This story starts with Kitty finding out about her father’s involvement with the Yakuza, which brings her to Japan. It’s a very sad and scary situation for her, she’s homeless in a foreign country (though she can speak the language), she doesn’t have money and is chased by the police and the Yakuza.

Luckily for her Wolverine comes into the story, which again makes sense given his past in Japan. From here on it also becomes a sequel to the Wolverine mini by Claremont/Miller. There are some of the same characters (Yukio, Mariko etc..), and a new (is it new?) villain, his old mentor Ogun.

The transformation Kitty goes through was very well done, a dream-like sequence where Kitty grows up again trained by Ogun. Both Kitty and Wolverine have to go through many trials to find themselves again and defeat Ogun, both psychologically and physically. This bring Claremont I am sure Kitty will go back to the X-Men a changed girl. This is also where she decides to change her name to Shadowcat, which actually totally makes sense in the context of this story.

Allen Milgrom’s art style looks dated, but at the same time it really works for this story. His layouts are all very interesting and easy to follow. I was actually surprised by how much I liked his style here. Same goes for the story. I can’t wait to see how Kitty goes back to X-Men. She’s definitely grown a lot in this story.

What had been hinted at many times in previous issues, is finally dealt with. Or at least Dani is finally confronting her demons, in this case the Demon Bear. Bill’s drawing of the Demon Bear is just phenomenal, surreal and menacing.

All sequences with the Demon Bear look like dreams, or maybe nightmares from Bill’s mind. These scenes however are not hard to follow, his storytelling is also good. The atmosphere created by his style really increases the stakes for our heroes, so the image of Dani cut up and losing blood was very striking.

The fight in the Badlands was very powerful, I really loved the dynamism and the sense of danger it conveyed. The way they defeat the bear is not explained very well, but I guess it serves the characters, especially Dani’s leadership skills and Illyana’s continued growth as a powerful mutant.

But another powerful moment was the revelation about Dani’s parents, another subplot that Claremont finally reveals.

There is another subplot started in these issues that culminates in issue 21, the Warlock subplot. Again, another great character for Bill to draw. Doug is also finally revealed to the group, so I think we have all the members of the group that will become the classic line up.

Bill’s art is already great here, I actually think that I like it even better than his more recent work. It’s not as abstract, so it’s easier to follow. Now I am really excited about this title, together with Uncanny X-Men this is a golden era for the X-Titles.

Kitty then leaves with Doug for Emma’s school, which is then picked up by New Mutants 15-17. This is where the Hellions are introduced, and we also see the extent of Magik’s teleportation portals, which can go through both space and time. That’s a powerful power! This is a pretty important arc, but I wasn’t too crazy about it. It was just a back and forth between the New Mutants and the Hellions, I didn’t really feel any real threat from Shaw or Emma.

The next three issues of Uncanny are single issue stories, with a few subplots running in the background as usual. 181 sees the X-Men coming back from Secret Wars, dealing with a giant monster in Japan. I like that the Japanese movie monsters are real in this world.

182 is a great Rogue story. Danver’s personality surfaces and makes her almost go mad. This is really a great psychological issue that makes Rogue a more interesting character. I like that the issue finishes without a clear resolution for her, this is obviously going to be an ongoing battle.

183 is a heartbreaking story. It starts with Pete breaking up with Kitty, which was hard enough to read. Especially when Kitty finally loses it and starts crying with Magik. She truly loves Pete and would do anything for his happiness. Pete on the other hand is completely selfish and Logan tells him without mercy. Logan’s lesson was very true and I rarely see this kind of depth in relationship nowadays.

This is another great batch of Uncanny issues, I really think this is Claremont at his best. The John Romita Jr art looks very good here, and I am glad that he stayed for so long. The New Mutants story was interesting, but I wasn’t all that crazy about it, same goes for the art. Perfectly capable, but not to my taste. Next issue will see Bill Sienkiewicz on art, which I am really excited about.

This 12 issue mini affected many titles, but each regular title simply lead to it in one issue and in the next it saw the character coming back from this story, while the mini continued to be published for a year. So all the changes that happened in this story were reflected in the regular series, but readers didn’t know what happened unless they read Secret Wars. This allowed the series to continue with their regular stories without being interrupted with tie-in issues, like with today’s events.

The story itself is not very deep, the Beyonder puts some heroes and villains on a far away planet and let’s them fight each other. There’s a long sequence of fights and plans made by Doom, involving Galactus and many other characters. Doom is definitely the star of this series, since he not only steals Galactus’ powers, but also the Beyonder’s.

Another interesting aspect of this story is the interaction between these characters. The X-Men are outcast at first, so much so that they leave the heroes and join Magneto. In the end they prove themselves to be like the heroes, but I thought their separation felt a bit forced.

