The Birth of Phoenix, Part 4: X-Men 100

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, from Karen and Doug!!

X-Men #100 (August 1976)
"Greater Love Hath No X-Man..."
Chris Claremont-Dave Cockrum (pencils and inks)


Doug: This is it, mutant-lovers -- the penultimate chapter to the very exciting conclusion to our first foray into one of the best runs in Bronze Age history, the All-New, All-Different X-Men (yeah, so mark me off for a run-on sentence...)! Our first note today is a huge kudo to Dave Cockrum for the fantastic cover -- this one about knocked me over when I saw it on the spinner rack at the Osco Drug back in the summer of '76. It's a motif that's been used often, and quite successfully.

Doug: Let's get this rolling -- As you'll notice above, Cockrum inks himself in this issue and the results are impressive. It's my opinion that the art in the past few issues, even from panel to panel, was somewhat inconsistent. However, this is vintage Cockrum and there's a pay-off immediately with an outstanding first-page splash followed by a double-page spread featuring 12 X-Men in pitched battle. It's poster-worthy, folks (how's that for being Seinfeldian?)!!

Karen: I really like Cockrum's inks. It's far less sketchy than what Grainger did.

Doug: The next several pages are full-on action as the two teams divide based on powers and personal dislikes. Despite the fact that the new team is taken aback by the fact that these X-Men had all fought together only months ago, there is little quarter offered. The highlight is our inaugural look at the Fastball Special, as Colossus and Wolverine combat Angel, only to be assaulted by Havok. We commented a couple of issues ago how much we liked Cockrum's pencils on the energy-wielding mutants, particularly Havok. Alex Summers' attack on Colossus is beautifully rendered -- powerful and savage.

Karen: Oh I agree, it's a great image. Cockrum really shines here. You know, when Cockrum returned for his second stint on X-Men, I really didn't care for his artwork. It had obviously changed some, but it's hard for me to say exactly what it was I didn't care for. But I thought it was no where near as good as what he did in this issue.

Doug: Of course, Storm attempts to reason with Jean, but Polaris ends that conversation. Banshee stems that tide, and Wolverine battles his way across the room to Xavier. I think this is the issue that made Wolverine a star. Marvel had long been way out in front of DC in terms of taking chances with characters. Wolverine's encounter with Xavier and then Jean Grey showed not only the extent of his mutant abilities not being his claws, but that he could rely fully on those abilities.


Karen: It's a nice show of Wolverine's ferocity; he was a real wild card back then. If I had to pick his star moment though, I think I'd go with issue 133, where he goes after the Hellfire Club. But this issue clearly illustrates the anti-hero nature of the character, which was still pretty unusual back then.

Doug: Cockrum follows the revelation that the original team was really comprised of high-tech lookalike Sentinels with another two-page spread. I think the best aspect of this are the looks of horror on the faces of the real Jean Grey and Scott Summers, captured and "stored" in giant test tubes. What was going through their minds? That Lang had the technology to create such able dopplegangers, or that Wolverine had carved the Marvel Girl Sentinel without a second thought?

Doug: Cyke is able to blast his way out of his restraint, and immediately frees Jean, Corbeau, and the professor. Lang of course flees, hopping into a small shuttle craft. Jean takes over the controls of Lang's little ship and he crashed it, allegedly killing him. As the carrier is now badly damaged, the X-Men and Corbeau scramble to find a way out. The only way is aboard the space shuttle they'd come in on, which is itself damaged.

Karen: Yes, the space shuttle with the big gaping hole in the hull. Oh boy!

Doug: It's determined that Jean will fly it, using her telekinesis to keep out any radiation, as well as to hold the ship together. Do you remember when I remarked in our review of issues 97 and 98 that I thought she was depowered, and mused that it could be a way to show how powerful she would become as Phoenix? Well here it seems like Claremont amped her up as a plot device to get her to the point where she could be transformed. As an aside, I'd also like to say that the Claremont/Bolton second story in Classic X-Men is spectacular. It shows the interaction between Jean and the Phoenix-force aboard the shuttle in the last minutes before the Phoenix assumed Jean's identity. It's a very moving tale of a young woman's love for a man, and of her sacrifice to save that man. As we'd find out much later, to some extent it became a deal with the devil...

