top of page
    • Jan 15
    • 9 min read

216: UXM 416 - 420 : Dominant Species

What’s Covered?

UXM # 416 - 420, Exiles # 1 - 2, X-Men Unlimited # 37 - 44, Chamber # 1 - 4, X-Men: Phoenix - Legacy of Fire, Wolverine # 179 - 186




Roster Watch



Synopsis

Uncanny X-Men # 416 - 420: Mutant wolfs, villain's reformed, and teenagers delighted

Writer - Chuck Austen

Pencils - Kia Asamiya



Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #416    2002    Chuck Austen    Kia Asamiya

  • Iceman tells NC (Nightcrawler) that he doesn’t approve of Stacy X joining the XM.

    • He says only the O5 count. 

Iceman is being pretty brutal here! He's like Stacy doesn't belong here and NC is like "Well, I don't want to be negative, but you do have a point." Then Iceman is like "Anyone but the original 5 is a freeloader" and then NC is like "Yea I know, wait, what!?" Then Iceman walks away and NC is left pondering whether Iceman would say the same to Storm or if he thinks NC is a little bitch. (Just to be clear, this is mostly my fanfic version of what happened.)


  • Juggernaut agrees to let fish face (Sammy Pare) join him on a stroll

  • Fishy says he had a gun and maybe he’s a villain like Juggs

  • Juggs says he’s not a villain just cuz he tried to get revenge on X for killing his dad

  • Juggs destroys his old house

  • Fishy calls him out for blaming others

  • Juggs self reflects and bonds with fishy


The Juggernaut and Sammy relationship is one of my favorite parts of this Austen run.

  • X can’t reach Alex’s mind

  • They will bring Lorna in

  • Annie doesn’t want Lorna to come. 

You know what I realized today? I hate Havok. More on that later



  • Stacy asking NC if Warren is avoiding him. 

Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #417    2003    Chuck Austen    Kia Asamiya

  • A mutant wolf kills some humans, including a mutant’s boyfriend

  • AA misses Betsy

Yea, until a blond teenager starts prancing around in short shorts and disposable skin.


  • Iceman refuses to go on a mission if the skank, Stacy goes

Lol, I have absolutely no problem with someone on this team asking some tough questions about Stacy's qualifications. I don't hate Stacy, but it's just weird if no one is saying this stuff.


  • Stacy tries to make out with...anyone

  • Charlotte Jones gets the XM to help her with the wolf murders

  • W (Wolverine) and Husk chase a scent

  • Paige has a crush on Warren

  • Wolverine injured by Maximus Lobo (the head wolf)

I'm not going to lie. This wolf arc is not my favorite.


  • Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #418    2003    Chuck Austen    Kia Asamiya

  • Annie’s mutant son, Carter, thinks he can bring Alex back but falls into a coma himself

  • Lorna attacks Annie

  • Juggs playing baseball with the boys

  • The wolves hurt Paige and AA. He fly's them away

Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #419    2003    Chuck Austen    Kia Asamiya

  • Northstar gets in the middle of a standoff between Polaris and Annie

  • Alex wakes up 

  • Tries to save Carter

  • Paige changes (she loses her close when she Husks) in front of Warren

  • She accuses him of not being good enough to know that there was corruption within his company, she says that Homo superior should be better than the rest, but they’re not.

Paige is the new moral center of this team. Where does that leave Nightcrawler?

  • Kurt is feeling guilty about kissing Stacy X (she threw herself at him in #417).

    • Kurt is kicked out of the church after saying that he doesn’t think God would let this happen to mutants, he also talks shit about Catholic priests

  • The wolves are attacking Warren and Paige, but Warren decides that Paige is too good of a person to die so he fights through and saves her and flies off into the air.

  • Northstar, juggernaut, iceman, and nightcrawler (who teleports 4 miles) go to save Warren

Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #420    2003    Chuck Austen    Kia Asamiya

  • X saves Carter, then tells Annie they need to talk

  • Warren may be able to heal people now

  • Juggs and the XM show up to save the day

  • Paige spoke to Betsy, who said that she left Warren since he could never live her with all his heart, but she never stopped loving him. 

