Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 176

Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 #176 Published December, 1983 Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter Cover Artist John Romita Jr. "Decisions" Writer Chris Claremont Penciler John Romita Jr. Inker Bob Wiacek Colourist Glynis Wein Letterer Tom Orzechowski Joe Rosen Editor Louise Jones Previous Issue Next Issue Uncanny X-Men Annual #7 (Story) Uncanny X-Men #175 (Title) Uncanny X-Men #177

Appearing in "Decisions"

Featured Characters:

• Cyclops (Scott Summers)
• Wolverine (Logan)

Supporting Characters:

• Madelyne Pryor-Summers
• Mariko Yashida
• National Security Council
  • Henry Peter Gyrich
• Valerie Cooper (First appearance)

Antagonists:

• An unnamed octopus
• The Morlocks
  • Caliban
  • Callisto
  • Sunder
  • Masque

Other Characters:

• Christopher Summers (Mentioned)
• Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde) (Mentioned)
• Charles Xavier (Mentioned)
• Shingen Harada (Mentioned) (Deceased)
• A shark
• C.I.A.
  • Frank Lowell (Only appearance)^[2]
• Project Wideawake
  • Judge Petrie
  • Unnamed government officials
• Magneto (Magnus) (On-screen)
• Avengers (Mentioned)
• X-Men (On-screen)
  • Storm (Ororo Munroe) (On-screen)
  • Colossus (Peter Rasputin) (On-screen)
  • Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) (On-screen)
  • Ariel (Kitty Pryde) (Photo)
• Angel (Warren Worthington III) (On-screen)
• Beast (Hank McCoy) (On-screen)
• Iceman (Bobby Drake) (On-screen)
• Phoenix (Mentioned)

Races and Species:

• Mutants
• Humans
• Octopuses
• Sharks
• Neanderthals (Mentioned)

Locations:

• Earth
  • Pacific Ocean
    • South Pacific
    • North Pacific
      • Japan
        • Honshu
          • Miyago Prefecture
            • Agarashima
              • Clan Yashida Ancestral Stronghold
  • United States of America
    • Washington, D.C.
    • New York
      • New York City
        • Manhattan
          • The Alley
  • Russia (On-screen)
    • Moscow (Mentioned)
    • Varykino (On-screen)
  • United Kingdom, Europe (Mentioned)
  • Canada, North America (Mentioned)
  • Israel, Middle East, Asia (Mentioned)
  • Egypt, Middle East, Asia (Mentioned)
  • China, Asia (Mentioned)

Items:

• Ruby-Quartz Sunglasses
• Honor blade of Clan Yashida
• Wolverine's Suit
• Adamantium (On Logan's claws)
• Cyclops' Visor

Vehicles:

• Prop-plane, "Goose"
• Starjammer (Mentioned)
  
  

Synopsis for "Decisions"

Scott and Maddie are flying to a remote island in the South Pacific for their honeymoon when a storm catches them and disables the engine.

In Japan, Wolverine sneaks into Mariko's chambers. He's come to return the honor blade, which was delivered to him 2 days after he last returned it. We find out that Mastermind forced Mariko to call off the wedding, and that while under his control Mariko also involved the clan in criminal pursuits again. She loves Logan, but won't allow Wolverine to be with her until she has expunged the stain upon her clan's honor.

In the South Pacific, Scott is working on the engine. He loses his balance while leaning over for a kiss, and a large shark leaps at him. He stuns it with an eye-blast. Unnoticed by either he or Maddie, the stunned shark becomes something else's meal before it can recover - something with long powerful tentacles!

Washington D.C. Henry Gyrich has arrived at a briefing that has already started - a briefing on mutants! Frank Lowell of the CIA is discussing Magneto's most recent threat,^[1] a threat that was never followed through on for unknown reasons. Following him is Valerie Cooper. She presents evidence that mutants are no longer primarily U.S. phenomena, but now a broadly global one - the U.S. must take steps to defend itself against foreign spies and assassins possessing mutant powers! Gyrich objects - he thinks to do so would be to prove Magneto right. But Dr. Cooper thinks mutants present a 'clear and present danger', and must be dealt with.

The South Pacific. The main part of the storm is starting to move over them as they try the engine, but it catches fire and Scott has Maddie turn it off. They get back to work, neither noticing the sinister tentacle reaching out of the water!

The Alley. Caliban returns to his chambers to discover Masque, Callisto, and Sunder there. He orders them out but Callisto is concerned because she hasn't seen him much. They accuse him of mooning over Kitty, and he admits to being sad because she promised to stay with him if he helped the X-Men, but she didn't. Callisto tells him she means to see Kitty keeps her promise!

The South Pacific. Scott finally has the engines working, and Maddie is pulling in the sea-anchor when she's grabbed by a monstrous tentacle! Scott jumps in after her, and blasts the squid, freeing Maddie. It grabs him, but he gives it an eyeful. However, he's lost his glasses. Getting to the surface, Maddie steers him towards the ship with her voice, but it grabs him again. Getting his bearings from the direction its pulling him, he lets the squid have it full power. They get back onto the plane, and after a few moments of panic, the second engine finally catches and they're off.

Scott decides he's not interested in going off to fight a war with his father as a member of the Starjammers.

Trivia

• The editors initially objected to the cover because they couldn't understand why Cyclops was mad at the X-Men logo - they wanted him blasting the squid. However, the image was unarguably awesome, so they eventually kept it (but not before an alternate was drawn).
• According to The Official Marvel Index to the X-Men Vol 2 #3, Joe Rosen is a letterer for this issue although he is not shown in the credits.

See Also

• 3 Image(s) from Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 176
• 3 Reprints of Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 176
  

Recommended Reading

• Uncanny X-Men #175 - Scott and Maddie get married

Footnotes

References