Also forced and actually something I really didn’t like was seeing Colossus falling for Zsaji. I really felt this was so wrong. I don’t buy that he was influenced by her powers, he started to fall for her even before she cured him.

Apart from Doom, I really didn’t find any of the villains were interesting at all. Some of them I barely acknowledged (the Wrecking Crew!?!?!). Even Doc Ock didn’t have much personality. Molecule Man was just annoying.

The best part was obviously seeing Doom trying to contain all that power and failing miserably. I wish we could have seen more of the Beyonder, he was basically a hidden entity that was never revealed. His story was quickly told to Enchantress, but I wish we could have gotten something more. I guess Secret Wars II gave us that…

I think 12 issues were too long for this story, but it did alter the characters considerably, including Ben staying behind, the black spider costume, a new Spider-Woman and two new villains (Volcana and Titania) etc…

The art by Mike Zeck is very enjoyable, I see it as a classic superhero style from the 80’s, he should have been a superstar in those times.

As far as X-Men are concerned, I am curious to see how Kitty and Colossus’s relationship will change. Also Xavier is butting heads with Storm about leadership, add to that Cyclops and we have an explosive mix.Looking forward to read those stories.

They not only find this hidden society, and are thrown in the middle of a political struggle. This story was actually very political, with two opposing parties and senators fighting for power. But that’s only part of the story.

The other more important one is the introduction of Amara, aka Magma. I must admit I was not familiar with each member of the NM, so I had no idea that Amara was going to become part of the team. Her character is really interesting. Not only she has to deal with her powers, which are very dangerous and incontrollable, but she also has to adjust to the modern society and all the new technology. The last two issues are dedicated to this struggle after she leaves Nova Roma.

She also brings in a new dynamic to the team, with Sam infatuated with her, while Rahne is jealous of Sam’s attention. Dani is also slowly coming into her role as leader, while Sam and Berto are clearly the power members of the team.

Even though Kitty is not a member of the NM, she still plays a role in this series, first as the one hated by the team, then as friend of Douglas Ramsey, future member of the NM. The way Kitty and Doug hacked into the Sentinel program, creating chaos without even knowing what they were doing, is hilarious and a bit silly.

I’ve never been a fan of Sal Buscema, though I haven’t read much of his. I always considered it “old school” art, something that didn’t fit my sensibilities. However these issues have really made me appreciate his art. His style IS old school, but it’s clean and clear, his storytelling is also easy to follow, and his expression are at times very good. I especially like that he doesn’t draw all girls like supermodels, like most modern artists tend to do.

In this storyline Claremont is really starting to get comfortable, and I starting to like this series. I know it only gets better, so I really can’t wait.

Issues 177-178 see the return of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, lead by Mystique. They ambush the X-Men into fighting, but their main objective is to get Rogue back. Mystique has a confrontation with Rogue, who tells her that she wants to be left alone with the X-Men, because she wants Xavier to help her with her powers. This was a great scene, however I can’t help thinking that Xavier didn’t manage to help her at all. What she did find was a way to deal with her power and some important friends. There is also a subplot about a scanning wave that hits Xavier.

There is also a subplot about Callisto and Masque, which brings to the next issue (179) where Kitty needs to confront her promise to Caliban in a previous story. There’s another fight with the Morlocks, but then they actually help the X-Men to save Colossus. At the end Kitty goes back to Caliban, but he understands that he cannot trap her, so he frees her.

The art by John Romita Jr is not as polished as it is now, or even during his Daredevil run, but it’s still good and getting better each issue. Both he and Claremont are laying the grounds for future epic storylines.

Logan manages to save Mariko with the help of Rogue, who is starting to integrate into the group by proving herself an ally. Finally we get to the wedding, where a few important things happen. Madelyn finally meets the X-Men, I loved Lilandra’s reaction. And Storm shows up with a new look. Kitty’s reaction was very dramatic.

But the most important thing that happened was Mariko rejecting Logan in front of everybody, humiliating him again. Of course we all knew it was Mastermind behind all this, but it was still a shocking moment.

Next we have a nice issue focusing on the various relationships in the series. Lilandra keeps threatening to leave Earth. Logan is not giving up on Mariko. Kitty and Peter finally make out. More development in the Scott/Maddy relationship, culminating in Scott’s proposal (curiously off panel). But Mastermind is following them, and the issue ends with Phoenix!

175 is another great double sized issue. Phoenix is back, which is a very big deal, they even think that the Starjammers are dead, as well as the Avengers in NY. But it’s all a ruse, Cyclops is the only one who realized it, so he has to fight against the X-Men. The way Cyclops uses the danger room was very clever, it really shows his strategic skills. Ororo really shows how much she’s changed, risking everyone’s life in order to defeat Phoenix. The issue concludes with Scott and Maddy’s wedding, though I wonder who accompanies Maddy to the altar? Is that her father? I thought there was no record of Maddy’s existence before the crash. What about her father?

