Jay and Julie & Julia

I almost forgot that I promised to blog something when I finally saw the movie that sort of back-handedly inspired me to do this project - Julie & Julia (now available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Sony Pictures). When I started this project I mentioned that I'd heard of the movie and the story behind it, but hadn't seen it (Blogging my way back to comics) - now I have and thought I should comment.

First off, I guess I should say I really enjoyed it. Sometimes I can be such a "girl" and actually enjoy the occassional "chick flick." This was one of them. I really empathized with Julie Powell, working a sort of thankless job in post-9/11 New York City and wanting to be creative. Unlike Julie, I'm not really a frustrated writer, but I have other creative talents that I haven't been using, so I completely understand her.

I didn't really empathize initially with the Julia Childs character, but I liked her relationship with her husband and I'm a big fan of Stanley Tucci anyway. What I could absolutely respect about her, though, was the fact that she wanted to do SOMETHING with her days, instead of the nothing that was expected of a typical housewife of her period. I want to do SOMETHING myself.

So, I found myself captivated with these women as Netflix streamed me their stories.

I have to say that I haven't been as dedicated or tenacious as these women when it comes to writing this blog. Julie wrote and cooked every day. EPIC FAIL for me. I do read every day, just not comics, and not the X-Men. I've decided I will be better about this and will commit to at least one post each week. Yeah, each week. I know I'd never do one each day. While I'm saying one a week, I'm hoping to have more then that.

Now, unlike Julie's goal to cook every recipe in one year - I'm just going to keep writing. Heck, Marvel is still producing like 10 X-Men-related books each month. I'll have enough to write about for the rest of my life and MORE! Lately, I've really picked up steam on this little project and I've really enjoyed reading and writing about the last few issues. I've peeked ahead a bit and I'm very excited about what's coming up too! I can see the foundations of MY X-Men being laid here.

While I may not have to de-bone an entire duck, I do worry that there will be some spin-offs and storylines that will be about as savory as the removed entrails, but I will handle them and write about them and tell you what part they play or where they went wrong in the overall Universe of the X-Men.

And unlike the ladies in the film, I don't expect to get hundreds or thousands of readers, publish a book of my blogs, write my story and sell the movie rights to Disney (but I'd take a job offer!) - I just want to have some fun, spark some thoughts (and maybe discussion), and cook my way through one of the most popular comic book series of all time.

Thanks for joining me!

What Savage Land

Uncanny X-Men #10 – By Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

After many cross-overs and guest appearances, Stan Lee actually pushes out the borders of the Marvel Universe with this issue of X-Men by introducing Ka-Zar and his pre-historic world. Eventually, this world hidden under the Antarctic ice will be known as the Savage Land, but it is not named in this issue. This “new world” is destined to become an important place in the universe and will be visited by many heroes and villains outside of the X-Men, but they will always have ties here.

The Savage Land, and Ka-Zar himself, are really just Stan Lee’s riffs on the Edgar Rice Burroughs creations of Tarzan and Pellucidar. And of course, Burroughs owes his own inspiration to Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth! In Burroughs’ books, Pellucidar is a world inside a hollowed-out earth with a tiny sun at the center and populated by all manner of primitive creatures and dinosaurs. While we’re not given exact descriptions of the Savage Land here, we know that it’s under the Antarctic, has a high enough “ceiling” to allow the Angel to fly and mountain ranges to exist, and has a similar population to that of Pellucidar. Also, Burroughs published his final Pellucidar story, Savage Pellucidar in 1963. I’m guessing Stan Lee was a fan.

Ka-Zar himself exhibits many of the traits of Tarzan as well. From the simple loincloth, to the broken English speech patterns, to the animal companion (this time, a sabertooth tiger), Ka-Zar is definitely the Marvel Universe’s answer to Burrough’s creation. Nothing beyond his name and some of his abilities are revealed in this issue, but there are many more aspects of the Tarzan character that Ka-Zar will adopt in the future. I’ll save those for another day, and focus more on the story and the importance of this expansion of the universe.

For me, this story was a breath of fresh air for the series. We finally see Lee breaking new ground (literally!) here and taking the X-Men beyond evil mutants and establishing their place in the world. This story is a wild romp that does the Burroughs tradition proud – all the staples are in place! Angel gets immediately and unexpectedly attacked by pterodactyls; Marvel Girl gets captured by savages and subsequently offered as a sacrifice (along with Angel) to a Tyrannosaurus Rex; Ka-Zar roars to call up a herd of mastodons to break through a wall; and just the image of the “swamp men” riding feral sorts of Ostriches was a lot of fun!

There’s nothing ground-breaking or original in the story, and we know Lee lifted Ka-Zar and his new world from Burroughs, but by adding this type of place to the universe is very important and opens up all sorts of future adventures for all of Marvel’s heroes. All Marvel characters will end up visiting the Savage Land for one reason or another, and that introduces more readers to the concepts that Burroughs created. While new readers may not have read the Burroughs originals, it exposes them to this type of world and maybe they’ll seek those stories out. I’ve never actually read a Tarzan novel…maybe I’ll pick one up.

What amounts to one short adventure for the X-Men, becomes a significant moment in the growth of the young Marvel Universe.

Note: This issue was reprinted in February, 1995 as X-Men: The Early Years #10. Cover by Lee Weeks.

Professor Xavier and the X-Men #11 – by Jorge Gonzalez and Nick Gnazzo

Again, 90’s audiences were treated to a somewhat lack-luster retelling of the original tale. This time, Gonzalez chose to tell the story from the viewpoint of the Angel. While this really adds nothing to the main story, it plays up the romance in the X-Men by giving Warren Worthington his chance at making a play for the lovely Jean Grey, Marvel Girl.

