Uncanny X-Men #230 In 10 Panels Or Less

Uncanny X-Men #230 is a comic book written by Chris Claremont with pencils by Marc Silvestri. Published by Marvel Comics in 1988, this holiday-themed yarn is titled “‘Twas The Night…”. Let’s summarize the book… In 10 Panels Or Less!™

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Key plotpoints are pictured below. You have been warned!
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While the mutant superheroes known as the X-Men hone their combat skills, the X-Man Longshot explores the team’s new base–recently liberated from a group of cybernetic pirates known as the Reavers.

Whispering voices keep calling out to Longshot–voices that sound lonely and scared. Fearing that, somehow, they’d missed a group of prisoners during their initial search of the Reaver compound, Longshot follows the voices to a locked door.

Longshot busts the door down and discovers a huge vault, filled with stolen treasures. Not just stolen–haunted. Longshot picks up a bracelet and the psychic aura of the bracelet explains how it was forged, how it was given as a gift, and how it was stolen.

Longshot’s psychometry acts as a beacon for the haunted items–hundreds, thousands of them–and soon he’s overwhelmed by the power of their grief.

The X-Men recover their friend, and their proper telepath Psylocke enables everyone to see and hear what Longshot is experiencing.

Longshot wants to return all the stolen loot to the rightful owners. Wolverine disagrees, suggesting that they have more important things to do than play Santa. (At this point in their history, the X-Men have faked their own deaths so they can more effectively combat their enemies.)

Colossus–the man of metal with the heart of a poet–makes the argument that, “If we cast aside our basic human decency, our conscience, do we not lose so much more?” That is an argument that no one in a Claremont story can ever overcome.

Longshot “reads” each piece of treasure while Psylocke shields him from psychic overload and simultaneously relays that data to another X-Man who does her best to pinpoint the original owners.

The X-Men then divide up the loot and teleport all over the world, bringing the stolen goods back to where they belong.

Longshot cries. The X-Men win. And even the curmudgeonly Wolverine concedes that this exercise wasn’t a complete waste of time.

THE END

Tomorrow, we see what this X-Men adventure can teach us about product management and keeping your eye on the prize this holiday season.

Bonus!
Check out several decades worth of X-men cover art at Marvel Database Project!

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