Punch Up: “To Me My ❌-Men”
Chapter Two:
1981
May, 1981, The Uncanny X-Men No. 148 by Cockrum, Claremont, Rubinstein, G. Wein, J. Chiang, & L. Jones still editor.
June, 1981, The Uncanny X-Men No. 149 by Cockrum, Claremont, Rubinstein, J. Chiang, G. Wein, & Louise as editor. Shooter Era continues.
Mixtape track: White Girl by X & Planet Earth by Duran Duran
Chapter 2 of “to me My ❌-Men,” where Pop Stars and Pirates have brushes with stranger danger. Is this the “worst” costume in Marvel history…?!?
Previous on “to me my ❌-Men,” our Halloween Christmakkah Special Beginnings.
Scott had called, and Kitty awkwardly picked up, right before Scott met Aleytys Forrester. We know someone named Jean died and this drove Scott to leave the ❌-Men. He was apparently the leader. (In reality, I really don’t like knowing more than this yet. Lee, Aleytys, is the only partner I have ever liked Scott with, AND like his brother Alex, I root for them to get distance from both thier past, and the ❌-Men). So this issue picks up with a little recap of what has happened since Scott & Aleytys met. Her ship, the Arcadia, got cought in a storm in the Bermuda Triangle, ho hum. But lucky us we are beginning at an inflection point, as they barely survived and are in a beautiful rendered comics splash page.
Ack. Scott is killing the vibe. Well, at least he is not braking character. I assume Jay (Scott superfan) loves this. So that’s nice for him.
There is an important thread that is being established here (or established if you partake in earlier or more issues). Queer culture has a strong bond with comics as a medium and with the ❌-Men specifically. Some of it is with heteronormative contexts, that double as providing queer coded aesthetics or context. The aesthetics here to me work for both heteronormative and queer perspectives. On a spectrum not for everyone, but certainly beyond what the comics code authority was going for at the time. We half joke today the making comics makes you gay. This is in the DNA.
I have done a version of this exercise before that began with No. 102. An issue that flashbacks to Ororo’s origin. Part of this was due to the idea that we needed more time with Moira. But that was in service of the Krakoa narrative. One I, like as a fever dream, but not The ❌-Men story. In the 40+ issues we skipped, there are the occasional moments I love, but most of the story I would cut, and the art just really isn’t my thing for the most part. There is enough to get a taste here. The first of these missed moments is Kurt being invisible in a shadow. However, page 6 Kurt is hiding from Logan in exactly this way. The moment also picks up the thread from 143, when Kurt antagonised Logan. Their friendly rivalry is on like donkey kong.
Now they are friendly chatting and Logan is talking Ninja. This is a key part of the story to me.
Angel is arguing, Chuck is both siding, and Ororo is both reasonable and has Logan’s back! Damn right! And Angel is off again. I kinda like this as introduction to Angel and the dynamics at play. I definitely love the Kurt, Logan, Ororo stuff here. Pitch perfect.
In two pages we go from an intro to Sean Cassidy (well established to other readings). We see him and Peter working on the Blackbird (as it was banged up in our intro in 143). We are also introduced to a very young Illyana (she is younger than Kitty…but the creepy grooming narratives get complicated down the road). We are then introduced to the notion of Black Tom, and are introduced to Sean’s daughter. All of this is import in the context of Moira, these seeds feel throw away…but let’s see if they grow.
Charles shares this moment through group telepathy, Sean meeting his daughter…and it’s a terrible experience for Moira (I know why, but we don’t know this yet), but either way Chuck is a Jerk! Who does this?!
He even loops in Spider-Woman who is hanging at the school. Because Marvel is amazing like that.
This leads to Ororo connect and support Moira. As Moira and her son’s story is hella rough (but better just noted as such). Ororo talks about her and Stevie Hunter both being close with Kitty as mentors and how it places a wedge with Ororo and Stevie. Which kinda sucks. Especially ‘cause Kitty is not always worth their efforts and definitely not worth coming between them.
Oh and now a mystery figure comes from bellow…his name is Caliban! Okays, so we don’t have the reveal on page 10, but we are at the beginning of the Morlocks here, which confirms we made the correct call in starting and continuing where we did.
While it is not a Mall, this next seen is very ❌-Men in a Mall…and as you will see, that’s a thing we love here! And Dazzler debuted 19 issues ago, but for our purposes Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman), Ororo, Stevie and Kitty are seated to watch an important person in their lives, be that Pop Star she is.
Jessica mentions she lives in SF, they are trying to not talk about her PI business. This is 6 years after Black Widow leaves, and 7 years after Daredevil leaves SF. Otherwise maybe we spend more time with Jessica…but she doesn’t become a stranger at all. Her presence here foreshadows.
Kitty is embarrassing the adults with being 13.
Poor Caliban. He is like the Hulk in that he doesn’t mean it. He feels terrible about it. He just can’t help it. The Lennie’s of the world.
Kitty is impulsive and Caliban is also, in that he desires connection and that means he is going to kidnap Kitty.
The fight is kinda kinky, cause Spider-Woman. I think this works for a spectrum of folks.
To be equitable we get a shot of Caliban’s booty too!
He’s got this Scarecrow and Darkman vibe. And then we see his beautiful mutated face.
I love him so! Now they are talking instead of fighting and Caliban is like, ‘my bad.’ And the ❌-Men are like yup, but we cool. So drinks with a Pop Star it is.
Kitty is reflecting on the fact she has been judgy of Kurt and now is thinking she is a jerk maybe.
Lee and Scott are rescued by Magneto?
Previously on “to me my ❌-Men” the shipwrecked and the party crasher.
As you have all witnessed, especially when reviewing my favorite cartoonists, I am nearly a full spectrum appreciator of comics. Don’t get me wrong, to me 2/3rds are trash and hurt my eyes, but this has little to do with the genre, narrative, or aesthetic approach. It generally has to do with how the pieces fit within a complex context.
One aspect I am here for is some mid 20th century stupid zany cartooning. Embrace this fine ass art! No. 149 is simply here to note these comics roots.
Kitty literally rolls out in the most ‘I’m so coool, I’m 13’ rebranding , that is so epic…it stops us dead in our tracks with…well a visceral reaction. So visceral, I make sure you can’t unsee it.
But the real purpose is to hit us over the head with this is a kid and this world they are in is an adult world.
The rest of the comic kinda illustrates the nonsense I am trying to avoid. But I will defend Kitty being a kid and comics being weird.
Post script has Scott in his own eccentric outfit. I love Pirate Scott…in small doses. Same with 13 year old Kitty.
Next: Daredevil No. 179 & 184
