Uncanny X-Men #176: Pryor Commitment

Uncanny X-Men #176 is a rather quieter character piece, centred around Scott's decision. Yes, he's still not sure whether he's going to go into space with the Starjammers or not. It's almost as if his marriage to Madelyne Pryor isn't a particularly big deal for him. This story - and their encounter with random sea monsters and his decision to stay (for now) provides most of the pages.

We also get the fallout from #175 with Logan and Mariko. She acknowledges she was mindcontrolled by Mastermind, but needs to sort out the rot in Clan Yashida before she can wed Logan. So that bodes ill. In the sewers of the City of New York, Callisto goads Caliban into going to look for Kittypryde, who had promised to stay down there with him, but then reneged. Also boding.

And, we finally see the introduction of Dr Valerie Cooper, in one of the federal government's regular cross-departmental mutant paranoia meetings. When Hank Gyrich (who was running a Sentinel program and seeking to apprehend the New Mutants only a few months ago) acts like the voice of reason, you know things have got a little bit overheated. Cooper makes an interesting point, that mutation has really levelled the playing field insofar as powers goes, eroding the traditional American advantage in superhumans caused by their more laissez-faire attitude to health and safety at work. She is, in short, worried about a mutant gap. They worry too about the events of #150 - Magneto tried to take over the world, destroyed Varykino, and then... just vanished. Very troubling indeed.