Uncanny X-Men #181-184

Uncanny X-Men #181-184

Originally released in 1984

Written by Chris Claremont

Art by John Romita Jr.

Continuing with Chris Claremont's X-Men run, the X-Men arrive back on Earth after Secret Wars, though unlike the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, they don't appear in Central Park.  Rather, they show up in Japan, something that Wolverine figures out almost immediately.

When they had left, Lockheed had found a dragon of a similar size to him, but now that dragon has grown to a massive size for some reason and is (of course) attacking Tokyo, seemingly out of unrequited love (she loves Lockheed, he doesn't return her feelings).  As this progresses, Storm runs into a similar conflict to what she had before - she's the field leader of the X-Men, and yet someone else (Cyclops before, Xavier now) is unknowingly undermining her leadership.

During the battle, Xavier's legs are crushed by debris, and I almost laughed out loud at the idea that he just got back from Secret Wars only to immediately wind up in a wheelchair again; it seemed so over-the-top. His legs were relatively fine, but it filled him with a fear that he doesn't want to experience again.

Back in America, Senator Robert Kelly is working on a piece of legislature that will seemingly become a recurring thorn in the X-Men's side - a mutant control act that automatically treats all mutants as prisoners or slaves.  Other senators oppose the bill, but Kelly's pushing it through anyway.

As the rest of the team is in Japan, Rogue flies back to America to check on Kitty, since she's too far away for Xavier to communicate with her telepathically.  Kitty thought she'd be safe because Emma Frost was in a coma (or, as the handwritten note puts it, a comma), but she was wrong; Emma is awake and trying to brainwash Kitty.

Rouge misses this, hearing a message about a group of double agents from SHIELD who are working for the Hellfire Club and rushing off to the Helicarrier to figure out what's going on.  She arrives just in time to save the agent, Michael Rossi... or DOES she?

When a Boston accent is mentioned, I thought that maybe Marco Rossi was being mentally manipulated by Emma Frost to tell her everything he knows, but instead, it's Carol Danvers's personality taking over Rogue and getting their memories mixed up.  As a result, Rogue's not in a great state of mind, to put it mildly.

Meanwhile, the issue ends with the traitor informing Fury (from his hospital bed) that Rogue was responsible.  Despite another agent wondering why Rogue would supposedly use a gun, Fury wants Rogue brought in with deadly force if necessary.

Issue 183 starts with Colossus telling Kitty that he fell in love with someone else.  I have mixed feelings about this, as Colossus's love for a healer that he just met on Battleworld comes across as incredibly forced, to the point where it comes across as someone involved on the writing side of things (whether it's Jim Shooter or Chris Claremont) wanting to break up the couple regardless of how jarring it seems, but on the other hand, Kitty's 14 at this point while Colossus is 19.

Wolverine takes Colossus (and Nightcrawler, who tags along) to a bar to tell him off.  At this point, I'm guessing Jim Shooter was the one responsible for Kitty and Colossus's break-up, as it reminds me of an Avengers Annual after Avengers #200 (also written by Claremont) where Carol Danvers tells off the Avengers for abandoning her and letting her go with Marcus Immortus after he openly admitted to brainwashing her into loving him - I still have problems with Avengers #200)

The talk is interrupted by Colossus inadvertently starting a barroom brawl with an out-of-costume Juggernaut that literally brings the house down.  Juggernaut at least shows a sense of honour, giving Wolverine and Nightcrawler (who are watching so Wolverine can make a point) money to give to the bartender for repairs.

Naturally, Wolverine is frustrated - he considers both Kitty and Colossus to be close friends, and yet Colossus didn't even thank Kitty for the times she sacrificed herself for the good of the team, or even try to talk things out with her before breaking up with her.  Unbeknownst to them, Selene, a vampire-like mutant, was at that same bar, and she's set her eyes on the X-Men.

Issue 184 is called The Past of Future Days, and this one seems to borrow heavily from the Terminator movies.  Rachel Summers has gone through a time-slip to try and prevent the apocalyptic future from Days of Future Past from happening.  While she's not being hunted by a futuristic Sentinel that can pass as a human, she is being hunted by Selene, who senses Rachel's power and wants to make her into Selene's heir.

Rachel psychically calls out to Xavier to save her, and the arrival of the X-Men forces Selene to flee.  However, upon seeing that Xavier can walk and that Storm looks completely different from photos of her, Rachel becomes convinced that she's wound up in the wrong past and there's nothing she can do to stop the events of her timeline from happening.

All of this isn't even getting into the apparent introduction of Forge, a Native American mutant with outstanding technological know-how, or Mystique disguising as Raven Darkholme, a senator's aide, for her own nefarious purposes.  Needless to say, even in these four issues, there is a lot that's going on, along with the series tying into the events of New Mutants. It's something of a tangled web, but an immensely entertaining one.