Karen: That last page, with Jean telekinetically holding everything together, was pretty awesome. I like the way Cockrum made Jean's powers more visual -even if that really didn't make sense!

Karen: More than anything though, these issues moved the Scott-Jean romance into the legendary category. These were two people who would do anything for each other. It made it gut-wrenching when Jean died. The first time, I mean.

The Birth of Phoenix, Part 2: X-Men 98

X-Men #98 (April 1976)
"Merry Christmas, X-Men..."
Chris Claremont-Dave Cockrum/Sam Grainger

Doug: You may have noticed that last time we included the original cover to X-Men #97, as well as the mid-80's Classic X-Men that reprinted that tale. For this series, I've been reading from the Classic X-Men issues. I had very fond memories of those stories, and I recall at the time that I enjoyed the extra backstories done by Claremont and artist John Bolton. However, upon revisiting these books some 25 years later, I am a bit taken aback at a major element I'd forgotten, and that is the inclusion of additional story pages in the original tale. This is akin to the many "adjustments" made by George Lucas to the original Star Wars trilogy and I'll be honest -- looking at it now with a more mature lens, I'm not a fan. I still like the backstories, but the stuff they squeezed inside (obviously with art not by Dave Cockrum) is rather wasteful and detracts from the original work.

Karen: This might be side-tracking a bit, but Doug, did you ever read John Byrne's X-Men: The Hidden Years? I know I bought the series for awhile but I honestly have no memory of it now! But it featured "untold" stories of the X-Men. Just curious what you might have thought of that.

Doug: I bought most of it, but it wasn't memorable creatively -- as you stated. I got irritated that he began to introduce major characters, like Storm, before they were introduced! How can you steal the thunder from one of the greatest runs of all time -- as you mentioned earlier, X-Men 94-140-something??

Doug: X-Men #98 separates itself from the previous issue. We begin this story at Rockefeller Center for a Christmastime night on the town. All of the team is assembled, sans the Professor who is on recuperative leave dealing with his nightmares. Shortly, everyone goes their own separate ways, Scott and Jean to dinner, Banshee and Moira for a walk, and Nightcrawler and Colossus chasing skirts. We're left to wonder exactly where Wolverine and Storm go...

Karen: It's kind of funny, Cyclops makes a comment about how the new X-Men have been together almost a year - well, sure, in real-time, but in Marvel time, that means there's a lot of time in between adventures! I mean, we're only talking about GS X-Men 1, and issues 94-97. That's not a lot of adventures for a year.

Doug: One of the highlights of this issue is a 2-panel cameo by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Cockrum gets their likenesses down, but one certainly has to wonder if the pleasant tone with which they address each other was realistic for this time. Having read much about their actual relationship, I liked it better when I was young and dumb. Tarnished heroes aren't much fun.
Karen: Besides the Lee/Kirby cameo, we also see Nick Fury and the Contessa on the splash page, and if you look hard, you might notice a certain Latverian monarch ice skating at Rockefeller Center! I'm not certain, but I think Cockrum also drew himself and his wife (girlfriend?), Paty, on the lower right hand corner of the splash as well. Is it just me, or does Stan Lee's face in the second panel look like it might have been retouched or completely re-drawn by Marie Severin?

Doug: Now that you mention it, Stan's face looks very similar to the portrait that appeared in the house ads for Marvel's Pizzazz magazine -- right around this era. Marie Severin probably did most of that sort of artwork.

Karen: It was good to see Scott and Jean have some romantic time together. This was a couple that really hadn't been much of a couple before, with all of Scott's agonizing over his dangerous eye-beams. Claremont just sort of moved it right along.

Doug: As Scott and Jean settle down to their table, what should appear but two very large blue-and-purple fellows -- Sentinels! In a great entry panel, Cockrum unleashes the terror they bring over the next two pages. However, as was often the case, the giant robots always seem to underestimate the power of a cornered X-Man.

