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Uncanny X-Men, The (1981 series) #245

Jun 1989 on-sale: Feb 21, 1989

Chris Claremont
writer
 |  Rob Liefeld
penciler

Uncanny X-Men, The (1981 series) #245 cover

Story Name:

Men!


Synopsis

Uncanny X-Men, The (1981 series) #245 synopsis by reviewer Anthony Silvestro
Rating: 4.5 stars

Parked just outside Earth’s orbit, a spaceship full of aliens announce their plans to conquer the Earth! The aliens in charge give a rousing speech that the rest of their ship only somewhat pay attention to, a speech so spectacular, we don’t get to hear any of it! Down in a lowly sector of the ship, a data archivist reads files on the Earth obtained from the Shi’ar infobanks stating that Earth has been invaded by a number of alien races, and even repelled Galactus multiple times! Armed with this knowledge, the lowly archivist knows his fellow aliens have no hope of actually conquering the Earth but the word has already been given! He debates warning them, possibly costing his life, against doing nothing, which could cost even more lives! Meanwhile, in Australia, Havok uses the computers in the X-Men’s sub-basement to monitor each of the other X-Men. He’s snuck up on by Wolverine, who doesn’t take kindly to Havok’s recent activities of spying on them. Havok feels that they shouldn’t let these computers go to waste and feels he’s the best man to use them effectively. Wolverine points out that Madelyne felt the same, and it cost them, worrying that Alex may go down the same road.

A mental image of Storm then appears, courtesy of Psylocke, to break up the fight. She sides with Wolverine, feeling that the systems may not be trustworthy, causing Alex to wonder why they even stay. Wolverine then suggests that what everyone needs is to cool off and have some fun, and proposes a guys night out just like the girls had recently. Sometime later, Dazzler uses makeup to make Colossus appear somewhat normal, to the Russian mutant’s chagrin. With the guys all ready, they take one of Gateway’s portals out of there to go have some fun, and tell the girls not to wait up! Meanwhile, aboard the alien ship, the alien leaders are shown their new secret weapon: the Jean Bomb! Said to disrupt any and all relationships, its very presence will cause brother to slay brother and teammates to tear each other apart (the joke being, it’s a simulacrum of Jean Grey). Just then, the lowly archivist comes running in to warn about the Earth’s danger and he’s mistaken for an intruder and shot on sight! Only afterwards do the aliens realize that he was one of them but rationalize that since he was just an archivist, what he had to say couldn’t have possibly been important anyway!

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In Sydney, the X-Men enter a bar (with Colossus remembering how the last time he entered one, he had to fight Juggernaut). Wolverine and Havok get to heavily drinking while Longshot manages to attract every woman in the place! Not long after, they hear loud rumblings coming from outside and head out to see the alien force invading! The aliens swarm the whole city, only to find that they’re largely being ignored, and not taken at all seriously! The alien leader commands not to provoke the locals and to let them make the first move, which goes unheard by a particularly large alien. He enters the bar and attempts to pick a fight with Longshot, prompting Colossus to punch him straight out of the bar! Colossus heads outside to find a whole group of guys just like that one, while Havok and Wolverine begin to place bets! Elsewhere, the alien leader meets with Sydney’s mayor and calls for his immediate surrender! The mayor happily hands the job over, saying that he’s due for a vacation! In order to show they mean business, the aliens destroy the Sydney Opera House and the mayor admits he’s wanted to do that himself for years! However, since it’s on all of their brochures, they’ll have to put it back good as new!

As Colossus fights his group of aliens, Longshot gets swarmed by a group of flying, female aliens called C-Cubed, the Cosmic Cutie Commandos! As they attempt to kill him, he discovers their wings are fakes, which they see as their greatest secret shame! If the others discovered their wings are artificial, then everyone could fly! Longshot just says that it’s amazing to be able to fly at all, and charms them into seeing things his way! Meanwhile, half a world away, in a building that is definitely not the Daily Planet, the news of the alien invasion goes completely unheeded in favor of the inauguration of the new President of the U.S.! Back aboard the alien ship, their ultimatum going completely ignored, the aliens plan to detonate their Jean Bomb, regardless of what it will do to their forces on the ground! Said ground forces discover the Cutie Commandos completely charmed over by Longshot and the rest of their allies defeated, while the last prominent alien plays poker against Wolverine! While Wolverine bluffs and raises the stakes against his opponent, Havok heads outside to deal with the last of the ground forces. They realize their leaders are about to drop the Jean Bomb and open fire, before Havok casually blasts the main ship down, ending the invasion just like that!

