Now you see him...

Uncanny X-Men #2 - By Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

I give Stan Lee credit for his little ironies. Again he splashes his first page with bold statements including "Congratulations! You are about to begin a book-length tale which you'll never forget!" Considering how this story ends, at least the Vanisher won't remember!

The Vanisher is the new "evil mutant" to face the X-Men in this issue. His power is teleportation - he can instantly zap himself anywhere in the blink of an eye, including out of the clutches of a potential captor and even our of the icy-grasp of one of Iceman's constructs. Neither normal human or X-Man can lay a hand on him, and he seems to have nothing standing in the way of his claiming the $10 million dollars in blackmail money from the US government. But Professor Xavier proves to be his ultimate undoing as he wipes his memory of his power and his very identity! The Vanisher gets dragged off to prison, and the good guys win the day.

Now my memory (of the future as it were) seems to tell me that the Vanisher comes back at some point, and I'm just wondering if he gets as pissed off as the DC villains did in Identity Crisis! In the DC Universe, it seems the Justice League took matters into their own hands and through the use of Zatanna's magic, messed with the minds of several villains, turning them from major powerhouses into relatively harmless goofballs. Ultimately, this is looked at as a completely heinous act and causes a huge rift in the 21st Century Justice League and eventually they disband.

I think its rather funny that in 1963, there's simply no thought that this was an appropriate thing to do as long as it served the good of the people at large. No one criticizes Xavier, instead they applaud his efforts and quick thinking! Will that change as time goes on? I know that we're much more "politically correct" today and more sensitive to the issues of personal invasion like this. Was there really no concern for it back then? Does Stan Lee, or later Chris Claremont or another writer, come back to this moment and decide it was wrong to take the memories from this guy? Is winning at any cost part of Xavier's plan to protect humanity? How does this collateral damage set him apart from those he fights? Only more issues will tell.

The Danger Room is actually identified as such in this issue. We see the missiles and training mechanisms that are always associated with this place in full force. Described as an otherwise featureless room, Lee and Kirby leave plenty of space to throw anything at our teenaged heroes that comes to mind. I will be watching to see how this develops over the issues since it seems a "training sequence" is part of the formula for each issue at this point.

Professor Xavier uses another device to augment his abilities in this issue. He has provided a contact in the FBI with a headband to allow Xavier to telepathically communicate with a normal human and get the inside scoop on the Vanisher. I'll be curious to see what explanation is given for these devices to eventually be put aside and how the plots will work that in.

We still see an overwhelming similarity of character to the Fantastic Four. Xavier himself moves to the forefront this issue as we see more of his character developing - instructing the students, working with the government, ultimately facing the Vanisher in the field. We see Xavier's determination and drive, but also a concern for his students and his "tough love" training methods. Still not much development for the students themselves though.

Maybe Xavier will come to regret his decision in handling the Vanisher by erasing his memories. I'm curious to see if that will happen. He IS the most developed character at this point and may have some capacity for carrying this plot thread through. But then, maybe it will take a couple hundred issues to see light again!

Note: This issue was reprinted in June, 1994 as X-Men: The Early Years #2. Cover by Mike Parobeck.

Up Next: Professor Xavier and the X-Men #1 & #2