her older self from the year 2013.

Kate tells the X-Men that the future looks grim. A new Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants assassinated U.S. Senator Robert Kelly. This set off a wave of anti-mutant sentiment, the mutant hunting Sentinel robots killed or imprisoned the X-Men and every mutant. Even non-mutant superheroes like Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four were executed.

That very day, Prof. Xavier is testifying at a Senate hearing on mutants, with Sen. Kelly chairing the committee. Kate says the Brotherhood will kill Kelly at that very hearing.

The X-Men battle the Brotherhood in Washington, DC;
Storm confronts Wolverine about the use of his claws.

The X-Men head to Washington, DC to prevent the assassination. Just as Kate predicted, the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, led by Mystique, crashes the hearing. Will the X-Men be able to intervene and save Sen. Kelly from assassination?

Lastly, it's Christmas Eve and everyone is departing the X-mansion to celebrate the holidays.  Everyone, that is, except for Kitty Pryde.

Residents of the X-mansion all have plans...except for Kitty.

In the woods nearby, a N'Garai demon has crawled to the surface and killed two people. The demon breaks into the mansion and terrorizes Kitty. She tries to call Prof. Xavier's car phone, but the N'Garai wrecks the phone.

The demon is determined to kill Kitty and will destroy the mansion to do so. Can Kitty survive the assault of the N'Garai all by herself? 

Review:
I'll admit up front that I've got lots of sentimental, nostalgic attachment to the stories reprinted in X-Men: Days Of Future Past. They were originally published shortly after I began collecting Uncanny X-Men and are among my all-time favorite comic book stories.
I remember the first time I saw the now-iconic cover of UX-M #141, and wondered how it was possible that so many superheroes could be killed (or "slain" as it said on the cover).

A typical session in the Danger Room.

Story:
Chris Claremont and John Byrne are credited as co-plotters here and it's some of their best work. Claremont had been writing X-Men for about five years and almost 50 issues by this point. Byrne began co-plotting shortly before this. The "Days Of Future Past" two-parter is an absolute classic, and the rest of the stories reprinted here are also very good.

Great splash shows Kate Pryde running through the New York of 2013.

The Cyclops funeral flashback was a great history lesson for me. I wasn't familiar with many of the villains and stories Scott mentions and it made me want to seek out X-Men back issues.

Nice to see the X-men's early villains drawn by
John Byrne & Terry Austin in Cyclops' flashback.

The Wendigo/Alpha Flight story was my introduction to both the Canadian heroes and the monster.  Wolverine was still a violent and mysterious character at this time. This story gave us a little more background, showing flashbacks of Logan and his interactions with Heather Hudson. Plus, the fight with Wendigo was very exciting.

Nightcrawler tries to evade the attack of the Wendigo.

Kitty Pryde joins the team in these stories and she takes a prominent role early on. Kitty is the character who saves the day, preventing the mutant holocaust from occurring in the future. And she fights the N'Garai all by herself and lives to tell the tale. Byrne and Claremont must have guessed early on that Kitty would become a fan favorite.

The N'Garai story is one of my favorite standalone issues. I read it every year around Christmas time.

Mystique and the new Brotherhood make their first appearance here and they make a strong impression right away. This team of villains would go on to be a thorn in the side of the X-Men for years to come.

We meet the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants for the first time.

Another big change was that Storm became the new team leader when Cyclops quit. This was a big change for the series and a step forward for comics in general. I can't think of other superhero teams that featured Women in charge in or before this. And she makes an impression right away, telling Wolverine that he will do what she commands during a battle.

The weakest part of the tpb is Nightcrawler's Inferno. It's not a bad story, and it was fun to see them interact with Doctor Strange. I just didn't believe for one second (now or when I first read it) that Nightcrawler would die or that the X-Men would be marooned in Hell.  

Minos greets the X-Men, who are surprised by the way he looks.

Art:
John Byrne and Terry Austin are one of the greatest art teams of all time. The stories reprinted here are the final issues of The Uncanny X-Men that feature their work. In this blogger's opinion, all X-Men stories that followed paled by comparison. Byrne's Bronze Age work was always good, but Austin was his best inker by far. I want to call out the cover of the book for only crediting Claremont and Byrne. Austin is part of the X-Men's "Holy Trinity" of creators and fans of Bronze Age X-Men stories should never forget his contributions.

