X1C (v2) #3: "Island X: Part 2"

("I am sooo stoned!")

Comments

Right.  So this is Monster Island, then.  It did seem a little unlikely that you'd get two such places (Monster Archipelago?), but I'm not sure it was the best idea to revisit the place so soon after the special issue, particularly as it means that either this story has to take place before that issue, or that Jean's dragon must have stolen a fair few of her IQ points as a parting gift.

That complaint out of the way, though, it's another good issue, if somewhat slight.  I had considered the possibility that Mastermind was behind all this somehow - the way last issue both began and ended with his statue on display rather suggested he was going to show up.  The idea that he's been conscious ever since the Stranger petrified him is actually quite unpleasant, but then if there's anyone who doesn't get to complain about his brain being divorced from the outside world, it's Jason Wyngarde.

Clues

This issue begins shortly after the previous one ended, and continues into the following day.  Since, as noted above, this story has to take place before Jean meets her dragon, we'll swap the dates around.  In order to not mess up the timings of the UXM issues, I'll also truncate the time said creature stays with the team by a single day.

Date

Monday 9^th October, 1978.

X-Date

X+192.

Contemporary Events

Standout Line
"GIANT HEAD FIGHT!"
"Go for the cerebellum, Sir!" - Iceman and Beast.

X1C (v2) #2: "Island X"

("This is insane!" "Fascinating, though!")

Comments

Ooh!  A two-parter!  This is new.  And there's not a special-guest appearance to be found!  Lovely.

Also: it's a really funny issue, whether it's Bobby conquering his Wizard of Oz-induced phobia of flying monkeys ("That's right, childhood trauma!"), Jean freaking out over the same ("Not in my hair!") or the occasional sly rejoinder ("Considering the fauna, I believe it best to stay under the cover of the canopy!" I share your beliefs, Hank".) Given the more than slightly ludicrous nature of the set-up - something which Cyclops cottons onto at the end of the issue - playing it at least partially for laughs was probably the best option, and Parker certainly makes it work here.

Beyond the giggles, this is really just an extended travelogue through monster country, but that's certainly fun enough in itself.  The plant that mimics sound to catch prey is a particularly nice idea (albeit one used by Scott Smith a year earlier).  Plus, any story that drives home the limitless evil of butterflies is worthy of respect.

Clues

The events on the island take place over a single day, but working out how long it took the X-Men to arrive there might require some effort.  Presumably they chartered a ship that took them through the Panama Canal and out into the Pacific.  Since there's no real clue as to where this island is, lets put it close to the entrance to the Pacific Ocean near Balboa. That makes the boat trip at somewhere around 2400 miles or so.  Assuming a speed of 25 knots (which is at the upper end for container ships, apparently), that's around three and a half days travel.

Let's assume the whole issue takes place over four days, then.  Once again, Mastermind's petrified presence places the story between UXM #18 and UXM #32, so let's place it just after the team released their dragon onto Monster Island (after giving them two days to get back from there - clearly this is a busy season for the X-folk).

Date

Thursday 28^th to Sunday 31^st October, 1978.

X-Date

X+211 to X+214.

Contemporary Events

Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin share the Nobel Peace Prize.

Geoffrey Unsworth, who was cinematographer for (amongst many other films) Cabaret, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Bridge Too Far, and the first two Superman films, dies in his mid sixties.

Standout Line

"What is this place?"
"Proof the professor hates us!  And always has!" Bobby and Warren.

X1C (v2) #1: "The Job Shadow"

(How not to be invisible.)

Comments

Hmm.  This is becoming a little repetitive.  The Fantastic Four's appearance in this issue brings the ratio of X1C issues (other than the special) to feature established Marvel characters to eight out of nine.  You can certainly make an argument for including Juggernaut and Blob in X1C #3, and the Maximoff siblings in X1C #7, since they're at least X-Men villains and thus tie into the aura of nostalgia this title is seemingly trying to create.  But that still leaves six issues - fully two-thirds of the run to date - that hinge on characters with little or no logical ties to the team or to mutant-kind in general.

That, as far as I'm concerned, is too much.  Yes, the characters are generally well used (Ken Hale was brilliant in issue #8, for instance), and this is true once again in this issue, but I'd still like to have a break from the wider Marvel Universe, at least for a little while.

That gripe aside, though, how does this issue stand up?  Pretty well, actually. As I say, the Fantastic Four are at least well used here, and having Jean hang out with Sue Storm so she can use the Invisible Girl as a role model is a perfectly serviceable idea.  It also allows Parker to point out that Jean is badly undervalued by her usual team, or at least badly underestimated.  Whilst the X-Men admonish her for trying to develop her powers without her help, the Fantastic Four are perfectly happy for her to throw herself into whatever she feels like.  Both her resulting joy and the X-Men's concurrent terror over losing her are great fun to watch.

