Enter the Story Arc... and the Sentinels

Well, it's surprising to see how long it's been since last I posted. Alas! It's also somewhat odd to see how verbose I've been for just a couple of issues, particularly when I've many more issues to discuss, two Asimov novels, and some random thoughts. But we'll keep things focused with just nine X-issues for today.

X-Men #11-19 take the team through some of a storyline for their mythos and some general filler issues. #11 sees a extraordinarily powerful alien called The Stranger come to Earth and steal away Magneto and the Toad as specimens of mutation. (His people are just nuts about mutations. Go figure.) #12-13 introduce Professor X's super-strong step-brother, The Juggernaut, and provide a sizable amount of backstory for Prof. X. #14-16 make the most important contribution here, as they introduce the Sentinels - mutant-hunting androids - to the Marvel Universe. #17 has a mysterious villain - Magneto - subdue the battle-weary X-Men, and #18 sees Iceman rescue the rest of the team and thwart Magneto's attempts to create an army of mutant androids (more detail to follow). #19 introduces the Mimic - a villain who is able to copy the powers of others.

There's some items of note in these issues. The background tale for Professor X begins with his father's funeral after he dies in an atomic blast ("that fateful holocaust") in Alamagordo, NM. Brian Xavier's colleague, Dr. Kurt Marko, survived the blast and eventually marries Mrs. Xavier. Naturally, L'il Prof. X doesn't trust Marko - who has a black goatee, of course - and once Marko moves in he revels in wealth, prestige, and funding for science-y research. Long story short, Marko's son , Cain, from a former marriage arrives, Mrs. Xavier dies of a broken heart, and eventually an explosion kills Marko. ("Don't touch those test-tubes!! They're unstable -- explosive!") Marko saves Xavier and Cain, admits that he hadn't tried to save Xavier's father from the accident - though it truly was an accident - and then warns Xavier to beware of Cain once he finds out about Xavier's power.

Xavier, of course, first uses his power to steal answers in class and excel at sports, and his success infuriates Cain. They end up serving in Korea together (didn't the Lizard serve in Korea, too? And there's an ad in #13 for the Sgt. Fury Annual - set in Korea!) and when Cain attempts to hide out in a cave he stumbles upon "the sacred, lost temple of Cyttorak" and touches a ruby on a dias. Naturally, it transforms him into a human Juggernaut through "the power of the crimson bands of Cyttorak," but the ceiling collapses and buries him beneath a mountain. It takes until the end of issue #12, but Juggernaut's arrived to fight for his "rightful" inheritance (having bludgeoned his way through the defenses that the X-Men erect around their mansion). Xavier quickly completes a "mento-helmet" to amplify his abilities, the helmet which protects Juggernaut's mind is dislodged, and Prof X's mind is able to defeat the brute force of his stepbrother.

#14 sees the X-Men become a monthly title - just in time for the winter holidays - and ups the ante for anti-mutant hysteria. Other than Magneto's diatribes and the occasional angry pedestrian, there really didn't seem to be much to the notion of fear and hate of homo superior by ordinary homo sapiens. Heck, Spider-Man always seemed to get it worse. But "in another city" Dr. Bolivar Trask, one of America's greatest anthropologists (according to a reporter), holds a well-attended press conference where he warns of the mutant threat: "We've been so busy worrying about cold wars, hot wars, atom bombs, and the like, that we've overlooked the greatest menace of all! Mutants walk among us! Hidden! Unknown! Waiting--! Waiting for their moment to strike! They are mankind's most deadly enemy! For only they have the actual power to conquer the human race!" Now, all of this takes four text balloons and two panels. (And the following panel sees "Mutant Menace!" on the cover of the "Daily Globe" - not sure if this means that that JJ Jameson's got better things to publish, if this is a riff on the "Daily Planet," or if this is supposed to be the paper of record for Boston in the Marvel Universe.) It's a fun passage for me for many reasons - not just the explosive power of the academic voice - but the key's all the notes of fear about America's youth implicit in this passage and the dismissal of the threat of the Cold War. If only mutants have the power to take over the planet, then were does that leave the Soviets? (I can't recall when Soviet mutants were introduced - Colossus may well have been first, for all I know - but we'll see if any show up before then. I think the Voice was from Czechoslovakia and fought Ant-Man, but I can't remember when.)

Clearly, Prof. X reads the Japanese version of the "Daily Globe" - bad art on page six with the newspaper cover on the wrong side - and he takes in the feature article: artwork of vaguely Namor-like mutant overlords forcing mere humans into slavework and gladiatorial sport. Professor X calls up the National Television Network (yawn) and challenges Dr. Trask to a televised public debate. Naturally, NTN lives for this sort of thing: "It will be a privilege to present a scientist of your stature on our network!" (In times like this, there's only the Simpsons: "Hey everyone! An old man is talking!")