  • After learning how to love fully, Warren goes to Paige’s room and they close the door behind them. 

Making out, making out!

Exiles # 1 - 2

Writer - Judd Winick

Pencils - Mike McKone

I knew I would not be sticking with Exiles at this point in time. I really, really want to get to the Krokoa era and I won't get there if I take up every series. However, I've heard great things about the series and after reading the first two issues, I can tell that it's a lot of fun. I will definitely come back and read it one day, but since it's not going to make a big impact on the larger canon (I don't think), I'll be skipping it for now.

  • Exiles vol. 1 #1    2001    Judd Winick    Mike McKone

  • Team

  • Blink shows up from AoA

  • Talia Josephine Wagner, NC’s daughter shows up (Nocturne)

  • Was an XMan with her dad

  • Morph from AoA. Nope, not from AoA

  • John Proudstar

  • Disciple of Apoc’s

  • Mimic

  • Spent some time as a villain, but then later became the leader of the X-Men

  • Magnus

  • Son of magneto and rogue, can kill people with a single touch

  • All from different realities

  • Time guy () explains

  • The team go to a reality where all superheroes are locked up. 

  • They are told to find the one who would teach them 

  • They break out Professor X

  • This X wants to destroy all humans

  • Exiles vol. 1 #2    2001    Judd Winick    Mike McKone

  • Everyone feels guilty about releasing Xavier 

  • Forge explains that the true teacher was Magneto

  • Xavier frees Cain Marko, Johnny Storm, Domino, Jessica Drew, and Chamber

  • Mimic seems like the leader

  • Mimic kills Xavier with W claws

  • Magnus saves all The heroes then sacrifices himself by containing an A Bomb. 

  • Mariko, the new Sunfire, is the new member of the team


X-Men Unlimited # 37 - 44

Writer - Name

Pencils - Name


  • X-Men Unlimited vol. 1 #37    7/31/2002    Kaare Andrews    Kaare Andrews, Mike Kunkel, Dave McCaig, Joshua Middleton, Troy Nixey, Skottie Young

  • https://uncannyxmen.net/comics/issue/x-men-unlimited-1st-series-37

  • X-Men Unlimited vol. 1 #39    12/4/2002    Jason Pearson, J. Torres, Chris Claremont    Jason Pearson, Keron Grant, Paul Smith

  • Storm stories

  • Storms decision to go punk

  • https://uncannyxmen.net/comics/issue/x-men-unlimited-1st-series-39

  • X-Men Unlimited vol. 1 #40    1/2/2003    Steven Grant, Chuck Austen, Nick Bertozzi    David Finch, Clayton Henry, Dean Haspiel

  • Villain stories

  • Mystique and Sabretooth’s first sexual encounter

  • https://uncannyxmen.net/comics/issue/x-men-unlimited-1st-series-40

  • X-Men Unlimited vol. 1 #41    2/5/2003    Chuck Austen, Nick Derington, Mike Allred, Jamie Delano    Skottie Young, Nick Derington, Neil Googe

  • Exiles, X-Statix, random mutants

  • https://uncannyxmen.net/comics/issue/x-men-unlimited-1st-series-41

  • X-Men Unlimited vol. 1 #42    2/26/2003    David Conway, Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, J. Torres, Darko Macan    Keron Grant, Joshua Middleton, Takeshi Miyzawa, Daniel Zezelj

  • Emma, Dani, Jean, Prof X

  • https://uncannyxmen.net/comics/issue/x-men-unlimited-1st-series-42

  • X-Men Unlimited vol. 1 #43    4/9/2003    Chris Claremont, Steven Grant    Bill Sienkiewicz, Paul Smith

  • Rahne has a necklace stolen from her that she got from Robert the Bruce

  • The original new mutants get together to get it back from a Russian mob boss

  • Mini Lockheed story

  • X-Men Unlimited vol. 1 #44    4/16/2003    Chuck Austen    Romano Molenaar

  • Sammy fish face finds some dead fish and demands Jean and the Prof find their killers

  • Juggs doesn’t think it’s a big deal

  • W goes after the boys, but Juggs stops him

  • Jean makes Juggs feel the pain of all those animals

  • They find some neighbor boys

  • Juggs to Sammy; “It’s a tough guy way of saying you were right and I’m sorry I hurt your feelings, without saying it.”


