It’s interesting how time will change your perspective on something. When this run of UNCANNY X-MEN was coming out, nobody reading it thought that they were following a stint that would become an acknowledged classic. As a reader, I knew that I liked the series, but if you’d asked me then, I don’t think it would have been my favorite–that would have been FANTASTIC FOUR–and I’m not even sure it would make the top-5. And yet, looking back at it, the stories in this run were better-crafted and more contemporary than pretty much any of the books that, in my youthful inexperience, I liked more. As much as anything, this likely comes down to the fact that, when you’re younger, you tend to be drawn to the characters, and as you get older, your allegiance tends to shift towards particular creators instead. At this point, I was still mostly a characters man.
But this run is a pretty perfect synthesis of the talents of four people: writer Chris Claremont, penciler and co-plotter John Byrne, inker/finisher Terry Austin and editor Roger Stern. Stern often gets overlooked in the mix, but his contribution was essential, tilting the scales in a particular direction. It’s no secret that Claremont and Byrne often disagreed on the direction the title should go and how to depict the characters. In later years, under subsequent editors, Chris would largely have his head on such matters (at least until Jim Lee and Bob Harras landed on the series.) But here, Stern’s outlook was always more simpatico with his longtime friend Byrne, and that meant that, while he wouldn’t make every call to John’s benefit, Byrne did have an ally who could offset some of the aspect of Chris’s approach that bothered him.
This issue was a part of an extended sequence that remains a big influence on me and will no doubt inform some of my thinking as we set up a new iteration of X-titles. For almost a year following their apocalyptic battle with Magneto, half of the X-Men thought that the other half had perished in the battle, and that other half was instead marooned halfway across the world and forced to slowly make their way home over many months and issues. Among other things, this split off the uber-powerful Phoenix from the main group, allowing more room for less potent characters such as Nightcrawler or Wolverine to contribute more to the adventures. But it also cast an emotional pallor over the series, a sense of loss that felt very meaningful, even if we as readers were aware that it was all for nothing.
This issue opens with the X-Men on a raft, having left the Savage Land on their way home. But their boat is caught in a severe storm, and it’s only the intervention of a passing Japanese ship that provides their rescue. But they are still unable to contact their friends back home. And cutting to the X-Mansion, those friends are sorrowfully moving on with their lives. Jean Grey has packed her things and is moving out to begin a new chapter without the love of her life Scott Summers, leaving Professor Xavier and his alien princess girlfriend Lilandra to process what seems to be the end of his dream. Driven to introspection, begins to narrate to Lilandra an untold story about his past, when he was traveling the world before he’d lost the use of his legs. That story forms the backbone of this issue.
It also represents the first of what would turn into dozens of bits of inserted retroactive continuity that would be added to the canon of the X-Men over the years. Here, while in Cairo, Xavier has his wallet stolen by a very young Storm. The odds against this, of course, are astronomical–to say nothing of the fact that, when Xavier was first forming the X-Men and actively looking for mutants to recruit, why he never went back and scooped her up earlier. Recognizing her as a mutant like himself, he stops her from escaping with his things with a telepathic zap But before he can probe Ororo further, he is suddenly knocked back by a telepathic thrust the equal of his own. There is another malevolent force at play here.
Entering a nearby cafe, Xavier finds himself confronted by Amahl Farouk, a local crime lord and fellow telepath. Challenged for the first time by an equal, Xavier engages Farouk in combat on the mental plane–which gives Byrne the opportunity to produce some wonderful Steve Ditko-like psychedelic environments. Farouk uses illusion and misdirection to get the upper hand on his foe, but in the end, Xavier susses out his game and kills him with a deadly mental strike. This was, of course, intended to be the one and only story that Farouk would be a part of, but of course he’s come back time and time again as the psychic being known as the Shadow King. Anyway, this was Xavier’s first encounter with an evil mutant (unless, I suppose, you count Magneto–but that history wasn’t all in place yet either) and it convinces him to return to his work. Though not to track down Ororo, who is clearly living on the streets. For a smart guy, Xavier is often pretty dumb.
Segueing back to the present, with nothing remaining any longer to keep him on Earth, Xavier reluctantly accepts Lilandra’s offer to relocate to the far-off Shi’ar Empire that she rules when she isn’t making coffee for him in the Mansion’s kitchen. And as they depart, we get a one-page epilogue at Kennedy Airport, where Jean Grey bumps into her old roommate Misty Knight–Claremont in these days tended to intertwine all of the projects he was working on, and even though he was no longer writing POWER MAN AND IRON FIST, he considered Misty “his” character. In any event, Misty is on her way to Japan, where she’s clearly going to run into the believed-dead X-Men. But that’s a story for the next issue. For now, Jean is left with the realization that, for the first time in her life, she’s completely on her own with no friends and no support structure to help her out. This would maybe be more of a concern if she wasn’t a cosmic-level telepath and telekinetic, but the emotional point still works.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
The last time Shadow King was a good villain. After that he became one of Claremont’s stock mind-control types and insufferably over-powered (to me, anyway).
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I think if the X-Men ever return from the Volcano, they should keep an eye on Jean. She may end running into bad companies and turned into the villain of her own story. And Colossus’ Faberge’s collection are at risk… ;-P
That’s what she got for getting involved with “Slim”. I remember Carlos Pacheco once called Cyclops something along the lines of “The Rubber Gimp”. But poor of him too, he’s handicapped.
