"The Hellfire Gambit"
We begin en media res, with what appears to be Storm chasing a sports car, driven by Emma Frost and with a confused young Kitty Pryde as a passenger. But, as the narration explains, things are not what they seem: apparently, last issue, there was a mind switching ray and an escape, and Storm is actually Emma Frost, and Emma Frost is actually Storm.
As a side note, there is a reason why I am in the possession of a run of what are now collector's item X-Men issues, each with a value somewhere between ten and fifty dollars. Over fifteen years ago, the Multnomah County Library book store received dozens of long boxes from a failed (or just very overstocked?) comic shop. Along with predictable comics that had been overprinted in the 1990s comic boom, they also included more classic material, such as a 20+ issue of the X-Men. Apparently, the library bookstore, used to selling 25 cent paperbacks, had no idea what they had. They started selling them for cheaper and cheaper, 3 and then 5 for a dollar. Then, one day, they combined this with a 75% sale and I ended up buying over 300 comic books, including perhaps this run of the X-Men, for less than a dime each. I say without exaggeration that it was one of the happiest days of my life, as I acquired a treasure trove of classic material for a pittance. It was the type of event that when I was a child, when I got to buy a few comic books a month, would have seemed my wildest dream. This was like a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory scenario for me. But, while it was a windfall, there were some vagaries of fate, such as several issues in the run being missing. Thus, I don't know what I missed in the last issue.
Apparently, the X-Men have all been taken captive, in their own mansion, by their enemies, the Hellfire Club. It is up to Kitty Pryde and Emma!Storm to infiltrate the mansion, and using subterfuge, rescue the captive X-Men. After getting their right bodies back, Storm is so full of rage about having her body hijacked that she is about to kill Emma Frost, before Wolverine talks her down from the edge by saying that while some people are natural killers, Storm is a natural healer.
Some people are warriors, darlin' -- born to kill. That's me. And some exist to show us there's a better way.
This would be one of many, many instances where the X-Men, despite being edgy, would engage in a
Michael Dukakis Moment, making a somewhat canned speech about having to avoid violence.
Speaking of things that are cliche: I realized after reading this issue that the last three arcs I've read have all had stories where the X-Men were held captive, and had to be freed. An understandable comic book plot, and we don't necessarily need to read anything into the X-Men always ending up shacked and distressed. This is also the second time in the past six issues where Storm, after being imprisoned or violated in some way, threatens to throw away her better nature and become an elemental force of vengeance. That could be seen as adding depth to a character, or it could be seen as getting a slightly problematic fixation.
I wish I could have some of the John Byrne scripted issues to compare this run to---it seems that Chris Claremont is indeed becoming more loquacious as the issues go on. But also, at the time, certain characterizations had to be explained to casual readers. It might seem obvious today, after the X-Men have been the focus of several movies, that Wolverine is a killer and Storm is a gentle healer, but for the casual reader of the early 1980s, certain facts about the characters would have to be repeated every issue or so. And so it was with this issue, which combined predicable, even cliched comic book plots (mind control rays! ductwork infiltration! cackling villains!) with an increasing emphasis on ethical conundrums and speechifying.