I love the cartoonish/scared reaction of Nightcrawler on the mid-left.  
Great art from Byrne & Austin.

The story from Annual #4 features pencils by John Romita, Jr. and inks by Bob McLeod. Romita's style was still evolving here, but McLeod's inks are so heavy that very little of Romita is visible. It's decent art, but it's a step down from the Byrne/Austin portion of the book.

The X-Men & Doctor Strange encounter Cerberus, the 3-headed dog!

How does it look?
Fantastic, no signs of recoloring or anything odd looking here. Here's another scan from the book that shows how great it looks:

In the future, the X-Men take out a group of Sentinels.

Extras:
At the end of the book, we get a gallery that features covers from previous reprints of these stories. Most are from the Classic X-Men series.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past contains some of the best X-Men stories of all time, and some of the finest tales of the Bronze Age. They are just as good now as they were 34 years ago. If I ever create a "Hall Of Fame" of Bronze Age reprints here, this book will be one of the first inductees. The amazing (or should I say "Uncanny" ha ha!) team of Claremont, Byrne and Austin went out with a bang. Highly recommended!

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!

Captain America and the Falcon: The Secret Empire

Reprints Captain America and The Falcon #169-176
Written by Steve Englehart.
Penciled by Sal Buscema.
Inked by Vince Colletta.

Captain America, known as Steve Rogers in his personal life, has always fought  for his country and pushed it to uphold its ideals.

Left: Falcon talks about his desire for super powers;
Right: Cap watches Harderman's campaign ad.

Cap is flabbergasted when he sees a campaign ad that attacks him. It's narrated by an advertising wizard named Quentin Harderman. It paints the superhero as an out of control vigilante who acts as a law unto himself.  The ad is sponsored by an organization called the Committee to Regain America's Principles. They believe Captain America is a serious threat to the American way of life. In reality, the Committee is a front for the criminal organization that calls itself the Secret Empire!

At the same time, Captain America's partner the Falcon (known as Sam Wilson when he's not fighting bad guys) is feeling like a fifth wheel. He doesn't believe he's pulling his weight in his crime-fighting partnership with Cap and is in search of more power. He takes off for the African nation of Wakanda.  The Black Panther, Wakanda's monarch, has promised to help Falcon become more powerful. 

After watching the ad, Captain America decides to confront Harderman face-to-face at his office.  Harderman says he'll back off his campaign if Cap will participate in a charity boxing match. But when Cap shows up for the bout, he recognizes his opponent as his old enemy, the Tumbler! Captain America chases the Tumbler, but the villain suddenly dies when Cap grabs him. Harderman (who is responsible for Tumbler's death) immediately blames Cap and labels him a murderer. The public quickly turns on Captain America, which deeply hurts the Avenger.

Cap is defeated by Moonstone, whom
Harderman then declares a hero.

Branded a criminal, Captain America is attacked by a man who calls himself Moonstone. He has super-strengh, eye-blasts and the ability to disappear and reappear at will. Cap is distracted, under stress, and is easily defeated by Moonstone in a short battle. Harderman is there to praise Moonstone and declares him a hero.

The next morning, Captain America wakes up in a jail cell. He is freed by a jailbreak, but it's part of the Secret Empire's plan to demonize Cap, who is now a fugitive.

Falcon gets wings, while Captain America is busted out of jail.

When the Falcon returns from Wakanda, he is wearing a winged harness (built by the Black Panther) that allows him to fly. He arrives in New York just in time to help Captain America prove his innocence. After another failed battle with Moonstone, the heroic duo escapes and is forced underground. Through some "detective" work, they theorize that Moonstone is from Nashville and hitchhike to the Music City.

When they arrive in Nashville, the heroic duo is attacked by the sonic scream of the Banshee! He thinks Cap and Falcon are mutant hunters. Their brief battle is broken up by Professor X, Marvel Girl, and Cyclops of the X-Men. They learn that in addition to framing Captain America, the Secret Empire has been hunting down and capturing mutants. Cap and Falc gain new allies, the X-Men will help them take down the Secret Empire.  Captain America is very grateful to have the X-Men stand with him against their common foe.

Before they can tackle the Empire, they're surrounded by Nick Fury, who's accompanied by (in Fury's words) "the pride o' S.H.I.E.L.D. and maybe half o' the Tennessee State Police!"  But the heroes are able to escape without harming Fury or any of the agents.

