Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Carlos Pacheco
What Went Down: We are greeted initially by the last
page of the preceding issue, followed by some exposition from Stan Lee in an
exaggerated fantasy Marvel office. He
discusses how the X-Men have continuously multiplied from the original five,
and points out Xavier as the foundation to it all.
We find Xavier, prior to starting his school, floating in
his pool and contemplating his place in the world. His reverie is interrupted by Amelia Voght:
the nurse who helped him after he was paralyzed and became his girlfriend. Amelia joins him in the pool and tries to get
him to see how futile his goal is.
Charles cannot stand to live in his mansion comfortably while knowing
there are threats to humanity, both human and mutant.
Up in space, Magneto is busy constructing his space station
Asteroid M. Quicksilver and the Scarlet
Witch, founding members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants before both turned
hero, observe him from inside the base.
Wanda is amazed that Magneto can hold the base together with the
strength of his will. Quicksilver
dismisses him as mad, but Scarlet Witch worries if he is reacting in a sane
manner to an insane world. Magneto tells
the twins to prepare to travel to Earth.
Pietro does not appreciate being ordered around, and Magneto essentially
tells him that under his house, it is his rules.
Xavier and Amelia wait for Magneto in the ruins of a Nazi
concentration camp. Magneto and the
twins show up. He and Xavier debate over
whether humanity can be trusted and over the necessity of subjugating
them. Both men agree they should kill
the other to ensure their goals, but neither one can. Magneto reveals that he knows Amelia’s name
and that he and Charles have been watching potential mutants for a long
time. Amelia tries to make Magneto
realize how similar the two men are and how they should be working
together.
Outside Asteroid M, Magneto struggles with the decisions he
will have to make. Stan Lee ends the
issue, talking over a sleeping Carlos Pacheco on a drawing table.
How It Was: Poor
Scott Lobdell had to do a bunch of these flashback issues: this one, one for
Uncanny, and I think one for Generation X.
Since most of the X-Men are just normal kids before the school is opened,
Lobdell makes the wise choice to focus on Xavier and Magneto and the forming of
their dreams. This also gives Lobdell a
chance to fill in some info on his retcon of creating the character of Amelia
Voght and tying her to Xavier personally after the loss of his legs; previously
we had only really seen it in the Uncanny #309 flashback. Their dynamic works well; Lobdell makes the
characters playful, but only as a means of diffusing the tensions looming over
them, and all the while Xavier’s passion can’t help but surface. Magneto and the Brotherhood’s scenes are
okay; mostly they just “foreshadow” events that happen later in
continuity. While Quicksilver is, as
usual, a one-dimensional hot-head, I like Wanda’s sympathy for Magneto as she
successfully figures out what drives him.
Since this whole issue is devoid of any action, its success
rests on the debate the two characters have.
Surprisingly, Lobdell manages to pull it off, even though it is a
discussion we’ve seen these two characters have dozens and dozens of
times. Yes the setting of a
concentration camp is a bit of an emotional grab, but it doesn’t come off as
too indelicate because both characters are able to use it to support their
sides; Magneto for the inevitability of man’s fall and Xavier for the need to
proactively go after such ignorance before it breeds this type of hate. Somehow Lobdell manages to make it feel like
the first time these characters have had this talk, post-Israel anyways.
Honestly, Pacheco’s art here looks like his art in a normal
issue, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The colorist’s use of brighter colors does sell the throwback illusion a
little, but nobody would ever mistake this for coming from the sixties. What really matters in an issue like this is
the expressions of the characters and the way they conduct themselves, since
there is absolutely no action; Pacheco succeeds on that front. Overall, this is a great issue that doesn’t
really do anything new, but works because the characters’ voices are so thoughtful
and true to the characters.
A
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