banshee

1969 Part 1: Let’s talk Representation

Posted on by GenoshaGirl85

Hello my loves! It’s been a REALLY long time since I’ve written about comics, so I’m feeling a little rusty and anxious about this post. So, bare with me as I get my bearings again.

Since currently the only title we’re reading is X-Men, (and because I am DESPERATE to get to Giant Size and Claremont’s run!) we’re going to fly through 1969 in just two posts. This post will cover issues #52-59. It’s a lot of ground to cover, and a few different story arcs, so lets jump in!

So, X-Men #52 is the end of the arc we started 5 years ago. (Oops!) I’ll do my best to catch you guys up, but you can also refresh your memories here! Basically, Mesmero is trying to carry out Magneto’s vision of mutant supremacy. He has captured Lorna Dane, telling her she’s Magneto’s daughter and that she must rule in his stead until he returns. We learn that Magneto is apparently NOT dead, and Bobby storms off on the rest of the team when they are forced to leave Lorna behind with Mesmero. Cyke tells the team he has a plan, and we cut to Erik the Red, challenging Mesmero for leadership of this whole silly plot. And that brings up to #52!

So, issue 52 is the wrap up to this arc. Eric the Red proceeds to fight his way through ALL of Mesmero’s goons and Mesmero until he is face to face with Lorna, who, despite recognizing that her dad’s plans are evil, feels she must help him because he’s her blood. Erik talks his way into joining Magneto as his second in command, and Mesmero is pissed guys! The whole thing is crazy silly, but it’s still fun. Then we cut to X-Men, where Jean is telepathically reaching out to each of them to begin Cyke’s plan that he mentioned at the end of issue 51. We still don’t know exactly what it is, but Bobby isn’t part of it since he stormed out on the team last issue. MG, Beast, and Angel arrive at the hideout of Mags and Mesmero and sneak in. They’re confronted by Erik the Red, who turns out to be Cyclops!! I have to be honest, I didn’t actually see that one coming. I probably should have, but I didn’t. It’s a great little plan on Scott’s part, until his identity is IMMEDIETLY discovered by Mesmero and the X-Men accidently use the trap they’ve laid against Bobby instead of the bad guys!! Way to go guys!

Anyway, the X-Men fight Mesmero and his henchmen after Beast gets an unconcious Iceman to safety. Bobby wakes up and find Lorna. He tells her that he spoke with her adoptive parent’s and has proof that she is NOT Magneto’s daughter. Thus free of her allegiance to Mags, Lorna absolutely destroys the remaining base and bad guys. Mags escapes (because of course he does!), our X-Men + Lorna live to fight another day, and Bobby and Lorna seem to be getting very close. But let’s pause here for a second to talk about Lorna. Cause guys, I have issues. Lorna Dane is a pretty cool character who is going to get totally under-utilized as the years go on, but this is the first time I’ve read her origin. And I have to say, it really sucks. Like Jean and Wanda before her, she starts off a totally one-dimensional character. A damsel in distress that is too stupid to question these villains feeding her some legit CRAZY story about how a mass murderer is her real father and also too weak willed to not question it and just go along with them because “blood” or some such nonsense. SERIOUSY?!? Like, she spends all of issue 52 complaining about how Mags is evil, but she has to defend him to the death because he’s her father. Girl, you’re powerful enough to bring this entire operation down in a second, and you don’t even think to do it until Bobby tells you that you were lied to?!? Even then, you just believe Bobby with no proof (although, in Bobby’s defense, he does have receipts and offers them to her, she just apparently doesn’t need to see the evidence.) I’m so fucking sick of reading women who are nothing but pretty things for the guys to swoon over and sometimes have small victories against the villains. It’s exhausting. Especially when I’ve read more modern stuff and know how fucking bad-ass these same women will be under a better writer. Jean, Wanda, Lorna: they will all eventually have world-ending, reality-bending, earth-shattering powder and they deserve better than this. Ok…rant over for now. Let’s continue on.

On top of this silly story, issue 52 brings us the art of Werner Roth who has made a few appearances as artist in the past. His art is great, if a little “house style” for my liking. It’s awesome art, it’s just not Steranko, so I’m a little sad. But nothing I can’t get past. And also, we need to talk about Erik the Red’s AMAZING bondage outfit. Who knew Scotty had that side to him?!?

But seriously, with that arc neatly wrapped up, lets move on the the next one! But first! Issue #53, “The Rage of Blastaar!” (AKA, the useless filler issue) Seriously, this is a one-off story about some alien named Blastaar who gets pulled down to earth when Jean tries to use some of Chucks equipment. He’s very angry and ragey, and he’s absolutely destroying our X-Men until Jean and Bobby make a bunch of ice mannequins to throw at him, they melt, and make a connection between him and the machine and he’s sent right back to where he came from. I wish I were kidding. We’re even treated to Jean being sad at watching this creature “die” even though he’s clearly pure evil and wants to destroy then entire world. Because, girls are emotional you guys! (Please see above for my feelings on this matter. LOL)

Let’s move on, shall we? Awesome! Cause I’m super excited for this next arc. It’s a dumb story, but I have reasons for being excited. Issue #54 starts a new arc that will run for like, three and a half issues, centering around the Living Pharaoh (LP) and it also introduces the one and only, Alex Summers!!!! (*insert happy dance here*!) That’s right, it’s time to meet the baby Summers brother, my loves! Are you as excited as I am? You really should be!

So, first off, just want to mention that as this arc unfolds, we go from Arnold Drake writing and Don Heck taking over on pencils, to Roy Thomas writing with Don Heck’s art, and finally to Roy Thomas writing with Neal Adams doing the artwork. This pair will continue for the next eight issues, and it’s a great pairing. I really like Neal Adam’s art. It’s clean and crisp in a way we haven’t seen yet and it’s really pretty. So, anyway, this whole arc is about a new mutant villain who has named himself the Living Pharaoh. He’s kidnapped Scott’s younger brother Alex, who by the way, Scott has been in touch with, but has told no one about. The entire team is with him to watch Alex graduate from college, all thinking about how Scott never told them he had a brother. Not even Jean! Alex doesn’t appear to have any mutant powers, FYI. The team fights LP and loses, the LP tries to frame Cyclops for his death. Cyke escapes the police and find LP and LP ends up kidnapping him as well, and he takes them to Egypt. The rest of the team follows, and they fight some more. In the fight, Alex suddenly manifests his mutant powers and stops LP! (Here’s my shocked face that Alex is a mutant. LOL. As if a Summers could get through this world without powers or tragedy.) As they try to find someone to turn the captured LP over to, they stumble into his base and there’s more fighting. LP kidnaps Alex AGAIN. SOME MORE. And the team is left trying to find him somewhere in the Egyptian desert. And yes, I know, this recap is very tedious. Trust me, so was the arc. LP goes on and on to Alex about cosmic rays being the source of their powers and that he grows stronger as Alex grows weaker? Don’t ask. It doesn’t make sense to me either. LOL. Anyway, LP drains Alex of his powers and, I kid you not, transforms into a giant stone being and calls himself “The Living Monolith”. I wish I were making this up. But the X-Men eventually defeat him (and by X-Men, I mean Alex. They’re getting their asses handed to them until Alex takes control and breaks out of the machine draining him and uses his powers. This apparently drains LP of all of his powers and he’s no longer a giant stone creature and passes out.) We end with Alex freaking out about not being able to control his new powers. Whew!

So, there’s still like, half an issue left of this arc in #57, but it’s just a wrap up of Alex, not LP, so let’s pause to talk about LP. Because it’s super icky. We’ve talked a tiny bit about representation and politics and such in the past, but, fair warning, we are going to be discussing it more going forward. It’s important to me to talk about how these things evolve and change. That said, back to the current issue at hand, which is that every last one of these “Egyptian” henchmen and LP himself are white men dressed like ancient Egyptians. You see the problem here, right? It’s made even ickier when the Living Pharaoh explains that he thinks he is an ancestor of the ancient pharaohs. And he thinks a very white Alex is too. So, not just a white boy with an Egypt fetish. A white boy who wants to claim status in this non-white culture. We have ourselves a lot of weird, imperialist, white-washing politics going on here. Historically, this isn’t surprising. This is completely on brand with a long history of white-washing Egyptian culture and representation in American media. (For further examples, please see Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, the entire cast of “The Ten Commandments“, and basically the entire cast of “Gods of Egypt” just to name a few) I’m not exaggerating when I say that American media really likes to cast white actors as Egyptian rulers and gods. Like, a LOT. To be honest, I’m not sure if this is worse then some villainous stereotype like we had with the Mandarin in Avengers? They’re obviously both bad choices. Like, if the only representation of non-white characters is villains, that’s obviously shitty. But, white-washing everyone isn’t the answer. (Nor do I give the writers and artists enough credit to think that was their intention when making these villains white.) But either way, it’s super gross to have all of these white superheroes (Avengers and X-Men alike) fighting villains from all sorts of non-white cultures when those cultures don’t get any representation as heroes. There are no Asian superheroes in this era. There are no African superheroes. But we’ve seen villains from all over Asia in Avengers that were gross stereotypes, and now we have Egyptian villains here. Guys, I need some Storm and Sunfire in my life like, right fucking now. So, lets end this rant and keep going so we can get to Giant Size and get to at least some representation in the hero’s line-up!

