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.
The next 'big' story is actually anything but. From #111 to #121, the X-Men are on an odyssey around the world. This was all about solid adventuring. Claremont's trademark characterization didn't go anywhere, but this was more about fun action than landmark moments. It's also an interesting contrast to the team's space adventures so far. What I find interesting about this arc is the complete lack of a status quo: for almost a year in publication, the team bounced from location to location without a real footing. Issues were tightly inter-woven in groups of twos and threes.
Issue #111 picks off right where Marvel Team Up #69 left off. Special guest star: Beast, on loan from the Avengers! Looking for the X-Men on Lorna's behalf, he finds the X-Mansion deserted. Xavier and Lilandra are away on a vacation (on an island in the Mediterranean, actually), but the others have just vanished. (By the way – Beast doesn't know who Lilandra is. Personally, I think it's ridiculous that he hasn't kept in touch with his old friends at all, just because he isn't part of the team anymore.) Using Cerebro, Hank finds the team as brainwashed circus freaks in Texas. The one behind this sinister plot is none other than Mesmero.
Wolverine is the one who manages to break his hypnosis. He in turn frees Jean, by, um, slapping her until the Phoenix persona flares up to annihilate him. This is another case where the Phoenix powers are portrayed as inconsistent – or perhaps 'fickle' is a better word. The X-Men don't get the chance to pay back Mesmero though. Magneto has arrived and knocked him out for the right to destroy them himself. (Recall, Magneto doesn't give a damn about Mesmero. The Magneto Mesmero worked with was a robot.)
In #112, Magneto takes the team on a magical mystery ride with a circus cart. He flies them all the way to his secret base in Antarctica, using the time of their vastly long journey to painstakingly recap the previous issue. The hideout there is located within an active volcano. Claremont hasn't begun to develop Magneto's character yet, but he's given him a sound power-up – a large pool of lava doesn't even dent his force field. The X-Men try to fight back and are beaten like little girls.
At this point, things get a little weird. Magneto wants to take karmic revenge for being turned into a baby and humiliated, so he locks up the X-Men and has a robotic servant called Nanny feed and mollycoddle them. I can't say that this idea isn't elegant in its way, but it's very hard to take seriously. By 1978, it was getting a little late for this kind of campy villainous plan.
In #113, we spend some time with Magneto as he attacks a military base in Australia and then visits the restored Asteroid M (last seen in X-Men #5) in orbit. It feels like a very random tidbit of continuity to bring back, but due to this, the asteroid became a staple of Magneto's. When he returns to the volcano to check on the X-Men, he finds himself under attack. Storm, using her previously established thieving skills and a completely un-established set of lockpicks in her headdress, managed to free herself from her bonds and release the others. The scene where this happens was rather oddly paced: she initially fails and then breaks out off-panel.
The X-Men do much better in their rematch because – of all things – they use teamwork. This battle also sees the first use of the idea of the team telepath (Jean) connecting up everybody's minds so the team leader (Scott) can give tactical instructions instantly. That helps too. Magneto is forced to escape, but by this point, the base is damaged and collapsing. With a volcano directly above them, that's NOT a good thing. Phoenix manages to drag Beast to the surface, but the rest of the team seems to die. With Hank and Jean now five minutes away from dying from exposure in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, the issue's cliffhanger is rounded out into a big fat "Holy shit!"
In the following issue, Hank and Jean are rescued by a very convenient passing helicopter. They take the news of the X-Men's apparent demise home to Xavier, who is crushed.
