X-MEN Appreciation 2019!

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #7 Nov 1984
"Berserker!" First appearance of Spider-Woman aka Julia Carpenter
The heroes gathered on Battleworld by the Beyonder have discovered someone spying on them at their camp.
When the Torch corners her, the mystery woman introduces herself as Spider-Woman.
When the other heroes question how another human they haven't previously met could be on Battleworld, Mister Fantastic
theorizes that since the Beyonder constructed Battleworld from planetary fragments a portion of Earth must have been used as well.
Spider-Woman confirms this by explaining that the entire city of Denver has been brought to Battleworld.
When she explains that she has come to help, she shows that she is more than capable by demonstrating her enhanced strength.
The other heroes decide to trust her considering the fact that Dr. Doom has too much raw power to need to plant a spy among them.
Suddenly they are attacked by a giant vehicle. When the Wrecker pops out of the porthole,
he tosses out the seemingly deceased body of the Wasp before the villains take off.
Some of the heroes try to chase after them but the vehicle is too fast.
Quickly, She-Hulk picks up the Wasp's body and hands it over to their healer, the alien
woman known as Zsaji, who tries to use her powers to revive the Wasp but to no avail.
The Avengers are furious at the death of their comrade and are ready to rush off and get revenge when
Captain America stops them and reminds them of the threat of Galactus who is still preparing to consume Battleworld.
Convincing the others to stay their hand, they begin to plan their next course of action, all save for She-Hulk, who storms off on her own.

Elsewhere, the X-Men retreat from the active volcanic region, and although they failed to stop a group of villains
Xavier is impressed that they were able to send Titania, Molecule Man, Absorbing Man and Doctor Octopus packing.

However, instead of returning to base, Xavier tells them to follow after
their foes while he, Magneto, Storm and Nightcrawler rendezvous with them.
Meanwhile, aboard the villains' craft, they care for the Molecule Man, who was seriously wounded by Wolverine's claws.
Seeing Owen's condition from the monitors at Doombase, Volcana rushes to
the Enchantress and asks the Asgardian sorceress to teleport her to Owen's side.
When Volcana tells Amora that she is willing to do anything, the Enchantress teleports her away, satisfied by this offer.
Volcana appears within the ship just as the two containing the X-Men and Magneto attack.


During the course of the ensuing battle, Wolverine manages to chop off the
Absorbing Man's arm while he is in the form of stone, but is burned badly by Volcana.
Outnumbered and outgunned, Volcana calls a strategic withdrawal and uses her powers to cover their escape.
At that moment aboard Galactus' ship, Doctor Doom continues to search
for something that will allow him to defeat Galactus and the Beyonder.
However, his plan to create a distraction by creating volcanic eruptions on the other side
of Battleworld has backfired and has succeeded only in alerting Galactus to Doom's presence.
Locating the intruder, Galactus uses his power to violently eject Doom from his ship.

Back at Doombase, Doctor Octopus and his crew return and Volcana almost gets into a fight with the Enchantress.
Titania stops her and warns the Enchantress that if Owen Reece dies she will rip her leg off and stuff it down her throat.
Elsewhere, the Absorbing Man wonders what to do about his severed arm. By holding it in place where it was cut,
he risks changing back to human form and is surprised when his gambit pays off and his arm reattaches itself.
While down below in the dungeon the members of the Wrecking Crew lock the Lizard
in a cell since he cannot be controlled after they seemingly killed the Wasp.
Leaving the Lizard to rot, the Wrecking Crew are unaware that Klaw has been secretly watching the entire situation unfold.
When Bulldozer retires to his room he notices that the wall has been ripped open from outside.
Suddenly he is ambushed by She-Hulk, who begins to pummel on him for his part in the Wasp's death.
Hearing the commotion, Titania enters the room and sees that the
She-Hulk has defeated every member of the Wrecking Crew in a fight.
She gets the jump on She-Hulk just as Doctor Octopus and Absorbing Man enter the fray.
In yet another part of Doombase, the Enchantress laments over her current situation and pines for the love of Thor.
Her thoughts are distracted by the return of Doctor Doom who has
just barely survived being ejected from the Worldship of Galactus.
He stumbles into his room and passes out, proclaiming that the battle is over.

