X-Men: Scarlet in Glory, Chris Claremont

"When Angel is kidnapped by the freakish mutants known as the Morlocks the X-Men head into the sewers beneath New York to rescue him. Once there Storm is forced to fight their leader Callisto in a vicious duel to the death. Upon returning to the mansion, the group are shocked to discover the former mutant terrorist Rogue at the door begging for sanctuary. Next the team travel to Japan to attend Wolverine's wedding. But the happy day is marred by the arrival of the Silver Samurai. Finally, the group face a terrible spectre from the past as the Phoenix rises from the ashes to torment the group once more."








It constantly amazes me how much of X-Men lore comes from Claremont. Say what you will about his writing style, and how he shaped the majority of the major X-Men storylines. Here for instance we have Storm fight Callisto for control of the Morlocks, the 'return' of Phoenix (by way of Mastermind and everyone's least favourite Jean Grey contrivance, Madelyne Pryor) Storm gets a mohawk, Kitty and Colossus have their first kiss, the almost-wedding of Wolverine and Mariko, Rogue joining the team, Wolverine fighting Silver Samurai.

That is an insane amount of material for what's a tiny fraction of an epic run.

Virtually every single great X-en storyline has its roots in these issues, so it makes for compelling reading, even when the outcome is now so well known that there's little mystery (see Madelyne, Storm's Mohawk, Kitty and Peter, eveyone hating Rogue). Whilst some of those can drag a little bit there's never a lull in the action - this is anything but decompressed. In the spand of a few issues you get the introduction, set up, reveal and defeat of villain after villain.

The art's a little inconsistent, especially compared to the early Byrne work, with Wolverine's head changing size and shape a little through his time in Japan, but otherwise it's a solid representation of the X-Men, especially in their battle against Cyclops and Phoenix towards the end.

Also Try:

Chris Claremont, Uncanny X-Men