Uncanny X-Periment # 35: "The Team Falls Apart"

The New Mutants # 75, X-Factor # 40, The Uncanny X-Men # 244, 245, Annual # 13, 246-255

It's the aftermath of "Inferno." Cyclops and Marvel Girl reunite the kidnapped children with their parents and are ultimately reunited with baby Nathan. The New Mutants and Magneto split ways for real this time, with the New Mutants rejecting Magneto once and for all, based mostly on his membership with the Hellfire Club.

Meanwhile, we have the X-Men . . .

What's there to say about this era of the X-Men? It's probably one of the more complicated periods, but also a very interesting one. The X-Men take some down time. Logan takes the guys out and they encounter some rather ridiculas aliens. Storm and the girls, in the meantime, are teleported to LA. Upon their return, a certain fireworks-generating, 13-year-old Mutant girl follows them. That's right - Jubliee. The former mallrat remains hidden in the vast underground complex of the X-Men's Australian town, helping the team out here and there. These stories are fairly light-hearted compared to what is coming.

Wolverine leaves on "personal business." While this could be - at first - seen as a simple out for his character to running off in his own solo series, it is in reality a set-up for what's to come a few issues later. So, sans Wolverine, the X-Men take on Master Mold in New York City. Master Mold, having merged with Nimrod, is almost unstoppable. As the robot battles the X-Men, he takes down Sharon Kelly - Senator Kelly's wife. To stop Master Mold, the X-Men pull out the gift from Roma - the Siege Perilous (sidenote: this is a jewel that, upon entering, a new life starts over with no memories of their past). It takes Rogue (with Carol Danvers in her head) entering the portal with Master Mold to defeat the monsterious robot.

The X-Men then return to Australia, where they are attacked by Nanny and the Orphanmaker (ugh). This is shortly after Longshot leaves to find himself. Havok, confused and just released from Nanny's mind control, blasts Nanny's ship out of the sky. But in doing so, he accidently kills Storm. With Storm dead, Wolverine out on personal business, Longshot gone, and Rogue MIA, the team heads down the Savage Land and deals with Polaris and Zaladane.

After helping them out, they return home . . . and then decide to enter the Siege Perilous themselves. Psylocke pushes them into doing this, as the Reavers, Donald Pierce, and Lady Deathstrike are about to overtake them. As of the moment the Siege Perilous closes up, the X-Men are gone.

As of "Uncanny X-Men" # 251, the X-Men have basically been disbanded. And beyond that, all of the X-teams are off the planet: Excalibur is thrown across alternate realities ("The Cross-Time Caper"); The New Mutants are in Asgard; and X-Factor are doing something with the Celestials.

In what is probably one of the best issues of X-Men thus far, Wolverine returns to the town and is beaten, captured, tortured, strung up, and eventually crucified by the aforementioned villians. This is a powerful and psychological story, tearing layers off of Wolverine, but still retaining his character. His own pulling himself off of the wooden 'X' is intense.

He and Jubilee then escape from the town, a beautiful friendship being born. The remaining X-allies (Forge, Freedom Force, Amanda Sefton, Banshee, Moria, Legion, and a few others) then gather on Muir Island to muster a defense against the on-coming assualt by the Reavers. There are casualties, including Destiny. Banshee and Forge then decide to head off to find the X-Men.

Little do they know that a young teenager looking just like Storm has appeared in Cairo, Illinois. And that the Shadow King is hunting her.

This is a remarkable era for the X-Men. Plot points are set-up early, allowing for the story to twist and surprise. Personal stories come to manifest. All of the characters are well-defined. Magneto, Wolverine, Mystique, Rogue, Longshot, and Havok all have great roles and get some nice development. The introduction of Jubilee is fun. Sometimes the occassional movie and television references can date the story, but the plot keeps it fresh enough.

The art is fantastic. Marc Silverstri has a way of drawing that just keeps it all clean and exciting. His work overshadows the occassional fill-in, including Rick Leonardi, Dan Green, and even the then-fresh Jim Lee. And no one draws Sentinels as well as Silverstri.

~W~