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[cover by Ken Lashley and Juan Fernandez]

In the action-packed but deeply thoughtful Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird one-shot creators Nyla Rose* and David Cutler (both indigenous and, in Rose’s case, Africa-American), with Steve Orlando (Marauders, Midnighter), prove that John Proudstar can go home again—and even if life there is never less than tough and uncertain, when you have good people who have your back, there’s no better place to belong to. But Thunderbird is also beginning to realize that he can as proudly identify as mutant as he does Apache, though while he’ll relish protecting both with his fists and his attitude, he has no interest in being Krakoan. Even still, we see here no resentment or regret directed toward his younger brother James (Warpath) for sticking with Krakoa and those who raised him from adolescence following John’s death in 1975’s X-Men #95, in a scene that’s still shocking for its frenzied fatalism. (For James’ reaction to his brother’s demise, see Claremont’s backup story in Classic X-Men #3.)

However, there’s no reason to doubt that Thunderbird could continue directing his unspent rage at Cable, over in X-Men: Red, though I do vastly prefer his characterization in this one-shot. And while redefining who John Proudstar is precisely by going back to his roots, it makes perfect sense that Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird echoes in its title his giant-size debut in his Apache homeland in Giant-Size X-Men #1.

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