Finally, the guys return home, trading stories about their victories. Havok convinced the aliens to leave, and Wolverine bluffed the last alien enough to fold a winning hand! As they approach their base, they’re met by a very disapproving Storm, having heard the reports of their night out! Wolverine dissuades her by giving her a big kiss and suggests to Havok a place in Mexico they can go to really drink themselves silly! Storm sits down in a huff but can’t help letting out a laugh at the display! In an epilogue, the tone shifts considerably, as Tessa and her Hellfire Club forces find the bloody aftermath of a battle at one of Sebastian Shaw’s properties! It seems that Donald Pierce is looking to settle some scores with his former Hellfire Club allies!

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Characters
Good (or All)
COLOSSUS  
Colossus
(Piotr Rasputin)
DAZZLER  
Dazzler
(Alison Blaire)
HAVOK  
Havok
(Alex Summers)
PSYLOCKE  
Psylocke
(Betsy Braddock)
ROGUE  
Rogue
(Anna Marie LeBeau)
STORM  
Storm
(Ororo Munroe)
WOLVERINE  
Wolverine
(Logan)
XMEN  
X-Men
(Xmen)
Plus: Sage (Tessa).


> Uncanny X-Men, The (1981 series) comic book info and issue index



GOLDEN AGE CAPTAIN AMERICA OMNIBUS VOL. 2
For the special marvelite in you

Main/1st Story Full Credits

Rob Liefeld
Dan Green
Glynis Oliver
Rob Liefeld (Cover Penciler)
Rob Liefeld (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski.



Review / Commentaries


reviewer
Uncanny X-Men, The (1981 series) #245 Review by (June 24, 2026)

Review: Last issue focused on the women and now it’s the guys’ turn! And this issue is…such a hoot! Just as humor focused as last issue, actually even more so, but much, much weirder! We get a very tongue in cheek look at intentionally generic aliens attempting to invade Earth only…no one really cares. The aliens are mostly ignored at first, and no one really takes anything they do or say seriously, even when they destroy the Sydney Opera House (the mayor even says he’s been wanting to do that himself for years)! This wacky meta sense of humor and self-aware dialogue persists throughout the issue, making it such a fun read! You can feel the essence of Douglas Adams in the inspiration, it’s very much that kind of humor! Even when the X-Men get involved, it’s in very atypical ways. Longshot charms a whole squadron of female aliens and Wolverine ends up playing poker with a guy that looks suspiciously like Superman! Speaking of whom, we even get a brief interlude to what is clearly supposed to be the Daily Planet, and they couldn’t care less about the invasion!

Perhaps my favorite tongue in cheek moment though, comes with the revelation of the aliens’ secret weapon: the Jean Bomb! It’s said to completely disrupt any and all relationships, it’s mere presence causing brother to slay brother and teammates to tear each other apart! And it’s literally just a simulacrum of Jean Grey. Shots fired (but are they wrong though?) They don’t even get to use it since Havok just casually shoots the main ship down at the end and Wolverine ends the fight by beating not-Superman at poker! This goofy, self-aware, wry wit made this issue an absolute blast from start to finish! And guest penciller Rob Liefeld clearly had a ton of fun with the designs, as well as sneaking a ton of pop culture aliens into the crowd scenes! Yes, that Rob Liefeld, but thankfully it isn’t too Liefeld-y yet. The feet look positively normal! While overall not as long-term significant as last issue, this made for an unexpectedly good time, with Claremont bringing his Excalibur tone over to X-Men, giving us an issue that doesn’t take itself too seriously (or seriously at all!)

Comments: Many aliens from pop culture can be seen snuck into the crowd in one early scene including E.T., Alf, Jabba the Hutt, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, a Xenomorph, and Hawkman, just to name a few.





Thor

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