The heroes pull off a daring escape from Fury & S.H.I.E.L.D.

Using disguises, Falcon and Captain America eventually infiltrate the Secret Empire. They come face to face with the Empire's leader, who is known only as Number One.

Sam and Steve go undercover & wind up the Secret Empire's hideout.

Cap, Falcon and the X-Men team up and battle the Secret Empire. The final battle takes place on the White House lawn, where Captain America learns a shocking secret about Number One.

It turns out the Secret Empire has ties to the highest levels of power in the United States. This makes Steve Rogers very disillusioned about his country and he questions his desire to remain Captain America.
Could this be the end of his career as Captain America?

As if that's not enough, Falcon and Black Panther team up to stop the crimelord known as Stoneface. Plus, appearances by Captain America's Avengers teammates Iron Man, Thor and the Vision!
J.A. Morris says:

This is one of the definitive arcs of Captain America's 73-year history, and one of the best multi-part sagas of the Bronze Age.

Story:
Steve Englehart writes a great story here, filled with action and drama. It's one of Englehart's crowning achievements. We see the very symbol of America's ideals libeled as a murderer, stripped of his assets and forced to hitchhike to get around.  

The Secret Empire contains an almost perfect mix of action and drama. We get one great fight scene after another. In between, we see Steve slowly losing his faith in his country. The last issue reprinted here consists of nothing but Cap talking to his friends (and himself) about whether or not he will continue his crime-fighting career. But like the rest of the book, it makes for great reading.

Falcon and Black Panther take battle Stoneface.

The way the American public turns on Cap is believable. Harderman is shown to be an expert at telling "The Big Lie."  It's been said that the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it. This has been proven in real life more than once, and it works here for Harderman and the Secret Empire.

Falcon tries to talk Cap out of quitting.

Though Captain America is the main focus, his co-star the Falcon gets a good subplot with the trip to Wakanda. Giving Falcon the power of flight was a nice, long overdue improvement on the character.

One thing that makes this saga special is the villains. Most of them are B- and C-list criminals.  Harderman and Moonstone are one-shot villains. The Secret Empire appeared in a few more stories before and after this, but they've never been heavy hitters in the Marvel Universe. It's interesting that the villains that make Cap question his future as a hero have no ties to his arch foes (Red Skull, Zemo, etc). Behind the scenes, we're shown that the original Viper worked with Harderman to begin the campaign against Captain America. While Tumbler existed before this story, his only prior appearance was 8 years before this story. It's to Englehart's credit that I read this story more than once before I noticed its lack of major villains.

The original X-Men's appearance here is also worth noting. This story took place when the X-Men comic book series was nothing but a reprint title. The mutants made sporadic guest appearances in other series between 1970 and 1975. During that time, Englehart wrote solo stories that featured the Beast in Amazing Adventures. Englehart does a nice job tying those stories to the Secret Empire storyline as well. A year or so after this story, the X-Men series was revived and they went on to become the most popular superhero team of all time.

It may seem silly to say this about a 40-year-old story, but I won't "spoil" who is behind Number One's mask. Since I have a degree in History (minor in Poli-Sci!), I should point out that Harderman's name is a reference to H.R. Haldeman, Chief Of Staff in the Nixon White House, who was convicted for his role in the Watergate scandal. And Harderman's Committe to Restore America's Principals is an obvious reference to the Nixon campaign's Committee for the Re-Election of the President.

Number One's speech is interrupted by Captain America, and Moonstone gets run through a tree!

Art:
Penciler Sal Buscema and inker Vince Colletta make a great art team here. It's some of their best work. I've mentioned in other reviews that Colletta is far from my favorite inker, often over-inking and obscuring the pencilers. But he's great here, an asset to Buscema. And Sal draws many great battle and action scenes in The Secret Empire.

How does it look:

Great, as all pages scanned and posted above will demonstrate.  Here's one more:

Mutants good & evil are attached to a machine that siphons their brain energy!

Captain America and the Falcon:The Secret Empire is highly recommended to fans of Bronze Age stories and all Captain America fans. It's a product of (and a reaction to) Watergate-era America, but it's also a great story that's still highly entertaining four decades later.

J.A. Morris's rating:

4 Sals!


Coming tomorrow, Part 2 of this blog's first ever two-part review! Check back here for my review of the tpb that reprints the follow-up to the Secret Empire saga!