Uncanny X-Men - Chris Claremont III.

X-Men v1 #111-116.


At this point, a few issues past the end of the Phoenix Saga, it's safe to say that the transition period is over. Claremont has settled. Even better, the new faces on the team have proven themselves as worthy by being so damn interesting. Reader reaction was very favorable, though the title wasn't noticed by a wider audience right away. I take the fact that it took the book three years to switch from bimonthly to monthly to be evidence of this. (#112 was the first issue in the new schedule.) Another important thing to note: #114 was the first issue where the book's title gained the "Uncanny" header. It's standard hyperbolic superhero aggrandizement, but it took a while until it actually became part of the title.

Marvel Team-Up - Spider-Man and Havok.

Marvel Team-Up v1 #69-70.

Let's make a short departure, shall we?

We're still in 1978, and the Phoenix Saga had just wrapped up. Last time, I discussed how Havok and Polaris were unceremoniously dumped out of the story without any real resolution. It seems Claremont and Cockrum got the idea of brainwashing them and setting them up against the X-Men – getting some mileage from the fraternal opposition of Scott and Alex in the mean time – but had no idea whatsoever where to take them from there. Nothing much came of Eric the Red, and they were just accessories to him, so they were ultimately rendered rather meaningless. And so they were packed off and sent to Muir Island, the depository for momentarily unneeded mutants.

However, Claremont would actually have had a golden opportunity to tie up their subplot satisfactorily, and possibly throw them a bone in exchange for portraying them as such chumps earlier. He failed to do either.