If it’s not clear from the covers above, this next arc (Issues 57-59) is bringing back those undaunting, ever-returning, amazing X-foes: THE SENTINELS!!!!!! And, as should be clear from the cover of issue #58, we get the first appearance of Alex as Havok as well!! Guys, I’m excited for this arc. Not just for these appearances, but because it’s just a better arc in general than the last one. So lets go!

Issue 57 starts with Lorna, home in NYC, getting kidnapped by a Sentinel!?! And then, before we can question it, we cut back to our X-Men in Egypt. Alex has fled and the Egyptian authorities are on scene of the last battle with LP. LP turns out to be some renowned archeologist, and he blames Alex for the destruction of the ancient ruins he was using as his base (Not wrongly either, as Alex literally razed the entire structure when his powers went off in the last issue!). But Cyke is pissed that these cops are after his brother and he fucking attacks them, because of course he does. **Quick aside here. Do you guys remember my undying love for Scott? Full disclosure: it’s gone. I warned you all that I’m a different person and comic fan than I was five years ago. This will probably be most apparent in this specific shift. You’ll find I no longer love Scott. In fact, I have very little patience for his quick temper or his martyrdom or (spoiler alert!) the absolutely terrible way he treats Jean and other partners in the future. He’s got a lot of toxic traits and he reminds me too much of my ex husband, and it isn’t until MUCH MUCH later on that he starts to redeem himself. So, just be prepared. LOL.** Anyway, the team runs off to find Alex, but it’s for naught because he was hiding in a nearby cave, but he is also captured by a Sentinel. The team tries to contact Lorna so she can turn on Cerebro for them to find Alex, and they discover her apartment in shambles. Iceman freaks out because she’s his girlfriend and he’s worried. So the team splits up. Iceman and Beast head back to the states to find Lorna and the rest of the team continues to search for Alex. When Iceman and Beast arrive at Lorna’s, they’re confronted by two NYPD officers and we learn through the TV that while they’ve been in Egypt, a federal judge has been working with Bolivar Trask’s son to stir up anti-mutant sentiment again and restart the Sentinel program!! And these aren’t his father’s Sentinels. Dear son Larry has improved them. They’re now the purple and pink giants most of us think of when we think of the Sentinels. And they’ve been upgraded with specific attacks meant to counter the X-Men’s powers. (Heat for Iceman, water for fire, etc.) The boys are attacked by a Sentinel and Iceman sacrifices himself so that Beast can get away and contact the rest of the team to warn them. The rest of the team rushes home, but not before Angel throws a fit about being “The Avenging Angel” (we’ll talk about that at the end. It’s part of his back story that’s been happening in the ends of the last few issues) and decides to FLY HOME FROM EGYPT HIMSELF. WITH HIS WINGS. I can’t even with this. Cyke warns him that he’s never flown that far before, that they’re in a hurry, that he’ll be too exhausted to fight, and 100 other reasons this is a terrible fucking idea. But, of course, Angel does it anyway.

Cut to Larry Trask’s base of operations where we learn he has a way to temporarily block mutant powers. We also learn that he has Alex and Lorna there and Alex has agreed to work for Trask as “Havok” in return for Lorna and the other’s safety. Iceman is relieved to see Lorna still alive, but fights with Havok about his deal, calling him a coward. But then Havok takes down a Sentinel single-handed and that basically shuts Iceman up. Alex is POWERFUL you guys. Like, incredibly so! It’s awesome!! And he’s now in a very basic Havok costume: all black with the circles around his head. Anyway, Trask blocks Havok’s powers and we cut to Professor Abdol (the Living Pharaoh!) bitching about the X-Men and mutants to a room of Trask cronies, just to then turn back into LP as Havok is weakened by some device of Trasks and is attacked and carried away by Sentinels. It’s a fun bit of karma carried over from the last arc, and it’s done well. I really appreciate how at this point in the series, Roy Thomas blends these arcs into each other so organically.

Meanwhile, Angel is captured by two Sentinels as he streaks across the ocean, and guess what? It happens right outside of the commercial flight that Scott and Jean are on, so fuck off Warren. You weren’t any faster then them and you were too exhausted to even try to fight off the Sentinels. These boys and their fucking egos. Anyway, we cut to scenes of other mutants being captured by these new and improved Sentinels. We see Mesmero captured, but when the Sentinels try to capture Magneto too (who is with Mesmero) we learn that it’s not really Mags!! It’s a fucking Android!!! And Mesmero had no clue!!! I love it. I love it so much. Of course Magneto isn’t really there. Is he actually really dead? Is he just too cool to actually hang out with Mesmero? Who knows?!? But then Judge Chalmers shows up at the base. He and Larry fight as we see the remaining three X-Men (Marvel Girl and Cyke have met up with Beast) trying to sneak into the base outside. The judge pulls a medallion off Larry’s neck that his father gave him, and suddenly the Sentinels stop obeying him. Guys, turns out little Larry is a fucking mutant (because of course he is!). He is clairvoyant and predicted his mom’s death. That freaked out Bolivar, so he gave him a medallion to block his powers. Then he created the Sentinel program to wipe out mutants because, I guess, he was scared they’d out his son or something? But now that the Sentinels can sense that Larry is a mutant, they refuse to listen to him. They lock him up with Havok, Lorna, and Iceman and prepare to receive other mutants that have been captured so they can kill all of them. We see Banshee (!!!!) for the first time in years, as he’s been captured and tries to overpower everyone in the base. He fails. We also see Sentinels capturing Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Toad, and Unus, Mastermind, and Blob. Our three remaining X-Men sneak into the base, switch costumes with SW, QS, and Toad to confuse the Sentinels, and then fight their way to the rest of the captured mutants. Between Cyke and Havok, they take out a lot of the Sentinels. And then Cyke convinces the Sentinels that they have to protect humans by ending the source of mutation itself, so the Sentinels all fly away to go try to destroy the sun. For real. It’s so ridiculous, but it works and is HIGHLY entertaining. We end with Havok injured and the team calling a mysterious old friend of Charles’ for help. A friend named Dr. Lykos!!!! (If you don’t know Dr. Lykos, I won’t spoil the surprise, but I’m so fucking excited!!!)

So yeah. That ends the reading for this entry. We still have to talk about the back stories at the ends of these issues, but I first want to say that this reading ended on a major high note for me. You guys, I LOVE the Sentinels. They’re awesome adversaries and, while these original ones in the 60’s are a bit silly, they become absolutely terrifying as the years go on and I can’t wait to see them evolve. It’s going to be lots of fun!! But lets talk about the origin stories in these issues:

First off is the rest of Beast’s backstory. We left off with him captured by El Conquistador and forced to help him to save his parents. Hank has to steal an experimental nuclear reactor. He does no problem, but of course EC lied to him and won’t release him or his parents. Then Angel, Cyke, and Iceman show up to save him and take him back to the mansion. (Yes, I know we haven’t gotten Angel’s backstory yet. The writers are also aware and mention it. Apparently we’re getting them out of order.) Beast joins the X-Men and Chuck ups his game this time and erases the memory of Hanks powers from the ENTIRE FUCKING TOWN. I am so glad he is dead. Like, for real. This man has no concept of consent at all.

