A Falling Angel: Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 #169– May, 1983

Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 #169: "Catacombs"

The issue opens with Candy Sothern, Warren Worthington III a.k.a Angel's friend coming to his house after a day of errands. All she finds in the house are some feathers and no Angel. She searches the house and realizes that someone is there and that she's now trapped inside. Instead of calling the police, she decides to call Charles Xavier as his help may be faster. While she briefly talks to him, someone called Sunder takes her. He informs her that he is there to hurt her.

The issue shift to Nightcrawler and Amanda Sefton who are sitting in a hot tube together. They are all about that flirt. Suddenly, Nightcrawler gets a telepathic emergency message from Xavier and responds immediately. Maybe he should have put some clothe on first. Still, he finds Angel being dragged by someone into a subway station, but he cannot follow. He has to catch Sothern. Someone through her out a window. He catches her in the middle of her falling. She is pretty badly injured. From some reason he decides to go back to Sefton's apartment and he and Sothern get into the hot tub with Sefton. I know it is an emergency, but it is a really strange decision to make.

The issue than switched to Sebastian Shaw, the leader of the Hellfire Club and the exclusive Inner Circle. Yeah, like the Inner Circle in "The Gifted." Basically he wants to rule the world and the X-Men are an obstacle standing in his way. Apparently, he died during his last confrontation with the X-Men, but now he is back. And he has a new problem, Emma Frost, the White Queen is unconscious. That happened while she was trying to warn Shaw, about what, we do not know. Her collapse was a surprise and her condition is comic book nonsense that is basically a deep coma. Shaw has a new enemy.

Meanwhile, the X-Men have converged in Sefton apartment. Sothern has recovered, but doesn't have much to tell. Apparently, Sefton is a witch. Her position is required to cure Nightcrawler from his cold and she also stays with Sothern to protect her.

Storm wants Wolfsbane to help them track Angel, but Xavier refuses. The New Mutants are not X-Men and they don't go on missions. Xavier says that they are students, but what he mostly means is that they are children. They will use a machine to track Angel.

The X-Men go underground into the subway tunnels. Xavier says that there is a psychic interference there and soon they will be out of his reach. Storm says that they must continue anyway. Her claustrophobia is acting up. As they get deeper underground we see that the person who took Angel is watching them, but then don't see him. As they get deeper underground they are ambushed, probably by Morlocks. Apparently, it is one of the Morlocks who have taken Angle. But, we still don't know what his boss wants.

Sprite, Kitty Pryde, phases through the walls to see what they are up against. I am so used to kitty being called Shadowcat that I missed the fact that her first code name and the one she uses here is actually not Shadowcat, but Sprite. She's the one that notices the big mutant who took Angel. But, they notice her as well. They can't grab her because of her phasing, unfortunately, she's probably been infected with a deadly virus from one of the mutants who tried to grab her.

Meanwhile, the X-Men fight the other Morlocks with success. Well, more correctly it looks like the Morlocks have retreated. Now the X-Men notice that Sprite is gone, but they have no way to find her. They simply have to continue to search for Angel, despite their worries and the fact that they are outnumbered. Storm says there is no backup to call, I guess that Binary left Earth? Otherwise she could have been great backup. But she's forgotten yet again when it doesn't fit the plot. Also, what about Scott Summers or any other mutant? This is ridicules in my opinion.

It is Caliban who finds Sprite. He sensed her as she walked into his territory. He sees that she is extremely ill and assumed correctly that it is Plague's doing. He wants to help her get better, for her to see how much she loves and for that to make her love him in return. Hello Stockholm syndrome. That is not how real love works.

The rest on the X-Men reach a tunnel. Someone have turned on blinding lights to they cannot see who is in front of them. That same person has Angel who is badly wounded.

That person is Callisto, ruler of the Morlocks. She confirms what I thought from the first time I heard the name Morlocks. They are named after H.G. Wells' Morlocks. She kidnapped Angel so he will be her partner. She sees herself as a princess and he will be her prince. She thinks she deserves the most beautiful man of Earth which apparently that is Angel, or the most beautiful mutant. She also says that they must speak to her with honor as if she's royalty. Well, she's totally crazy.

Callisto is so crazy that she wants to take away Angel's wings. There is no room for flying in the tunnels, also so that he won't fly away from her. As soon as she plucks away the first batch of feathers the X-Men attack her. Nightcrawler decides to take on Callisto by himself.

The Morlocks attack and overwhelm the three remaining X-Men. Callisto hits Storm and neutralizes her. Even Colossus is overwhelmed.

Kitty wakes up in a strange place, in a strange bed and she feels terribly sick. She's dying despite of Caliban's best efforts. He swear to make Plague heal her despite of Callisto's orders and that will Kitty make want to live with him forever in his catacombs. Slim chance of that happening.

The issue ends with the X-Men in terrible danger. Storm and Colossus are defeated, Sprite is dying and it is unknown in what state Nightcrawler is. Although he could have teleported to get a word out to Xavier, but I am not sure he could have returned to the same place afterwards. There is also the mystery behind the attack on Emma Frost. Maybe it is all somehow connected.

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