As the other villains are pummeling She-Hulk, the other heroes have discovered that she is missing.
When Hulk and Hawkeye tell this to Cap and try to get him to mobilize a searching party, Captain America denies their request.
When Cap sees that others want to go out and rescue her, he reminds them all that the stakes are too high to make decisions of the heart.
Elsewhere in the village, Colossus is finally up and about after recovering from his injuries. He goes looking for Zsaji
and finds her as she is leaving her hut. When she suddenly collapses he is there to catch her.
Suddenly, Captain America is contacted by Professor X who tells him that he and his
team can go after She-Hulk while the X-Men take their place watching over Galactus.
With this bit of news, Captain America orders everyone to get ready to move out.
NOTE: The Beyonder created Battleworld from pieces of hundreds of worlds from across the universe. The city of Denver was one of those pieces.

Story by Jim Shooter. Art by Mike Zeck and John Beatty.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Uncanny X-Men #187 Nov 1984
"Wraithkill!"
Storm is walking away from Forge's home following the revelation that he invented the neutralizer weapon that stole her powers.
As she flees, some Dire Wraiths who are seeking to destroy the weapon and its creator arrive at the huge tower
and get past security by posing as FBI agents until one of their kind replicates the security guard.
Hearing the racket, Storm turns and is attacked by a Dire Wraith that comes out of the huge downpour.
Storm rushes back to Forge's office tower where she finds a gun among the
scattered remains of the security guard and tries to use it to defend herself.
Despite the shooting lessons that Wolverine previous had given her,

it’s Forge's old friend Nazé who manages to kill the alien sorcerer with a shotgun.
Nazé explains who he is and he and Storm attempt to contact Forge about the danger coming from above.

This is too late because when Forge answers the phone, the Dire Wraiths enter his penthouse
and use their mystical powers to create Deathwings to protect the building.
Without power in the building, Storm and Nazé are forced to climb the elevator shaft where they are attacked by a Hellhound.
It attacks Storm, but Nazé manages to shoot it dead. They are next attacked by another Wraith,
whose mystical bolt breaks one of the elevator cables. As it madly springs upwards,
Storm gets her foot caught on it and finds herself being pulled up to a potentially painful death.
She manages to pull herself free and uses the cable to bring her up to
the level where Forge lives, leaving Nazé to traverse the other floors alone.

Storm exits onto the roof top patio to find that the Wraith's have cast a spell to turn the rain storm into a blizzard.
Unable to resist the cold, Storm is forced back when she is attacked by another Hellhound and Wraith.
As she locks them back outside, she is struck by a powerful mystical mental
backlash caused, unknown to her, by Nazé being replaced by a Dire Wraith.
This backlash is felt by Forge who has fled deeper into his home and activated the automated defenses.

Storm catches up to Forge and the two face off against the Wraiths together.
When one of the Wraiths attempt to trick Forge by casting an illusion spell to make it look like Storm,
and Storm look like a Dire Wraith, Forge taps in his long neglected mystical talent to learn the truth and destroys the Wraith.
They are reunited by "Nazé" who congratulates Forge for embracing his heritage once more.
Just then, Rogue and Colossus smash through the roof and join up with Forge, Storm
and the faux Nazé in mounting a counter attack on the Wraiths in Forge's home.
As Storm, Colossus, and Rogue fight off the horde of Wraiths, Deathwings
and Hellhounds, Forge rushes off to find some kind of distraction.

Left to his own devices, the Wraith-Nazé goes to the Eagle's Nest inner sanctum and begins preparing a spell of evil intent.

As the X-Men continue to fight against the Wraiths, Forge provides ample distraction by having his home's
holographic simulator create virtual constructs of the Spaceknights ROM and Starshine, striking fear in the Wraiths.
This allows the X-Men to easily wipe out the rest of the Dire Wraiths.
However, before they can consider the battle over they are suddenly attacked by
a manifestation of Shadowbeings that have been summoned by the Wraiths.

Story by Chris Claremont. Art by John Romita, Jr. and Dan Green.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Uncanny X-Men #251 Nov 1989
"Fever Dream!"
Wolverine, beaten and bruised, hangs from a wooden X outside the X-Men's base camp.
Donald Pierce, Wolverine's captor, continues to torment the shackled Wolverine, who begins to hallucinate.
In his delusions, in actuality one of Gateway's "Dreamtimes", Wolverine witnesses the past.
He watches the X-Men return from their trip to the Savage Land.
Next, he is visited by phantoms of various acquaintances, both friends and foes.
He sees his own return to town, and his subsequent capture.
Again, his vision returns to the arrival of the four X-Men from the Savage Land.

As the Reavers approach the X-Men's position to attack, Psylocke opens the Siege Perilous

and telepathically cajoles the X-Men to enter.

Arriving too late, Pierce is furious at the loss of his prey.
Back to reality and the present, the town comes under the fury of a powerful storm that seems to be encircling the whole globe.
While the Reavers wait out the tempest inside, Jubilee summons the courage to approach Wolverine.
To her surprise, Wolverine frees himself from his X-shaped crucifix.
Lacking the strength to even stand, Wolverine asks the young Jubilee for help.