Next up is Angel. He’s in boarding school when his wings start to grow. He freaks out and gets himself isolated from the other boys in the dorms so no one knows. Then one night, there’s a fire in the dorms and he flies in and saves everyone, pretending to be an actual angel. This gives him the bug for hero-ing and he rents an apartment on his own and begins fighting crime as “The Avenging Angel” (I told you we’d get it it! Lol). Anyway, Cyke and Iceman show up to recruit him as he’s coming back from stopping some thieves. He still has the vial the thieves stole. Chuck telepathically tells Cyke and Iceman to capture Warren with NO explanation and they fight. Then Chuck jumps into Warren’s head to tell him that the vial he has is going to explode because, I kid you not, his MUTANT BODY activated it. *Sigh* So Warren does the noble thing and flies it up into the upper atmosphere to freeze it (because of course right before this he knocked Iceman out, so he conveniently can’t freeze it). He almost dies, but doesn’t, and agrees to join the team. And this time, Chuck doesn’t have to mind-wipe anyone!! Yay for small victories I guess! Let’s go with that as we jump to Jean, cause it’s not going to be fun.

Up until now, all of our heroes have had multi-installment back stories that involve danger and adventure. But that’s all about to change. Because Jean Grey doesn’t get a backstory. She gets five fucking pages at the end of issue #57. The whole thing is told from her perspective and is entitled “The Female of the Species”, so I’m already seeing red. We’re told on the first page that Stan Lee has brought in a female writer (Linda Fite) for this special “origin”, but if you think that’s going to help, you’re sorely mistaken. What we get is Marvel Girl explaining her powers to us in the most ridiculous ways. We see how her telekinesis helps her make apple pies and do housework, how her levitation helps her escape “boring garden parties” and we end with her telling us that just walking down the street is an adventure because she can stop purse snatchers (without taking any credit for it) and that she can “turn men’s heads without trying” because apparently being appealing to the opposite sex is more important that being a badass superhero. Guys, I’m livid. We get absolutely no explanation of how her powers manifested, how she was originally recruited to join the X-Men, or anything else. We just get, basically, a Good Housewife article with superpowers.

And on that less than stellar note, it’s time to wrap up this EXTREMLY long entry. Please know that, despite all my rage, I do love these comics and these characters. These stories are silly and convoluted, but they’re still a lot of fun. And we’re about to get into an arc that introduces a really fun villain in our next section of reading, so that will be cool to get into. I think you guys will really like him! I know I do. He’s just so over the top and silly, you can’t help but love it! So, hang in there with me my loves. I promise I won’t always be so negative and grouchy with our merry band of mutants. Let’s get excited about what’s to come, and until next time, keep searching my darlings!

Finally! Factor Three!! (Oh, and the Avengers did some stuff too…)

Posted on by GenoshaGirl85

Hello my darlings! I’m back, and with six freaking issues too! I have officially finished 1967! Thank Odin! These six issues are action-packed. All three of the X-Men issues are one big, Factor Three filled arc that I’m so happy to have finally gotten to, so let’s start there this time around! (And fair warning, this is going to be a LONG, LONG post. Even by my standards!!)

xmen37

The X-Men #37-39. We start with some mysterious person from F3 watching a tape of the X-Men battling Juggernaut and studying the group. We learn the F3 is somehow able to extract memories from Banshee and the Prof and that is how they’re seeing this fight. Meanwhile, our mysteriously broke teenagers (sorry, still annoyed about that waste of an issue…) are on their flight to Europe and trying to talk strategy without being overheard. But of course, F3 has been watching them, so they know which flight the kids are on and attack it! I’ll be honest, I was a little surprised they attacked a commercial flight like that. I mean, I know I SHOULDN’T be, but I still was. F3 misses the airplane luckily, but the X-Men realize what’s happening and do the stupidest thing they’ve EVER done…they jump out of the fucking plane. (apologies for the language, but seriously?!?) I WISH I were kidding. These morons open the plane door, which in the real world could have crashed the plane or at least sucked a few passengers or flight attendants out, and then jump out WITHOUT parachutes!

So, our favorite idiots are free falling through the air. Scott and Hank are clinging to Warren, but his wings are strapped in their harness, so it’s not like he’s flying right now. He’s falling just as fast as they are. Jean is using her powers to slow herself and Bobby down a bit, but they’re still falling too fast not to be killed. And then, Scott’s Ruby quartz glasses fall off and he has to keep his eyes closed so as not to kill everyone with his optic blasts.

Guys, I love this arc. I really do. But this is so, so stupid. They’re so, so stupid. But anyway, Hank and Scott almost get impaled on a mountain top, but Scott blasts it just in time. Warren get his wings free and grabs them and then flies over to Jean and Bobby. But he’s not strong enough to carry them all and they’re falling too fast for Jean to stop them. Bobby finally gets the idea to create an ice slide, and they all slide down it and land hard, but safe. Oh, and somehow, through all of this, Hank has managed to hold onto the briefcase carrying their costumes! Seriously. So, they change into costume and are attacked by some of those mechanical spiders that we met a few issues ago. (The dumb one with Spider-Man. LOL) They make a valiant attempt at escape, but our heroes are eventually caught and brought into the F3 secret base.

Once there, we see that our X-Men are being tried for “betrayal of mutant-kind” for helping humans and defeating evil mutants. It’s obviously a kangaroo court of sorts. The witnesses are Vanisher, Unus, The Blog, and Mastermind. They’re also the jury. (See what I mean?) We meet the prosecutor, a mysterious mutant named Changeling. He is running the court and is second in command to The Mutant Master, who watches from the shadows. We get a rehash from our “witnesses” of their defeats by the X-Men, and then the kids are quickly pronounced guilty and sentenced to death. But, before the sentence is carried out, Mutant Master decides to tell them his entire plan for destroying the human race so that mutants can rule the earth. Seriously guys, WHY do villains ALWAYS do this? I mean, I get that it’s the writer’s lazy way of letting the reader know what’s going to happen if the hero doesn’t pull through. But it’s dumb.

So, Mutant Master plans to start WW3 by killing a bunch of Eastern military brass, and then breaking into a US military base and launching all the nukes. Then, once the Cold War has erupted into an actual war and the planet is devastated by nuclear fallout, he and his band of Evil Mutants will rule the wasteland that is left. This is seriously the silliest plan ever, but hey…it’s 1967. This was actually a legit fear of most people. (At least, the part about a nuclear war was). MM sentences the X-Men to the Oblivo-Ray which is apparently a fate worse then death. It will make them slaves with no sense of self. But, of course, Changeling then leaves the X-Men unattended while the machine starts up, so our heroes escape thanks to some quick thinking on Cyke’s part and some great teamwork. They easily defeat a giant robot left behind to guard the base. MM sees all this, and warns them that they’ll still be too late to save the world. And this is the end of #37!

Ok, sidebar time! The way the X-Men work together here to get out of the Oblivo-Ray (OR) and escape the giant robot is awesome. These guys are no longer kids. They’re a seasoned, well trained, well led fighting team equal to any other team in the 616. Cyclops is a great leader. He keeps his cool when they’re in the OR machine, coming up with a plan to short circuit the machine. He directs Iceman to create icicles for Marvel Girl to levitate over the hot machine so that they melt and drip water all over the circuit boards. It’s a great use of everyone’s powers! I love seeing them use their powers in new ways like this. It’s a nice change from just having MG telekinetically lift Cyke’s visor and having Cyke blast everything. Or Iceman straight up freeze something. It’s interesting and shows the kids are smart, not just tough. And when they take out the giant robot? Seamless teamwork guys! Seriously. It takes them like 1/2 a page and they work together from the start to blind the thing so it can’t find them. I’m so happy. THIS is the X-Men. THIS is why I love them. They have their inner “family” drama no matter what iteration of the team it is, but at the end of the day, they fight like a well oiled machine and they have the best powers that are used in the best ways! Ok, sidebar over!

So, Issue #38 starts with them stealing some egg-pods and heading back to the school just before the base blows up. While the X-Men regroup and try to strategize back at the school, Changeling is starting to question MM. He thinks the pods the X-Men used to escape were awfully convenient and also questions why they didn’t just straight up kill them instead of leaving them alive and attached to a machine. (At least ONE of these villains is smart not a total moron.) They send a radio transmission to Blob and Vanisher who are “behind the Iron Curtain” to see how things are going. Cerebro picks this up for some reason, and the X-Men are able to figure out where they are. MG, Angel, and Beast take one egg pod to the Far East to stop Blob and Vanisher from killing the military leaders there, while Cyke and Iceman head to the US military base to try to protect the missiles MM said he was going to launch.

