Hey folx! I’m back, and we have some weird X-Men stuff to talk about. I didn’t get as much reading done on our camping trip as I’d thought, but that’s just because Kevin and I were having too much fun with our friends and we never got the rain that was forecasted. (I’d planned on spending the rainy day in the tent reading and listening to the rain on the tent. It’s my favorite thing!) Between that, an insanely busy week at work thus far, and two D&D campaigns, I’m just now getting time to write about the rest of the series. So, let’s get into it, shall we?

So, my darlings, we only have three, that’s right, THREE, issues left of the original X-Men run. This run ends with issue #66. Technically, the series will start back up with issue #67 in December of 1970, but these will just be reprints of the original stories. This was a format that Marvel used a lot at this time. X-Men had been cancelled, but then, seeing the sales numbers of the Neal Adams issues we’re going to talk about today, they decided to bring it back as reprints. Since we’ve already talked about these stories, we won’t be covering them again in the blog. I will let you know which issues were printed during the months we’re covering each time so we can keep up with it. But for now, let’s talk about these last few issues.

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Issues 64 is a fun little romp that introduces us to a new mutant named Sunfire. The issue takes place right as the X-Men get home from their ordeal in the Savage Land, and they’re all still exhausted. But, while watching the news, they get a ping from their mini-Cerebro and Bobby, Hank, and Warren decide to go check it out. (Jean and Scott aren’t there). It’s Sunfire! He’s a Japanese diplomat’s son who wants to ruin his father’s legacy of working with the US. See, Shiro’s (Sunfire’s) mom was gravely injured by the bomb in Hiroshima and then died in childbirth. Shiro’s uncle has been raising him to hate the Americans for the bombing and the war. So, now, under his uncle’s conditioning, he sees his father as a traitor and attacks him at the UN in NYC. (Papa doesn’t know Sunfire is his sun, FWIW.) The three X-Men try to stop him, but Sunfire ends up hurting Beast pretty bad before getting away and the X-Men retreat to their city apartment to regroup. They meet up with Jean and Scott and the five of them follow Shiro and his father to DC, where they’re set to meet with Congress. Sunfire tries to blow up the Capital Building!! The X-Men try to stop him. Cyke’s powers are a fairly even match for Sunfire’s, but it takes Marvel Girl stepping in to help to turn the tide of the battle. And then, figuring out that this villain is his son, Shiro’s dad appears at the top of the Capital Building to reason with his son. But then evil uncle shows up and shoots dad. This is way too much for Sunfire, and he kills his uncle before rushing to his father’s side to renounce he behavior and turn himself over to the police. The X-Men shrink away into the trees before they can again be blamed for something that wasn’t their fault.

Like I said, this was a fun little issue, and overall I really enjoyed it. Per a note in the beginning of the issue, Don Heck subbed in on art for Neal Adams on this one, but this didn’t bother me as much as I’d thought it would. I do still have a problem with Scott CONSTANTLY telling Jean to stay out of the fighting, but since it’s just Scott doing it at this point, it’s less about overall treatment of women on the team, and more about super icky chauvinism from Scott towards his girlfriend. It’s a theme that’s going to continue in the series. The women are more and more treated like equal members of the teams, but the guys start exhibiting really problematic behavior in their romantic relationships that are presented as good or virtuous. So, best believe we’ll be talking about all of that toxic masculinity as we come across it! And speaking of toxic masculinity, lets jump over to our next issue!

Issue 65 begins with the X-Men arriving back at the mansion from DC to find Lorna and Alex in full costume waiting for them at the door. They say there’s no time to wait, the gang needs to change back into their uniforms because there’s a terrible danger. But either because the team is tired, or maybe because Roy Thomas is gone this month and Dennis O’Neil is writing, or maybe just because they needed to fill some pages, the X-Men proceed to start fighting with Alex and Lorna about this, going so far as to all use their powers on each other until FINALLY Scott takes his head out of his ass and calls for order. They all go in and change and then fight again. SOME. MORE. about these aliens that are headed towards earth to take over and enslave everyone. The X-Men are still skeptical, even after Alex lays out all the evidence and they fight some more until Alex reveals how they formed the plan to stop the aliens. Are you ready for this, my loves?… Fucking Xavier is still alive.