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Nice little touch in that last panel that leads into the next issue is that quite literal interpretation of the flag of Japan in the sky.
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You mean the old Imperial Japanese flag.
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I much prefer Bynre & Claremont’s original conception of Amahl Farouk / the Shadow King as an extremely powerful yet still very much mortal human being who used his powers to fulfill his darkest desires and who, his body dying during his first battle with Xavier, managed to survive as a disembodied consciousness on the psychic plane. That was so much better than Claremont’s later idea of making the Shadow King this god-like body-hopping Evil From the Dawn of Time.
Also, I’m glad Claremont never really had the chance to actually make the Shadow King the hidden power behind the “Days of Future Past” timeline. The whole point of that original storyline was that the fears & prejudices of one group of people towards another group of people has the very dangerous potential to ultimately destroy the entire human race. Bringing in a cosmic-powered emotional manipulating entity like the Shadow King undermines that entire message.
I’m a fan of Claremont, but I definitely agree he works best when he has a strong editor who doesn’t just rubber-stamp his stories but who instead acts as a check on some of his crazier ideas and keeps him focused on limited number of characters & plotlines at a time.
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“The whole point of that original storyline was that the fears & prejudices of one group of people towards another group of people has the very dangerous potential to ultimately destroy the entire human race.” Genocide. Humans are all too capable of carrying it out on their own. I agree it’s important to show that truth, rather than deflect to some other entity.
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Before the Charles Xavier vs. Amahl Farouk psychic battle, 2 Explorers’ Club member Craine ( bad guy — jealous of Burton & tried to kill him only his body couldn’t handle the strain leaving him a disembodied spirit/astral form ) & Burton ( good guy ) [ Journey into Mystery#47 ( June 1957 ) 1st story — “Bring Back My Body!” ]. FYI, Craine & Burton aren’t the only super-powered or not quite human Atlas Age Explorers’ Club members ( Bwana Brown ( immortal ), Zad Compton ( Plutonian & president of the Explorers’ Club on Pluto ) and Sam ” Spell” Binder ( Hypnotist ) [ see profile at marvunapp.com ]– they could have taken the Monster Hunters place in the 1950s ( and the Monster Hunters should be moved to the 1960s where the 3 male members can be found on the last page of the alien mud monster Taboo’s story [ Strange Tales#75 ( June 1960 ) 1st story — Lewis Conrad is with a party of officials that resemble Dr. Druid, Ulysses Bloodstone & Mac Curry/Makkari — since the 3 officials knew there was an H-Bomb and Taboo communicated telepathically it would make sense to send people who can resist mind-reading just in case Taboo can read minds too ] — Plus Zawadi ( an African woman with her hair style ) can be found in a retelling of Propaganda by Jack Kirby in Journey into Mystery#80 ( May 1962 ) second story ( Communists are trying to convince a tribe to become communist and then turn violent when the tribe refuses only to be killed by the tribe’s gods in statue form ( but what if Zawadi is playing Lupita Nyongo/Nakia’s role of spy in the Black Panther 2018 film and the tribe’s statues of their gods were swapped out for robot doubles? )
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I forgot, in an Atlas Age Explorers’ Club that Ken Hale ( Gorilla-Man ) was a member too. So as Gorilla-Man he could be part of their team too.
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I wish I had thought of this back when the original Marvel Comics Presents was around, but I would have loved to have seen ( with a good or great artist ) some more Pre-X-Men Charles Xavier stories ( the flashback was 9 pages if I counted correctly — his version Marvel Comics Presents era version of the Doctor Droom stories I saw, with old friends ( first meetings ) like Dr. Peter Corbeau ( and pre-FF 1960s aliens ) ).
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Had Professor X been around then he would have been recruited to join them: new Secret Service [ Mystery Tales#39 ( March 1956 ) 3rd story “They Walk Among Us!” – Jerry Fulton ( bank clerk, telepath ), Fran ( telepath & new Secret Service agent ) & 3 male new Secret Service agents ( page 4 panel 4 – I see 3 hats in the doorway ) vs. Franz Borak ( mind healer, alien from another dimension ) & 2 other aliens ].
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Mr. Bitner says, “..organization in which we help each other ( Telepaths ) to do good for humanity” [ Marvel Tales#135 ( June 1955 ) text story -“The Gift” -George & Mr. Bitner ( both Telepaths — Mr. Bitner offered to introduce George to the others ) ]– another group that would have invited Professor X to join them had he been around then.
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PROFESSOR X prototype: Uncanny Tales#45 ( July 1856 ) 2nd story “The Men With Green Blood” – Dr. Mark Crewe ( brilliant physician & surgeon – identified as a mutant by his green blood on last page and panel ), his nurse, Dr. Caleb Jessup ( greatest research biologist in the world & mutant ), John ( mutant -dead ) & 3 other mutants ( The FUTURE MEN )– Dr. Jessup says, “We the mutants with our mentalities and strange developing powers!” They only become conscious of their powers at age 40 ( Powers are unknown in the story ). They use their powers to aid mankind to a greater future ]— have this story too on my USB.
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