Beast sacrifices himself and gets caught so that Angel and MG can fly to the roof of the castle the secret meeting is taking place in. Once there, they meet Blob and Vanisher with a bunch of android henchmen and begin to fight. During the fight, the androids blow up and Vanisher, well, vanishes. This leaves Blob, MG, and Angel knocked out to be caught and imprisoned by the guards. They’re thrown in the same cell as Beast.

Meanwhile, Cyke and Iceman break into the military compound and try to reason with the top brass. They explain why they’re there, and that the missiles are going to be hijacked. Of course, no one believes them, and so the boys start destroying all the missiles!!! It’s kind of a bold (albeit desperate) move on Cyke’s part, and I’m sort of impressed.

The military begins to attack them, so now they’re dodging bullets and destroying government property as quickly as they can.

And, while ALL of that is going on, Changeling is also talking to Professor X. Charles is trying to convince Changeling that he’s being stupid and that MM’s plan will kill everyone, even mutants. Changeling says that MM has technology that will protect him and chosen others from the radiation. Changeling eventually loses his temper with Charles and threatens to kill Charles if he doesn’t shut up. But he is immediately rebuked by MM, who is watching and says that he alone shall decide who should die and when. This  brings us to the end of #38, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance!

#39 opens back with Cyke and Iceman. They’ve given up trying to destroy all the missiles as it’s an impossible task. Instead, they fight there way into the compound and Iceman freezes over the air filtration system. MM said they planned on gassing everyone on base so that they could have control of the missiles, so our boys figure if the air is frozen over, there’s no way for the base to be gassed. Just then they’re attacked by Mastermind and Unus. As the fight goes on, the troops hunting down Cyke and Iceman are drawing closer. Cyke comes up with another brilliant idea, and he and Iceman use their powers together to create a thick, cold fog. Under this cover, they escape, as do Unus and Mastermind, leaving the base safe from MM’s plan. They take off in their egg pod to go find MM and hopefully rescue the Prof and Banshee. (TBH, I almost forgot that F3 had Banshee too!)

Meanwhile, Angel, Beast, and MG escape from  their cell, leaving an unconscious Blob behind. They try to convince the military leaders that they’re in danger, but of course, no one believes them. Somehow, MG uses her powers to sense where the bomb is hidden, (don’t ask. I’m just as confused as you are…) and they attempt to steal the briefcase it’s in instead. Just then, Blob shows up, having regained consciousness. He gets the case from MG and decides to just hold it until it detonates. He reckons he can survive the blast with this mutant powers. Since she can’t get it away from him with her powers, MG decides to try and reason with Blob. She points out that MM would probably make the bomb powerful enough to kill Blob too so that Blob couldn’t be captured and reveal the plan. Blob buys her reasoning, and drops the bomb to run away. They only have seconds, so Angel flies the bomb as high as he can so the detonation doesn’t kill anyone. Our three heroes leave while the communist leaders are still to stunned to stop them, and they also head to find MM.

In a cut away to MM, we learn that he allowed the X-Men to escape in the beginning so that if anything went wrong, they would be blamed for the attacks. But they’ve made sure this doesn’t happen and are now headed for him. Cyke and Iceman get to MM’s base first, only to find themselves facing Vanisher, Blob, Mastermind, and Unus all at once. But the other three show up before the fighting starts and just as things are about to go crazy, Professor X rolls in and tells everyone to stop. He says the MM has been playing everyone and that he isn’t who he says he is. He points out that MM let the X-Men escape, and that his plan will kill EVERYTHING on Earth, not just the humans. MM freaks and sets his androids to attacking everyone. The X-Men and “Evil Mutants” fight side-by-side to destroy the androids. Banshee escapes from his cell and joins the fray. He realizes that a certain frequency will blow up the androids. He does this and then tries it one octave higher. This frequency causes MM to transform into a gross, octopus looking green alien!!! He’s attacked by Unus and can’t handle Banshee’s screams. In his agony, he hits the self destruct button on his floating chair and commits suicide! (I know, right?!?)

And just when things couldn’t get weirder, there are suddenly TWO Professors in the room! Turns out that the one who showed up and accused MM of treachery was actually Changeling. Go figure. The real prof proves himself by using telepathy. Seems Changeling can mimic voices and appearance, but doesn’t get the powers. Once everything has calmed down, the X-Men become stupid again. They decide to let all of the evil mutants go! Apparently since they all fought together to destroy MM, it means they can’t capture the bad guys. The amazing issue actually ends with the Prof going on and on about the day there are no “good” or “evil” mutants, just men fighting together against a common foe. *EYEROLL*

Oh, wait, no it doesn’t. He makes that speech and then we cut to that night in the school. Apparently before the Prof was kidnapped, he and Jean decided everyone needed new uniforms!! The guys make jokes about them not actually changing much, just the trim. It’s a nod to the last costume change that really didn’t change anything. But this time, we get costumes that make them individuals! Jean and Charles explain that, since they’re not kids anymore, they shouldn’t dress in “uniforms” like kids. They’re individual adults and are now dressed that way. Scott’s in the classic blue with yellow visor he’ll sport for years to come. Jean is in her iconic green dress with yellow mask. Angel is in yellow and red with his blonde hair coming out the top of his mask. Hank is in red and blue. It’s similar to his old costume, but better colors and more stylized. Bobby even comments that he got new boots and gloves, although he doesn’t really look all that different given his powers. See below:

New Costumes 2

So, overall this was a great arc. It was worth all the build up over that last few months of issues, and it was a well done. We got to see the kids work as an awesome team, without help or guidance from the Professor. (I should probably stop calling them “kids” now. They’re all college-age and this arc made a big point of showing that they aren’t kids anymore)  They figured out a game plan on their own and executed it well. And Jean seems to be growing in her power quite a bit, and in her confidence. It’s nice to see. (The same thing seems to be happening with Wanda over at Avengers Mansion. Our girls are competent women now. They’re equal to the guys, and sure of themselves and their powers.) AND, on top of all of that, we end with them in their more iconic, colorful costumes!!!! I love it!!

There’s one more thing we have to talk about in regards to X-Men before we hop into the city and check on our Avengers. Starting in issue #38, there are special “issues” in the back that are going to chronicle “The Origins of the X-Men”. They’re fun and it’s cool to see how Charles found them all. The first installment in #38 shows us how Charles decided to start his school. He sees a news clip about a mutant that saved people, only to be attacked by an angry mob. (It’s Scott!!!) The news piece ends with the reporter saying that the FBI will be starting a special investigation into mutants. Charles heads to Washington to meet with Fred Duncan, the agent heading up the investigation. He explains who he is and gives them a demonstration of his powers. They both agree that learning about and watching young mutants would go better if they were approached by another mutant instead of FBI agents. Duncan agrees to let Charles track down the teenage mutants they’ve got info on and train them, and in return Chuck will report into the FBI periodically on their status. (?!??!)

The installment in #39 is a continuation of this arc from Scott’s side. We see him destroy a crane, causing a heavy crated to plummet towards the crowded street below. He blows it up with his optic blast just in time, but the crowd turns on him and he runs for it. Turns out this is the very first time his powers have manifested like this! He has had headaches his whole life until an optometrist gave him ruby quartz classes. They stopped the headaches but no one could explain why. (But we know, don’t we my loves!) Anyway, it was the optometrist that reported him to the FBI and so Xavier interviews him and that’s how we learn about the headaches and glasses. Meanwhile, Scott is on the run, afraid to return to the orphanage where he lives. (so sad!! Seriously guys, the Summers’ family history is TRAGIC, as you’ll see as we get further into our reading) He hops a train out of town, ends up being accosted by “hobos” and then saved by police who then immediately recognize him as the runaway they’re looking for.  They remove his glasses and his uncontrollable optic blasts scare them away. He learns that he’s immune to his own powers, finds his glasses, and then runs away through the woods before the police can return with reinforcements. He stumbles across a cabin where he feels an unnatural pull to go inside. He does, and there he meets a man sitting in the shadows who tells Scott that he sensed that Scott was born to rule, just like him and that he his also a mutant! DUN DUN DUN!!!

