BRONZE AGE MINUTE: The Uncanny X-Men #143

Marvel; March 1981
Cover by Terry Austin

Title: “Demon”

Synopsis: Home alone in the X-Men mansion on Christmas Eve, Kitty Pryde earns her “X” squaring off against a N’Garai demon.

Writer/co-plotter: Chris Claremont
Penciler/co-plotter: John Byrne
Inker: Terry Austin

Review: Chris Claremont and John Byrne end their historic collaboration on X-Men on a high note, with a solo story that helped establish Kitty Pryde as a Bronze Age fan-favorite. Macaulay Culkin has nothing on the future Shadowcat, who spent her Christmas home alone in a life-or-death struggle with an Alien-style demon. Claremont’s story delivers excellent character moments throughout (including the classic Kitty-Colossus mistletoe sequence), though his internal monologues can be a little much. Byrne’s art is spectacular, as is Terry Austin’s inking (and cover!). This entire run captured lightening in a bottle; mainstream comics have rarely been this good.

Grade: A

Cool factor: This is one of the issue’s responsible for this reviewer’s lifelong comic book addiction.
Not-so-cool factor: From the “X-Mail” letters page: “John Byrne has resigned as penciler on the X-Men. This is his last issue. It is also Terry Austin’s last issue as inker on the book.” And so it ends. Sniff.

Notable: Last John Byrne X-Men. … The “X-Mail” letters page includes an LoC from future comics writer Kurt Busiek, who hated Claremont and Byrne’s X-Men run.

Character quotable: “… we kind’a wrecked the Danger Room. And the Blackbird. And the hangar. And a lot of the house.” – Kitty Pryde, force of nature

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