Byrne and Claremont end their run by featuring The X-Men.
It’s fantastic. Last issue, they introduced Sabretooth, and now he meets Wolverine. And they have a solid fight. Based on Iron Fist trespassing in Misty’s apartment.
Wolverine is wearing the costume he stole from Fang in X-Men #108. It looks an awful lot like Legion of Super Heroes member Timberwolf.
The rest of the X-Men join in the hunt for Iron Fist.
Colossus throws Wolverine into the fight with Iron Fist. It’s not called a fastball special yet, though.
And then it’s Iron Fist vs all of them–and is this a Superman reference?
Including Storm.
Who he humiliates.
The X-Men capture Fist.
But ultimately, the cooler head of Scott Summers realizes Iron Fist is a hero, not a villain.
He has the X-Men stand down.
Storm’s pride is what made her jump to conclusions. I like that this shows why Cyclops is the leader–he has more experience–and also shows that Storm has the humility to be a future leader.
The story doesn’t resolve all the loose ends. Fist’s ongoing battle with Steel Serpent gets concluded, by Claremont, in Marvel Team Up #63-64. The fate of his villain Bushman is continued in those issues and then is resolved in Power Man #48-49, which turns into Power Man and Iron Fist with issue #50.
Also: Wolverine is a loner.
So what’s he doin’ moonin’ over a lousy frail? And who’s the frail?
And speaking of unrequited love…
Claremont’s dialogue was fairly stilted at this time–early in his career. Although this scene of Scott coming home is pretty funny:
There’s a cocktail party at the end, where John Byrne, Dave Cockrum and his wife Paty, along with Chris Claremont, talk about how hard it is to keep all the X-Men straight. You think it’s hard now? Just wait until the ’80s!
And here’s the final panels of this series:
