Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Volume 8

Reprints Uncanny X-Men #161-167 and X-Men Annual #6, plus material from Marvel Treasury Edition #26-27 and Special Edition X-Men #1
Written by Chris Claremont, Mary Jo Duffy and Scott Edelman.  
Penciled by Dave Cockrum, Paul Smith, Brent Anderson, Bill Sienkiewicz and Ken Landgraf.

Summary:
While the X-Men are having a training session at their temporary headquarters on a Caribbean island,  Colossus' sister, 6-year-old Ilyanna Rasputin, goes missing. She has been transported to Limbo by a demon known as Belasco, who intends to make Ilyanna his apprentice and train her to be  a sorceress.  When the heroes investigate, they also wind up in Limbo and are forced to battle Belasco's super-strong minion S'ym.  

The X-Men are able to save Ilyanna and are about to transport away out of Limbo when Belasco grabs the child for several seconds. Because time moves differently in Limbo, Ilyanna ages seven years during those seconds. She is now 13 and her brother is devastated that Ilyanna's childhood has been destroyed.

The X-Men's leader, Prof. Charles Xavier is comatose due to a psychic attack in outer space. He flashes back to his younger days, when he worked in a mental hospital in Haifa, Israel. Xavier used his mutant mental powers to help heal victims of the Nazi Holocaust. One volunteer at the hospital is a concentration camp survivor named Magnus, who would later become Magneto, the X-Men's deadliest foe.

Xavier treats a catatonic Holocaust survivor named Gabrielle Haller, who hasn't spoken in years. His power quickly remedies this and the two begin to fall for one another. Their new life is interrupted by an attack of Hydra agents led by Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker. Gabrielle is captured by Hydra because she knows the location of gold reserves hidden by Nazis at the end of World War II. Strucker plans to use the gold to fund his plans for world conquest. Only Charles and Magnus can save Gabrielle from Strucker!

Later, the X-Men and their friend Carol Danvers (the former Ms. Marvel, who is currently staying at the X-Mansion) are invited to a banquet held on the spaceship of their friend Lilandra, Empress of the Shi'ar. Their dinner is broken up by Lilandra's sister Deathbird and her alien associates, the Brood,  who have discovered that the X-Men's mutant genes make them ideal hosts to carry Brood eggs. Each member of the team is implanted with an egg. The eggs will transform the X-men into Brood and kill them.

Wolverine is the first to discover what has happened. When his egg comes to term, his healing factor kills it. But Wolverine is reluctant to tell his teammates that they are doomed.  

The Brood are fascinated with Carol Danvers' Kree/Human physiology and conduct experiments on her. These experiments, combined with Carol's encounter with a White Hole, bring out new superpowers.  She has the power of a star and calls herself Binary. Carol's new powers play a crucial role in their fight against the Brood.  

Team leader Storm decides to launch herself into space to kill her egg and herself. She is rescued by the Acanti, the race of space whales that the Brood lobotomizes and uses as their living spaceships. Storm becomes "one with the Acanti" and learns they hold the key to freeing the X-Men and defeating the Brood.  

When the X-Men return to their mansion on Earth, they are attacked by the New Mutants, Xavier's new group of students. The heroes deduce correctly that Professor X is hosting a Brood queen egg and realize they have to stop his transformation.  

However, it's too late and X-Men must battle a Brood queen with the abilities of their leader and mentor. Can even the combined might of the X-Men and New Mutants defeat this new Brood queen?

Plus, the X-Men battle Count Dracula, lord of vampires!

Wolverine runs into the Olympian Avenger Hercules at a bar and a fight ensues!

Former X-Men Angel is targeted for death by Karl Shanken, his father's former business partner!

And last, but not least, Kitty gives Ilyanna a very thorough tour of the X-Mansion!

Review:
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Volume 8 features a great multi-part space saga and a few other good stories.

Story:
Chris Claremont writes all but eleven pages of this book. He really had a grasp on the characters by this point and gives us lots of action and character development.  

