The 1980s saw the X-Men franchise go from a recently revised rising star of the comic industry to the behemoth of the comic industry. By 1991, Marvel would see the release of a second ongoing X-Men title, the first issue became the best-selling comic of all time at about 8.2 million copies sold (it involved a multiple cover gimmick for sale purposes, but regardless everything was X-Men back then). For the purposes of our sewery adventures this evening we find ourselves about in the middle, 1986, as the little book that could was becoming a franchise. As both of the Big Two had tried their hands at the limited series event comic, the X-Men creative team came up with a crossover event between their titles. Thus began a yearly tradition that what would last through all of the golden years and well into the lean ones. Tonight we shall speak of the night New York’s Sewers burned, the night the Morlocks died. We shall speak of the Mutant Massacre (Hah, I have no idea why the melodrama poked out there)
Chris Claremont had been writing the X-Men for 11 years and you could tell he was really beginning to long for new waters. In the issues leading up to Mutant Massacre, Claremont had brought to a close many of his hanging plot threads: Magneto was reformed, Rachel was gutted and sent to the arms of Mojo, the threat of Nimrod was confronted if not defeated, Storm had retaken the leadership powerless though she was. In many ways, Mutant Massacre is a transition point into a new era of Claremont’s storytelling even as it was a transition in the editorial approach. (This would become a conflict and breaking point in later years as Jim Lee and Bob Harras wanted to play with the old toys and Claremont wanted keep moving toward the new.)
Overview:
Mutant Massacre
Cover Dates October 1986 to January 1987
Issues: Uncanny X-Men #210-213, X-Factor #9-11, New Mutants #46, Thor #373-374, Power Pack #27, (a tie-in epilogue Daredevil #238)
Earlier in Uncanny X-Men, Claremont had created the sewer dwelling Morlocks, named after the subterranean societal outcasts of H. G. Wells future nightmare in The Time Machine. They were the mutants that society could not bear to see, driven into the darkness. Well, apparently Claremont couldn’t abide seeing them anymore himself because as he describes he was tired of them and wanted to kill them off. According to Louise “Weezie” Simonson, his former editor and the present writer of Power Pack and X-Factor, she thought the slaughter sounded fun and wanted to join in. If true, this is how the first X-Men crossover event began.
The story begins with some wrap up of the conclusion to the past stories, but the thread of prologue follows mysterious shadows hunting a mutant across the country culminating in killing her at the “doorstep” of the Morlock tunnels. The narrative then whips over to X-Factor (I will explain them later) who, through a series of events and violence, find themselves in those same tunnels with many promises of death and doom. Finally, our mysterious shadows are revealed as The Marauders, a group of mutants (and a mutate if you are keeping score) whose mission is to slaughter everyone in the sewers. And they set to doing that with verve and vigor. By varying methods the children of Power Pack as well as the Avenger Thor find themselves in these same tunnels and each group battles various combinations of the dastard Marauders. Many minor characters are killed, major characters are left scarred and broken, and one hero is forever changed.
Our heroes are confronted with evil, black pitiless evil. The physical scars they wear are echoes of the spiritual. They are tested and tried in horrible ways and by the end, you are still uncertain if it made them stronger. We see innocence lost, goodness embittered, and despair awild. How do we choose the good in these moments? What is the good in contrast to this unrelenting evil?
Mutant Massacre is obviously a dark book: 1986 saw a few dark books. While the art and narrative is tempered by the Comic Code Authority, Claremont and the Simonsons take advantage of the loosening restrictions. However mostly the darkness is reflected in idea and concept over what it is to which you are visually exposed.
X-Factor Explanation
To explain our other players, X-Factor was a new team devised as book to reunite the original team of X-Men: Cyclops, Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), Beast, Angel, and Iceman. However the original conceit behind the book is a terrible idea and the book suffered for it. X-Factor is posing as mutant hunters that will “take care” of those scary mutants for you. Think Ghostbusters. Except what they will actually do is rescue and train the feared mutant. For some reason they are shocked to find their idea stirs up the mutant persecution.. Bob Layton, the book’s original writer did not survive six issues, handing the reins to Louise Simonson who came in to attempt a salvage job. She would eventually succeed, but at the time of Mutant Massacre, the book was still in the the healing pains.
Power Pack Explanation
On the other hand, Power Pack was a Weezie creation at inception. The Power Pack is a group of four child siblings gifted powers by an alien; the Powers family gets into various adventures and explores many corners of the Marvel Universe. In some of their adventures they had befriended members of the Morlock community spawning ongoing relationships with a number of the outcasts. Likewise they have had a few encounters with the X-Men, giving them an unexpected purpose in a rather dark story.
Thor Explanation
I will not here explain who Thor from Marvel Comics is but instead why he is found in the first X-Men crossover event. So I have mentioned Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson as writers. A fellow by the name of Walt Simonson was reaching the end of his seminal span of Thor comics. That would be the husband of Louise. He would also be the artist of X-Factor starting with issue #10 and moving forward. Thus Walt Simonson got into this deal through gross nepotism, heh. Clearly he wanted to play in the gory smelly mess, too.
New Mutants Explanation
They end up having a minor part in this event, acting more as an ancillary story behind the scenes than the main events, but the New Mutants are the young new class of mutants at Xavier’s school. They are the X-Men-in-training to over-simplify things. This book is written by Chris Claremont and is more of a support to the X-Men book than the other titles.
