X-Men and the Mutant Metaphor (16 page)

Chapter Four

Adding Depth and Exploring Prejudice

The Uncanny X-Men #167
(Mar. 1983) to
The Uncanny X-Men
#280
(Sept. 1991)

Creators and General Story

Between 1983 and 1991, Claremont continued to write every issue and seemed to have significant freedom to write the series as he saw fit, at least initially. The cast of the book changed dramatically throughout this period, and the stories included many of his frequent fantastic and magical elements. By the end of this period, though, creator tension and editorial mandates concerning the direction of stories would cause Claremont to leave the X-Men books. Chris Claremont ended his sixteen-year run as the writer of the series with
The Uncanny X-Men #279
(Aug. 1991); the subsequent issue was written by Fabian Nicieza. Claremont wrote every issue of the series between
X-Men #94
(Aug. 1975) and
The Uncanny X-Men #279
(Aug. 1991). These 185 issues are considered one of the most successful runs by a creator of any comic book series in terms of both financial success and quality creative output.
1

After a very long and successful run as writer for
The Uncanny X-Men
, as well as several miniseries and spin-off titles closely associated with the mutant corner of the Marvel universe, Claremont’s departure was not entirely smooth.
Both Claremont and Bob Harras, the editor of the X-Men books at the time Claremont left, admit that behind-the-scenes tensions about the direction of the books resulted in the end of the Claremont era. A very popular and talented new artist, Jim Lee, had been assigned to the X-Men books and wanted to co-plot the series, but in a direction that Claremont felt retread on stories he had already told. In Claremont’s own words:

Working with Jim was a lot of fun, but the institutional strains were starting to kick in. The problem was that Jim was just as strong-willed as I was. Jim wanted to do stuff that reminded him of the things that made him get into comics in the first place. He wanted to bring back Magneto and do the Sentinels and all that sort of stuff. My problem was I’d already done those things . . . at least twice. I wanted to try and find some new stuff to do. (DeFalco 75)

Claremont felt that whenever a disagreement on the direction of the series arose, Harras would side with Lee.

Looking back at it from the vantage point of the here-and-now, I can see no one had either the perspective or the incentive to find a way out. There was just no comfort zone. There was all this butting of heads and we all got boxed into corners. Bob and Jim wanted to do what they wanted to do and the feeling was I could not or would not go along, and they were going to do it anyway. I thought, I’ve worked too hard. The time has come maybe to see if I can survive without the X-Men. So I quit
X-Men
and left Marvel. (DeFalco 75)

Claremont would describe the feeling of leaving the series and the characters, many of whom he had created, by saying, “[I]t was wrenching, I felt like I had abandoned my kids” (DeFalco 79).

Harras admitted that there was a lot of tension between himself, Claremont, and Lee, but he felt that it was a creatively fruitful tension. “It was unpleasant, but the tension was being transformed into really dynamic comics that people were reacting to. I thought, ‘If we can just ride this out a little longer, everything is going to settle down.’ But that didn’t happen” (DeFalco “Harras” 178). Harras also explained that he and Claremont fundamentally disagreed on what the X-Men comics should be about. Harras believed the aliens and the magical dimensions that had become common in Claremont’s writing departed too significantly from the core of the X-Men:

I felt like we had to go back to what
X-Men
was all about, and to me
X-Men w
as Xavier and Scott and Jean and all the other classic characters. But Chris didn’t want to do that kind of stuff anymore. He felt he had done it already. My point was “Sure, but
that’s
the X-Men!” It was getting so we were speaking the same language, but we couldn’t understand each other. (DeFalco “Harras” 178)

Thus editorial interference and creative tensions drove Claremont from the series he had helped nurture into immense popularity and profitability for Marvel. It is important to note that many of the most critically acclaimed stories in Claremont’s run came during his collaboration with John Byrne. Claremont’s departure from the series in 1991 was over a decade after Claremont-Byrne had ended. Few of the stories in the subsequent decade capture the same timeless appeal that Claremont and Byrne produced when they worked together.