OOOOOK…so, 3000 words later, that finishes off The X-Men for 1967 and for this post! Whew! But there’s no time to lose kiddies, because now we must check in on out mutant twins and their teammates over at Avengers Mansion!!

movie animation minions breaks minions movie

So, Avengers #45. We open with Iron Man and Thor still with the Avengers. Apparently today is “Avengers Day” in NYC to thank the Avengers for thwarting the Mandarin’s plan avengers45for world domination (See my post here about AA #1 if you don’t remember. Which is totally fine, since I wrote that post like a month ago. I know, I suck. Moving on…) Anyway, everyone’s gathered in Central Park for the ceremony except Janet and Steve. In her ridiculous fashion, Janet shows up “fashionably late” in a brand new, expensive sports car and designer clothes. (Remember that inheritance from a few issues ago? Neither did I. But, it’s now important. Janet is loaded.) She makes a scene, Hank gets jealous, and we all move on.

Meanwhile, we learn that in the crowd is the Super Adaptoid (SA) (who we last saw in X-Men!) Crash course for those of you who weren’t around or don’t remember: He’s an android created by AIM to destroy Captain America. He can absorb and then use the powers of anyone around him. Everyone’s waiting on Cap, and some of the Avengers show off their skills to keep the crowd entertained. Thor and Iron Man have to cut out before he arrives, but not before SA absorbs their powers. So, Cap FINALLY shows, they say thanks to everyone for the support, and then Hank announces  that Herc will be made a full time Avenger now!!

The Voice excited yes christina aguilera yay

Herc is shocked, but happy and honored. Just then, SA attacks! The battle is fierce and SA is totally winning and it’s bad. The battle goes on for the ENTIRE issue. It gets a little tedious, but there you go. Each Avengers tries to take SA on alone, and they all fail. Then, FINALLY, our favorite silver-haired mutant comes up with a plan. They all attack him at once, forcing him to use all of their powers at once. This is too much for SA, and he short circuits. The crowd remerges and continues the celebration, but our Avengers are morons today, so they had the super dangerous, ultra powerful robot over to the NYPD?!?! WHY DO THEY DO THIS SHIT?!?!? Ahem. Sorry. Done now.

One quick side-note: After they defeat SA, Pietro makes a comment that SA should be pitied because he is just an android created by humans to do their bidding. Wanda notes that he seems bitter, and Steve reminds him  that the evil humans wanted to use SA to control humans AND mutants alike. Keep this seeming random outburst by Pietro in mind as we move forward. (Spoiler alert) It’s going to fester and build, but it’s done well, and is very indicative of Pietro’s character throughout the years.

smoke worried stressed disney 101 dalmatians

On to #46. The Avengers are hanging out with nothing to do. Hank announces that he is working on some experiments with ants because he might go back to being Ant Man instead of Goliath. He thinks to himself that now that they have Herc on the team, theyavengers46 don’t need his raw Goliath power. Herc is even stronger than Goliath. But they could use Ant Man’s unique skills. Cap is sulking and preoccupied with thoughts of quitting and living as Steve Rogers. (Again…*eyeroll*) Clint and Natasha show up. She’s out of the hospital and fully recovered. Then Janet shows up with her new chauffer. Hank chides her for letting in driver into Avengers HQ, so she sends him away. But, as he leaves, we learn Hank was right. He is using Jan to get into the building and check it’s defenses.

oops glenn close movie film funny

Clint and Natasha decide to take a walk and Herc and Wanda are going to join them. First, they change into normal clothes and Herc shaves off his beard! It’s kind of a cute moment. Pietro and Cap are going to go to a baseball game, and leave Jan and Hank back to work on his ant experiments. We find out Jan’s driver Charles is actually Whirlwind, who used to be the Human Top. He’s an old villain of Giant-Man who was locked up. He’s back with more power and a new name. He breaks into the mansion, manages to shrink Hank and Jan with Hank’s equipment, and then, because he’s a dumb villain, dumps them into the colony of red ants Hank was experimenting with instead of just killing them himself. He also plants a time bomb in the laboratory. The red ants attach Jan and Hank, who don’t have their little headsets to control them. They fight  them off, and Janet eventually kills the Queen ant. That makes the ants stop attacking long enough for Hank to build a mini headset with some machine that’s in the colony and they control the ants to get out.

Meanwhile, the baseball game was apparently rained out? (Even though the other four Avengers out for a walk didn’t run into rain, and there is no rain drawn in ANY panel in the entire issue, but whatevs! Plot device!) Anyway, Cap and Pietro are back just in time to fight Whirlwind! Whirlwind is actually a bit scared, since Quicksilver’s speed seems to be the only thing that could stop him. They battle and Hank climbs out of the tank, He rushes to a voice amplifier to warn Cap and Quicksilver about the bomb that’s about to go off. He tells them where it is, and Quicksilver rushes it out over the river to explode safely. But on his way back to the mansion, he hears people below. They saw him with the bomb, and are talking about not trusting him or Wanda since they’re mutants. Pietro thinks to himself that basically, humans suck, and they will eventually push him too far and he will strike back. YIKES!

supernatural no nope yikes

In the excitement, Whirlwind escapes. Cap un-shrinks Jan and Hank. Quicksilver is pissed that Whirlwind escaped, but eventually calms down so Hank can announce that now he can be both Goliath AND Ant Man depending on what the situation calls for!

Now it’s time for issue #47. Guys, before we start, I have something I have to get off my chest:

excited amy poehler tina fey happy dance exciting

Ok. I’m done. Why the happy dance you ask? Because my loves, the villain for this issue (and at least one more to follow that I haven’t read yet) is none other than MAGNETO!!!!!!!!! I’m so freaking excited! I’ve missed Mags!!

avengers47Anyway, Mags and Toadie are still on the Stranger’s far off planet where he exiled them. But, Mags can feel “magnetic rays” coming from space. They’re getting stronger and he believes he can use them and his powers to escape. We learn the rays are coming from Garrett Castle in the US where a man named Whitman is working, He’s the nephew of the Black Knight, and wants to do something good with his experiments to try and make up for this evil uncle.

At the same time, over at Avengers Mansion, Cap has called a meeting to announce that he’s quitting the Avengers. (AGAIN!)

Hawkeye is upset and because of that gets in a fight with Natasha and takes off. Janet and Hank take off for an already planned vacation in Vegas (driven to the airport by her driver, Charles who is really Whirlwind). Herc announces that now that he’s an Avenger, there’s something he needs to take care of. He heads to Olympus to ask Zeus  to lift his exile so that he can return to Earth by his choice. He climbs Mt. Olympus only to find the city totally abandoned!!

doctor who what

But, that’s apparently a story for another time. Next we see that Mags and Toadie have indeed used Whitman’s magnetic rays to escape from the Stranger and return to Earth. They lock up Whitman and his bad assistant Norris. (Norris had just knocked Whitman out before they arrived so that he could take all the glory for himself) and Mags decides to get the band back together. For whatever reason, he decides not to call Mastermind right now (probably because he’s currently caught up with F3!) He wants Wanda and Pietro back in his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. We see a flashback of how he saved their lives and thus put them in his debt. He tricks the twins into coming to the castle with a coded message. Once there, he attacks them with a giant robot to test their powers. All this time as Avengers has paid off, and they easily defeat their foe. Mags is impressed!

leonardo dicaprio oscars impressed

He invites them  to join him, but they refuse, saying they’re Avengers now. Mags is obviously pissed, so he attacks them with MORE robots. They manage to destroy the robots, but when they attempt to attack Magneto, he captures them!! And that’s how the issue ends!

So, my loves, we’re done with 1967. I know this was REALLY REALLY long. I’d apologize, but I kind of feel like, if you’ve read this far, you must like SOMETHING about my writing style, so there’s no need for an apology. Hehe. Anyway, We’ll move onto 1968 soon. I’m excited now that Magneto is back in play. I’m also excited to see where this story-line with Pietro’s bitterness is leading. I think I know, and I think it’s pretty obvious, but still, it will be fun to see it play out. I’m also excited for our X-Men to start working more like an adult team with Charles as a mentor instead of like kids with a teacher!