And so the debate. Continuity is still tricky for Marvel at this stage - Xavier's introduced as an education authority, not as a geneticist, and as "an articulate spokesman for America's intellectual community." (This is the end of 1965, so Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life would have won its Pulitzer by now.) Xavier counsels consideration and thought, and the audience reacts accordingly ("Wouldn't it be groovy if he's a mutant himself?" "No kid of mine is a mutie!" "I've never even heard of him! I'll bet he's a communist!"). Trask claims that Xavier's blind, and then trumps the debate with his world-premiere of his Sentinels - giant androids. (The television moderator is thoughtful enough to shill - "I hope that all our viewers at home realize they are seeing a sensational television first, thru the courtesy of our sponsor!")

It's got to be said - I've yet to meet an anthropologist's robot. Maybe there's some special school for robot mechanics which grants PhDs in anthropology, but Trask either was trying to impress a girl with his robot hobby or else was able to really branch out once he gained tenure. Anyhow, the Sentinels turn on Trask - because of all their power and ability, it is their destiny to command, not to be commanded - and they take Trask to their base. (Xavier reflects that "Trask was an anthropologist--not a robotic expert! His knowledge of cybernetic brains was inadequate!", which only makes me wonder what school offered degrees in advanced idea mechanics or in evil medicine in the Marvel Universe.) Xavier summons the team - the Beast and Iceman are once again in Greenwich Village, with more hipster humour - and they prepare to fight. Again.

#15 introduces the Master Mold - the android that Trask created to make Sentinels - who mentally probes the Beast's origin story and forces Trask to design new Sentinels ("I do not possess the knowledge to create other Sentinels! You shall do it for me!") During the Beast's story debriefing, he states that the X-Men's mission is to protect mankind, and Trask becomes remorseful about his mistake ("a blind -- dangerous fool!"). The Beast's father was a labourer at an "atomic project" whose radiation likely caused his mutation, and the Beast naturally used his powers for athletic gains at first. The Sentinels prove to be quite unadaptable to invasion, as they frequently leave to gain new instructions when presented with novel events. (They clearly don't have the overriding primary goal of "destroy mutants" hardwired into them yet.) Prof X somehow finds a way to use his abilities to attack the Sentinels - I'll leave the philosophical possibilities for someone else - and the Master Mold grimaces as "a strange force" scans its "thinking apparatus!!"

#16 brings the whole Sentinel saga to a close - Xavier finds a means to disrupt the control signals for the Sentinels and is given full support by Washington, and Trask sacrifices himself to thwart the plan of the Master Mold.

There are three major techs of note for #17-18. The first is the "new laser-induced hypodermic" which the ER doctor creates to help the injured Iceman, but the second is key to Magneto's plot. Somehow - naturally, not well explained - Magneto uses the lab equipment of Professor X to construct a device that will "analyze... and duplicate" the body cells of the Angel's parents. Since their son is a mutant, Magneto will be able to use these cell patterns to create an army of mutant slaves, even control the types of mutations that they receieve. The third tech is the atomic power plants of the museum-quality starships held on the Stranger's planet; Magneto quickly reactivates one and rockets back to Earth (though he abandons the Toad there). Of course, Magneto's plan is thwarted, the mutant androids/slaves/whatever they're called (it's really not too clear what they'll be like - probably something like the Age of Apocalypse's Infinites), and the Stranger chases Magneto away.

#19's Mimic isn't a mutant - or certainly doesn't appear to be given his origin story. Still, it's classic Silver Age stuff. Calvin Rankin's father is "a scientist, working on a strange, dangerous experiment", and the headstrong lad's curiousity leads him to tinker with the beakers and unleash a gas by mistake. After this, he was able to rapidly assume the abilities of those around him, but only temporarily. As the locals became suspicious, his father worked on a machine which would give permanence to the Mimic's powers, but the threat of an angry mob led to an explosives mishap which buried the father and his device. With the powers of the X-Men, Mimic is able to uncover the device which turns out to be a nullifier rather than a stabilizer for his powers.

In other news, I never thought I'd be grateful that Cyclops ended up with the White Queen (a 21st century development, not something here), but the fact that even the Angel notices in #14 that Scott's into Jean just makes this whole slow-motion love story annoying, particularly since Angel's the first attempt at a love triangle here. (For once, Wolverine definitely makes things more interesting.) No wonder the rest of the team had no luck with the ladies - all this attention was showered on these two. Still, it's a little less notable overall here than it was earlier.

Letters of note:

- #11 sees a grad student in Calculus (and member of the Marvel Mathematicians Comic Club) writes in support of the Hulk and Doctor Strange and notes that his educated parents wait for him to send various issues home so they can read them.
-#12 leads off with a letter by a student of evolution who takes umbrage with the technical errors in issue #10's Savage Land. (Letter three makes many of the same points, and the last letter in #14 provides an explanation for all the overlapping prehistoric creatures.)
-#15 featues a discussion of Darwinian and DeVriesian mutation, and how the X-Men do not suit these theories, and #19 sports a rebuttal by another fan. (#19 also has a letter by the boys of Phi Kappa Tau at RPI asking that someone mention "Hey You! Get off of my cloud!" by the Rolling Stones for some reason.)
-#18 has a question about whether or not Angel is a mutant, since his wings didn't develop until he was in his teens, and the editor actually admits that they're not Charles Darwin. (Considering other responses, that's awfully contrite of Stan Lee.)

Next time: Asimov, X-Men, and Alfred E. Neuman.