In 2010, legendary X-writer Chris Claremont brought us a special story that focused on the ladies of the Uncanny X-Men. Joining him was Milo Manara, an artist who is legendary for his work on, well... a very different type of comic altogether.

Click here for girl power!

Here's the premise: Storm, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, Rogue and Rachel Summers/Grey are on vacation. Rachel gets kidnapped along with Emma Frost. And there's some kind of funky power negation thing going on, so our heroines have to rescue their friends making their way through the jungle with only their wits and training to aid them. Oh, and revealing or clingy skin-tight outfits too. Anybody remember the kinds of movies they used to show on USA "Up All Night"? This was kinda like that. Kinda trashy, but still sorta tame. Just with Marvel characters in this case.

Now if you've ever read the way Claremont wrote for the women during his time on the X-books, he was pretty heavy on the subtext between female characters. Storm most infamously. So when he got paired up with Milo Manara, every other panel ended up looking like the girls are about a second away from just totally making out. Now if you've never checked out some of Manara's stuff, feel free to take a moment and Google it. Just... don't do it with the kids around.

But as dirty as this comic made me feel after reading it, this made for a terrific Heroclix build.

gx048 V Storm
Team: X-Men
Range: 9
Points: 86
Keywords: Deity, Fantastic Four, Hellfire Club, Morlocks, Ruler, X-Men

10 10 17 3

8 9 17 2

8 9 16 2

7 10 16 3

7 9 16 2

7 9 15 2

6 8 15 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Damage) The Weather Witch: When Storm occupies a square of outdoor terrain, modify her damage and range values by +1 and she possesses 2 targets.

ca055 E Kitty Pryde
Team: S.H.I.E.L.D.|X-Men
Range: 6
Points: 111
Keywords: Excalibur, S.H.I.E.L.D., X-Men

9 10 18 3

9 9 17 2

9 8 17 2

9 10 16 2

8 10 16 2

8 9 17 2

7 8 17 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Speed) Shadowcat: Kitty Pryde can use Phasing/Teleport and Stealth. She can use Toughness when targeted by a close combat attack.
(Attack) Out of the Walls: Kitty Pryde ignores walls for adjacency purposes when making close combat attacks.
(Damage) Massive Disruption: When Kitty Pryde moves due to her own action, after actions resolve you may remove from the map any objects occupying her square, an adjacent square, or being held by an adjacent character.

gx023 V Psylocke
Team: X-Men
Range: 0
Points: 74
Keywords: Exiles, Excalibur, Martial Artist, The Hand, X-Club, X-Force, X-Men

7 9 17 2

7 10 17 3

6 11 17 2

8 10 16 2

7 10 16 2

7 9 16 2

6 9 16 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Attack) Psycho-Blast: Psylocke can use Penetrating/Psychic Blast as if she had a range value of 6.
(Damage) Psychic Knife: Psylocke can use Blades/Claws/Fangs and Exploit Weakness. When she rolls a d6 for Blades/Claws/Fangs, on a result of 1 or 2, give her target an action token in addition to the normal effects.

gx030 E Rogue
Team: X-Men
Range: 0
Points: 128
Keywords: Brotherhood of Mutants, X-Men

10 10 17 3

9 9 17 3

8 9 16 3

8 10 16 3

7 9 16 3

7 9 16 2

7 9 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Special) Power Absorption: Once during your turn, you may give Rogue a free action and choose an adjacent character and a standard power (other than Outwit or Perplex) that they can use. Until your next turn, Rogue may use the chosen standard power. If Rogue has no action tokens or the chosen character is friendly, deal 1 unavoidable damage to the chosen character.

Thus far, the group of ladies that were venturing to rescue their teammates comes out to 399 points. No room for any other stuff. Yet this team is Modern Age legal and a Named Theme Team. But it's a neat team. Kitty and Storm work well together with Kitty's SHIELD TA, you've got two TK'ers and some solid close combat attackers.

So what happens when we then include the imprisoned women? There was a point in the story when the ladies were all reunited upon freeing Rachel and Emma. Which makes for a slightly bigger build as we get the gang all together. We even get to use a new figure from Marvel 10th Anniversary!

ul093 U Phoenix
Team: X-Men
Range: 8
Points: 86
Keywords: Past, Cosmic, Hellfire Club, Psychic, X-Men

10 11 16 3

10 10 16 2

9 9 15 2

9 9 15 3

8 8 14 3

8 8 14 2

7 7 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

m10a014 V Emma Frost
Team: Brotherhood of Mutants|X-Men
Range: 8
Points: 114
Keywords: Dark X-Men, Hellfire Club, Hellions, X-Men

8 10 17 2

8 9 17 3

8 10 17 2

7 9 16 2

7 10 16 2

7 9 17 2

8 9 17 3

8 10 17 3

7 9 16 3

7 8 16 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Speed) I'm Immune to Your Clumsy Psychic Powers, Darling: Emma Frost possesses Battle Fury and can use Willpower. When she is the target of Penetrating/Psychic Blast, modify her defense by +2.
(Attack) You Cannot Hide From Me: Emma Frost can use Penetrating/Psychic Blast and the Sharpshooter ability.
(Defense) Secondary Mutation: When this power appears, stop turning the dial. You may choose to click Emma to click #8. Emma Frost can use Super Senses.
(Damage) Team Advisor: Emma Frost can use Leadership and Outwit.

Adding in Ray-Ray and The Frostitute brings our 399 point team up to 599. We're still a Named theme team, but the inclusion of Phoenix takes us out of Modern Age, but it's still a pretty good piece with plenty of offensive options. Pulse Wave, Ranged Combat Expert and later in the dial, Psychic Blast and TK. The new Emma is no slouch either. Her Outwit, Leadership, Mind Control and Psychic Blast are backed up by solid numbers. Her special that changes her dial to its diamond form isn't too shabby either for close combat.

Yes, it's true not many of these figures on our build looks the way they did in the one-shot (especially Kitty), but... yeah, something tells me we'd be waiting a while for those. So until then, try this team out and have fun. Next time, we head back to the DCU.

Cool article. Can't wait for that new emma.

That one shot was actually pretty good, and I'm not a big X-men guy, and despite Manara's more adult tastes he's a great artist. Every page is beautiful, especially the ladies, definitely worth checking out.

Ah, the sexy, sultry Claremont era....Marvel swimsuit issue anyone?

Nice team, very playable!

Ah, the sexy, sultry Claremont era....Marvel swimsuit issue anyone?

Nice team, very playable!

Ah, the sexy, sultry Claremont era....Marvel swimsuit issue anyone?

Nice team, very playable!

Whoops....tripple reply...damn smart phone....

Did someone say "triplets?" Oh...sorry, the artwork had me distracted...

Nice team, and I remember buying this and thinking that I should not feel tingly when looking at a funnybook.

Thanks for the write up and I may have to try the team out.

Never knew Milo Manara did this!
Worth tracking down, actually.

I have the graphic novel Aladdin Effect. It's similar, all women superheroes.

I play a lot of woman teams. This one isn't bad, I would have liked to see a lady liberators article though.

Hey, I have that comic! (Or I should say my Wife has that comic)

Yeah, crazy Claremont was notorious for the naked x-chicks and hyping the not-so-latent sexual tension. When I saw Manara was the artist, I was worrying/wondering/secretly hoping there would be the "MAX" logo somewhere on it...