COMIC BOOK COVER OF THE WEEK

COMIC BOOK COVER OF THE WEEK


Okay, the weekend passed, and I was unable to get this blog out, but--rest assured---we'll be back on schedule next week.  I have A LOT to write this week, because we've got a full slate of shows to review, so this is getting done NOW.  Hope you like it!  This week, we take a look at one of the issues that became part of a short 2 issue storyline for our favorite Mutants.  "Days of Future Past" was a short 2 issue run between issues #141-142 of The Uncanny X-Men.  It's a look at the dystopian future they face if the Sentinels take over New York.  And it's up to an older Kate Pryde to go back into the past, and save the day.  This story became so popular, that it was adapted for the X-Men - Animated Series that aired on FOX, as well as the X-Men movie of the same name.



UNCANNY X-MEN #141


COVER: John Byrne & Terry Austin
WRITER: Chris Claremont & John Byrne
ARTIST: John Byrne
INKS: Terry Austin
COLORS: Glynis Wein
LETTERS: Tom Orzechowski
EDITOR: Louise Jones
COVER DATE: January 1981
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics


STORY TITLE:  "Days of Future Past"


The Uncanny X-Men #141 was one of those pivitol stories in the history of Xavier's Gifted Youngsters.  Claremont and Byrne craft a great 2 part story about a dystopian future where the Sentinels have taken over New York, if not the world, and mutants have become nothing more than slaves...or dead.  It painted a very dark future of what one incident - in THIS case, the murder of prominent US Senator Robert Kelly - and it sets off a series of events that leads to this dark future.  The X-Men have fought and uphill battle to begin with, but here, Claremont and Byrne ratchet it up just a tad more.  It also gives the spotlight to the team's newest member:  Katherine "Kitty" Pryde, whom we see the story from in her bleak future, to the past.  It's a great story that was allowed to spawn a version of it in the 90's animated TV series, as well as a feature film.  The animated series used the character Bishop to tell the tale, whereas the movie used Wolverine as their focal point.  



THE STORY:  It is the year 2013, and in a dystopian New York, where the Sentinels have taken over, and killed and enslaved several mutants, including several members of the original X-Men, Rachel Summers usees her powers to send Kate Pryde back into the past to stop the assassination of a prominent US senator from happening, thus putting into motion the events that lead up to their time.  Kate takes control of her younger self, and has to convince the X-Men that a threat looms in Washington, and must stop it, or the future will be bleak for them all. 



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This was an exceptional issue, and showed us the possibility of a dark future, whereas humanity AND mutants suffer for their own follies.  The Sentinels assert control after they feel that ALL humans - normal and mutant alike - are not fit to run the world, so they must take over.  The future setting is gritty, dirty, and shows the hopelessness of a world that has been run into the ground.  What little X-Men are left, are an underground desperate band trying to change the future for the better.  Claremont and Byrne's choosing to go with Kitty Pryde as the focal point is also an interesting choice, considering the character's youth at the time the issue was published (Kitty was only about 13 years old when she came to Xavier's school).  But she is our tie between present and future.  I don't think anyone knew at the time how this short, 2 issue story would have an impact on the fans, and how it would not only carry over into a cartoon, but into  a major motion picture as well.  It truly is one of my favorite all-time X-Men stories.  They DID revisit it a couple of years later, but it's the original that stands the test of time to this day.