And, one last thing before I go. As some of you may know, this Saturday is Free Comic Book Day!!!! This is my favorite weekend of the year. My shop, Carol & John’s goes all out every year! Midnight release party Friday night into Saturday morning, events all day Saturday. They highlight local artist who are there to do sketch covers, they create pieces for an art gallery. Every year all those pieces sell. They’re amazing. Cleveland has some amazingly talented artists! Every year has a theme. It’s normally tied into whichever comic movie is coming out that same weekend. So, this year it’s obviously Civil War themed. It’s going to be a crazy good time. So, any of my readers in the NEO area, come out and join us. Dan (hubby) and I will be there all night Friday and will be stopping by on Saturday with our daughter. We’ll both be in costume too! Just look for Wonderman and his companion. (Sorry guys, not revealing my costume until that night!!) And any readers not local to NEO, I really urge you guys to find a local shop in your area to go check out FCBD. Even if they’re not doing a huge event like C&J, there will be tons of FREE COMICS to check out. And while you’re there, maybe pick up some other comics (X-Men) and support your local businesses! So, between a midnight showing of CA:CW on Thursday night and FCBD activities Friday and Saturday, it’s safe to say I won’t be getting much reading done this weekend. But I’ll post pics of my awesome costume and of the event afterwards and tell you all about it! And then we’ll pick up with 1968 next week. Until then my loves, keep searching…

 

 

This is Getting Silly…(Or, Bring on Factor Three Already)

Posted on by GenoshaGirl85

Hello my dears!!

I’m back already! It felt so good to finally get back in the blogging saddle yesterday that I couldn’t help but post again today! I’m sure you won’t mind!

Today we’re going to talk about the 4 issues from August and September of 1967. AKA, Avengers 43 & 44 and The X-Men 35 & 36. Since I read the monthly titles in alphabetical order, let’s talk about them that way too. Which means….

Avengers! 43 & 44 are a two issue arc centered around Hawkeye’s attempts to rescue avengers43Natasha from the generic Asian communists that have her prisoner. It’s fun and silly, so let’s dive in. We open up with Cap & Hawk coming back from some recon mission and walking into Quicksilver freaking FLYING around the Mansion. That’s right. He’s flying. It’s AMAZING. Basically, Quicksilver has figured out that if he vibrates his legs at super speeds, he can levitate himself and “fly” for short distances. Guys, it’s so great to see our resident mutants (the whole reason we’re reading through Avengers for this enormous project) growing in their powers. This is one of the things I love about Quicksilver (and admittedly, also The Flash over at DC) and his powers. There are so many creative ways to use super speed other then just running really fast. It’s nice to see Roy Thomas exploring those other uses!

So…back to the story. Herc is being Herc, and thus fighting with everyone. Cap picks a fight with him to keep him from hurting anyone else, and then easily avoids getting trampled by out maneuvering Herc. This gains him Hercules’ respect, so now Herc is calmed. While all that is going on, a lawyer shows up to tell Jan that since she’s now 23, she can access her inheritance of more then $3 million! In the commotion of her celebrations, no one notices that Hawkeye has slipped out to follow the lead he and Cap got by himself. Hawkeye goes to a sketchy bar to find out where Natasha’s being held. But, because he’s Hawkeye, he can’t get in and our of there without getting in a fight. Seriously. He returns back to the mansion to find everyone asleep but Hercules. Herc is itching for adventure, so Hawkeye invites him to come help rescue Natasha. The unlikely duo heads out.

Meanwhile, at the secret, non-descript communist base where Black Widow is being held, we see that Colonel Ling* is showing his precious Psychotron to “Comrade General”, a generic Soviet general who is overseeing Ling’s work. He also shows the General his latest creation: Red Guardian. For those of you at home, Red Guardian is basically Commie Cap. He has all the same abilities as Captain America, but he wears red and hates capitalism.

So, Commie Cap gives the General a demonstration of his abilities, and then he and the General forget all about Ling’s Psychotron and decide what they really need to do is lure Captain America to their top secret base full of top secret military research so that Red Guardian can beat him up. When even Colonel Ling is telling you that’s a bad plan, you know it’s a bad plan. These guys are seriously stupid! But, their minds are made up and now they just need a way to lure Cap there. Enter our dynamic duo of Herc and Hawk…

Commie Cap quickly knocks Hawk out, and then tricks Herc into the Psychotron. Herc is kept busy in there battling hallucinations of hydras while Hawkeye is locked up in a glass tube right next to Natasha. When he wakes up, he (and Natasha) discover that Commie Cap is…Natasha’s husband?!?

For the end of the issue we cut back to Avenger’s HQ in New York, where Cap and the rest of the Avengers are gearing up to go rescue our intrepid rescuers and Natasha.

Before we move onto issue 44, can we just pause for a second? Guys, Quicksilver can fly!!!! I’m still not over that. It’s so freaking cool. It’s like Roy Thomas woke up the morning he wrote this issue and said, “You know, Quicksilver is actually a WAY cooler character then we’ve been giving him credit for!” and I couldn’t be happier. Also, since we talk a lot about power sets for out mutants, I think we should also talk about powers for our non-mutant Avengers since they’re such an important part of our reading. In the beginning of this issue, Cap thinks to himself that Herc probably doesn’t like being challenged by him because he has no super powers. But then, later in the issue when Commie Cap is bragging to Hawkeye and Black Widow about how he’s going to wipe the floor with original recipe Cap, he mentions that Caps powers were given to him by science (Super Soldier serum for those at home). So, I’m a bit confused as to what Cap’s story is at this point. I know his origins are that he was a scrawny kid from Brooklyn who volunteers for the Super Soldier program and is the sole success story. I thought (and it’s cannon much later on) that the serum gives him enhanced agility and strength. Like, not just enhanced from his former self, but like, super strength and agility. But in these early Avengers comics, they seem to imply Cap has no actual powers; he’s just a really well-trained fighter. We’ll have to see how that takes shape as we go forward.

So, issue 44: The Avengers find the top secret communist base in Asia very easily and get out of their Aero-car to discover it was a trap. They fight their way through all the bad guys on the base and Wanda and Jan are both given the chance to fight as equals with the guys for the first time in awhile. Wanda’s hex powers seem to not only be back up and running, but she seems to have better control of them then before. It’s nice to see her sure of her powers and not second guessing herself.

While they’re fighting outside, inside the General is insisting that Natasha be given a lie-detector to make sure she’s really a traitor because she’s still insisting she’s been on the communist side all along. Tash beats the lie detector because, of course she does. She freaking Black Widow. There was never any doubt she would be able to pass a lie detector. Meanwhile, Cap has made his way inside to find his fellow Avengers and instead finds his commie counterpart. They fight, and are fairly evenly matched. A quick cut to outside shows us that our other Avengers seem done for when the communists unveil a giant machine thing to kill them. Goliath is too worn out from the prior fighting to be able to stop it. But then, our favorite speedy mutant saves the day! He runs in circles around their foe so fast that it creates basically a mini hurricane that tears the machine apart! And, in another cut scene, we see that Hawkeye as mysteriously been freed from his glass tube (most likely by Black Widow) and goes to join Cap’s fight. That fight seems to be at a stalemate, but then Colonel Ling grows impatient and electrocutes Cap. Commie Cap is SOOO mad guys. He wants to beat his foe fair and square, but since Ling is the only communist with a brain in this arc, he insists they don’t have to play fair, and that they need to stop worrying about beating up the star-spangled Avenger and start focusing on their plan for world domination.

But at just that moment, Natasha reveals herself by trying to climb up the wall to destroy the Psychotron, which was the real purpose of her mission from SHIELD. Colonel Ling takes aim at her and tries to shoot her down, but Alexi (Red Guardian) leaps in front of the shot to save her. As Alexi falls, Ling aims at Widow again, only to be stopped by Hawkeye this time. Widow succeeds in destroying the Psychotron, but Ling’s second shot still hits her and she falls. Hawkeye catches the mortally wounded Widow just as Hercules FINALLY busts out of the stupid, and now malfunctioning Psychotron. The base is on fire, so Herc scoops up the unconscious Cap and they head for the hole Herc bust in the ceiling. The other Avengers pull them to safety, but Herc wants to go back for the commies, as he doesn’t think they deserve to die in the fire. But before he can, Colonel Ling loses what little sense he had this whole time and attempts to shoot the Avengers down. Commie Cap stops him, as this goes against his moral code of combat, and instead Ling’s shot causes the base to erupt in lava (it’s apparently on top of a dormant volcano. Don’t ask. LOL.)

The Avengers rush the wounded Natasha to the nearest hospital (in Hawaii) where she survives her surgery and tells the Avengers that Alexi, her husband, was a test pilot for the Soviets. She was told he died in a training accident, and was then recruited to become the Black Widow to honor his sacrifice. She had no idea he was actually being trained to be Red Guardian! Whew!! That was exhausting!