There's also a panel of Cyclops' reaction to Johnny flirting with Jean that singlehandedly justifies the entire issue.

Built into this fear that Jean might leave the team is another point, however - how much the X-Men wish they could be like the Fantastic Four (nicely demonstrated by Iceman trying to impress Sue with a wall of ice that he's trying to make invisible). As Cyclops points out, Jean does the exact same things in both teams, but in the X-Men she's viewed as potentially "the real threat", and alongside the Richards, she's an instant celebrity.  I guess that makes a lack of appreciation the overall theme, which certainly makes the story more than just a standard super-hero team-up. 

Obviously, teaming-up is exactly what happens at the conclusion - this is a super-hero comic after all - but there's a nice element of vindication and catharsis to the proceedings.  It's then all brought full circle by Sue admitting she's envious of the X-Men for having a mentor to prepare them for the life they've chosen, and then asking Xavier if the true purpose of the "job shadow" was for Jean to see how other superheroines deal with their male counterparts.  The overall message here is that the two teams really aren't all that different.  Perhaps this isn't much of a surprise to the reader, but it's a nice thing for the X-Men themselves to consider.

Just as an aside, since I don't really read much Fantastic Four, I have a question.  Is building a giant android with a head shaped like a hammer something that Reed Richards would spend his time doing?  Because even for him, the cost-benefit analysis surely can't have looked that promising.  The Thing seems to have similar concerns: "Why didn't ya give this thing a face?"

Clues

This story takes place over a single day.

Apparently the first meeting of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four takes place in FF #28, which was published between UXM #7 and #8 (that issue also featured the Mad Thinker and his stolen android, and ended up with Richards reclaiming it, presumably that wacky old MT managed to swipe it again). Nothing else gives us a clue as to when the issue is set, beyond a passing reference by Bobby regarding how the team "Cerebro-ed" Jean's location.  If we assume that Iceman knows about Cerebro as some kind of team tracking technique, and not the specifics (which aren't revealed to him until UXM #12), and that Bobby doesn't consider "Go save Jean" to technically be a mission, then we can actually place this issue between UXM #9 and #10.  That's what we'll do, then.

Date

Saturday 29^th of July, 1978.

X-Date

X+120.

Contemporary Events

Standout Line

"[Jean's] blasting off in a sweet air car while we're all cramming into a minivan on missions."

"That van gets excellent mileage." - Bobby and Charles.

X1C Special: "The Museum Of Oddities", "The Soul Of A Poet", "A Girl And Her Dragon"

(The ghost is a gargoyle.  The dragon is a pussycat.  The poet is a prick.)

Comments

Heh.  Even by the standards of this title, this is entirely lightweight and throwaway, but it's a lot of fun.  "The Museum of Oddities" finds Hank and Bobby (a duo which once again proves the rest of the X-Men are completely unnecessary) pretending to be ghost-hunters in order to find a mutant.  It's a lovely idea - ironically so much better than their stint years later pretending to be mutant-hunters. Alistair the living gargoyle is oddly cute as well.  I think he's underselling his abilities, actually.  Yes, standing still isn't much of a power, but he snaffled Hank's lunch with unbelievable speed.  Having Alistair on the team would be the next-best thing to fighting the Brotherhood alongside Yogi Bear, and who the hell wouldn't be glad to see that?

 

"The Soul of a Poet" reintroduces one of the original run's most underappreciated characters: Bernard the talentless beat poet.  The idea of "neo-mutants" (mutants who only gain their powers when other mutants are nearby) is maybe kind of silly (though that's a relative term in X-books, of course), but for such a short story that hardly matters. Bernard is just as love-to-hate as always, and having Iceman swipe one of his CDs with which to terrorise the team later on is a nice touch.

"A Girl and her Dragon" is the longest story in the collection, and I'm not sure why.  There doesn't seem much point to the initial fight between the X-Men and the dragon except to fill some kind of action quota.  The second half of the story, which is about how Jean deals with learning she must let her new friend go (sort of an inverted "Puff the Magic Dragon") is strong enough to stand alone, I would think.

Still, dragon vs. Sentinel?  That's a pretty awesome idea right there.  "Best dragon ever", as Jean says. (Sorry, Lockheed!)

Clues

"A Girl and her Dragon" is clearly set after issue #18, as seems to be the case with all X1C issues; we see the dragon dealing with the Blob, the Juggernaut, and a Sentinel.  Since this story takes place over the course of several weeks, we can easily assume the first two stories take place within that period, as neither of them seem situations in which the dragon was liable to be involved.