Review
Crossing over comic titles was not a new thing. What made Mutant Massacre different was the scope. This being a first of its kind shows up in some uneven execution. You can tell a conscious effort was made to protect readers who were only reading one of these titles. While they are a piece of the grander narrative, each effectively told their own story. There are instances where characters meet between books and some characters transfer from one book to another, but by and large the books remain self-contained. The effect of this in collected form today is a rubber band effect as you whip back and forth and events are retold from a different perspective. This can be an obstacle today, though I do not know that it itself is a fair criticism as it hinges on the change of medium between monthly released issues and now a collection of compiled stories. Crossovers will continue to play with format and it is for the best that there is no one way to do this, but this first big attempt is not a flawless landing. Just look at the advertising diagram which is supposed to lead you through the event: in what order would you read the books based on that diagram?
What is more, these books are uneven in another regard. Specifically X-Factor is still suffering growing pains as a series. As previously said, Weezie would make something good of the mess that was X-Factor, but at this stage she was really leaning on the soap opera melodrama of the original X-Men. It is intrusive and painful. I enjoy her Power Pack though I think they might distract the casual reader. As for Thor, it is really hard for his part not to feel strange. Now believe me, I love Walt’s time on Thor. It is up there as one of my very favorite creator runs. And he makes the most of his time here in New York’s sewers, but along with everything else being thrown at the reader, Thor might seem the most alien.
Another weakness in Mutant Massacre is while the Marauders are by and large memorable (minus Prism... I always forget about Prism), the lack of revealed motivation hampers the story. I believe this stems from the origin of Claremont’s idea: he wants to kill off Morlocks. He essentially punts on why the Marauders are there. There is an offhand mention of doing their master’s bidding, and the name drop of the unseen Mister Sinister. But mostly, the Marauders say the only good mutant is a dead one... except for they themselves. Now, in truth massacres often have little to no motivations. There is an unfortunate truth in this. And the effects of this evil are an ongoing influence on X-Men characters today. Perhaps the lack of motivation is accidentally inspired. However, I think it lessens the quality of antagonist. There would be a variety of later explanations that never seem to truly satisfy why the evil occurs.
Yet I love this event. I think I enjoy it more every time I come to it. There are so many moving pieces, characters abound, new characters, old characters, reimagined characters integrated, Apocalypse is gathering his Horsemen in the background, Artie Maddicks and Leech meet for the first time which means nothing to you but means a lot to me, more of the foundation for the Excalibur comic is put down, Psylocke, Sabretooth’s brought into X-Men comics, Mister Sinister’s first mention, and we begin to see the transition to new roads for both of main X-books. And Angel. His road starts here.
I have seen younger comic readers complain of the art in this book, which honestly saddens me. Obviously I have a very different palette than those who read chiefly contemporary comics, but the lineup of John Romita Jr, Rick Leonardi, Walt Simonson, Bret Blevins, Jon Bogdanove (in a good period), and Alan Davis is a fantastic cast. Unfortunately Terry Shoemaker and Sal Buscema stand out as the lesser, though I believe Sal at least gets a bad reputation because of bad timing and his incredible speed of output. You may not like the art, but those are all-star artists even if you cannot recognize it. I cannot tell you how fitting it is that Alan Davis pencils the story where Psylocke gets her moment. I will say many of the reproductions in trades struggle to recover the inking.
Pros:
- A very important moment in X-Men continuity. Books today still mine this event for content.
- Important transition point in the path towards the Australian Outback X-Men (you heard that right); I consider this the beginning of a new period of Claremont’s 17-year era on X-Men.
- Psylocke ushered into X-Men books (she actually crossed the sea in New Mutants first), Sabretooth the same. Introduction of the Marauder villains. The beginning of Angel’s most important story.
- Artie and Leech.
- The testing of the X-Men. I appreciate some of the internal struggles the team goes through individually and collectively.
- Art and I don’t care what you say, heh.
- The villains are dangerous.
- There are some decent moments exploring mutant persecution themes.
Cons:
- These are older comics. I have seen many newer readers complain of the overwrought prose. It is a different era that is not always palatable to new readers.
- Uneven interconnectivity between the books. It might be hard to get into yet another book you haven’t read before.
- The truckload of characters and circumstances may be too steep a climb for someone unfamiliar, while I think you are introduced sufficiently to the things presented, it may be too high a quantity.
- Uncomplicated villains. They kill because they like it.
Final Rating (-5/+5): +2
Should you read Mutant Massacre:
It depends on what you want. If you care about X-Men continuity, yes. At least at some point. I don’t know that I would choose it as someone’s starting point for X-Men. However if you want to have a sense of history, this is a fairly important read. Even if you do not enjoy it, I believe the knowledge will pay dividends. Though if you are like me, despite its cumbersome bulk, it grows on me more and more.
Availability:
Marvel Unlimited has each issue.
Master Event List:
1) Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985) +3
2) Mutant Massacre (1986) +2
3) Secret Wars II (1985) +1 (I still feel sheepish rating this as even positive)
5) Contest of Champions (1982) -3
Next Event: DC Comics event Legends. I have never read the main event only a couple tie-in issues. I am curious as I know very little about it. Actually I face some controversy for my next Marvel crossover. Kraven’s Last Hunt is on some list of Crossover Events. I don’t believe it fits the event criteria by a taste test. Let me know if you want me to review it, though I would likely asterisk it on my master list.
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