And, now that I’ve caught my breath (and rested my fingers!) let’s move onto X-Men! xmen35Issue 35 starts with Banshee (!!!) flying over Eastern Europe looking for Factor Three’s secret base. He seems to find it in the mountains, but he’s attacked by a mechanical spider and barely gets away. He makes it back to his base and sends a message to the X-Men telling them to beware of the spider, but can’t get anything else transmitted before he passes out and is kidnapped by F3!

Cut to Westchester where the kids are frantically trying to find any info about F3’s whereabouts so they can find Charles. They receive Banshee’s cryptic message about the spider just as Cerebro alerts them to the presence of a mutant nearby. They decide it must be evil mutants from F3, and the guys go to check it out, leaving Jean behind to keep tying to pinpoint the Prof’s location.

At the same time, we see Peter Parker riding his motorbike around Westchester Co. He stops at a stream with an old mill nearby to check it out, and suddenly sees a flying egg-shaped pod landing right where he is. He ducks into the mill to become Spider-Man and fights the mechanical spider that climbs out of the egg. Of course, this spider is what has set Cerebro off, and of course, Spider-Man defeats it before the X-Men arrive. And OF COURSE the thing self-destructs, leaving not trace it was ever there. Do you see where this is going? No? It’s telegraphed pretty openly here. Banshee told them to beware of the spider, so OF COURSE that MUST mean Spider-Man since he happens to be where Cerebro led them! And OF COURSE our boys are just going to attack him without any explanation or even asking him why he’s there. It’s soooooooo silly. I hate these story lines. Seriously, it’s like, fate has to set it all up perfectly, and everyone has to act like brainless idiots just so this plot can play out. And it really has nothing to do with finding F3 or Professor X. It’s just an excuse to have the X-Men battle Spider-Man. It’s annoying that they spent a couple REALLY GOOD issues setting up this kidnapping, just to give us useless stories before we can finish the F3 storyline. (SPOILER ALERT! I’m going to have an even bigger problem with the next issue!)

Anyway, while the boys are out being dumb, Jean is busy being the only useful person in the issue. She’s found a note in the Professor’s files about the transmitter he put in Banshee’s headband so they could contact him using Cerebro. She tries to do this and finds Banshee unresponsive. She also realizes that Cerebro stopped registering a mutant almost right away after the boys left. (Probably around the same time Spider-Men succeeded in destroying the mechanical spider, funnily enough!)She sends Cyclops a message letting him know this and he FINALLY comes to his senses and stops the fighting long enough to ask Spider-Man what he’s doing there. SM tells them about the mechanical spider and they realize this is what set Cerebro off and apologize for attacking SM. When they arrive back at the school, Jean tells them about the tracking in Banshee’s headband and that she’s used it to find his location! You go, Jeanie!!! Now they have a destination! Hurray! Progress! We’re finally going to move forward with this story-line! Oh, wait…xmen36

It’s issue 36, which I am entitling: “Dumb plot contrivance to have the kids fight another D-list bad guy with Daddy issues instead of rescuing their mentor!”

That’s right my loves! Remember our mutant superheroes? The ones that live on a giant estate in Westchester County, drive a Rolls Royce, and have their own jet? Well, they apparently have NO MONEY to buy plane tickets to Eastern Europe. I know what you’re thinking! Surely they can just take their jet? But alas, it’s out of gas and apparently the Professor doesn’t think ahead enough to have fuel on-hand in their hanger. What’s that you say? Surely the Professor MUST have some emergency cash lying around the school somewhere? Apparently not. Wait? What? Surely rich-boy Warren Worthington III can just borrow the money from his parents? Sorry guys! They’re on a cruise!

So, now our teenagers are forced to find another way to get the money. They try the welfare office, but luckily the lady there has a brain and doesn’t approve their loan. Next, they try to get construction jobs, but they’re not union, so that’s a no-go. Finally, Bobby and Hank decide to preform tricks as Iceman and Beast in Washington Square Park for loose change. (I wish I were kidding). While they’re there, a nobody of a villain named Mekano shows up. He says that Iceman and Beast are helping him by drawing the crowd so that they can all watch him destroy the new library. (for real) So, he begins to destroy it. The cops think our mutants are in on it, so they handcuff Iceman to a pole and try to arrest the rest of the X-Men. Marvel Girl disarms them and moves them to safety and then disappears for the rest of the fight because, not only are the kids magically penniless, but they’ve also reverted to treating her like a precious flower, so Cyclops orders her  to stay outside.

Beast, Angel, and Cyke fight Mekano, but he escapes out the window and attempts to jump to the roof of a neighboring building. He misses and falls! Lucky for him our boys are chauvinists this month! If they weren’t, Marvel Girl might not have been sitting around outside waiting to catch him!! Just as MG lets him down, the cops close in to arrest them all. But because this whole issue is one plot contrivance after another, the man who built the library shows up just then and insists on asking Mekano to explain his reasoning. Turns out Mekano is this guy’s son, and all of this was just his way of acting on his deep-seeded Daddy issues because his dad didn’t love him enough or something. So, Daddy Mekano refuses to press any charges, and then wants to give our youngsters a reward for saving his son from falling to his death. Yay! Now they have the money for their plane tickets!! UGH! This sucks. But, they thank him for the money and then head off to the airport. While they’re there, we learn that F3 is watching their every move, even when they’re traveling under their civilian identities! (finally, a plot point that has actual ramifications to our F3 arc!!)

A few power-related notes from this issue. Apparently Bobby’s back to being able to use up his ice powers (or at least, he is when the writers need him to stay handcuffed and need an excuse as to why he doesn’t just freeze the cuffs and shatter them…) Also, apparently Cyke can use his optic blasts to “catch” heavy machinery in mid-air and lower it, unharmed, to the ground? I call bullshit on that one. Those optic blasts have been nothing but forces of destruction from day one. Why can they suddenly be used in this way? If that were the case, then every time in the past that Cyke accidently hit one of his teammates with his optic blasts and hurt them was either a plot devise or Scott being a huge dick.

Ok. I’m done for today. As I’m sure you noticed, I was a little annoyed with our X-Men this time around. Hopefully that will change in the next issue since it seems like they’re finally going to rescue Professor X and Banshee now! (I hope!!) So, until next time my loves, do what our X-Men should have been doing these two issues and keep searching!!

*In my last post, I mistakenly referred to Colonel Ling as a General. This issue makes it fairly clear that Ling is under the control of the Soviets, and thus not at the rank of a General.

More Roy Thomas is Always A Good Thing…

Posted on by GenoshaGirl85

Hello, my loves! I’m back already! I hope you all don’t get sick of me!

Anyway, I was able to do lots of reading over the last two days, so we have 6 more issues to talk about today. I’ve read The X-Men #28-30 and Avengers #36-38, which takes us through January, February, and March of 1967. At this pace, I may just reach my reading goal!

Let’s start with Avengers # 36 & 37. This first thing of note here, is that Roy Thomas is now writing the Avengers too! He actually took over in issue #35, avengers36but I didn’t notice. It was the middle of an arc, so I didn’t even think to look to see if the writer had changed. For those of you keeping track, Roy is now writing both Avengers and The X-Men. This makes me very happy! While I love Stan Lee’s ideas and vision, I prefer Roy’s writing style. His women are a little less “damsel in distress” and a little more competent and sure of themselves. He’s also just slightly less heavy-handed when it comes to having characters describe exactly what’s happening to them. (I really can’t wait to be out of that phase completely, but we’ve got a while to go before then, so I’ll take what I can get!)

Anyway, in this arc the Avengers are fighting a super computer controlled by an alien named IXAR. He lands his spaceship in Eastern Europe, kidnaps Wanda and Pietro, who are still there regaining their powers, and then lures the rest of the Avengers and Black Widow there to try and steal all of their powers. He wants to use them to power his Ultroids (Basically just fancy, super strong androids) in the war he’s fighting in space. There’s lots of fun fighting, and then Hawkeye and Black Widow save the day when Hawk figures out that the human hostage the computer has is actually IXAR, not a hostage, and then Black Widow threatens to kill him if he doesn’t release the Avengers and go back to space.

This story was kind of fun. It was nice to see Hawkeye get to save everyone for once. He’s also trying to get the Avengers to let Black Widow join. He mentions it in the beginning of the arc before they’re lured into IXAR’s trap and for some reason, Goliath is violently (*here’s my shocked face*) opposed to it. He doesn’t have time to give his reasoning for not wanting Widow on the team, but he does try to throw his weight around both metaphorically and literally when he reminds everyone he’s a founding member of the Avengers, and then threatens Hawkeye. Hank REALLY needs to turn it down a few notches. It’s bad when I’m actually siding with Hawkeye!