Story by Chris Claremont https://happybday.to/Chris-Claremont. Art by Marc Silvestri and Dan Green.

[Electricmastro]

Classic Thanksgiving art by John Romita, Jr. from Uncanny X-Men #308 (January, 1994).

[Ultimate Rogue]

From Todd Naucks twitter....

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Yay! Shadowcat! Shadowcat! Shadow-Shadow-Shadowcat!

[Zelena]

Yay! Shadowcat! Shadowcat! Shadow-Shadow-Shadowcat!

I like this costume but… long, long legs. Ouch…

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Uncanny X-Men #253 Nov 1989
"Storm Warnings!"
A de-aged Storm is found by FBI Agent Reisz, and she is brought to a hospital where she is put under the care of Dr Lian Shen,
who soon believes that Ororo is a mutant as none of their medical or video equipment registers her. Dr Shen later rings Agent Reisz,
who seems to be possessed by some unknown being, and Reisz tells Shen that he will come and collect Storm, which Storm overhears.

Moira MacTaggert and Magneto argue it out on Muir Island, over numerous subjects
including the current missing New Mutants and Magneto’s responsibilities.
Magneto warns Moira that there is a war coming, and tells her that as long as people are after him, no one will be after her.
Magneto leaves Muir Island, refusing Banshee’s hand in friendship.
Banshee consoles Moira, who decides that they find the New Mutants, then safeguard Muir Island against any possible attacks.
Moira sends Callisto to the remains of Xavier’s School to seal off the underground complex from any intruders who may want its secrets.

Later, Banshee and Moira pick up a distress call, and Banshee recognizes the voice as Polaris.
Despite the recent Marauder affiliation that Polaris held, Banshee goes to rescue his friend,
who is currently at the mercy of angry sailors aboard a freighter in rocky water.

The sailors attack Polaris, who is without her magnetic powers, but finds herself with increased strength and invulnerability,

before the freighter is snapped in two.

Banshee rescues Polaris just in time, his powers recently restored.

Amanda Sefton arrives at Excalibur’s lighthouse, in search of Nightcrawler, but finds only
Brigadier Alysande Stuart, who explains that Excalibur is missing, and offers her assistance.

Elsewhere, Forge enters a meditation, and is confronted by Amahl Farouk, and learns that Storm is alive, and in grave danger.
In Australia, the Reavers go about their business, while Lady Deathstrike claims she cannot find Wolverine,
when in fact she watches the gravely wounded X-Man make his way past her.
She doesn’t want to kill him when he cannot put up a fight.
Bonebreaker’s body is repaired, and Donald Pierce announces that the Reavers’ next mission is to destroy
Muir Island and kill everyone there, as Banshee and Moira MacTaggert represent a major threat to them.

Story by Chris Claremont. Art by Marc Silvestri and Steve Leialoha.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 Dec 1984
"Invasion!"
Second appearance of Spider-Woman aka Julia Carpenter
With She-Hulk in danger at Doombase, the heroes gathered on Battleworld rush to her aid.
Their attack attracts the attention of the Enchantress who has been drinking since she thought Thor was
slain by Doom's minions, but sees that he is actually alive and well. However she is too drunk to join the fight.
Also hearing the commotion is Volcana who is still caring for the Molecule Man
after he was seriously wounded by Wolverine in an earlier battle. She refuses to leave his side.
While down below in the dungeon the deranged Klaw frees the Lizard from his cell.
Elsewhere still, the rest of the villains are still pounding on the She-Hulk when they hear the attack and rush off to stop it.
Before leaving, Doctor Octopus lands one more blow in the hopes of killing She-Hulk.
While in his quarters, Doctor Doom continues to try and recover after being
expelled from the Worldship of Galactus as his bodyguard Ultron guards the door.

The heroes are ambushed by the villains and during the fight Iron Man's armor is damaged by the Wrecker.
The Thing tries to tackle the Absorbing Man but suddenly reverts back to human form, forcing Spider-Woman to come to his aid.
While Thor ties up Doctor Octopus, Pile Driver tries to square off against Hawkeye,
but cowers away when the bowman manages to strike him with an arrow.
The Hulk comes crashing in on the Enchantress but is knocked out by her enchanted charms.
When she tries the same thing on Captain America, he resists her long enough to knock her out with his shield.
While Spider-Man squares off against Titania, Hawkeye and Ben Grimm run into Klaw and the Lizard and are concerned that they are outmatched.
Iron Man, Mister Fantastic, Thor and Spider-Woman later locate Volcana and Molecule Man and try to attack.
Molecule Man responds by erecting an indestructible screen around them and Volcana unleashes large
fire blasts that fries Iron Man's armor, but Captain Marvel manages to pass through in her light form,
and the heroes cease their hostilities when they find out that Owen has been seriously injured.
While not far away, Spider-Man manages to get the best of Titania,
delivering her a humiliating defeat and knocking her out of the fortress.