The first story, featuring Belasco, is legitimately sad and disturbing. The demon steals Ilyanna's childhood and I've always felt a bit sad every time I've read it since it was originally published.  Claremont makes you care about every member of this team and their friends and family members.  

The flashback story featuring young Xavier and Magneto was important in making Magneto a more "complicated" character and less of a Silver Age-style bad guy. It also retroactively introduces the relationship of Professor X and Gabrielle Haller, which would later produce the character Legion.  

The Brood storyline is considered one of the classic X-Men storylines and rightly so. The first part is narrated by Wolverine and added more depth to his character. Carol Danvers has fought crimes under many names, but Binary has always been my favorite of her superheroic characters. Claremont previously wrote Danvers stories when he served as writer on Ms. Marvel and the stories reprinted here show that he genuinely cared about Carol.  

Kitty Pryde's life is forever changed when she's rescued by a small dragon. He would follow Kitty to Earth and become Lockheed, her pet dragon and be featured in X-Men stories for many years.  

The Brood are great villains. They look frightening and disgusting and seem to be without any redeeming values. Having Wolverine and others call them "sleazoids" is a nice touch by Claremont.  

However, what makes these stories great is that Claremont gets to the heart of what makes a hero. At one point the X-men believe they will all die when the Brood eggs they're carrying hatch. They don't give up, but decide to fight for the freedom of the Acanti and for their friends and family on Earth.  Because heroes never give up.  

The Dracula story, reprinted from X-Men Annual #6, is good, if a bit of a step down from the Brood adventure.  

And Kitty's guided tour of the X-Men's mansion headquarters is fun.  

Mary Jo Duffy wrote the short barroom brawl between Hercules and Wolverine. Duffy nails their characterizations and this story is enjoyable, if slight. It's Logan's first appearance away from the X-Men, which makes it somewhat historically important. Scott Edelman penned the Angel solo tale and it's also enjoyable.  

Art:
Brent Anderson provides pencils on the book's opening Belasco story.  He provides good Marvel "House Style" art. 

Dave Cockrum pencils the first half of the book and does a great job depicting the Brood's homeworld and their environs. This two-page spread of an Acanti carcass is a great example of Cockrum's work here:

Cockrum's depiction of Gabrielle Haller's Holocaust memories is haunting.

While Cockrum excels in depicting otherworldy settings, Paul Smith does a great job penciling characters. Smith's art is gorgeous and he does a great job juggling all the characters during the fight between the X-Men and New Mutants.  

Bill Sienkiewicz pencils the Dracula story. At the time his art was transitioning from his "Neal Adams-esque" look to a more abstract approach and it works well with Dracula.  

Inker Bob Wiacek provides solid embellishment for all the pencilers.

How Does It Look?:
Here's a two-page spread from Uncanny X-Men #166:

This is how those pages look in the reprinted version:

Extras:
Longtime Marvel editor and writer Louise Simonson (who edited these stories) contributes a new introduction. We also get five pages of original art.

Rating:
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Volume 8 features some great art and stories and for me represents the beginning of the end of the "classic" era of the X-Men. The Brood saga was one of my favorite stories and I'm happy to have it presented in the Masterworks format. The other stories are entertaining as well and this book is highly recommended to fans who read these stories back in '82 and new readers alike.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!

Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales

Reprints Marvel Fanfare #1-7
Written by Chris Claremont, Roger McKenzie, Bill Mantlo, Charlie Boatner, David Winn, David Michelinie, David Anthony Kraft, Mike W. Barr, Sandy Plunkett, Roger Stern, Steven Grant and Al Milgrom.
Penciled by Michael Golden, Dave Cockrum, Paul Smith, George Freeman, Joe Barney, Trevor Von Eeden, Marshall Rogers, Luke McDonnell, Sandy Plunkett, Charles Vess and Al Milgrom.
Inked by Michael Golden, Bob McLeod, Terry Austin, Armando Gil, Joe Rubinstein, Dan Green, Bob Downs, P. Craig Russell, Charles Vess and George Freeman.