Not back from the dead. He’s been alive this entire fucking time. And Jean KNEW but was forbidden from telling anyone else. And it gets worse. He was never actually “dying” like he told the X-Men a few months back (a few years in real time, but only months in comic time.). What actually happened was this: He was researching this alien civilization because he figured out they were moving their planet towards ours to come conquer the Earth. In the meantime, apparently Changeling (remember him?) shows up and tells Chuck he’s dying, and wants to redeem himself. So Chuck asks Changeling to impersonate him so he can focus on this research, and then LETS HIM DIE IMPERSONATING HIM and lets the whole world think he’s dead. Oh, and apparently he’s been IN THE BASEMENT OF THE MANSION THIS ENITRE FUCKING TIME. So yeah, we’re going to stop right here and talk about how INCREDIBLY ABUSIVE this all is. Guys, Xavier is a MONSTER. Let’s make a list of the evidence, shall we? First, he took a venerable, dying mutant that came to him for help and manipulated the poor guy into dying for him. Next, he lied to everyone but Jean for MONTHS and then made her lie to all of her teammates/friends and her boyfriend. (I won’t even get into the shitty, patriarchal bullshit that is making the only woman on the team be Xavier’s emotional confidant because it’s automatically a woman’s job to be the emotional sounding board for toxic men.) Then, he just shows back up, apparently weakened, and just starts ordering everyone around again. THEN he takes this band of exhausted, confused, and betrayed kids, MENTALLY ERASES THEIR EXHAUSTION, forces them to keep training, and then sends them on a suicide mission. All in one goddamn issue! I seriously want to scream. This man cares NOTHING about these kids. They are simply tools for him to use to advance his plans. The writers gloss over his jumping into their brains to erase their exhaustion, but we’re not going to. This is so fucking fucked up. Because look, the kids have been running non-stop for days now. They just got done fighting Sunfire, who really messed them up, and they haven’t rested or slept. They’re not just mentally tired. They’re physically exhausted and injured. So, a mental wipe isn’t healing injuries, it’s just making their brains ignore it. He’s forcing them to keep training through physical exhaustion and injury. Someone is going to get REALLY hurt. I mean, not literally, because obviously the writers didn’t actually think this plot point through to it’s conclusion. But for real, it sucks!

But, back to the plot. The kids head to the magnetic south pole to fight the scout ship that’s already there, while Lorna stays back to help Xavier with his part of the plan. They get there just in time to see SHIELD send some jets at the ship and get completely destroyed. (We also get a quick cameo from Nick Fury himself!) But our X-Men are stupid brave and fly their specially designed ship directly inside of the scout ship, fight a giant green alien puppy/sea monster thing, and then fight some of the aliens. Meanwhile, Chuck connects himself telepathically to EVERYONE on the planet, and zeroes in on the good will of those who have it. Polaris (Lorna for those that don’t remember) uses her magnetic powers to help him direct all of this good will to Marvel Girl at the magnetic south pole. MG directs this at Havok, who somehow uses his powers to amplify it and send it into Cyke, who then sends it via his solar eye beams up at the planet of the would-be invaders. Meanwhile, Iceman uses his powers to keep Cyke from overheating from the raw power running through him. This plan succeeds in turning the aliens away because apparently, they have no sense of compassion or empathy, so sending all of that to them freaks them out and they run away. I know it sounds SO. FUCKING. CORNY. But, I have to be totally honest. It kind of works! It at very least gives us some gorgeous artwork of how all of the powers build on each other.

The downside to all of this awesome power combining? Chuck is in a coma!! Did I say downside? I meant bonus. (Look, I’ve made my feelings about Chuck known since the beginning, so let’s not act surprised that I’m happy he’s out of commission.) And it’s this comatose leader that moves us into our final X-Men issue for awhile: Issue #66.

See, the kids don’t know how to help Xavier out of his coma, so they fight amongst themselves like always. Especially Alex and Bobby, who seem to be fighting over Lorna until she puts them both in their place. They try mind-probing the prof, but it doesn’t really work. And only then do they realize that they have a fucking telepath in the room as ask Jean to try and get into his head. This really bothers me, because Jean has been getting stronger and stronger lately, she was the only one who knew Xavier was alive, and she’s been communicating with him telepathically for months. So, there is no reason she shouldn’t have offered to try right away, or why no one else should’ve thought of it too. I have a really hard time with how much Jean is pushed to the side constantly, basically until Claremont gets his hands on her in the 70’s and 80’s. She’s so incredibly awesome and powerful and these early writers don’t get that AT ALL. It’s so frustrating.

Anyway, Jean finally jumps into Xavier’s head and gets flashes of the Hulk. Eventually, the gang figures out it’s probably Bruce Banner, and not the Hulk that the prof needs, and they head out to find him. Scott asks Alex to stay behind to guard the professor. Lorna offers to stay with him, so, OF COURSE, a crazy jealous Bobby insists on staying too. Because, they don’t need everyone available to confront the FUCKING HULK or anything, Bobby. Goddess, I can’t even with this toxic jealousy between these boys. I am so fucking over it. I love Bobby Drake y’all, but I really hate him in this era. I miss the sweet kid who went on double dates with Hank and didn’t pick fights with everyone. He’s turning into Hawkeye. I take that back, it’s worse than that. He’s turning into fucking Henry Pym. Don’t do that to my Bobby, Roy Thomas! Seriously!!

