TITLE: The Uncanny X-Men issue #138
YEAR: October 1980
COMPANY: Marvel Comics
WRITER & CO-PLOTTERS: Chris Claremont & John Byrne
PENCILLER: John Byrne
INKER: Terry Austin
LETTERER: Tom Orzechowski
COLORIST: Glynis Wein
EDITOR: Louise Jones
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Jim Shooter
With the release of “The Uncanny X-Men” issue #138, the issue marked a major transition from the original X-Men to the present X-Men.
The issue featured the funeral of Jean Grey, the departure of longtime and founding member, Cyclops and the first time Kitty Pryde joined the X-Men.
The issue played out like a recap of past issues (thus the reason why the issues are shown in the background of the cover), as Scott Summers (Cyclops) looks back on when he joined the X-Men, how he fell in love with Jean Grey and no matter how people may think of him (due to his lack of sharing his emotions or making it visible), he really is a man hurting inside, especially with the loss of Jean.
The death of Jean Grey was no doubt a shocker back then and Cyclops leaving the group was even harder to take. Considering we have seen many of the original founding members having left the X-Men as Beast became an Avenger, Angel became a Champion and now Jean Grey gone, the issue was more or less remembering the times he spent with everyone, the X-Men.
Due to the death of Jean, he needed to step away. In this case, taking a leave of absence from the X-Men.
And with his departure, it ushered a new generation with the addition of Kitty Pryde.
While I was upset at first, because I liked the character Cyclops and felt he was an effective leader. Looking back in hindsight, I’m glad Chris Claremont did allow the character stepback because it actually led to more stories covering the newer X-Men characters who would become X-Men icons that many of us love and continue to be major characters today.
But with Chris Claremont in the pilot seat, the ’80s no doubt ushered one of the great X-Men runs by a writer.
A memorable issue!