Summary:
More than a dozen tales told by some of the Bronze Age's best writers and artists!

Karl Lykos was cursed with an affliction that forced him to absorb energy from others to survive. This caused him to turn into the pterodactyl man Sauron. As Sauron, Lykos battled the X-Men twice, giving the mutant heroes all they could handle.

Some years after Lykos' last encounter with the X-Men, the love of his life, Tanya Anderssen, has learned that Lykos is alive in the Savage Land. She seeks help from Warren Worthington III, better known to the world as Angel of the X-Men. Angel is reluctant to help, telling her Lykos probably doesn't want to be found, but Warren is moved by the love Tanya shows for Lykos and agrees to search for Karl in the Savage Land.

Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson learns of their expedition and gets exclusive coverage for his paper. Jameson assigns photographer Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, to accompany Angel to the Savage Land on behalf of the Bugle.

As their helicopter arrives in the Savage Land, it's hit by a ptrerodactyl! They land safely and begin searching for Karl Lykos. They're attacked by the Savage Land Mutates, a team of swamp savages who were given super powers by Magneto. Parker has time to put on his Spider-Man costume and fight back, but he and Angel are overpowered and captured by the Mutates, while Tanya escapes.

The heroes are brought before the Mutates' leader, the super-intelligent Brainchild. He zaps Angel and Spider-Man with a genetic transformer ray. This devolves them, turning Spidey into a human-sized spider and Angel into a birdman.

Tanya is attacked by a dinosaur, but she's rescued by none other than Karl Lykos. He takes her to Ka-Zar and they plan to rescue the heroes. Before they can implement they're plan, they're attacked by Angel and Spider-Man in their new forms. Ka-Zar, Tanya and Karl are captured and taken to Brainchild, who mutates Tanya into a neanderthal.

Lykos knows that he can save Tanya by absorbing energy from her. He does the same for Angel and Spider-Man, returning them to their human form. However, this results in Karl being once again transformed into Sauron! As he flies off, Sauron tells Ka-Zar that he is declaring war on the Savage Land. Spider-Man and Angel are traumatized by their transformations and head back to the states.

Sometime later, Angel returns to the Savage Land. He summons the X-Men for help and they head out to find Sauron. They encounter the Mutates and make quick work of them. The X-Men get the mutates to lead them to Sauron's citadel.

However, when they arrive, Sauron attacks. An energy field around the citadel saps away their powers and they're captured. Angel flees, but he falls from the sky and is presumed dead. Sauron uses the genetic transformer on the X-Men so that he can use them to drain energy and increase his power.

Angel survives his fall and is found by Ka-Zar. They plan a counteroffensive to save their friends. If they can't stop Sauron, the X-Men and the Savage Land itself will be doomed!

Plus, several more stories, including:

When a street corner Santa is mugged, Daredevil helps track down the local crime boss behind the mugging!

Doctor Strange and Clea face the sorcerer known as Nicodemus!:

Spider-Man is attacked by Scarlet Witch and transported to a mystical realm. The webhead learns that Wanda has been possessed by the sorcerer Xandu! It's up to Spidey to free Scarlet Witch from Xandu's control and defeat the evil sorcerer.

Captain America is captured by the son of one of his wartime foes and must battle without his costume and shield.

A young man named Ian McNamee visits the Sanctum Santorum of Doctor Strange. McNamee claims to be the Socerer Supreme, a title held by Doc Strange. McNamee challenges Strange to a duel of magic!

Seeking food, the Hulk visits a carnival. He encounters his old enemy, the mutant called the Blob and a battle ensues. When the Hulk appears to have the fight won, he's attacked by Blob's friend Unus the Untouchable! 

Review:
There are too many stories in this book to thoroughly summarize, so I'll try to cover more details in this section.  I should also mention that the Savage Land portion is the only multi-part tale, which is why it takes up about 9/10 of the summary. On the whole, Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales is a mixed bag, but the good parts are very good.