Okay, so, Marvel Girl, Cyke, Beast, and Angel head out to find Bruce Banner. They find the Hulk in Vegas, and of course Hulk won’t listen to them so they fight. MG finally brings him down mentally (Yay Jeanie!!) and he turns back into Bruce Banner. Bruce tells them he worked on a device with Xavier that should help save him, and that it’s in one of Bruce’s hidden labs. But just then, the Army shows up to get the Hulk, which just turns Bruce BACK into a giant green rage monster, and he takes off. The X-Men follow before the Army can arrest them, and they end up out in the desert. They fight again because Hulk doesn’t like people talking about Bruce. Their fight causes an avalanche, which reveals a hidden lap in the mountain. The kids find the device in there, and let the Hulk take off as they head home with the device and save the professor. And we end the series with the whole team around the professor’s bed getting ready to fight another day.

Let’s pause here to talk about this run of X-Men as a whole. I’ve gotta be honest, loves. This was REALLY HARD to get through. This over-the-top, hyper masculine writing its not for me at all. I know there are a LOT of people who love these old comics for the nostalgia of the beginnings. And that’s totally fair. Maybe it’s because my intro to the X-Men was the 90’s cartoon, but for me, this was just painful. Honestly, there’s a part of me that feels a little guilty for hating this era so much. I really WANT to like it. But I just can’t overall. I mean, there are definitely good moments throughout. Magneto is so over-the-top and fun during this era. And it’s been a lot of fun seeing the first appearances of characters like Havok, Polaris, Ka-Zar, and Sauron. Plus, I think starting at the very beginning for this project was important, no matter how painful it was. But I’m not gonna lie folx, I am so excited to be moving on to the Claremont run. We’ve got some of my absolute favorite characters coming up once we get to Giant Size and I cannot wait. We’ve got some Avengers to read before we get there, but we’re getting close!

Before we get to Avengers or Giant Size, we need to talk about parts of Ka-Zar 2&3. So, this series of Ka-Zar only lasted three issues, and it was a quarterly magazine with multiple stories in each issue. Issues 2 & 3 included a story about Angel that we are going to cover. It seems to take place after issue 66 of X-Men, even though issue 2 came out the month before. In these issues, Warren’s father, Warren Worthington Jr., is ill and Warren is at home visiting after stopping a bank robbery solo as Angel. He leaves for the evening to take his girlfriend, Candy out on a date. (We’ve met Candy once or twice in the X-Men comic, and, if I remember correctly, this won’t be the last time we see her either.) Anyway, we cut to the goons Angel stopped earlier, and they work for a villain called The Dazzler (not to be confused the the AMAZING Alison Blaire who won’t make her spectacular debut for another nine years!). The Dazzler has some nefarious plan we never really learn the details of, but somehow pulling them off hinges on murdering Mr. Worthington Jr. So, the goons sneak into the Worthington mansion and do just that. Because Warren’s father is a well known businessman and socialite in NYC, his murder is reported on the radio as soon as the police arrive at the mansion. Unfortunately for everyone, Warren hears this report in the car on his way home with Candy. He FREAKS out, and takes off to chase the murderers, leaving Candy alone on the side of the road (luckily, he also left her the car since he ran into the woods and then took off as Angel). He finds the murderers on their flying pogo sticks (Yes, that’s really what they’re called. LOL.) and fights them. He’s beating one of them mercilessly when the police show up. They’re about to arrest Angel as well as the murderer, but luckily FBI Agent Duncan is there too, and let’s Angel go with a warning about not taking the law into his own hands, which Angel is clearly not going to listen to. For those that don’t remember Agent Duncan, he was the FBI agent we met all the way back in X-Men #44 and he’s being coordinating with Xavier to help the X-Men save the day. (Yeah, I’d completely forgotten about him too!)

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Warren heads home to console his mother before going to find The Dazzler, but he doesn’t get the chance, because apparently The Dazzler has technology to transport Warren from his mansion to Dazzler’s lair. So now Warren is a prisoner. But, since no one knows he’s Angel, he easily sneaks out of his cell and confronts The Dazzler, who tries to convince Angel to back down by revealing that he also has Candy prisoner. He’s banking on a hero not being willing to let her die, even if he doesn’t know her. (Cause, you know, no one’s figured out that Angel is Warren. LOL) The thing is, Warren was already blaming Candy for his father’s death, because our egotistical, hot-tempered Angel is not coping with his very fresh grief well, my loves. He freezes in place and The Dazzler’s goons close in to remove his mask. And that’s where we end! We’re told the rest of this story will appear in Marvel Tale’s #30, but that won’t be published until April of 1971, so we’ll have to wait to see how it plays out. I have to say, this was a good little arc thus far! It’s super sad, and just the beginning of a pattern of tragedy and trauma for all of our mutants. Angel is super angry and hyper-masculine in this arc, but this time it doesn’t bother me. All of this takes place in two days, and his father was just violently murdered. This feels like a REAL response from a young kid who is also a superhero in this situation. I just hope it’s wrapped up well when we get to MT#30.

And with that, we’re done with our X-Men for a few years. We’ll be jumping back into Avengers with our next outing, as our favorite mutant twins are making their return to the group. And we’ll be there for awhile while we wait for Giant Size to come in 1975. We’ll also be adding more titles before then, as our wayward mutants join some other teams to bide their time. I’m excited to move on to this next chapter, and meet some really fun new characters. So, until next time my loves, keep searching….