Harras’s insistence that the X-Men was about Xavier and Scott and Jean and not magic and sci-fi is at odds with the X-Men comics that Marvel had been publishing since the mid-1970s.
Uncanny X-Men #96
(Dec. 1975) was the first issue Claremont plotted and wrote on his own, and it includes mystical demons and sets up plots that would shortly carry the X-Men to outer space. The magical and sci-fi aspects of the series would only rise in prominence and frequency from there. Any attempt to remove those elements would significantly alter the tone of the series, which may have been why Claremont resisted these editorial requests. Additionally, if Harras’s vision of the X-Men included a roster of Professor X, Cyclops, and Marvel Girl/Phoenix, his disenchantment with Claremont’s writing is understandable. In this 1983–1991 period, whereas Xavier appears in twenty-five issues, Cyclops appears in only seven issues as a member of the team, and no other original member of the series is featured as a member of the X-Men at all. Rather, this period of
The Uncanny X-Men
saw the introduction of many new characters to the team and many changes in personality to those appearing. For example, Magneto, the longtime arch nemesis of the X-Men, becomes a member of the X-Men for a number of issues. Although the entire run of the X-Men has been compared to a soap opera, this period becomes particularly complex and convoluted in terms of narrative continuity. Interpersonal relationships shift and change, the membership of the team is particularly fluid, and characters undergo radical alterations including de-aging, changes in race, possession by demons, and more. This is the most dynamic period of X-Men comics for all these reasons, but because of that it is also a period with less focus. Harras and Lee seemed to want to refocus the series on a core group and core theme. Claremont felt he’d already told those stories and wanted to continue exploring new terrain.

Besides Jim Lee, Claremont worked with a number of artists in this period. Following
The Uncanny X-Men #249
(Early Oct. 1989), the comic book was published twice a month. Because most artists could not maintain such a quick pace of production, guest artists frequently did single issues as fill-ins while the regular artist worked on the next storyline. The compressed publication schedule seems to have required the willing hands of many artists to meet deadlines. For example,
#273
(Feb. 1991) has eight credited artists. The artists to work on the title in this period included Paul Smith, Walt Simonson, John Romita Jr., Barry Windsor-Smith, Rick Leonardi, June Brigman, Alan Davis, Jackson Guice, Marc Silvestri, Bret Blevins, Karry Gammill, Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Kieron Dwyer, Bill Jaaska, Mike Collins, Art Adams, Whilce Portacio, Klaus Janson, John Byrne, Michael Golden, Larry Stroman, Andy Kubert, and Steven Butler.

As this era begins, a new body is cloned for Professor Xavier because he was infected with the egg of an alien Brood queen. His mind is transferred to this new body, and he regains the ability to walk. He begins to train a new class of students, a team featured in the spin-off series
New Mutants.
Although the cast and series of the New Mutants will not be considered in depth, it is worth noting that the initial roster of the team is much more diverse than the stereotypical superhero team. The New Mutants include Cannonball, an American male; Karma, a Vietnamese female; Psyche, a Cheyenne female; Sunspot, a Brazilian male; and Wolfsbane, a Scottish female. The team has three females and two males and only one American.

The Uncanny X-Men
features an important group of mutants—the Morlocks. The group’s name is a reference to the underground race in H. G. Wells’s novel
The Time Machine
. The Morlocks are mutants whose mutations are so different from the appearances of normal humans that they feel they cannot dwell among them. Facing hatred and prejudice because of their appearance, they have retreated to underground tunnels beneath New York City. The Morlocks kidnap Angel, and when the X-Men must travel into the sewers to rescue him Storm challenges the leader of the Morlocks to a battle. Winning the fight, Storm becomes the new leader of the Morlocks, though she largely allows them to continue on as they had been living while she leaves with the X-Men.

Rogue, who had previously fought against the X-Men as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, quits that team and asks to join the X-Men as she attempts to reform her life. Mystique, the leader of the Brotherhood, is particularly hurt by this as Rogue is her adopted daughter. Though some are hesitant to accept Rogue, she proves herself to the X-Men on an adventure when the team travels to Japan for Wolverine’s wedding. Wolverine, who had left the team for a time, returned to invite them to his wedding where, of course, various fights ensued. Despite the X-Men’s victories in battle, Wolverine’s fiancé, Mariko Yoshida, calls off the wedding at the last minute.

Cyclops decides to end his relationship with Lee Forester and quickly meets a woman named Madelyne Pryor, who looks exactly like Jean Grey. Madelyne has no memory of her past, and Scott, at times, suspects she may be Jean. Scott and Madelyne marry, and Scott retires from the X-Men.