Meanwhile, Captain America and the Human Torch are squaring off against Ultron.
Ultimately the Torch defeats the robot by unleashing his nova flame, overheating his circuits and rendering the killer robot inert.
Captain America then storms into Doom's quarters and seeing the state that Doctor Doom is in, considers Doom no threat and leaves.
With the battle over, Mister Fantastic and the others find Hawkeye and Ben Grimm playing patty-cake, thanks to the limited intellect of their foes.
Soon She-Hulk is found and is placed in the medical bay along with the defeated members of the Wrecking Crew, while the rest of the villains are locked up.
While back in the alien village, Colossus rushes the unconscious Zsaji to her room.
There he finds the bottle of mind melding gas and uses it to learn what ails her.

He discovers that the constant use of her powers to heal the various heroes have taxed her system and threaten to kill her.
Colossus then professes his love to Zsaji. Elsewhere, Hawkeye and Captain Marvel

return to discover that Zsaji pushed her powers to the limit so she could revive the Wasp.
While from their look out, the members of the X-Men notice that Galactus is getting dangerously close to completing his world devouring device.

Back at Doombase, Iron Man is impressed that Mister Fantastic seems unsurprised that an African-American is wearing the Iron Man armor.
While elsewhere Spider-Man notices that Thor got a new helmet and cape.
When Hulk tells Spider-Man that there is a device that creates costumes by thought,
he goes to check it out for himself since his own uniform is in tatters.
Finding what he believes to be the machine the Hulk was talking about,
Spider-Man thinks into it and a strange black ball comes out and lands in his hand.
Spider-Man is surprised when the blackness begins to spread up his arm and envelops his body in a new black and white costume.
As Spider-Man begins to wonder why it doesn't look like his old costume suddenly the ground begins to quake.
This is followed by a telepathic distress from Professor Xavier warning the heroes that Galactus is about to consume Battleworld.

NOTE: First in continuity appearance of Spider-Man's black costume.
This costume turns out to be an alien symbiote that will later bond with Eddie Brock and become the tenacious Spidey villain known as Venom.

Story by Jim Shooter. Art by Mike Zeck, John Beatty, Jack Abel and Mike Esposito.

[franckd]

My top four runs (sort of top two eras):

All-New by Claremont/Cockrum; Uncanny by Claremont/Byrne
New by Morrison/Quitely/etc; Astonishing by Whedon/Cassaday

Kind of interesting how the two most revolutionary periods in X-Men history began with runs that were cover titled "all-new" or "new", and then each were followed up by runs beginning with powerful adjectives (Uncanny, Astonishing). No doubt Morrison had "All-New, All-Different X-Men" in mind when naming his own series.

I also love the Claremont/Smith stuff, Claremont/Romita Jr. stuff, the First Class comics by Jeff Parker and friends, Adams/Thomas, Kirby/Lee, the whole era from Messiah CompleX to AvX Consequences...lots to love!

(And that's just for X-Men - Sienkiewicz/Claremont New Mutants...PAD's X-Factor...X-Statix...Uncanny X-Force...Weapon X by BWS...all great)

We share very, very similar tastes.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Uncanny X-Men #188 Dec 1984
"Legacy of the Lost!"
Following their supposed victory against the Dire Wraiths, the X-Men and Forge find
themselves besieged by a manifestation of Shadowbeings that threaten to swallow them up.
As they struggle to free themselves from being assimilated, Storm uses the gun that
Forge gave her to shoot off his mechanical leg so he can get away and find some help.
As Forge calls out to Nazé, he is unaware that his tribe's shaman has been replaced by
a Dire Wraith who now is casting an evil spell in the inner sanctum of Forge's penthouse.
The Wraith-Nazé calls for a mystical being to aid the Dire Wraiths and offers the entire Earth in exchange.
This powerful nether being scans "Nazé's" body and learns the truth and mystically
strikes him down dead, finding that killing this pretender suits his purposes better.

