> Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Volume 2
 
 

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From the Mouths of the Marvels:

"Swing, batta! Swing, batta!”

-- Wolverine, pg. 1


P'shaw! Like some minor-leaguer named Warhawk is gonna arrange Wolverine's death? I say "P'shaw!"

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X-Men #110
April 1978 • 17 pages

Script: Chris Claremont • Letters: Annette Kawecki
Pencils: Tony Dezuniga & Dave Cockrum • Inks: Tony Dezuniga


Title: "The X-Sanction!"

Villain: Warhawk, Warhawk's unknown master (dialogue only)

First Appearance: Warhawk/Mitchell Tanner, Captain Delaney

Guest Appearance: Moira MacTaggert, Captain Delaney

Letters Page: Page One


Synopsis: The team enjoys a nice spring day, celebrating Moira MacTaggert's last day in New York before returning to Muir Island. They assemble to play a game of baseball, with Wolverine and Colossus getting into a little ultra-competitive rough-housing. While showing off as a sort of emotional loose cannon amongst his teammates, Wolverine can't help but think to himself how fond he is of Jean Grey, the only woman he can think of who's made him care about anyone other than himself. Moira leaves the picnickers to receive the telephone repairman who is due in to perform some work on the mansion phone systems. When she greets the man at the door, she is shocked by his scarred visage, but tries to be calm and polite. As she is showing him to the work area, he surprises her by shooting her with a tranquilizer dart.

The infiltrator's name is Warhawk, and as he takes care of her unconscious body, he wonders what a top scientist like her is doing playing housemaid to the School for Gifted Youngsters. He goes to the control center with cameras cast on the softball field, where the X-Men are still enjoying their game. Suddenly, Warhawk suffers a psychic assault, as it turns out rendered by his "Master," who reminds him to stay on task and complete his job, as he hold life and death power over him.

As the X-Men return to the mansion, Professor X and Jean head upstairs where she starts to get the courage up to discuss her Phoenix powers with her mentor, but before she can they are attacked by Warhawk, who shoots both of them with tranquilizer darts, though he has to use two to get past Jean's formidable mental stamina. The rest of the X-Men have gone down to the Danger Room to get a workout in before the end of the day. As they enter, the door slams shut behind them, and they realize they've been trapped, especially since Cyclops received a mental transmission from Jean that she and the professor had been ambushed. Colossus tries to knock the door over, but he is unable to.

Naturally, the Danger Room begins springing surprise after surprise against the X-Men, with high-tech gadgets that their young selves are not ready for. Cyclops, the veteran of the Danger Room, has his back to a fusillade of razor sharp implements. For a moment, Wolverine considers letting them strike their target so he can have a clear shot at the love of Jean Grey, but he overrides such dark emotions and saves Cyclops; for his part, Cyke says "I owe you one for that, Wolverine."

Cyclops tries to stop the programming of the Danger Room, but finds that it has been overridden by their unseen menace. He thinks up a battle plan that involves Nightcrawler porting Wolverine out beyond the wall of the room. Nightcrawler agrees, though this is a new usage of his powers, and not being able to visualize where he is teleporting to as well as carrying Wolverine with him causes him to pass out from exhaustion once he makes it beyond the walls; disoriented by the experience, so does Wolverine. Storm gets stuck in a coffin, Banshee takes a sharp fall to the ground, and Colossus is stuck up with a paste emanated from the Professor's surprise remake of the robot Colosso.

Wolverine wakes up from being passed out and continues with his mission, using his claws to "skrag" the Danger Room control panel, disabling the room and freeing his comrades. Before they can arrive to his aid, Wolverine finds himself confronted by Warhawk. The villain, who claims to be "the ultimate soldier," fires a tranquilizer dart at Wolverine, but the Canadian mutant uses his claws to slice the bullet in half as it flies toward him. Oddly, his claws bounce off Warhawk's steel-like skin. The two fight on the other side of the Danger Room door until Colossus is able to bust through the door finally, and then, with Warhawk outnumbered, and robbed of a gas bomb he could have used to decimate the whole room (robbed courtesy of the nimble Nightcrawler,) he is finally put out by a massive right hook from Colossus.

He is led away in handcuffs by the police, as Captain Abernathy of the Westchester police force explains to Professor X and his young charges that Warhawk was on the federal want-list and was a dangerous, supposedly unstoppable force. Capt. Abernathy wonders aloud how a wheelchair bound professor and his students could stop such a menace. After the police leave, Professor X discusses the nature of the menaces they face, and the X-Men come away with a fresh resolve to face them as a team.

- -synopsis and panel images by Gormuu

- - panel scans provided by Jonathan Clarke, aka doesitmatter

- - letters pages provided by Avengers Assemble


Issues Reprinted
X-Men #101-110

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.

 

XM #101

XM #102

XM #103

XM #104

XM #105

XM #106

XM #107

XM #108

XM #109

XM #110

 

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