Starjammers: what changes when Carol and Charles come aboard

Starjammers: what changes when Carol and Charles come aboard The Starjammers already got their introduction in this series, but their relationship with the X-Men changes quite a bit once Carol Danvers and Charles Xavier become part of their lives in space. The original crew is still there. Corsair, Hepzibah, Raza and Ch’od do not disappear because two familiar people from Earth arrive. What changes is how closely their own ongoing problems become tied to the people the X-Men have left behind. Carol joins as Binary in Uncanny X-Men #174. Xavier’s departure comes later, under very different circumstances in #200. Those are separate developments, and putting them together as though everyone signed up on the same afternoon loses a lot of what makes this period interesting. For Carol, space offers somewhere to go after a series of experiences that have changed her relationship with Earth. For Charles, the ship first offers a chance to survive. Once he is there, being useful to the people around him becomes another responsibility he cannot simply set aside. There is also Lilandra. Her struggle against Deathbird has consequences for the entire crew. The Starjammers can help their friends on Earth, but every rescue is taking place alongside dangers that do not stop just because an X-Man needs them. That is the part of this era worth going back through. We already know these people as the spacefaring allies who turn up when the X-Men need help. Now the ship is becoming a home for people whose lives have been disrupted, while remaining a ship that can be hunted, damaged and cut off from help. I’m keeping this update to the earlier X-Men material and New Mutants #50–51. There is plenty to talk about here without pulling in the Starjammers’ later stories.