Saturday 23 July 2011

UXM #50: "City Of Mutants"


(Second generation blues.)

Comments

I think that's the title of the issue, anyway.  It might alternatively be "Hail, Queen of Mutants", but if that's so, Mesmero ("Keeper of the flame of Magneto, emperor of evil mutants!") has put a lot of time an effort into carving CITY OF MUTANTS into the rock face beside his hidden metropolis, and that strikes me as distinctly counter-productive. 

That's another lovely cover, by the way, marred only by the sheer unwavering awfulness of Polaris' costume.  It's little wonder she turns against Mesmero and his plans for her, if that's what he offers her in the way of wardrobe.

M-2 is a great codename for the secret weapon that turns out to be "Magneto the Second".  Shame Cyclops spoils it by claiming he'd already considered it, but assumed it must refer to a son.  See, people?  Unthinking chauvinism can get people killed!

Clues

This issue takes place over a single day.

Date

Sunday 11th May, 1980.

X-Date

X+772.

Compression Constant

1 Marvel year = 2.44 standard years.

(Iceman is 35 years old.)

"Don't do it, Lorna!"
Contemporary Events

Pam Higgins wins the Lady Michelob golf tournament in Roswell, Georgia.

Standout Line

"Time to end this tasteless comedy!" I love this line.  It's pretty difficult to stand-out as a purveyor of panto camp in '60s comics (it's like being noticeably green in a field of grass), but somehow Mesmero manages it.  Props, dawg.

1 comment:

  1. In many ways, I love Mesmero especially the way Tieri wrote him in Weapon X (His treatment of Sauron on the other hand is lacking)
    Polaris... Why can't I help but imagining her as Terra Branford everytime ?
    Green hair CHECK
    Mind Controlled CHECK
    Great powers ReCHECK
    However she begs the question of how can you fuck up the concept Green Haired geologist so much ? & they did an awful lot

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