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The X-Men have always been a metaphor for outsiders and minorities. Whether it’s due to race, gender, sexuality, etc, the X-Men have stood for marginalized groups pretty much since their debut and it’s something that the so-called Outback era in particular highlights. After a lot of lineup changes and fracturing of the team, the X-Men were a team of outcasts more than ever. With Storm still leading the team and Wolverine never leaving her side, the only other member still around from the new team that debuted in Giant-Size X-Men was Colossus who was out of action for a while up to this point. Joining them was Rogue, Havok the younger brother of Scott Summers aka Cyclops, Dazzler who they met in the “Dark Phoenix Saga,” Longshot a character created by Uncanny editor at the time Ann Nocenti joined their ranks, and the newly -ound younger sister of Captain Britain, Elizabeth Braddock aka Psylocke also joined. The team had become a group of outsiders more so than before and from that became a found family. Throw Gateway the quiet Aboriginal man in the Outback who would teleport the team at any point and Jubilee some time after, and the sole “human” Madelyne Pryor you have the most unlikely lineup of the X-Men. It was an unusual team, but it’s this team and the Outback era that still stands as one of the X-Men’s best.
What made this era so special?
One of the big things that make the Outback era so special is the team dynamic itself. These X-Men felt more like a family than other version had in a long time. This era, while they were still being superheroes often had more laid back adventures to their name. Issues #244 and #245 are prime examples of this. These two issues back-to-back were girls and guys nights, respectively. The women of the team were teleported to a mall in California where we meet Jubilee for the first time, and the guys went to a couple of bars where chaos ensues. Despite this era having one of the most devastating events of the Chris Claremont run with “Inferno,” this was mainly a fun time with the team finding themselves and letting readers see some of these characters as they never had before. Wolverine being Wolverine of course starts up issues with yet another member of the Summer family as always. You have Longshot and Dazzler becoming chummy with each other, everyone trying to get a word out of Gateway, and of course Rogue dealing with Carol Danvers’ mind being stuck in a body with her. It was an era unlike the others for once in a long while the X-Men were in a good state with one another where they could be themselves free from the dangers of the world and away from society being at peace. In a sense, the Outback era saw the X-Men get to be something they never really had been before: just people.