Karen: I really liked the way Cockrum illustrated Jean using her powers. No more little dashed lines shooting out of her head! She actually looked formidable.

Doug: Which brings me to a question I kept asking myself over the course of these issues we are discussing (you'll excuse me if I make a few general comments that get ahead of ourselves). It's stated later that the Sentinels that appear in issues 98-99 are not the original and were duplicated with faulty matierals. That would explain how different members of the team just annihilate these robots. But I thought there were several occasions where our energy-wielding friends, from Cyke to Jean to Ororo seemed vastly powered up. Did you get that sense, Karen?

Karen: Well, Jean flat-out says she's more powerful than she was before, and I always thought Cyke was very powerful. Storm was the newcomer, but she was consistently portrayed as being perhaps the most powerful X-Man at that time. So it all worked for me.I enjoyed seeing Storm create a gigantic tornado with lightning bolts in the sky!

Doug: Jean is taken by one of the Sentinels, who speeds off into the night, leaving Storm and Cyclops to sort things out. Scott senses that this may be an assault on the entire team, and fears for the professor. We then shift to the Bahamas where Xavier is vacationing with an old pal, Dr. Peter Corbeau. I didn't know that Dr. Corbeau had been around the Marvel Universe for a short time -- I always assumed he was created to fit into the X-Universe. You can check out his appearances at the Comic Book Database. In another grand entry panel, Cockrum draws a Sentinel emerging straight out of the ocean to confront Corbeau's boat.

Karen: OK, I looked up that entry on Corbeau, and I have to admit, I had no idea he started out in The Incredible Hulk!I had always assumed his first appearance was in Avengers 103. Another little detail: his boat is named Dejah Thoris, the princess of Mars from Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series.

Doug: After being captured, Banshee, Jean, Wolverine, and the Professor soon meet their captor -- Dr. Steven Lang. Lang had debuted in X-Men #96. Lang taunts the team, and Jean baits him into physically attacking her. This is not to "the Wolverine"'s liking (did you think it was weird that he kept referring to himself as "the"?), and Logan bursts his shackles, claws ready for action. A Sentinel pays the price, and Lang and his henchmen scatter. What is really interesting about this scene is that Logan is barechested; Banshee remarks shortly thereafter that he had no idea that the claws were a part of the body. The assumption was apparently made, as John Romita had originally intended, that the claws were affixed to Wolverine's gauntlets.

Karen: I recall when I first read this I was puzzled and intrigued by the technician's statement that he wasn't sure Wolverine was a mutant - "His readings are nothing like the others". In retrospect, I wonder if this comment was put in there because they were still planning to go with the idea that Wolverine was actually a real wolverine that the High Evolutionary had transformed into a man? It seems like an odd statement.

Karen: Of course, the real shock here was the claws coming out of his hands! Wow! That was definitely a curve ball.

Doug: So speaking of Wolverine's characterization, we are really getting a slow reveal from Claremont. We've seen the berserker rage, the gruff personality, and now we've seen that the claws come out of his arms. But the funniest thing is the panels where Jean is trying to tear her gown (remember, she and Scott had been out to dinner when all of this came down) and Wolverine just walks over and rips it up to her buttocks! Now we start to see Wolverine's brash sense of humor...

Karen: I think it may have been a matter of writer and artist warming up to the character. I know I've read that Cockrum really didn't care for Wolverine, his favorite was Nightcrawler. Of course, when Byrne came on to the title, his favorite was Wolverine, and we all know where that went.



Karen: The artwork for Banshee, Wolverine, and Jean's escape attempt was very dynamic. Although I've always wondered how someone Banshee was carrying wouldn't be knocked silly by all that damned screaming!

Doug: As Cyke and the rest of the team try to find those captured, they are visited by Dr. Corbeau who has trekked all the way from the Bahamas to fill them in on Xavier's capture. After some conversation the assemblage determines that all efforts by Cerebro to locate the missing X-Men failed because... the team is not on earth but out in space! Stay tuned!