It is of course difficult to sensibly extrapolate the amount of time necessary for a teenage girl to grow particularly attached to a hydrocephalic dragon, but I think three weeks should just about cover it.  We'll therefore assume the X-Men meet the dragon the day after returning from Africa with the professor, and take their new mascot to Monster Island three weeks later.

There's also a ten minute interval we have to find somewhere for Scott to tell Kitty the story of Jean's dragon.  That could happen at any time following one of Jean's deaths, though.

Date

Thursday 5^th to Thursday 26^th October, 1978.

X-Date

X+188 to X+209.

Contemporary Events

Pope John Paul II becomes the 264^th Pope, suceeding Pope John Paul I.

Nancy Spungen dies and boyfriend Sid Vicious is arrested on suspicion of murder.

Standout Line

"My calculations refute Cerebro's -- otters are cuter!" - Hank

Full Time-Line: Take 6

Now that First Class is being placed within the original comic's initial run, I'm going to stop separating the issues into writing runs.  I shall return to the practice (in some for or another) once we move to events that happened in-continuity after UXM #66.  Note that the need to extend the gap between UXM #40 and UXM #41 (brought about by including the First Class issues) has moved all dates after UXM #40 forward by 48 hours.

UXM 1.   The X-Men: Friday 31^st March to Saturday 1^st April, 1978.

UXM 2.   No-one Can Stop the Vanisher!: Monday 3^rd to Friday 7^th April, 1978.

UXM 3.   Beware of the Blob!: Saturday 22^nd April, 1978.

UXM 4.   The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!: Sunday 23^rd April to Tuesday 2^nd May, 1978.

UXM 5.   Trapped: One X-Man!: Saturday 6^th to Sunday 7^th May, 1978.

UXM 6.   Submariner! Joins the Evil Mutants: Saturday 13^th to Monday 15^th May, 1978.

UXM 7.   Return of the Blob: Thursday 29^th to Friday 30^th of June, 1978.

UXM 8.   The Uncanny Threat of... Unus the Untouchable!: Saturday 1^st to Saturday 8^th July,
               1978.
UXM 9.   Enter: the Avengers: Saturday 15^th to Wednesday 19^th July, 1978.
UXM 10. The Coming of... Ka-Zar: Tuesday 15^th August, 1978.

UXM 11. The Triumph of Magneto!: Tuesday 22^nd August, 1978.
UXM 12. The Origin of Professor X!: Tuesday 22^nd August, 1978.
UXM 13. Where Walks the Juggernaut!: Tuesday 22^nd August, 1978.
UXM 14. Among us Stalk... the Sentinels!:  Tuesday 5^th to Wednesday 6^th September, 1978.
UXM 15. Prisoners of the Mysterious Master Mold!: Wednesday 6^th September, 1978.
UXM 16. The Supreme Sacrifice: Wednesday 6^th September, 1978.
UXM 17. ...And None Shall Survive!: Wednesday 6^th to Thursday 7^th September, 1978.
UXM 18. ...If Iceman Should Fail!: Thursday 7^th to Friday 8^th September, 1978.
X1C 1.    X-Men 101: Saturday 9^th September, 1978.
X1C 2.    The Bird, The Beast, and the Lizard: Monday 11^th September, 1978.

X1C 3.    A Life of the Mind: Sunday 17^th September, 1978.
X1C 7.    Who Wants to Date a Millionaire?: Sunday 1^st October, 1978.
X1C 8.    The Treasure Hunters: Monday 2^nd to Tuesday 3^rd October, 1978.
UXM 19. Lo!  Now Shall Appear -- The Mimic!: Wednesday 1^st to Thursday 2^nd November, 1978.
UXM 20. I, Lucifer...: Monday 6^th November, 1978.
UXM 21. From Whence Comes... Dominus?: Monday 6^th to Tuesday 7^th November, 1978.
UXM 22. Divided -- we Fall!: Thursday 31^st May to Friday 1^st June, 1979.
UXM 23. To Save a City: Friday 1^st June, 1979.
UXM 24. The Plague of... The Locust!: Tuesday 14^th to Saturday 18^th September, 1979.
UXM 25. The Power and the Pendant!: Monday 20^th to Thursday 23^rd September, 1979.

