(Learnin’ Japanese.)
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Well, that can’t be good. From the view out in Tokyo Bay it rather looks like the whole of the city is on fire, and potentially much of Honshu as well. The X-Men leap into action (I notice Banshee is perfectly capable of carrying two people at once now that the script doesn’t require someone to fall almost to their death), helping out the rescue services working throughout the city. In all honesty, though, for all their power, the X-Men are pretty much just pissing in the wind. That’s not quite so bad when you have someone who can change the direction of that wind for you, but it’s still a problem. About the best thing that can be said for the situation is that most of the city is uninhabited, having been evacuated (as Wolverine reveals, demonstrating his ability to read Japanese) following a major earthquake warning.
The X-Men decide to fight their way through the blaze to get to the mansion of their former comrade Shiro Yoshida - AKA Sunfire – in the arguably rather naive hope that he’ll prove to be less of a feckless turf when his own turf is in trouble.
Maybe you can blame the team for trying to sneak in under the cover of fog, but it’s certainly hypothesis rejected on that score. If the Home Islands have to burn in order for Shiro to not have to stop calling the X-Men “cunts”, then Nihon is just shit out of luck. It’s fortunate (though also impossibly convenient) that Misty Knight is also on the scene to inject a degree of Western pragmatism into the proceedings, and she quickly ushers our heroes into the mansion to meet Osama-San, Japan’s premier, along with Misty Knight’s partner (and apparently Osama’s niece) Colleen Wing. Cyclops suffers through a very uncomfortable meeting, conducted entirely in Japanese, in which Colleen argues the case for her and her fellow Americans, and Shiro shifts up a few gears with his belligerent, childish arrogance. “My power alone is sufficient to protect Nippon!” he insists, as though everyone else has failed to notice that there’s only one person in the room who’s already conclusively proved they couldn’t save Tokyo, and it’s him.
Whilst Sunfire is demanding there be a few less super-powered Americans about the place, Misty tries to get hold of a couple more, only to learn that her beau Iron Fist is too busy working cases with Power Man. Way to manage your priorities there, pal. I’d have thought the destruction of one of the world’s largest capital cities and the massive danger your girlfriend is facing as a result might trump your bromance with Luke Cage. But that’s just me.
Speaking of affairs of the heart, though, UXM #118 is proud to present: Lady Mariko. Continuing our long-running series of raising our eyebrows at the portrayal of women in this comic, it’s slightly weird seeing Logan (or “Lo-“, as we finally learn) treating Mariko like a nervous doe, but I suppose from his warped perspective that actually makes sense. It’s definitely nice to see a different side to Wolverine, in any case.
Tragically, this international moment of zen is rudely interrupted by another earthquake, one which pretty much destroys the mansion, and which Storm announces has been artificially ignited. Things go from bad to worse ( in several senses) when the deliriously stupid-lookin’ “Mandroids” arrive to “escort” the government officials to meet their master. Unsurprisingly, the X-Men take exception to this proposal, and a battle breaks out.
For possibly the first time since this new team was assembled, the X-Men finally demonstrate a truly impressive level of ability, and the Mandroids are shattered and smoking within a few panels. The team’s victory is short-lived, though, as a hologram of Moses Magnum appears from the shell of a Mandroid and announces that at midnight tomorrow, he’ll drop Japan into the Indian Ocean.
Dun dun duh!
Clues
This issue takes place over a single night. It crosses the line of midnight, but only just, which means it all happens within a single US day.
The narration tells us that the journey of the Jinguichi Maru took six weeks after picking up the X-Men.
Date |
| "If I were not, I would have kept silent." |
Contemporary Events
Fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the positron by Carl D Anderson.
Standout Line
“We need no American lady detectives!” – Sunfire.
Monday 2nd of August, 1982.
X-Date
X+4Y+125.
Compression Constant
1 Marvel year = 3.55 standard years.
(Storm is 35 years old.)
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