Drawn by John Romita Jr
Cost New .60
Cost Used .75
Ok by the mid-80s I was buying stacks of comics and the X-Men were my favorite. It had everything, great story-lines, great art, drama, action, everything. Chris Clairmont, despite his occasional failings knew how to keep you coming back for more. Which I did, without fail, for years and years on end. I think I had every X-Men comic published between 1979 and 1989. And that brings me to #190.
One of the things Clairmont did so well was putting the X-Men into different situations. They weren't just fighting Magneto. They had gone into space with the Starjammers, the Shi'ar, and the Brood, and now he put them in a fantasy setting.
Our story begins with some establishing shots and then the payoff.
Yes Manhattan has been transformed into some kind of medieval version of itself.
Two hundred miles to the south, in a city somewhat smaller but equally well-known --in a house whose occupant holds the fate of the planet in his hands...so Claremontian.
So Valerie Cooper is giving a briefing to a bunch of old white guys at the White House.
She explains a magic field surrounds Manhattan transforming anyone who crosses in it. Inside the field, well it's not pleasant.
So the Avengers and some of the X-Men have also been transformed. One of the old white guys objects to the "mutants" being included along with the hero Avengers. Another complains about the persecution of mutants. Oh, Marvel universe you've made zero progress in 50 years.
Meanwhile back in New York, Storm who evidently is some kind of pirate queen is accosted by the Morlocks who serves as Kulan Gath's enforcers.
Storm is not going to take that lying down and fights back.
Callisto pursues Storm and they recreate their famous fight on one of the yards of the ship. (Sailor's quibble here for a yard of that size the ship would have to be huge)
After she's cut Storm seems to recover her memories, which raises the question why doesn't this happen to everyone else, but it doesn't matter. She and Callisto fall into the water and cross the barrier where they're picked up by authorities.
Look at all those word balloons.
Gath then turns his attention to his newest prisoners, the New Mutants. Warlock, like Spider-Man, has been unaffected by Gath's magic. However, Warlock hasn't really been able to work out what's going on. He is an alien after all. By the way the part of Warlock will be played by a young David Hasselhoff.
Seeing that Gath is one bad dude, Warlock transforms to his technorganic form and tries to rescue his teammates. But Gath is too quick for him and transforms the rest of the New Mutants into his servants, leaving Warlock to flee alone. Meanwhile in the shadows the Black Queen Selene watches. She has been unaffected by Gath's spell because she's older than he is or something like that.
Selene then rescues Magma and Rachel Summers from the Morlocks that were about to rape them. Ugh. Now if memory serves me not too many issues before this there was a big showdown with Selene over Magma and Rachel, so this was a nice reference. She then uses Rachel's powers to contact Storm and Callisto to fill them in on Gath's plan. Storm and Callisto agree to return to the city protected by Selene's magic, to help take Gath down. During this time Storm reveals to Callisto that's she's lost her powers which will become a plot point in a later issue.
Back on the island, the New Mutants are chasing Spider-Man, who tries to hide in a tavern. A tavern frequented by the Avengers.
And there we have Starfox with a creepy moustache, who has to be the greatest character in comics history. I mean just look at him. Creepppppyyyyy.
The New Mutants capture Spider-man but before they leave Xavier/Caliban tells them that Magik's in the tavern and they should grab her too. Well that doesn't go over to well with sword and sorcery Captain America.
Did I say creepy Starfox was the best comic character in history? I meant sword and sorcery Cap was the best character in comics history. Tell me you wouldn't read a Warlord type comic starring Captain America in a sword and sorcery setting.
Meanwhile the battle isn't going great for the good guys when Selene shows up to save everyone. The New Mutants leave because evidently Spider-man is the real prize, but before anyone can celebrate Gath takes down Selene and captures her. This leaves Amara and Rachel with the Avengers just as Storm and Callisto show up.
The crew escapes to the sewers when Captain America gives a speech and they decide to fight the bad guy together.
And that's that. This issue kicked ass in 1985 and it still does today. Yes, Claremont's writing style isn't for everyone but it works. And then there's the art. If you ask me JRJR was at the height of his skill in the X-men days and Dan Green knew just how to ink him. It's beautiful, it's dynamic, and it never distracts from the story. And to think you got a story this great for only .60, that's a steal. To put it in perspective, .60 in 1985 is about $1.25 today. If comics were $1.25 they would sell a lot more of them.
Next time: (Almost) Everybody Dies!
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