Colossus and Kitty Pryde had been dating, but Colossus breaks up with her. Shortly thereafter the Morlock Caliban kidnaps Kitty and intends to marry her. Storm uses her influence as leader of the Morlocks (though she rarely interacts with them) to free Kitty. Rachel, a mutant from the future who previously appeared in the Days of Future Past storyline, arrives in the present time and soon joins the X-Men. Though it is not yet revealed, in her timeline she is the daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey.

A mutant inventor named Forge has created a weapon that will depower a mutant. The US government wants to use the weapon on Rogue, who has been framed for murder, but Storm is accidentally shot instead. Forge, guilty over his role in Storm’s power loss, invites her to his home as he tries to reactivate her powers. They have a brief romance until Storm discovers that he was the inventor of the weapon that took her powers. Storm returns to Africa to try to explore her new powerless identity. Meanwhile, Cyclops’s former girlfriend, Lee Forester, discovers Magneto’s body floating in the ocean and rescues him.

A sorcerer named Kulan Gath transforms all of New York City into medieval times until the X-Men and other Marvel superheroes are able to undo the spell. After the city is returned to normal, Professor Xavier is attacked by a group of college students who believe he is a mutant. Magneto, meanwhile, is making an effort to reform. While at a gathering of Holocaust survivors, he is attacked and captured by the mutant team formerly called the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which now goes by the name Freedom Force. Freedom Force works for the US government in exchange for full pardons for their criminal acts. Magneto is put on trial in France for crimes against humanity. However, due to his de-aging to an infant and re-aging to adulthood, all crimes prior to his rebirth are stricken. (The legal precedents surrounding these sorts of events in the Marvel universe must be headache inducing.) Professor X goes to recuperate from an attack he suffered from anti-mutant students with his love, the alien Lilandra. He asks Magneto to help the X-Men and train the New Mutants, a role that Magneto accepts.

Cyclops returns with his wife, Madelyne Pryor, and their infant son named Nathan. Missing his old adventures, Cyclops asks to lead the team again. Storm has returned and also wishes to lead the team, and the two have a sparring session to determine who will lead. Storm wins despite still having no mutant powers. Cyclops receives a phone call that his old love, Jean Grey, has been discovered alive at the bottom of the bay where the space shuttle crashed (over a hundred issues ago). A retcon reveals that an interstellar entity called the Phoenix Force bonded with Jean Grey during the shuttle crash. It took her form, memories, and personality and left Jean Grey’s injured body in a cocoon to recuperate. Cyclops, in a rather indefensible move, abandons his wife and newborn son to reunite with Jean Grey. Cyclops and the other original members of the X-Men have their adventures published in a spin-off series call
X-Factor
.
2

The X-Men and the Hellfire Club are forced to unite to defeat Nimrod, a sentinel from the same future timeline as Rachel Summers. Meanwhile, members of the Morlocks, including children, are being murdered by a new villainous team, the Marauders. In a fight that is more violent than had usually been depicted up to this point, the Marauders severely injure several X-Men, and Colossus kills one of the Marauders. This storyline, called the Mutant Massacre, also begins the long-running feud between Wolverine and a villain named Sabretooth. Kitty Pryde, Colossus, and Nightcrawler are sent to Muir Island to convalesce from their serious injuries.

The X-Men’s roster undergoes several changes at this time. Betsy Braddock, a telepathic mutant code named Psylocke, joins the team. Dazzler, a mutant with the power to convert sound waves into light and energy beams who was introduced in the X-Men comics before being spun-off into her own series, joins the team for the first time. Havok rejoins the X-Men, while Polaris, possessed by a force called Malice, joins the Marauders.

After Cyclops leaves his wife and son upon hearing that his first love, Jean Grey, is alive, Madelyne Pryor is attacked by the Marauders and her baby son, Nathan, is kidnapped. The child is taken to the Marauder’s leader, Mr. Sinister, who has been manipulating Scott Summers’s life for years. The X-Men take Madelyne Pryor in for her protection. The new group of X-Men battle Juggernaut and bond in the process. Storm seeks out Forge, and following a mystical journey and battle, regains her mutant powers. The X-Men, joined by Storm and Forge, have a battle in Dallas that results in their deaths. Their deaths are broadcast to the world. However, the team is immediately resurrected by a goddess, Roma. They allow the world to continue believing they died in Dallas and set up a new base of operations in Australia, where they battle a group of cybernetic soldiers called the Reavers and defeat a small colony of the alien Brood.