Posted in: Comics | Tagged: chris claremont, christmas, uncanny x-men, x-men, X-ual Healing - The Weekly X-Men Recap Column

Celebrating Claremont's First X-Mas in Uncanny X-Men #98

Merry X-Mas, dear readers! Or Happy Holidays if you prefer. During this happiest time of the year (relatively speaking), we figure it's as good a time as any to revisit one of the happiest times in comics, which is, of course, anytime the legendary Chris Claremont is writing the X-Men. Of course, there's no reason Chris Claremont couldn't still be writing an X-Men comic right now, since Marvel pays him a retainer to be exclusive to Marvel. Nonetheless, they choose not to assign him an ongoing book, presumably because, Grinch-like, they despise X-Mas and everything it stands for.

But we're not here to complain about that (today). In the true X-Mas spirit, we're taking a look at three classic Claremont X-Mas tales, plus one with no Claremont at all, in this X-ual Healing: A Very Claremont X-Mas special!

Look, you're the one reading comic book websites on X-Mas.

Just a few issues into Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum's X-Men revival came the new team's very first X-Mas issue, kicking off just after — unbeknownst to them — the X-Men just had a fateful encounter with Santa Claus, the world's most powerful mutant. More on that later today. But for now, the story begins on Christmas Eve at the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center in New York City in a tale inked by Sam Grainger, with colors by Janice Cohen and letters by Joe Rosen.

The X-Men split up to enjoy their evenings. Colossus and Nightcrawler head for a night on the town with Betsy Wolford and Amanda Sefton, while Banshee and Moira MacTaggert also head off on their own, as do Scott and Jean. Wolverine, on the other hand…

Of course. As Scott and Jean head to dinner at the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Plaza, they pass by two characters making a cameo: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Stan and Jack aren't the only ones offended by this public display of affection. Dinner hasn't even begun when Sentinels attack the restaurant. Fortunately, these sentinels are programmed to handle the original X-Men, but Jean's powers have improved immensely since back in the day. She flings one of the sentinels outside, allowing Scott to unleash the full power of his optic blasts, but the other one seemingly kills Cyclops, then incapacitates Jean and flies off with her.

Cyclops survived though, and hangs from the top of the building, requiring rescue. Luckily, a flashback to a few moments earlier reveals, Banshee, Moira, Storm, and Wolverine witnessed the attack from below. Banshee, somewhat sexistly, tells Moira and Storm to locate Nightcrawler and Colossus while he and Wolverine join the battle. Storm is like screw that, however, and rescues Cyclops instead. Another Sentinel appears, and Storm wastes it by sucking it into the center of a hurricane she created above the city.

Cyclops wants to warn Professor Xavier about the Sentinels' return, but Charlie is currently relaxing on a boat in the Bahamas with Doctor Peter Corbeau. Corbeau, head of the U.N.'s Project Starcore, has been trying to track down the binary star system from Xavier's visions, which would later culminate in the arrival of his Shi'ar love, Lilandra Nermani. For now, however, Corbeau can't find anything. A sentinel attacks the boat, but Professor X wrecks it with a mindblast… though it's unclear how that works when the sentinels don't have minds. Corbeau tries to drive away, but the Professor is hit by one of those visions at a rather inopportune moment and a sentinel destroys the boat and makes off with Xavier.

The story jumps ahead at this point to December 28th, to a space station manned by the forces of Stephen Lang, where we learn that Banshee and Wolverine have been captured and are being held captive along with Jean and the Professor. The story sows the seeds for what might have been an eventual reveal that Wolverine was not a mutant human but a mutant actual wolverine, though that idea would later be dropped.

And Jean performs the 1970s version of a Twitter dunk on Lang:

Even back then, Nazis wouldn't admit they're Nazis. Lang slaps Jean, which enrages Wolverine, who breaks free of his shackles and mauls some goons and a sentinel. This also marks the first time the X-Men realize his claws are part of Wolverine's body. And then…

The X-Men then move to rescue Professor X, but they're interrupted by more sentinels. A battle breaks out, swiftly spinning out of control. The X-Men bust through a wall to escape. Back on Earth, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Moira MacTaggert welcome Peter Corbeau to the X-Mansion. They've been unable to locate the other X-Men, despite searching everywhere on Earth. Corbeau reveals that's because they're not on Earth at all, and the issue ends with Banshee, Wolverine, and Jean floating in the vacuum of space.

This story would be continued in the next issue, which features one of our personal favorite X-Men covers of all time:

Read Uncanny X-Men #98 on Marvel Unlimited.

We hope you're enjoying your holiday, and if you need another break from obnoxious relatives, check back here later as we look at more classic Claremont X-Mas comics.

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