Madelyne meets the X-Men

[iamrman]

Uncanny X-Men #173.

I never understood why Kitty freaked out when she saw Storm's new look. Maybe I'm biased because I found Kitty to be insufferable during this period.

Honey, you have no idea!

Comments

[cygnia]

I still want a plush Lockheed <3

[thenicochan]

I've always adored the last four panels. Maddie's completely stoic face and the way she pulls Scott by the tie is so well drawn and really, really funny.

[icon_uk]

Complete agreement, Paul Smith knocking it out of the park there!

[iamrman]

It's a shame he didn't have a longer run.

[mazway_75]

I keep imagining an extra panel of Scott looking down, seeing Lockheed and going "that's new."

[windleopard2]

So for any fans who were reading the books at this time, would you say Madelyne being revealed as a Jean clone and becoming a villain is as bad as Moira being retconned as a mutant and becoming a villain?

[iamrman]

I would imagine it would have been quite the kick in the teeth.

[jkcarrier]

I don't know what Claremont's original plans were (I imagine Jean coming back via X-Factor threw a big ol' monkey wrench in whatever he had in mind), but it was pretty obvious from the start that *something* weird was going on with Madelyne. So not all that shocking, really.

[scorntx]

From the sound of it, Claremont's original plan was that Maddie... was just an ordinary person and that was all, and she and Scott were going to live happily ever after forever.

(Though given how many ideas Claremont seems to have burnt through, changed his mind about, or never been allowed to conceptualise, grain of salt there.
Could just be he really did intend for her to be completely ordinary, but with wiggle room in case he needed it.)

[mslinsenmayer]

As far as I know, he hated the Jean coming back plotline, which is why he refused to write it.

The "something weird" with Maddie turns out to be Mastermind, seeking revenge. Claremont's plan was for Scott and Maddie to retire to Alaska, and raise their kid.

All the stuff with Sinister was added later, after the suits insisted on brining Jean back, to "fix the redheads problem," as he phrased it. (I'm going by memory, may have the exact quote wrong.)

[bruinsfan]

No. Madeline Pryor just happening to look exactly like Jean Grey, surviving a fiery plane crash without a scratch the night Jean died on the moon, and having a mind Professor X couldn't read was too many coincidences even for comic books. Just one of those would be a stretch for Scott's new love interest, nevermind all three. I assumed it was fuckery on the part of the cosmic fire chicken rather than Mr. Sinister, but I was expecting some shocking big reveal from the moment she was introduced.

I also remembered that a little girl named Maddy Pryor had featured in a throwaway scene in the Claremont-written Avengers Annual #10 just a few years before, and knew this character having the same name couldn't be just another coincidence.

[scorntx]

It's hard to tell if Kitty's reaction is natural Claremontian characters reacting to things in overly melodramatic fashion (remember the time Storm was all "Gods! A NET!" Good times...), or some part of Ororo-Kitty's surrogate parent thing they had going (which could sometimes get a bit... ehhm... strange - like Ororo getting clingy over Kitty spending time with Stevie), or Kitty just being a drama queen.

Don't even know why she's so upset. Ororo's rocking the look.


Like how Madelyne apparently takes no notice of the giant Russian, 'Ro going punk, Lilandra's feather hair, or Kurt being right there.
No, it's Lockheed that's weird about all this.

[iamrman]

I always loved Storm's punk look as well.

A small alien dragon doesn't seem much compared to a handsome Fuzzy Elf and an exiled bird queen.

[scorntx]

Maybe Maddie was just keeping quiet about Lilandra's feather hair because she didn't want to be rude, and Lockheed just proves to be the final straw?

[zachbeacon]

Are we sure Kitty's freak-out isn't some sort of bi-panic?

[iamrman]

That would make it slightly more bearable.

[super_fly]

It could only be this. "Oh no, she's hot, better pretend I'm upset that she changed her look so she doesn't notice why I'm freaking out."

[zylly]

I feel like Hank, Warren, and Bobby would be an bit insulted Scott calling this group "his best friends."

[zachbeacon]

I mean, if this is him saying he's picking Kurt over Hank then I guess he picked the right blue fuzzy guy.

And Warren vs Logan is just swapping one guy trying to sleep with Jean for another.

But he's about two years away from that fight with Ororo. I don't remember him getting into fights with Bobby.