Pursuit!
(Or, as the cover would have it... "Enter..The Starjammers")
This story continues on exactly from the cliff hanger of the last story (and I hope you are prepared for cliff hangers, because there are more to come). We meet the X-Men with Colossus dead on the ground in New York City, and with the civilian authorities quickly closing in. Random guest-star Tigra recaps the plot, mentioning that because of a dynastic struggle and a kidnapped empress, the earth is about to be destroyed by the Shi'ar if said empress isn't found soon. (And that recap helped me remember that entire earth-about-to-be-destroyed thing, which I forgot in my last review. Lot going on here). The X-Men are whisked away by teleportation beam to the Starjammer ship. The Starjammers are a group of intergalactic Robin Hood pirates led by Colossus estranged father, Corsair. They also have the advanced medical science (and an alien dragonfly doctor) that enables them to resuscitate Colossus. In later years, the X-Men overdoing the fakeout death would be tedious, but here it is still dramatic. With our Starjammers and X-Men together, we can then begin the rescue mission for the kidnapped Professor X.
Okay, we aren't quite ready for that. First we have a scene of Professor X and Empress Lilandra held captive, and then we have a long flashback scene where Corsair reveals to Cyclops how him and his wife (Cyclops' mother) were kidnapped by the Shi'ar and the attempted rape of his mother. It is somewhat of a strong theme for a space opera. As Corsair and Cyclops begin to approach reconcilation, we are treated to a double splash page.
Double splash pages were rarer at the time, so it comes as a surprise when we see the Brood Starship---a gigantic space whale, miles long, dwarfing the Starjammer starship, and full of implanted towers and machinery.
After this point, we have a fairly linear chase/battle scene where the combined X-Men and Starjammers liberate Professor X and Lilandra, and we conclude this issue on a more optimistic note than last issue, other than our heroes now have less than six hours to save the earth...leaving us on another cliff hanger. I told you to get used to those!
There is, of course, a bit of irony in my reviews. As mentioned, some of the excesses of subplot and explication do get to be a bit much. But when you open those pages to that two page illustration of a space whale city, you do realize how wildly imaginative this all is, and how each issue really does push concepts and characterization a bit further. So while there is some gentle mockery in these reviews, I also want to point out a lot of this stuff is really awesome.