UXM 26. Holocaust!: Thursday 23^rd to Friday 24^th September, 1979.
UXM 27. Re-Enter: The Mimic!: Sunday 26^th to Tuesday 28^th September, 1979.
UXM 28. Wail of the Banshee!: Sunday 1^st November, 1979.
UXM 29. When Titans Clash!: Saturday 5^th December, 1979.
UXM 30. The Warlock Wakes!: Sunday 6^th of December, 1979.
UXM 31. We Must Destroy... the Cobalt Man!: Friday 11^th of December, 1979.
UXM 32. Beware the Juggernaut, my Son!: Wednesday 19^th of March, 1980.
UXM 33. Into The Crimson Cosmos!: Wednesday 19^th of March, 1980.
UXM 34. War -- in a World of Darkness!: Wednesday 19^th to Thursday 20^th March, 1980.
UXM 35. Along Came a Spider...!: Saturday 5^th April, 1980.

UXM 36. Mekano Lives!: Saturday 5^th April, 1980.
UXM 37. We, the Jury...: Sunday 6^th April, 1980.
UXM 38. The Sinister Shadow of... Doomsday!: Sunday 6^th April, 1980.
UXM 39. The Fateful Finale!: Sunday 6^th April, 1980.
UXM 40. The Mark of the Monster!: Saturday 12^th April, 1980.
X1C 4.    Seeing Red: Sunday 13^th April, 1980.
X1C 5.    The Littlest Frost Giant: Monday 14^th April, 1980.
X1C 6.    The S-Men: Tuesday 15^th to Wednesday 16^th  April, 1980.
UXM 41. Now Strikes... the Sub-Human!: Tuesday 29^th April, 1980.
UXM 42. If I Should Die...: Tuesday 29^th April, 1980.

UXM 43. The Torch is Passed...!:  Monday 5^th to Thursday 8^th May, 1980.
UXM 44. Red Raven, Red Raven...!: Thursday 8^th May, 1980.
UXM 45. When Mutants Clash!: Friday 9^th May, 1980.
UXM 46. The End of the X-Men!: Tuesday 13^th April, 1980.
UXM 47. The Warlock Wears Three Faces!: Saturday 17^th May, 1980.
UXM 48. Beware Computo: Controller of the Robot Hive!: Sunday 18^th May, 1980.
UXM 49. Who Dares Defy... the Demi Men?: Tuesday 27^th May, 1980.
UXM 50. City of Mutants: Tuesday 27^th May, 1980.
UXM 51. The Devil had a Daughter!: Tuesday 27^th to Sunday 1^st June, 1980.
UXM 52. Twilight of the Mutants!: Sunday 1^st May, 1980.

UXM 53. The Rage of Blastaar!: Thursday 5^th June, 1980.
UXM 54. Wanted: Dead or Alive -- Cyclops!: Friday 6^th June, 1980.
UXM 55. The Living Pharaoh!:  Friday 6^th to Saturday 7^th June, 1980.
UXM 56. What is... the Power?: Saturday 7^th June, 1980.
UXM 57. The Sentinels Live!: Saturday 7^th to Sunday 8^th May, 1980.
UXM 58.  Mission: Murder!: Sunday 8^th to Monday 9^th May, 1980.
UXM 59. Do or Die, Baby!: Monday 9^th June, 1980.
UXM 60. In the Shadow of... Sauron!: Monday 9^th June, 1980.
UXM 61. Monsters Also Weep!: Monday 9^th to Tuesday 10^th June, 1980.
UXM 62. Strangers... in a Savage Land!: Tuesday 17^th June, 1980.

UXM 63. War in the World Below!: Tuesday 17^th June, 1980.
UXM 64. The Coming of Sunfire!: Thursday 19^th June, 1980.
UXM 65. Before I'd be Slave...: Saturday 21^st June, 1980.
UXM 66. The Mutants and the Monster: Sunday 22^nd June, 1980.

X1C #8: "The Treasure Hunters"

("I wanna be like you-hoo-hoo!")

Comments

Well, it's not exactly a fireworks-strewn finale to the run or anything - though that might be at least partly because the comic is about to graduate to ongoing status - but it's a nice fun issue to finish off a nice fun series.  No earth-shattering threats, no dark secrets, just eight books about some of the lighter aspects to being a mutant in a world that hates and fears you.

This time around, there's the barest bones of a continuation from previous issues: the holiday Xavier has been taking for the last three issues (or just the last one, depending on how you arrange the continuity) may have taken a worrying turn, based on Jean's possibly prophetic dream.  The resulting metaphor - that the team are treasure hunters but what is truly valuable is their friend and mentor - is laid on a bit thick, but it manages to avoid being too saccharin.  I like the idea of a trap for the obsessed, as well, though I'm not entirely sure who would go to the effort of building it.  Mind you, that's also true of whoever slapped together the Oak Island money pit Ken mentions.