But of course, the X-Men aren't really dead! In fact, the method of their escape is much more intuitive than the helicopter. It's already been established, even earlier in the X-Men title, that the Savage Land is located under Antarctica. It was obvious for them to dig through there. And they, in turn, get the impression that Beast and Phoenix are dead. Over a week of rest, they adapt to life among a tribe of friendly natives. Peter even manages to score a threesome with some local girls.Meanwhile, Scott is busy being angsty, but not for the immediately obvious reason. Rather, he's concerned with his perceived failure getting more people killed, just like Thunderbird. He himself understands that he isn't as broken up about Jean's death as he should. Both Sean and Ororo notice his bare reaction to to it. The latter even addresses his uncertainty about the Phoenix, by berating him for being unable to accept that the love of his life had changed and matured. Jean's subsequent deaths will have quite a bit deeper effects on him.
Scott also gets to thinking about Corsair, and gets some vague flashbacks to his childhood. There's some extra tension between him and Wolverine, setting the timber of their relationship for a long time to come.
Hmmm, hold on a minute... The Savage Land is directly underneath the South Pole. Isn't there a character we last saw falling into a giant hole in the southern-most point of South America? That's right, there is! Karl Lykos! It turns out he didn't die after all! He's right here, and comes across Storm while she's swimming. Half-crazed from hunger, he saps some of her energy, thus transforming into Sauron the Evil Dinosaur once again.
Sauron engages the X-Men in #115, and manages to hold his own, particularly because he uses his hypnosis powers on Wolverine and turns him against the others. He's knocked back into being Karl Lykos when he tries to suck energy from armored Colossus, but Ka-Zar appears and reveals that he's befriended Lykos, and that they need the X-Men's help.
Lykos tells the story of how he let everyone on the surface believe him dead to start a new life in the underworld. Eventually, he came across some of Ka-Zar's enemies in the Savage Land: the godlike Garokk, the Petrified Man, and his priestess Zaladane. Garokk had previously died, but is resurrected by loyal cultists. They're now in the process of conquering the Savage Land and building a gigantic city that is throwing the local ecology dangerously out of whack. (Incidentally, while Zaladane serves mainly as a minor Ka-Zar villain here, she'll go on to have further relevance to the X-Men in later years. In fact, she turns out to be one of the Savage Land mutates.)
Cyclops immediately decides that they don't have the time to stay and help, fearing that Magneto will attack Professor X in the meantime. How their week-long grace period beforehand fit into this view is beyond me. However, a snowstorm blocking off outside access (owing to the ecological damage) leaves them with no choice in the matter.
#116 is very much Wolverine's issue. The X-Men head towards Garokk's metropolis – Byrne's art on the splash page depicting the city is breath-taking, by the way – but are intercepted by pterodactyl-riders. Cyclops, Banshee, Colossus and Ka-Zar are captured. Wolverine gets a moment further demonstrating his connection to nature, when he calms down Ka-Zar's companion saber tooth tiger Zabu. But the very next scene presents a strong contrast: breaking into the city, he kills a sentry in cold blood. This is a momentous scene that sets Wolverine on the path of becoming the team's iconic killer. Fighting a dinosaur, he also mentions his unbreakable bones and that he heals fast. This is really the first time his powers are actually explained. 
Nightcrawler, Storm and Wolverine manage to rescue the others shortly before they're executed. Cyclops duels Garokk on the roof of the city, which ultimately sends the Petrified Man falling into a gigantic thermal shaft. Storm tries very hard to save him, but fails due to her claustrophobic fears. Ororo's compassion toward her enemy serves here as a counterpoint to Wolverine. Hah, no fears, Garokk turned up alive eventually anyway. But for now, he overloaded the city's generators, destroying it, saving the Savage Land.A while later, the X-Men are free to leave. True to their luck, their small barge ends up right in the middle of the sea during a horrible storm. We'll see where they go from there next time. Lykos, by the way, decided to stay behind in the Savage Land. Stay tuned for more on him!
Index of Happenings:
Deaths: 6.
Resurrections: 4. Sauron is revealed to have survived in the Savage Land, but I'm counting minor characters separately.
Revamps: 1.
Team: eight.
Overall: sixteen.
Final word: Is there anyone in the whole wide world who cares about Ka-Zar?
Next time: Japan and Canada.
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