"Important Moments in X-History; Uncanny X-Men 227"
by Bull (Sandkings)

Over the last three decades, Uncanny X-Men has given us many milestone issues. From the first ever issue of Uncanny, Giant Sized number One, Xavier's so called death; tons and tons of issues have come out in the Uncanny X-Men's series that have been considered "important". Before I took off for the summer, I started looking through some of my back issues looking for an important issue that everyone should read. After narrowing down my selection, I finally ended up with issue 227. In one issue, we have one of the most important events in the history of the X. So, I am going to focus on this issue here with a review of sorts.

Uncanny X-Men, issue 227, came out in 1988. The creative tem consisted of Chris Claremont (writer), Marc Silvestri (penciler), Dan Green (inker), Tom Orzechowski (letterer), Bill Wray (colorist), Ann Nocenti (editor), and Tom De Falco as the Editor in Chief. This powerhouse creative team had been building the story of the "Fall of the Mutants" for some time now. Ever since Magneto had become the headmaster of the Xavier School, the team had been in a crisis of sorts. Storm had been playing around a "Plan Omega" in her head where the X-Men would be precieved as dead so that their families would be safe and they could strike at their enemies with suprise. However, problems on the team halted her plans.

The events that led to 227 were complex indeed. havok had come to the team recently, Magneto was more interested in the Hellfire Club than the team. Storm had lost her powers. Kitty, Nightcrawler, and Rachel were "off the team" with injuries or personal problems. What we were left with was a team made up of seven members: Wolverine, Colossus, Havok, Longshot, Dazzler, Rogue, and Psylocke. Other important figures leading up to 227 were Madelyne Pryor, Storm, Forge, Freedom Force, Manoli Wetherell, Neal Conan, Roma, and the Adversary. Previously, Dazzler had a mask bonded to her face by Spiral. Storm, Forge, and Roma had been captured by the Adversary in Roma's Starlight Citadel. In Dallas, Texas, the Eagle Tower exploded with the X-men and camera man, Neal Conan inside as Freedom Force looked on. The X-Men are assumed dead until Pyro discovered that Neal's camera was still broadcasting.

Thus, "The Belly of the Beast" had begun. The seven X-Men, Neal, and Maddy Pryor had been transported to a Vietnamese jungle from Forge's past. Only, instead of the Vietnamese, the X-Men found themselves battling demons released from Forge's spell. The story of the X-Men began as Neal went through each of the X-Men, showing them in battle, but one was missing. Madelyne Pryor had left her husband, Scott Summers, due to personal problems. She had been with the X-Men in Dallas and now found herself staring down at a young Forge as he took the souls of his nine fallen comrads to open a gate for the demons to enter the world and seek out revenge on the Vietnamese that had killed his friends. For the first time, we see Forge's past and his greatest mistake as the X-Men faced the consequences.

In the Cidadel, The Advesary, in the form of Naze (Forge's spiritual guide), had Roma, the real Forge, and a now powerful Storm bonded to the wall. The X-Men beat back the demons and plan the assult on the flying castle. After a failed attempt by Rogue ), they finaly decide on sending Longshot into the air first, hoping his hollow bones would allow him to break through the wind that surrounded the citadel. And so, the seven X-Men and the two humans sailed into the sky as they assulted the Citadel.

Longshot was the first to strike as they broak through the wind. Hitting the Adversary with his daggers, he found that he could cause him pain. Yet Wolverine and Rogue (whose kiss had little effect on Naze/Adversary) could not. It was soon seen that it was the iron that hurt the Adversary, thus Colossus struck the Naze/Adversary combonation. This attack revealed the Adversary's true form. His strength weekend, Storm and Forge broke away from the wallto help their team-mates. Rogue still had some of Naze's powers which she had absorbed by kissing the Adversary. She was able to open a portal to contain the Adversary. The problem was that the Adversary had no intention of going through the portal. Even the combined strength of the entire X-team could not force him back into the portal.

As they fought, Storm, Forge, Wolverine and Maddie soon learned the only way to force the Adversary into the portal was to close it with a spell. The cost; Forge needed nine souls to close the portal to take the place of his nine fallen comrad's souls he used during the War. The X-Men, along with Maddie, volunteered to dies so the world could live. Forge cast the spell as Neal's camera filmed on. Forge turned the X-Men's body into a star of magic and hurled it at the Adversary, knocking him into the portal and sealing it forever.

Back on Muir Island, Kitty watched the news of her friend's death as nightcrawler came out of his Coma. In Dallas, Forge and Neal Conan returned to the ruins of Eagle Tower to face freedom Force and the press. manoli and Neal were reunited, but Mystique and Forge began their long fued as Mystique blamed the death of the X-Men on him.

Some time later, Roma removed the souls of the nine X-Men from the portal and restored their deceased bodies. She explained that the Adversary could never be contained forever. To reward the X-Men for their sacrafice, for they had truely died, she allowed them to chose any time and place to return to. Although the X-Men could chose any time and any place throughout history, they decided to return to Earth, only secretly. Thus, Ororo's "Plan Omega" came to pass as the world had seen the X-Men die.

Overall, this issue of The Fall of the Mutants saga was a huge turning oint in the X-Men lives. To the world, the X-Men were dead, but this also meant their friends believed the same. Excalibur would be a direst rsult of this. Most importantly, the X-Men would begin their era in Australia and pave the way for Inferno. Storm regained her powers. Dazzler had the mask removed and had her sight back. For the X-Men, everything ahd worked out as well as it could. For the one's they left behind, the hell had only begun.