Reprints Uncanny X-Men #161-167 and X-Men Annual #6, plus material from Marvel Treasury Edition #26-27 and Special Edition X-Men #1.
Written by Chris Claremont, Mary Jo Duffy and Scott Edelman.
Penciled by Dave Cockrum, Paul Smith, Brent Anderson, Bill Sienkiewicz and Ken Landgraf.
Summary:
While the X-Men are having a training session at their temporary headquarters on a Caribbean island, Colossus' sister, 6 year old Ilyanna Rasputin goes missing. She has been transported to Limbo by a demon known as Belasco, who intends to make Ilyanna his apprentice and train her to be a sorceress. When the heroes investigate, they also wind up in Limbo and are forced to battle Belasco's super-strong minion S'ym.
The X-Men are able to save Ilyanna and are about to transport away out of Limbo when Belasco grabs the child for several seconds. Because time moves differently in Limbo, Ilyanna ages seven years during those seconds. She is now 13 and her brother is devastated that Ilyanna's childhood has been destroyed.
The X-Men's leader, Prof. Charles Xavier is comatose due to a psychic attack in outer space. He flashes back to his younger days, when he worked in a mental hospital in Haifa, Israel. Xavier used his mutant mental powers to help heal victims of the Nazi Holocaust. One volunteer at the hospital is a concentration camp survivor named Magnus, who would later become Magneto, the X-Men's deadliest foe.
Xavier treats a catatonic Holocaust survivor named Gabrielle Haller, who hasn't spoken in years. His power quickly remedies this and the two begin to fall for one another. Their new life is interrupted by an attack of Hydra agents led by Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker. Gabrielle is captured by Hydra because she knows the location of gold reserves hidden by Nazis at the end of World War II. Strucker plans to use the gold to fund his plans for world conquest. Only Charles and Magnus can save Gabrielle from Strucker!
Later, the X-Men and their friend Carol Danvers (the former Ms. Marvel, who is currently staying at the X-Mansion) are invited to a banquet held on the spaceship of their friend Lilandra, Empress of the Shi'ar. Their dinner is broken up by Lilandra's sister Deathbird and her alien associates the Brood. They have discovered the X-Men's mutant genes make them ideal hosts to carry Brood eggs. Each member of the team is implanted with an egg. The eggs will transform the X-men into Brood and kill them.
Wolverine is the first to discover what has happened. When his egg comes to term, his healing factor kills it. But Wolverine is reluctant to tell his teammates that they are doomed.
The Brood is fascinated with Carol Danvers' Kree/Human physiology and conducts experiments on her. These experiments, combined with Carol's encounter with a White Hole brings out new superpowers. She has the power of a star and calls herself Binary. Carol's new powers play a crucial role in their fight against the Brood.
Team leader Storm decides to launch herself into space to kill her egg and herself. She is rescued by the Acanti, the race of space whales that the Brood lobotomizes and uses as their living spaceships. Storm becomes "one with the Acanti" and learns they hold the key to freeing the X-Men and defeating the Brood.
When the X-Men return to their mansion on Earth, they are attacked by the New Mutants, Xavier's new group of students. The heroes deduce correctly that Professor X is hosting a Brood queen egg and realize they have to stop his transformation.
However, it's too late and X-Men must battle a Brood queen with the abilities of their leader and mentor. Can even the combined might of the X-Men and New Mutants defeat this new Brood queen?
Plus, the X-Men battle Count Dracula, lord of vampires!
Wolverine runs into the Olympian Avenger Hercules at a bar and a fight ensues!
Former X-Men Angel is targeted for death by Karl Shanken, his father's former business partner!
And last, but not least, Kitty gives Ilyanna a very thorough tour of the X-Mansion!
Review:
Marvel Masterworks:The Uncanny X-Men Volume 8 features a great multi-part space saga and a few other good stories.
Story:
Chris Claremont writes all but eleven pages of this book. He really had a grasp on the characters by this point and Claremont gives us lots of action and character development.
The first story, featuring Belasco is legitimately sad and disturbing. The demon steals Ilyanna's childhood and I've always felt a bit sad every time I've read it since it was originally published. Claremont makes you care about every member of this team and their friends and family members.
The flashback story featuring young Xavier and Magneto was important in making Magneto a more "complicated" character and less of a Silver Age-style bad guy. It also introduces retroactively introduces the relationship of Professor X and Gabrielle Haller, which would later produce the character Legion.
The Brood storyline is considered one of the classic X-Men storylines and rightly so. The first part is narrated by Wolverine and added more depth to his character. Carol Danvers has fought crimes under many names, but Binary has always been my favorite of her superheroic characters. Claremont previously wrote Danvers stories when he served as writer on Ms. Marvel, the stories reprinted here show that he genuinely cared about Carol.
Kitty Pryde's life is forever changed when she's rescued by a small dragon. He would follow Kitty to Earth and become Lockheed, her pet dragon and be featured in X-Men stories for many years.
The Brood are great villains. They look frightening and disgusting and seem to be without any redeeming values. Having Wolverine and others call them "sleazeoids" is a nice touch by Claremont.
However, what makes these stories great is that Claremont gets to the heart of what makes a hero. At one point the X-men believe they will all die when the Brood eggs they're carrying hatch. They don't give up, they decide to fight for the freedom of the Acanti and for their friends and family on Earth. Because heroes never give up.
The Dracula story, reprinted from X-Men Annual #6, is good, if a bit of a step down from the Brood adventure.
And Kitty's guided tour of the X-Men's mansion headquarters is fun.
Mary Jo Duffy wrote the short barroom brawl between Hercules and Wolverine. Duffy nails their characterizations and this story is enjoyable, if slight. It's Logan's first appearance away from the X-Men, which makes it somewhat historically important. Scott Edelman penned the Angel solo tale and it's also enjoyable.
Art:
Brent Anderson provides pencils on the book's opening Belasco story. He provides good Marvel "House Style" art.
Dave Cockrum pencils the first half of the book and does a great job depicting the Brood's homeworld and their environs. This two-page spread of an Acanti carcass is a great example of Cockrum's work here:
Cockrum's depiction of Gabrielle Haller's Holocaust memories is haunting.
While Cockrum excels in depicting otherworldy settings, Paul Smith does a great job penciling characters. Smith's art is gorgeous and he does a great job juggling all the characters during the fight between the X-Men and New Mutants.
Bill Sienkiewicz pencils the Dracula story. At the time his art was transitioning from his "Neal Adams-esque" look to a more abstract approach and it works well with Dracula.
Inker Bob Wiacek provides solid embellishment for all the pencilers.
How Does It Look?:
Here's a 2-page from Uncanny X-Men #166:
This is how those pages look in the reprinted version:
Extras:
Longtime Marvel editor and writer Louise Simonson (who edited these stories) contributes a new introduction. We also get five pages of original art.
Rating:
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Volume 8 features some great art and stories and for me represents the beginning of the end of the "classic" era of the X-Men. The Brood saga was one of my favorite stories and I'm happy to have it presented in the Masterworks format. The other stories are entertaining as well and this book is highly recommended to fans who book these stories back in '82 and new readers alike.
J.A. Morris' rating:
4 Sals!
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