Story:
For those who don't remember, or who weren't alive back in 1981, Marvel Fanfare was conceived as a higher quality prestige comic printed on glossy paper that would present new stories by superstar creators. Every issue included a shorter backup tale that followed the main feature. 

The first story delivers on the promise, with Chris Claremont teamed with Michael Golden. Claremont gives us a good story set in the Savage Land. Sauron has long been one of my favorite villains and he's put to good use here as a very frightful villain who is willing to torture the X-Men in just to increase his power.

It's followed by a nice Daredevil story by Roger McKenzie that takes place at Christmas. It's not an essential tale, just a "Daredevil vs. small-time drug dealer" yarn, but it's okay and as I've said here in earlier reviews, I've long been a fan of comic book stories that take place during the holiday season. So it's something I read every year and it always holds up.

The Doctor Strange/Clea adventure, also written by Claremont, is solid as well. Mike W. Barr's Spider-Man's team-up with Scarlet Witch is enjoyable. I've long been a fan of stories that place Spider-Man in unusual settings like the mystical surroundings of Xandu. McKenzie's Captain America's battle with the modern day Nazi is solid. Hulk's encounter with Blob and Unus is very good. It's sort of told through the eyes of the mutant villains.

We get a sense that Unus and Blob are the best of friends who would do anything for one another. That's not a depiction of bad guys that we've often seen in comics and makes them multi-dimensional, not just generic super-villains.

The rest of the stories aren't that great.

The Dethlok and Iron Man stories both feature stories that are basically dreams of the main characters. They aren't bad, but they're placed consecutively in the tpb (just as they were in Marvel Fanfare #4), which makes them less enjoyable.

The seven issues reprinted here also feature three tales that focus on Doctor Strange or other sorcerers. Two such stories, the Spider-Man/Xandu battle and Strange's duel with MacNamee. They're okay adventures, but two even run back-to-back.

Mantlo penned the Daredevil tale that closes Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales. A little boy with blindness loses his seeing-eye dog. I guess Mantlo is trying to make a statement about there are some problems even superheroes can't solve. But it's depressing and just feels "depressing for the sake of being depressing."

Even the Savage Land story has one big problem.  When Sauron's power turns Spider-Man back into his normal self, we see Peter Parker lose consciousness. Did Angel and Ka-Zar somehow not see this? Do they know that Parker and Spider-Man are one and the same? Did Ka-Zar and Angel not think it was a bit odd that Spider-Man was in the Savage Land? This has bugged me since I read this story for the first time back in 1982.

On the whole, the stories are more good than bad.

During its publication, every issue of Marvel Fanfare featured one-page humor strips titled 'Editori-Al', written and drawn by editor Al Milgrom.

They're reprinted here and the provide a nice diversion from the very serious and dramatic stories in this tpb.

Art:
This is where Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales truly shines. Michael Golden penciled the first two parts of the Savage Land story and also the short Deathlok and Iron Man backups. He's at the top of his game here, lots of cool images of Sauron, dinosaurs, Spider-Man devolved into a giant spider, etc.

Dave Cockrum and Paul Smith took over and penciled the next two chapters, respectively. Those two are a slight step down from Golden's work, but I enjoyed their art as well.

Smith also provided art in the Daredevil Christmas story, his first work at Marvel. Marshall Rogers and P. Craig Russell give us great looking work in Clea and Doctor Strange's fight with Nicodemus. Sandy Plunkett does a good job penciling the Spider-Man/Scarlet Witch portion.

Charles Vess penciled the second Doctor Strange story and Vess does a great job depicting Strange's mystical world.

How Does It Look?:
Here's a scan taken from my old copy of Marvel Fanfare #3:

And here are the same pages scanned from Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales:

Rating:
Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales features some great stories penciled by some of my favorite artists and is especially recommended for fans of Golden, Smith and Milgrom's humor strips. But the sometimes mediocre backup stories prevent me from giving it a higher rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.

Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7

Reprints Uncanny X-Men #151-159, X-Men Annual #5, Avengers Annual #10

Written by Chris Claremont.

Penciled by Dave Cockrum, Michael Golden, Brent Anderson, Bob McLeod, Jim Sherman and Bill Sienkiewicz.

Inked by Josef Rubinstein, Bob McLeod, Armando Gil and Bob Wiacek. 

Carol Danvers, the Avenger known as Ms. Marvel is attacked and left for dead in San Francisco Bay. She's rescued by Spider-Woman and taken to the X-Men's mansion. Their leader Professor X hopes to rehabilitate Carol.

We later learn that Ms. Marvel was defeated by Rogue, an evil mutant who has the power to temporarily absorb superpowers by merely touching superheroes. She has stolen Ms. Marvel's powers and memories. Rogue touched Danvers for too long and has permanently absorbed the powers.  

Rogue is the newest member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, a team of super-powered criminals that previously battled the X-Men. She and team leader Mystique team up to break their teammates out of prison. Thankfully the Avengers learn of the Brotherhood's plans and battle the villains. However, the odds are stacked against them, since Rogue has already taken out Captain America and Thor. Can the Avengers overcome the Brotherhood?!  

Subsequently, three members of the Fantastic Four are captured by the alien race known as the Badoon. The lone FF-er left is Sue Storm, the Invisible Girl. She goes to the X-Men for help rescuing her teammates. The X-Men and Sue are assisted in the fight with the Badoon by their friend Arkon!

When the X-Men return to Earth, they receive some shocking news: their youngest member, Kitty Pryde, is being removed from Xavier's school and transferred to Massachusetts Academy! It's a plot concocted by the X-Men's foe Emma Frost, AKA the White Queen, who serves as the Academy's headmaster. She's used her mental powers to coerce Kitty's parents into sending her to the Academy. 

When Storm takes Kitty to the new school, Emma zaps Ororo with a gun that causes them to swap minds and powers. In Storm's body, the White Queen leads an attack on the X-Mansion with the help of her Hellfire Club teammates and several mutant-hunting Sentinels!

Later, the X-men are relaxing at the mansion, but Colossus' sister Ilyanna is having trouble getting to sleep. Kitty Pryde tells Ilyanna a fantastical fairy tale where the X-Men are pirates and wizards!

After that, Storm and Cyclops are having a quiet dinner at the mansion when a spaceship crashes outside. Inside the ship they find Corsair of the Starjammers, who also happens to be Scott's father. Corsair is being chased by Sidrian hunters from space. The heroes escape and defeat the hunters, but the X-Mansion is destroyed in the process.  

Cyclops, Storm and Corsair are beamed aboard a Shi'ar spaceship. Their friend Lilandra, empress of the Shi'ar, has been kidnapped and taken to Earth. Acting Shi'ar leaders Araki and Samedor tell the X-Men that if Liliandra is not rescued, Earth will be destroyed. When they return to Earth, the X-Men learn that Lilandra's sister Deathbird is behind the kidnapping. The heroes battle Deathbird and her allies, the Brood. Colossus is severely injured in the fight and is near death.  

It turns out that the Deathbird is receiving help from within the inner circle of the Shi'ar Empire itself! While most of the X-Men are battling the Brood, it's up to Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler to save the day and discover who has betrayed Lilandra. Things get even more complicated when it appears that Dark Phoenix has returned from the dead!

Back on Earth, the X-Men learn that anti-mutant sentiment is on the rise. They fear that any information the government has on the team will be used against them. Wolverine, Storm, and Carol Danvers sneak into the Pentagon to erase the X-Men's file from the DOD computers. However, things don't go as planned when Rogue and Mystique also show up at the Pentagon. Can Storm and Wolverine keep their foes tied up long enough for Carol to erase the files?  

