The Uncanny X-Men # 49-66
Here we are, the last of the original run of the X-Men. After issue 66, the series was cancelled and went into reprints for 32 issues. Imagine if the X-Men had just been left there, never revived or anything? Kinda funy to think about. After this, I'm going to pull out my backissues of X-Men: The Hidden Years, which cover a bit of the X-Men's history between 66 and Giant-Sized X-Men # 1. The rest is covered in various guest-appearances in Avengers, Captain America, Amazing Adventures, Marvel Team-Up, Hulk and a few others.
But we'll cover that later . . .
On with the show!
The X-Men, after splitting up, gather at the mansion once more. It's while at the mansion they learn that green-haired mutant Lorna Dane has been among those Mutants that Mesmero has attempted to gather for Magneto's new army. Magneto is then revealed to be Lorna's father, then (two issues later) is revealed, well, not to be. (This was all written by a man named Arnold Drake who, honestly, is quite possibly the 2nd worst X-Men writer ever - but I'll get to that later). After this ordeal, the X-Men face off with Blaastar of the Negative Zone in typical generic super-hero/super-villain fashion.
The X-Men then attend the college graduation of Alex Summers, Scott's younger brother. However, as they all start to celebrate, Alex is kidnapped by the Living Pharoah, whose Mutant cosmic-ray absorbing powers are tied into Alex's. The X-Men halt the Living Pharoah after he becomes the Living Monolith. But shortly after, the Sentinals strike once more!
The Sentinals gather Mutants from all over the Earth, including all of the villians we've seen except Changling and Magneto. Why not Magneto? Well, gang, because the Magneto that was working with Mesmero was none other than a robotic Magneto sent to build an army of Mutants! Yeah, I know, it's crazy.
The Sentinals are then taken down by Larry Trask (Bolivar Trask's son) when he reveals that he too is a Mutant. The X-Men succeed, but Alex is injured and generating too much power. They take him to Dr. Karl Lykos, who turns out to be a "non-mutant variant" and he turns into Sauron. The X-Men chase Sauron and he eventually vanishes into the Savage Land, presumably dead. The X-Men go after his body and then discover that Magneto (the real one) is creating Mutants, remeniscent to what he tried to do in Uncanny X-Men # 18.
Eventually Magneto is defeated once again and the X-Men head on out their temporary Manhatten H.Q., only to have to face down Japaneese Mutant Sunfire. Sunfire is defeated and all is understood about him and his rage issues. The X-Men head to Westchester and - shock of shocks - find that Charles Xavier is alive and well!
Professor X warns them of the threat of the alien Z'Nox. Together, the X-Men are able to stop the Z'Nox with them channeling Professor X's "mental waves," which are connected to much of the human and mutant populace. The Z'Nox are driven away, but in the aftermath, Professor X is in a coma and the only way to save him is to retrieve a device from Bruce Banner (aka the Hulk, duh). The do so, the Prof is saved, and the saga ends with a renewed dedication that the X-Men will always been out there, saving humanity from evil Mutants and itself. Quite the way to end a 66 issue run?
Wonder whatever happened to those whacky X-Men?
Heheh. Kidding.
The whole story is great, let's be honest. Really, after Richard Drake leaves with issue 54, the story gets better. Plus, Neal Adams comes on board with the returned Roy Thomas and - manoman - the X-Men get a huge up-grade. Neal Adams is (and I say this with as little hype as possible) a revolutionary force in comic book pop art. He breaks down a ton of barriers with his style. Couple that with perhaps Thomas' best work on X-Men we've seen so far and wham-bam, friend, you've got one heck of an X-Men epic.
~W~
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