Dianna Agron has the BEST angry face!

I should mention that none of the Avengers know that Black Widow threatened to kill IXAR except Hawkeye. Cap specifically tells IXAR that they have a code not to harm or kill humans. But since Widow isn’t actually an Avenger, she makes the threat while everyone but Hawk is unconscious and means it so IXAR lets them go. Hawkeye doesn’t tell any of the other Avengers this, because he’s worried they won’t let her into the group if they know.

Also, I’m so happy to have our wayward mutant siblings back on the team. I didn’t realize just how much I missed them until they were back! I love Pietro and Wanda so much!

And speaking of mutants…let’s hop on over to Westchester and check in on the X-Men, shall we?

xmen28In The X-Men #28 we meet Banshee and Ogre. They are working for the mysterious Factor Three to try and kidnap Xavier. Banshee is awesome and the way Werner Roth draws him when he’s using his powers is amazing! I wish every artist drew him that way!

banshee2

Seriously, look at that art!!

Anyway, Banshee and Ogre attack the X-Men. The X-Men manage to capture Banshee and save him from Ogre and Factor Three; it turns out they were controlling him and he’s actually good! (We’ll be seeing more of my favorite Irishman once we get to the ’70’s! <3)

Old Costumes

Old costumes on top, Jean’s new designs on the bottom

This story introduces Factor Three, who will be a recurring theme for a bit. We don’t see this mysterious villain, or learn what the motive is. What we do see, is the new costumes Jean made for the team last issue, that I totally neglected to mention. They’re REALLY similar to the old ones, just with a bit more blue, red belts, and a mask for Marvel Girl instead of a cowl. Take a look:

Also, for now, Mimic is still the leader of the team, and Scott STILL hasn’t told Jean how he feels. Mimic is aggressive, and head-strong, and arrogant. It’s not going to end well friends. He’s basically the antithesis of my Scotty, so it should go without saying that I can’t stand him! And speaking of my dear Scott, let’s get to issue #29, where he gets to let loose a bit!

In issue #29 the youngsters fight the Super Adaptoid. He’s an android that was created to xmen28destroy Captain America. He is 10 feet tall and has the powers of Cap, Goliath, Hawkeye, and Wasp. He fought the Avengers before, and has now taken to hiding out in a cave in Westchester apparently. But an avalanche disturbs him, and he decides to find beings to assimilate into adaptoids like him so he can rule the world. He wants to assimilate the X-Men, but they’re unwilling, so he decides to destroy them instead. They fight, Mimic decides to be assimilated so he can keep his powers forever, changes his mind at the last minute, and then sacrifices his powers (and almost his life) to stop Super Adaptoid.

Now, the avalanche that brings the android out of hiding is started by Scott (who is looking very handsome in a turtleneck sweater instead of his normal leisure suit, BTW!). The X-Men are ice skating on a pond near the school, and Scott wanders away into the woods to be alone. He feels like he may be getting more control of his optic blasts, and wants to test his theory. Turns out, he doesn’t really have too much control. He loses his temper and REALLY lets loose, causing an avalanche. It’s awesome. I love it when Scott really lets go like that. Sometimes it’s easy to forget just HOW powerful (and dangerous) he can be when he wants to. It makes a girl’s heart get all fluttery!

Anyway…where were we? Oh yeah! So, before the adaptoid attacked, Xavier had kicked Mimic out of the X-Men because he’s such a dick no one likes him he’s a bad leader and won’t listen to Charles. But Mimic comes back to hear the Super Adaptoid’s offer of assimilation and wants to join him so he doesn’t lose the X-Men’s powers when he leaves. Scott talks him out of it, and at the last second Mimic uses the Profs telepathy to convince the SA to try and take his powers. Since Mimic has “artificial” powers, it short-circuits the android and Mimic and they both lose their abilities to replicate others powers. They begin to fall to their deaths (they’ve both lost their borrowed wings) but Angel swoops in and saves Mimic. The SA manages to land in the water and survive, vowing to continue his quest for world domination. So, there’s the Mimic story line wrapped up in a nice little bow! Thank God!! Now that he’s gone…let’s head back over to Avenger’s HQ!avengers38

Avengers #38 brings us an old foe and a new friend. And lots and lots of new story threads. In this issue, Enchantress tricks Hercules into attacking the Avengers for her so she can get revenge for the time they stopped her and Power Man from framing them. They attack the Avengers at HQ, and the Avengers eventually succeed in lifting the spell that Enchantress put on Hercules. She flees, but Zeus banishes Herc to earth for a year for disobeying a direct order. So, Herc is going to be hanging out at HQ in Thor’s old room for awhile it seems.

Also in this issue, Hawkeye and Goliath actually come to blows over Hawkeye wanting Black Widow to join the Avengers. Cap and Quicksilver have to break the two of them up. Personally, I was hoping Hawk would get off at least a couple blast arrows before the fight stopped, but no dice.

Black Widow never shows for the meeting to discuss her membership, and the Avengers head out for dinner, leaving Cap behind on watch duty. When they return, Cap is gone with no explanation, (The readers get an explanation that he’s taken off following a lead about his old WWII partner, Bucky.) which causes even more tension between Goliath and Hawk because Goliath says they can’t vote on Widow without Cap. It also causes issues between Goliath and Wasp, because, like usual, Hank is being an ass to Janet because he’s mad about something that’s totally out of her control. This causes both Hawkeye and Janet to quit the Avengers and leave. They go to dinner together, and then don’t respond right away when Goliath sends a distress signal to come help them battle Herc. It’s interesting to note that, even though neither of them are in costume, and even though Hawkeye refers to her as Janet the whole time, Jan calls him Hawkeye. So, for those keeping track, we STILL haven’t learned Hawkeye’s real name! And this is where I like Roy Thomas’s writing better than Stan Lee’s. Roy gives Janet a back-bone. His version of Janet stands up to Hank, and even walks out on him when he’s being a dick. She’s not his doormat.

The final thread being spun in this issue is centered around Black Widow. She’s late showing up at Avengers HQ because she’s kidnapped by Nick Fury! He’s sending her to the “Far East” to do a secret mission for him. We aren’t told it’s details, and she’s forbidden from telling Hawk or the rest of the Avengers anything. So, she returns to HQ to tell them she’s going back East and basically lets them all think she’s turned traitor again. She even goes so far as to tell Hawk she never loved him so that he won’t try to follow him. Poor Hawkeye!!

And, finally, we have The X-Men #30. Werner Roth was busy for this issue, so it s drawn xmen30by Jack Sparling. Guys. His artwork is GORGEOUS! Seriously. I’m obsessed! I like Werner Roth’s work, a lot. But Sparling’s looks like brushstrokes. It’s so different then most of the ’60s style art. I wish he would stick around!

But, enough about the art. This issue has Marvel Girl, Angel, and Professor X kidnapped by the mutant, Warlock. Warlock is actually Merlin, form King Arthur’s court. He’s refashioned himself so that Thor doesn’t find out he’s up to no good again. But he’s trying to take over the world and has decided that Marvel Girl will be his Queen. It’s a similar idea to the Avengers story with Living Laser from my last post, but way less gross. First, Warlock doesn’t harbor illusions that Marvel Girl will love him if he kills the X-Men. He gets she won’t love him and is controlling her mind. And yes, that’s a whole different kind of creepy in it’s own right, but, it’s also behavior that is treated as being bad and coming from a villain. He also doesn’t only want her as his queen because of her looks. While those obviously played a part in his decision, he also “chooses” her because of her mutant powers. It’s partially her strength that draws him to her. That’s a refreshing change, TBH. Anyway, the Prof is able to get the rest of the X-Men to them, and they battle Warlock’s army in a tournament. The X-Men win, but Warlock attempts to escape with Jean. She’s able to break free of his mental control and helps the guys defeat him. Professor X puts him back in the coma state Thor had left him in, and they save the day. And, Scott’s fury when Jean’s in trouble, and his concern for her safely finally show Jean that he cares for her!! So, hopefully these two will just kiss soon and get it over with!

Well, my loves, that’s all for now. This was some fun reading! So, until next time, keep searching!!