This issue also sees Paul Smith leaving the title and John Romita Jr starting his first long run. Their styles were actually similar in that period, so I hardly noticed the difference.

Another great batch of issues. As much as I love the Byrne era, story-wise it felt slightly dated. These issues feel more modern, and there is a lot of drama.

This is the foundation of Wolverine’s involvement with Japan. The main story is of love, Logan’s love for Mariko. It involved Mariko’s father and Japan’s culture of honor.

There is even a love triangle with Yukio in the middle. She’s more like Logan in that she’s wild almost like an animal. They almost seem more suited to each other, but in the end Logan realizes that just because he’s like an animal, it doesn’t mean that he cannot change. It’s really quite deep for a superhero comic.

In the middle of this love triangle there is plenty of action with the Hand, the yakuza as well as Mariko’s father Shengen. I loved the scene where Logan is humiliated by Shengen in front of Mariko, and we see her face realizing the true nature of Logan.

So many important things happen in this mini, I am not surprised it’s considered one of the best stories. Frank Miller’s art is not as polished as his later work, but it already has that dynamism that make the fight scenes so exciting.

This mini stood up the test of time very well, one of the best works by Claremont.

New Mutants 4-6 are almost filler stories, unfortunately very cheesy and dated stories. First we get a story about Stevie Hunter being harassed on the phone. I think it was supposed to be a serious and important story about child abuse, but it really didn’t turn out that well.

The next story guest stars Team America, which is the just wrong. Viper and Harada as well as AIM are in this story, but it really wasn’t very good. The only good parts are the subplots that will be paid off later on, in particular the disappearance of Shan connected with the birth of a new mutant. But that will be revealed later on.

Uncanny X-Men on the other hand continues very strongly. 168 is a nice one-shot story that deals with Kitty not wanting to be a NM. Lockheed finally comes out. But we also are introduced to Madelyn Prior, as well as Scott’s grandparents.

Next we get the excellent graphic novel God Loves, Men Kill. This is a slightly more mature story (no Comics Code stamp), that delves into the X-Men’s social aspect that made them so relevant for many years. Magneto also continues to mature as a character, feeling more like a possible ally than the typical evil villain. Stryker and the Purifiers are also introduced here, but the real hero of the story is a cop. The art by Brent Anderson is very good, especially for that time. I really enjoyed this story, and I can see why it inspired the screenplay for X2.

169-171 is all about the Morlocks, who kidnap Angel and fight the X-Men. This is another classic X-Men story, featuring the famous fight between Callisto and Storm. This is also where Rogue joins the X-Men, though many didn’t accept her at first. Binary certainly wasn’t happy about it and left to join the Starjammers. Scott and Maddy continue their relationship, but there’s always that doubt about her true nature. Claremont really made us wonder about that. There is also a subtle hint about Illyana, which will be paid off later on.

Paul Smith continues to draw Uncanny, and he’s helping Claremont create some classic stories. I really think X-Men is reaching its peak. New Mutants on the other hand is still struggling to find its own path. I am not really sold on the series yet.

I actually never read this series, so this is a first for me. First there was the New Mutants GN, which introduced all the various new students all coming from different cultures (very similar to the Claremont X-Men introduction).

I recognized most of them from other X-Men stories, but their characterization was very different. Especially Sam was totally unrecognizable to me. This is actually a good thing, it means that through the years they have evolved and changed, instead of remaining the same.

When the ongoing series starts, many subplots are started like in any classic Claremont series. For example we find out for the first time about Legion. Stevie Hunter also has a prominent role in this series, after appearing sporadically in the X-Men. Shaw, Gyrich and the Sentinels also make an appearance, this subplot was a continuation of an X-Men story.

But the main focus of this first arc is the Brood Queen inside Xavier. This is a long running subplot from Uncanny, but it is finally paid off in NM#3 and Uncanny 167. I especially loved Uncanny 167, where a lot happens. X-Men are finally back from space and meet the New Mutants. The Brood Queen finally reveals herself, and we think Xavier is dead. But no! He’s not, he’s a clone and can walk… or not…

New Mutants 4 is a self-contained issue, a little story about a boy being maltreated by his parents, and his distorted understanding of love. Not the best story, it felt more like a filler, but it put Stevie Hunter at the center, for those that like her.

The art on New Mutants is by Bob Mcleod, which does a perfectly fine job. His storytelling is clear, and the facial expression are exaggerated but functional. Paul Smith continues his run on Uncanny, giving us another great issue. My collection of the Italian version of the X-Men comics (Gli Incredibili X-Men) actually starts with this issue. That cover brought back fine memories of my comics.

I am liking this series so far, but I can’t wait for Bill Sienkiewicz’s run.