Speaking of Gorilla Ken: that is one awesome ape.  "I'm fascinating", as he puts it.  If I'd been the X-Men, I would have been sorely tempted to leave Xavier to his fate and just study under Mr Hale instead.  I mean, who's going to prepare you better for a life of fighting supervillains and dodging lynch mobs?  Is it a liberal intellectual? Or is it a tough-talking immortal gorilla who can tear you apart with his bare hands?  I think we all know!

Clues

This story takes place over two days.

We can assume Jean wakes from her dream of Xavier after midnight, which allows us to sneakily make use of our "one adventure a day" rule, and so have the team board the flight to Africa the day after Wanda breaks up with Warren.  By the time the team land in the Congo, it's just past midnight on following day back in New York, meaning that since the X-Men's rescue mission happens entirely during daylight hours, it's still the day after they left in New York by the time Xavier is saved.

Date

Monday 2^nd to Tuesday 3^rd October, 1978.

X-Date

X+185 to X+186.

Contemporary Events

A superjam organised by Paul McCartney takes place at Abbey Roads studio, involving James Honeyman-Scott, Hank Marvin, Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Bruce Thomas (or so Wikipedia says, at least).

Standout Line

"Just humor the gorilla, OK?"

X1C #7: "Who Wants To Date A Millionaire?"

("Never was there a tale of more Wanda.")

Comments

Aw.  Such a sweet little love story.  Nice to see at least one super-power romance (albeit a brief one) that ends not because of some cosmic battle or supernatural alteration or divided loyalty, but simply because two people who find each other very attractive turn out to be ill-suited for one another.

Indeed, considering Wanda's mature (off-panel) decision to break up with Warren, it's surely by no means coincidence that the childish battle between Angel and Quicksilver that starts moments later takes place in a playground.  It's two young men fighting over a woman who neither of them have any right to.  Of course, the playground metaphor works for much of superhero fiction, actually (as has been noted many times before).  It's summed up by one angry woman's response to Pietro and Warren agreeing to a truce: "Well how great that you super-teens have settled your differences.  But the playground is ruined!"

Returning to Pietro for a moment, Wanda's appraisal of her relationship with her brother is quite interesting, and adds nuance to something that was painfully one-note when it originally appeared.  It makes some sense that she would place her trust in the hands of her stronger, more capable brother.  Of course, Jean's point that Pietro's domineering attitude will either drive Wanda away or destroy her free will is entirely correct.

Jean has a pretty good time of it this issue, actually - she's clearly far ahead of Cyclops and Iceman when it comes to deductive powers.  From now on, Jean should be in charge of all investigations, at least when Beast is probably implicated somehow.  

All in all, it's a really pleasant issue, which ends on a lovely note as Iceman once again saves the day, this time by creating a new playground out of ice and snow for the kids to play on. "Stand aside, lame ones" indeed.

Clues

A-ha!  This is it, folks!  Proof positive that the issues of this title are not in chronological order! (Man, I can't believe this is exciting for me...)  Issue #4, as we've discussed, cannot have happened prior to issue #33, but the petrified Mastermind in the hallway this issue means Warren and Wanda's tryst cannot have taken place after UXM #37.  Of course, every issue in-between those two books described Xavier as having been kidnapped by Factor Three.

Since his absence in this issue is explicitly referred to as a vacation (forcing the team to travel by mini-van, apparently - what happened to the rolls?), there's nothing for it but to set this issue before X1C #4.

Mastermind was cursed by the Stranger in UXM #11, and the exchange between the X-Men and the Maximoff siblings referred to in this story took place in the same issue.  The implication is that several weeks have passed since then, which given the run of uninterrupted stories between UXM #11 and UXM #18 puts us at around the same time-frame as X1C #1-3.  Let's assume that Xavier becoming trapped inside Cerebro convinced him that his last vacation didn't do the job, and has headed off into the wild blue yonder again (this explains why Jean is leery about creeping around inside Cerebro's frontal lobe).

We can therefore place this story the just after X1C #3, which happily also means it really has been several weeks since the X-Men last saw Wanda and Pietro, as well as making Cyclops comment about blasting Warren out of the sky an ironic comment rather than a joke in exceptionally poor taste.  Since it's unlikely Hank and Warren would have snuck in to Cerebro whilst Xavier was still around, we'll assume that the professor has been gone for the "couple of weeks" Hank mentioned.

This story takes place over a single day.

Date

Sunday 1^st October, 1978.

X-Date

X+184.

Contemporary Events

Vietnam attacks Cambodia.

Tuvalu gains independence from the UK.

Standout Line

"GO WARREN!"
"Iceman!"
"Oh, sorry.  GO ANGEL!"