STORY: "A House in Order" (23 pages)  Cyclops and Phoenix take a leave of absence from the X-Men, leaving Storm and Wolverine to try and hold the ramshackle team together.

What you need to know:
The Mansion is now sparsely furnished - there are beds, a kitchen table and so forth - although we're never told where any of this stuff came from.  The power seems to be back on as well, since the team can cook.  However, the phones are still down (and, apparently, none of the X-Men have mobiles).

Cyclops and Phoenix leave the team in order for Cyclops to recover from his injuries up in Alaska.  In fact, this means that there must be a very lengthy gap concealed in the story, because somewhere in here they have to buy a house in Alaska, as seen in Uncanny X-Men #352 and subsequent issues.  The gap appears to fall five pages from the end.

Cyclops leaves Storm and Wolverine in charge of the team and specifically tells them to look after Cecilia, Maggott and Marrow until they get back.  Storm's not best pleased about being saddled with Marrow.  Wolverine has understandable doubts about whether this unlikely new roster, with no supporting technology, is even remotely viable as an X-Men team.

Sam takes Cecilia and Maggott into town, and doesn't even bother inviting Marrow.  When she complains, he protests that they don't have any image inducers for her, but he obviously feels bad about it.  Storm promptly tells Marrow that she is forbidden to leave the grounds.  As we'll see over the next few issues, Storm isn't actually in a position to enforce this, and Marrow has a fair point when she complains that Storm is just hiding away the ugly, embarrassing mutants again.  However, when Maggott actually offers to stay behind with her, Marrow runs away rather than deal with him.

Cecilia makes some Freudian slips which seem to indicate that she's attracted to the Beast.  This never goes anywhere (although Chris Claremont used it in X-Men: The End, where they end up married).

Maggott is, rather ambitiously, flirting with Jean Grey.  Cannonball appears to take him literally, and takes grave offence on Jean's behalf.  We also establish that Maggott doesn't eat meals with the others.  As we'll find out later, he doesn't eat at all - Eeny and Meany eat on his behalf.

According to Jean, she can detect "some manner of thought" in Eeny and Meany, but they don't seem to be conscious in the usual sense.  They're certainly not under Maggott's direct mental control, because they don't always follow his instructions and often act of their own accord.

Storm retrieves some of her belongings from a concealed hiding place underneath a flagstone in one of the outhouses.  This is presumably supposed to explain why she still owns her tiara and such forth, although in the event Marvel just swept the whole storyline under the carpet.

In a subplot, Sebastian Shaw receives a letter from an unidentified character with the power to manipulate time.  This subplot recurs in issue #73 and then gets completely abandoned due to editorial mandate.

In another subplot, a panicking man in Cairo dies while getting a cursed parcel into the post.  It's addressed to Storm.  This one does actually get resolved, in the "Psi-War" two-parter from issues #77-78.  The Shadow King turns out to be behind it all, killing off people who are trying to warn Storm about his plans.  (Although this doesn't actually make sense, considering that when we finally get to those stories, the Shadow King is actually trying to lure the X-Men to him.  There may be a change of plans somewhere along the way.)

In yet another subplot, a homeless man in Salem Center is killed in an alleyway in a flash of light.  The obvious implication is that he's been eaten by Eeny and Meany, but it's actually a feint, and the real killer is Pilgrimm - a villain we won't meet until issue #75.

The news is covering the return of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, who have reappeared in the mainstream Marvel Universe after the Heroes Reborn year.  This refers to events in Heroes Reborn: The Return #4.

Comments:
You know, this is a really good issue, and re-reading it makes me appreciate just how much potential was squandered when this run got cut short.  Having inherited a seemingly disastrous set-up, Kelly is turning it to advantage in this issue, building all sorts of character relationships and turning his awkward selection of characters into a proper team.  Admittedly, Maggott's overuse of impenetrable South African slang gets on the nerves somewhat, but otherwise, this is a great issue.  Wonderful art from Pacheco, and the scene with the return of the big name Marvel superheroes is genuinely touching, played as the first sign of something going right in a world that otherwise seems to have hit rock bottom.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Cyclops and Phoenix III (both last in flashback in Uncanny X-Men #376; both leave the X-Men and appear next in Uncanny X-Men #351)
Storm (appears between pages in Uncanny X-Men #351; next in Uncanny X-Men #351)
Wolverine (appears between pages in Uncanny X-Men #351-352, then in Elektra vol 1 #10, then in Amazing Spider-Man #429, then in X-Men Unlimited vol 1 #17, then in Kitty Pryde: Agent of SHIELD #1-3, then in Wolverine '97)
The Beast (next in Uncanny X-Men #352, then in Amazing Spider-Man #429)
Cannonball (next in Uncanny X-Men #352)
Rogue (next in Uncanny X-Men #352-353, then in flashback in Uncanny X-Men #354, then again in Uncanny X-Men #353-355, then concurrently in Uncanny X-Men #355 and Alpha Flight vol 2 #9, then in flashback in Gambit #½, then in issue #73)
Iceman (appears next in Uncanny X-Men #353-354 and #356-358, then leaves the X-Men)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Marrow (appears between pages in Uncanny X-Men #352, then in the second story in X-Men Unlimited vol 1 #18)
Maggott, Eeny and Meany (both next in Uncanny X-Men #352)
Cecilia Reyes (appears between pages in Uncanny X-Men #351; next in Uncanny X-Men #351)
Trish Tilby (next in Venom: Finale #1)

VILLAINS
Sebastian Shaw (last in Cable #53; next in issue #73)
The Shadow King (last in flashback in issue #78; behind the scenes; next behind the scenes in issue #73)
Pilgrimm (behind the scenes; last in flashback in issue #75)

GUEST APPEARANCES
The Fantastic Four: Mr Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing (all last in Heroes Reborn: The Return #4; concurrently with flashback in Thunderbolts #10; all next in Captain America vol 3 #1)
Captain America (between Heroes Reborn: The Return #4 and Captain America vol 3 #1)
Iron Man (between Heroes Reborn: The Return #4 and Incredible Hulk vol 2 #462)

OTHER CHARACTER
Ainet (behind the scenes; chronologically last in flashback in issue #78; next behind the scenes in issue #73)

Revised: 30 May 2006

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