Guest Appearance: Hank McCoy, Warren Worthington III, Alex Summers, Lilandra, John & Elaine Grey, Sarah Grey, Kitty Pryde

Origin: The X-Men

Flashback Cameos: Original X-Men, Magneto, Vanisher, Blob, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Mastermind, Toad, Sub-Mariner, Ka-Zar, Zabu, the Stranger, Juggernaut, Sentinels, Master Mold, Mimic, Lucifer, Count Nefaria, Banshee, Candy Southern, Zelda Morton, Vera Cantor, , Dr. Strange, Mole Man, Factor 3, Grotesk, Lorna Dane/Polaris, Mesmero, Living Pharoah/Living Monolith, Dr. Karl Lykos/Sauron, Sunfire, Havok, Z'nox, Thunderbird, Krakoa, Ani-Men, Black Tom Cassidy, Emperor D'Ken, Imperial Guard, Vindicator, Garokk, Moses Magnum, Alpha Flight: Aurora, Northstar, Shaman, Sasquatch, Snowbird; Arcade, Jason Wyngarde/Mastermind, Proteus, Moira MacTaggert, Sebastian Shaw, Harry Leyland, Donald Pierce, Dark Phoenix

Letters Page: (No letters page in this issue.)

Xavier had turned over leadership of the team to him, as well as sharing the power of CEREBRO. And while he could tell Warren Worthington, aka the Angel, had feelings for Jean, he couldn't help himself when he realized while in the Savage Land that he loved Jean with all his heart. He remembers the battle between the Stranger and Magneto, and the coming of the Juggernaut. Then, the emergence of the Sentinels, led by the Master Mold, who rebelled against their human creator Bolivar Trask. They fought more battles, against the Mimic, Lucifer, Count Nefaria and many other mutant and non-mutant criminals.

On Bobby Drake's 18th birthday, he and Jean took a walk in the park after the party and shared their first kiss. This was a moment too easily lost in more fighting, he reflected, against foes like Factor 3 and the Mole Man. New uniforms came, and when they thought their mentor, Charles Xavier, had been killed in action, the government split the team up. Bobby Drake moved out west and came into contact with Lorna Dane, aka Polaris. Scott found his long-lost brother, Alex, who was kidnaped by the Living Pharaoh and transformed into Havok. More fights raged on as the years went by, and they eventually realized that Professor Xavier was not dead!

The X-Men eventually went their own ways, with Hank McCoy, aka the Beast, joining the Avengers and turning furry. Xavier assembled a new team of mutants when the old X-Men went missing. Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and others battled the menace Krakoa and saved the old guard, reconstituting themselves as the X-Men with Cyclops as their leader. In the following battle against Count Nefaria, Cyclops lost Thunderbird in a terrible explosion, causing him to doubt if this was the life he really wanted for himself.

The Sentinels and the crazed Steven Lang caused the team a great menace in outer space, and on their return, Jean Grey sacrificed her life to save theirs, only to be endowed with the Phoenix Force, which helped enable her to later save the universe from the maniacal brother of Lilandra. After facing Vindicator of Alpha Flight, the team was inexplicably taken captive by Mesmero and turned into circus freaks. Saved by the Beast, they fell into the hands of Magneto and in the battle in his Antarctic base, Jean and Hank were separated from the rest of the group. Both sides feared the other was dead. After a long odyssey to get back home, they faced Arcade. Then, reunited with Jean on Muir Island, they had to defeat the power of Proteus. Jean was taken captive by the Hellfire Club after a long campaign of psychic seduction by Jason Wyngarde, better known as Mastermind. In her transformation to the Black Queen, psychic walls put up to protect her from the Phoenix Force came down, and with the sudden surge of power, she turned into the Dark Phoenix. She eventually destroyed a galaxy to nourish herself, and was killed on the Blue Area of the Moon in an act of self-sacrifice.

Scott gives his condolences to Jean's parents, who bravely struggle through her loss. Lilandra presents to them a crystal which contains a hologram of Jean as well as a sense of her essence when touched. Scott tells Xavier and his friends that he is leaving the X-Men to get his life straight. They all understand, even though they tell him they will miss him.

Back at the school, a cab pulls up to the front door, and out steps Kitty Pryde, the newest student at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

--synopsis and panel images by Gormuu