Finally, the X-Men visit their friend Misty Knight's apartment in New York City. Misty is away, but her new housemate, fashion designer Harmony Young, welcomes the heroes. When Storm goes out for a walk in Manhattan and doesn't return right away, the rest of the team, especially Kitty, grows worried. They are shocked when they learn that Ororo has fallen under the power of Dracula, lord of vampires! Can even the combined might of the X-Men defeat Dracula?   

J.A. Morris says:

I first read these stories when they were brand new back in 1981-82 and have always had mixed feelings about them.  

Story:

Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7 opens with a reprint of Avengers Annual #10, which was written by Chris Claremont. This story introduced future-X-Man Rogue and it's an absolute classic. The Brotherhood takes out half of the Avengers before the main battle even begins. Rogue is depicted as being extremely dangerous and powerful. She defeats Ms. Marvel, Captain America, and Thor in her first appearance! The X-Men's role is limited in the story, but it sets up the subplot of Carol Danvers living in the X-Mansion to get help from Professor X with regaining her memories.  

This story is also famous for righting wrongs that were done to Ms. Marvel in Avengers #200 (I'll go into more details about that in a forthcoming review).

Next up is a reprint from another annual that features the X-Men teaming up with the Fantastic Four and Arkon to fight the Badoon. I've never been a big fan of the Badoon who are rather generic green aliens (I've always seen them as skrulls without the ability to shape-change) or Arkon, who is basically an outer-space version of Conan the Barbarian. Not a great story and the presence of the Fantastic Four doesn't add much of interest.

The Hellfire/Sentinels story is okay, but not particularly memorable. It's a typical mind-swapping story.

Kitty Pryde's fairy tale is another high point and has long been a fan favorite. It's basically a simplified version of the Dark Phoenix saga told in a pirates/wizards setting. It might not be an "essential" X-Men tale, but it's charming and fun.  

The bulk of Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7 is taken up by a four-part story involving Lilandra, Deathbird and the Starjammers. It goes on for too long and the stakes are so huge (Earth being destroyed) that we never believe the X-Men will fail. Colossus' critical injury doesn't add much to the story either. I don't know how most X-Fans feel about the Shi'ar, but I never found them very interesting. I feel the same way about Deathbird.  

This story is important for one reason: the introduction of the Brood. These alien "sleazoids" first seem to be nothing but hired thugs working for Deathbird, but they would become a major adversary of the X-Men shortly after this.  

Kitty plays around with a Shi'ar costume-making machine!

The Rogue and Dracula stories that end the book are both pretty good. A nice way to finish a book of inconsistent stories.

Art:

The art is generally better than the stories contained in this Masterworks book.  

Michael Golden penciled (with inks by Armando Gil) the Avengers/Brotherhood adventure and it looks gorgeous. Here's a nice example of Golden's work:

Armando Gil provides nice embellishment to Golden.

Brent Anderson provided art for the Badooon story and Hellfire Club tale, respectively. They both bring some nice Marvel house style art to this book.  

Dave Cockrum drew most of Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7 and fans of his work will be pleased. He obviously loved drawing pirates and pirate-influenced costumes. This is readily evident in the costumes worn by the X-Men in Kitty's fairy tale and the Starjammers, who are "space pirates." 

Cockrum's most interesting design is the Acanti, a race of alien space whales who the Brood use as living spaceships.   

Bill Sienkiewicz drew the Dracula story and it looks great. At this point in his career, Sienkiewicz was transitioning from his "Neal Adams"-influenced style to the more abstract pencils. So we get a great combination of his early and later art.  

How Does It Look?:

Here's a two-page spread of the Acanti as it appeared in Uncanny X-Men #156:

It looks like this in Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7:

Extras:

This book contains four pages of original art plus a Crazy Magazine cover that features the X-Men.  

Rating:

Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men Vol. 7 contains some stories I've loved for years. I'm happy to see the Avengers annual, the fairy tale, and the Dracula story get reprinted in the Masterworks format. But this book gets otherwise bogged down in mediocrities like the Deathbird story and the Hellfire two-parter. Hardcore Dave Cockrum fans might enjoy the book a bit more than others.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5

2.5 Sals.