Chamber Limited Series

Writer - Brian K. Vaughan

Pencils - Lee Ferguson


X-Men: Phoenix - Legacy of Fire

Writer/Pencils - Ryan Kinnaird

Pencils - Name



Wolverine # 179 - 186

Writer - Frank Tieri

Pencils - Sean Chen, Terry Dodson (186)



My Connections and Creators

Ok, so we've reached the second Chuck Austen arc. If you recall, I had a big reaction when I read the first arc. I was supposed to hate this. Everyone says that Austen is the worst. Yet, I loved the first arc. I was thoroughly entertained. I was into the soapy stuff. So after reading this second arc, I don't feel too differently. The actual plot here with mutant wolfs attacking mutants...yea not great. But the character stuff is still incredibly fun.


My favorite character interaction is between Juggernaut and Sammy fish face (My name for him). I put Magneto as my favorite X-Men character through 2001 because I love reading about a nuanced villain. Not only is Juggernaut starting to question his life choices, but his evolution is accelerated through his connection to Sammy (and even Carter, Nurse Annie's son). I'm thrilled to keep reading about their relationship and to see what happens next with Juggernaut.


Earlier in the blog I said "You know what I realized today? I hate Havok." Yea, I do. He's been a whiny little bitch. A reluctant and whiny hero. He's picked to lead X-Factor, but he's gone evil multiple times (Inferno, Age of Apocalypse, late X-Factor) so why do we keep giving this guy our trust? I would have been fine without any Havok sighting. I've been ok while he's been in a coma though.


Iceman is calling Stacy X a skank. He's questioning whether she should be a member of the team. You know what, I think this is Austen's voice. Austen believes in consistency and wanted to work with the team he inherited, but I'm guessing that it didn't take long for him to realize that Stacy just didn't belong.


I feel bad that my coverage of the Limited Series, Unlimited, and Wolverine is so sparse...but I don't feel bad enough to do anything about it. I'm keeping my focus on the core X-Men comics this first time through and I'll circle back and cover everything else more thoroughly. For now, it just needs to be enough that I recognize these other comics happen.


Characters

Archangel

Archangel continues on as team leader.


Warren completes a long running arc. Well done, Chuck. Warren has been perpetually brooding ever since he got turned into Archangel. He was happy for a time with Betsy (and before that Charlotte Jones), but after Betsy left him and died, he's been pretty insufferable. However he's no longer blue (literally) and Paige helps him realize that it's ok for him to be happy. He let's go of his old mopiness and decides there's no reason whatsoever not to go bang a teenager.


Also, it looks like Warren can heal people now. So that happened.


Nightcrawler

Kurt is kicked out of the church after saying that he doesn’t think God would let this happen to mutants, he also talks shit about Catholic priests.


This appears to be the end of Nightcrawler as a priest and as team leader. I really feel like he's been set up for a while now to leave the series, and I still think that's going to happen, but since it hasn't happened yet I'm wondering if it will. Tune in to find out!


Iceman

Yup, he's in this comic.


Juggernaut

Juggernaut literally goes home to face his own demons. With the help of a young friend, he buries his past (again, literally) and asks his brother if he can join the X-Men.


Northstar

Yup, he's in this comic.


Stacy X

Like Nightcrawler, she looks like she's being set up to leave the series. She's no longer with Warren and Iceman is consistently calling her out. Unlike Nightcrawler though (and ignoring Bobby's thoughts about the O5 being the only relevant team), she's not a household name and it won't take much for her to be booted.


Wolverine

Considering he's one of the most popular X-Men characters, Austen really doesn't seem too interested in using him.


Husk

Husk needed to go on the team roster after this arc. It's clear that she is being used as a primary character for this run. As mentioned earlier, she's the moral center of this team. You know what else, I think Austen is the only one really trying to use her power in a cool way. They pretty much gave up even trying in Generation X (Although I can't really talk because I moved to skim mode pretty quick).


Havok

Yay! Havok's awake.


Polaris

She's back and she's sassy!


My Rating- 8/10




bottom of page