The word school almost always conjures up an image of children, however, when it comes to Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, the members that usually first come to mind are a bit on the older side, in fact, most of them are professors. One weird and wacky tale of theirs decided to flip this idea on its head, The Uncanny X-Men Annual #10, featuring bite-sized X-Men as some fan-favorite characters revert back into children.
Published January 1987, this king-sized annual was by Chris Claremont, Arthur Adams, Terry Austin, Petra Scotese, Tom Orzechowski, and Ann Nocenti. Launching a few years after Muppet Babies and one year after The Flintstone Kids, this issue seems to have been Marvel's attempt to take on the 80's fad of turning every popular character into young children. So how exactly does one go from the menacing body slicing Wolverine to an itty bitty G-rated Logan?
The issue starts out with a suped-up version of the children's game tag in the Danger Room - which was quite fitting. The team is attempting to touch their at-the-time leader Magneto when suddenly an unconscious stranger is teleported in front of them. This stranger turns out to be Longshot, and unbeknownst to them, was sent by Mojo. Unfortunately for those around him, his teleportation leaves the surrounding area covered in a strange ectoplasm, coating many members of the team. The next day the team wakes to find that anyone that was covered in the warp goo the day before is now growing younger and younger, both physically and mentally.
Finally, Longshot gains consciousness, however, it seems he has lost his memory and is unaware of how he got there. Using her powers, Betsy is able to figure out the evil responsible for this is Mojo, and, as the team goes to set off to solve this mystery, a battle between the New Mutants and the every de-aging X-Men breaks out. Ultimately, the young X-Men reign victorious, knocking out the New Mutants, and are able to head off on their investigation with Magneto as their babysitter of sorts. The team arrives at Central Park now as young children where they discover Mojo - so young they are without powers. Mojo creepily invites these X-Babies to play with him.
The New Mutants come to and decide to set off and chase down the X-Men. The group attempts to teleport to Central Park but instead find themselves on a stage amidst a production put on by Mojo, a production starring the X-Men as they slowly regain their age, and with age, their powers. A giant battle breaks out while the audience sits at the edge of their seats. It is soon discovered that the team is under the mental control of Mojo, and eventually, they break free, turning their attention towards Mojo himself, all working together to take him on.
In the end, the Mojo is able to use his teleportation to escape, chuckling to himself as his ratings for his "X-Men Show" soar, but luckily the team is able to capture Mojo's partner Spiral and undo some of the damage. The X-Men thankfully reverted back to their normal self.