Uncanny X-Men Omnibus 4
Wolverine and Kitty Pryde 1-6, Uncanny X-Men 189-193, Uncanny X-Men Annual 8, X-Men and Alpha Flight 1-2, Marvel Fanfare 40
For 40 plus year old comics, the Uncanny X-men issues in this part of the omnibus have a very sharp edge, as hatred towards mutants rises and the dark future of Days of Future Past remains far from dismissed.
First though the mini series sees Kitty tangling with the Yakuza, before being ensnared by Logan’s sensei, Ogun. It’s a clever story and shows how she acquired the ninja abilities seen in later stories. It’s also smartly woven into the main book’s ongoing plots.
Of greatest interest to me is how Claremont resists the tendency to reset the status quo. Storm remains depowered, Cyclops is in Alaska, Nightcrawler feels in over his head in a leadership role, Kitty and Peter have stuff to sort out. In the way both events like Secret Wars and the various minis form part of part of the story, with the parallel New Mutants running, Claremont is operating the way Marvel will go on to do for decades hence.