Meanwhile, just above the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, Amanda Sefton is working her job as
an airplane stewardess when suddenly Nightcrawler appears and teleports her away onto the Blackbird.
He explains to her the X-Men's dilemma that the X-Men need her aid.
They quickly teleport into Forge's Eagles Next and Amanda goes to work.
With one mystical blast she frees the X-Men but fails to destroy the Shadowbeings.
Rogue transforms into a Dire Wraith due to her mutant absorbing powers and battles with Colossus.
Just then, Colossus's sister Magik appears and uses her Soul Sword to change Rogue back to normal
while Amanda unleashes her full power to mystically snare the Shadowbeings so
that Illyana can destroy them with her Soul Sword. However, they prove too powerful.
Realizing that a Wraith must still be alive, Storm remembers the one she locked up on the roof.
Forge and Nightcrawler teleport there and Forge finds and terminates the last Wraith, ending the threat of the Shadowbeings inside.

With the X-Men recover from the battle, Forge goes looking for Nazé and finds what he believes to be his old friend’s unconscious body.
Storm enters the room and tells him that the X-Men are leaving. Forge tries to stop her but she threatens to shoot him.
She tells him that he should not worry, as they will meet again. However she tells him he might regret it, and she leaves.

Meanwhile, out in deep sea near the Bermuda Triangle, Lee Forester's fish
crew is at work when they spot a man in the water being attacked by sharks.

Lee manages to fend the creatures off with a rifle and pull the man aboard the ship.

Getting a better look at the man she saved, she is shocked to see that it is Magneto.
The master of magnetism remembers her from their previous encounter and tells her that he is indebted to her.

While at the X-Mansion, Storm and the other X-Men have returned to the mansion from Dallas.
Storm is coming out of the pool after a swim and is met by Nightcrawler.
Kurt comes to tell her that the Professor has called a meeting for the X-Men.
Storm tells Kurt that since she is no longer a mutant she doesn't feel like she is part of the X-Men and declines to join.
However Kurt manages to convince her to join.

As the X-Men are having their meeting, outside Rachel, Illyana and Sunspot try to listen in to what's going on.
The Professor detects their presence and tells his young students to go to bed.
Rachel declines to accompany the younger students and decides to stay up a while longer.
Inside the Professor's study, the X-Men vent their frustrations over the United States government being responsible for stripping
Storm of her powers and discuss what they should do about the coming Mutant Control Act that is being pushed through Congress.

Nightcrawler airs his frustrations about the current state of human and mutant affairs
and points that anti-mutant sentiments were the reason Jean Grey died.
Hearing this from outside, Rachel lashes out telepathically, not willing to
believe that her mother had died years before she was born in the future.
The Professor manages to calm her down and Rachel explains the
story about her past, which may or may not be the X-Men's future.
She explains how when she was a young girl, anti-mutant forces gunned down most of
the students and blew up the mansion and that she witnessed Charles Xavier being shot herself.
How as an adult she was locked in a concentration camp for mutants and how the X-Men tried to save their future
while Kate Pryde was sent back in time to prevent their future from happening and how all the X-Men had died.

This vision from the future shocks all of the X-Men and the Professor is the most visibly shaken of them all.
Rachel explains that when the X-Men failed to stop the Sentinels in her time she
attempted to travel back in time, but found herself in a past that she does not remember.
She pleads to Nightcrawler not to give up their struggle and to continue to fight for human mutant peace.
Nightcrawler takes this to heart and agrees to keep on fighting.

At a New York shipping yard, a man named Jaime Rodriguez is hard at work hauling
crates of fish when one crate accidentally falls to the ground and breaks open.

Examining the spilled fish he notices that one of them has a strange golden amulet stuffed inside it.
Removing it, Rodriquez marvels at how much money he could get selling it when the amulet
suddenly speaks, telling him that if he dons the amulet he will have the power to rule the world.

Story by Chris Claremont. Art by John Romita, Jr. and Dan Green.

[Digifiend]

The Incoming teaser had nothing to do with the actual content. The X-Men story was instead a set-up for the 4X mini. Mr Sinister says he's "got" several mutants, and "needs" Franklin Richards.

[hulkling]

The Incoming teaser had nothing to do with the actual content. The X-Men story was instead a set-up for the 4X mini. Mr Sinister says he's "got" several mutants, and "needs" Franklin Richards.

Also it was a hint about the chimeras. Sinister can’t create more Sinisters but he can create something new, is a way to bend the rules of krakoa without breaking them

[Digifiend]

I suppose that loophole was necessary or it would've made X-23 a breach of the rules.

[CTTT]

I want to get into X-Men but there's so many titles (X-Factor X-Force) and solo titles Cable Wolverine that it gets kind of confusing. Other than events what am I missing as far as stories/characterization by not reading something like Wolverine's solo.