In the original, the romance is limited to three or four panels – mostly thought balloons from Jean and Scott and how they are attracted to each other, but it’s up to Scott to do something about it. In this version, the romance takes up several pages and includes a moment where Warren attempts to kiss Jean – only to be interrupted by rampaging Ape-men! Warren feels that Scott, through his inaction, is welcoming anyone else to step up and claim Jean’s affections. But by the end of the story, after seeing Scott’s worry and concern when Jean is captured, Warren decides to back off and let Scott realize he’s in love with Jean. He even gets the opportunity to express this to Jean directly in a nice scene at the end of the issue.

I applaud Gonzalez’s use of a main narrator in each issue. I think it does make the story a little more interesting and gives us some insight into that character. He does a nice job making the choice for each story’s “voice” and relates that character well to the stories. This is probably the best part in these re-imaginings. Unfortunately, it often costs some elements from the original story to work this narration, or the additional scenes in.

I’m not as interested in Nick Gnazzo’s artwork. Now I realize I’m comparing him to Jack Kirby and that may be unfair, but Gnazzo must have never looked at Kirby’s original panels. Gnazzo’s art lacks the impact and perspective of Kirby’s and often leaves us with a very plain method of story-telling. His characters are done in the broad 90’s style, but the panel layout is often dull or just a standard third party view of the proceedings. The Kirby stuff is definitely more fun to look at.

Even Ka-Zar and the Savage Land aren’t as interesting here. Ka-Zar is closer to the version we’re familiar with in the 90’s – less broken English, not threatened by the X-Men and ready to help out. The panels depicting the rest of the world down there don’t show anything special or dramatic – in the original, we were treated to dark forests, deep ravines, tall mountains and forbidding primitive cities. Everything here is just ordinary.

If a reader were seeking out Ka-Zar’s first appearance, this would recount that story, but I would highly recommend they seek out a direct reprinting of the Lee/Kirby original.

Up Next: Uncanny X-Men #11 and Professor Xavier and the X-Men #15

X-Men Assembled!

Uncanny X-Men #9 – By Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Another major guest appearance featuring the X-Men…wow! Over the first 18 months or so, the X-Men have met, either individually or as a group, Iron Man, the Human Torch, Namor, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. And that means, only about half of their adventures have been on their own. You can see the efforts that Stan Lee has gone to in order to make them a part of his new Marvel “Universe.” All of these characters have been shown together to establish the fact that they all exist at the same time, in the same world as the others and can freely walk from the pages of one comic to the next. While this had happened before – and even super groups like the Justice Society formed – Lee wanted to make sure that no one was confused about his new creations and the universe was going to be a living thing, growing and changing with the events in EVERY Marvel comic. Completely accepted nowadays, but a very new idea in 1965.

In this particular instance, the Avengers (with newly-thawed Captain America in the midst) are really bit players. You can see they really don’t serve a major purpose in the story except to further Lee’s idea of a cohesive universe. Thor’s hammer detects evil and the Avengers rush to confront it, only to arrive and find the X-Men in their way. The obligatory fight scene ensues.

Stepping back from my jaded, adult view of comics, it’s always fun to see your favorite heroes “throw down” and see who can get the upper hand on whom. We still can discuss and debate over who can really win in a fight – the Thing or the Hulk, or who can win in a fair race – Superman or the Flash? These are the moments when comic-creators give us those nuggets. And it IS fun to see the young, up-start X-Men tangle with the stoic, adult Avengers. This isn’t a fight for the ages, mind you, but it’s still fun seeing the Beast snatch Cap’s shield out of mid-air or see Cyclops disarm Thor with a blast of his eye-beams which then ricochet into Iron Man, knocking HIM down. And how can anyone not enjoy Kirby’s versions of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America?

The real story happens far below ground as the “vacationing” Professor Xavier confronts the deadly Lucifer in his lair. Lucifer is a really interesting character, whom we learn almost nothing about in the issue. The Professor alludes to the fact that it was Lucifer who cost him the use of his legs in a previous battle, but there are no details to that story here – and no details at all to Lucifer’s origin. I’m a sucker for a good mystery, so I’m hoping this character resurfaces soon.

In this instance, Lucifer plans to kill Xavier, finishing what he wasn’t able to in that previous encounter. To insure the outcome of the fight, Lucifer has connected a thermal bomb to his body which will detonate if he’s harmed. It will destroy Antarctica and cause catastrophe around the world. But of course, the solution for Xavier is easy. He reaches into his favorite well and “turns off” the thinking part of Lucifer’s brain – leaving his autonomic functions operating.

In the most nerve-wracking part of the story, Xavier calls the X-Men to him, telling Cyclops he must help disarm the bomb. Xavier and Cyclops are dropped on the top of the bomb, where the Professor uses his mental abilities to determine the weak spot in the bombs wiring. As he’s doing this, Lucifer’s body functions are fading. Then, Xavier telepathically communicates the weak spot to Cyclops, who must now use a needle-thin beam to cut ONLY the correct wire. It’s a nice moment for Cyclops who always worries about the colossal power of his eye-beam, and having to use it surgically is an incredible challenge. He comes through with flying colors.
After removing his mental control from Lucifer, the X-Men let the defeated and dejected villain simply walk away. Even Iceman is left wondering about Lucifer’s past and his connection to Professor Xavier.

While the Avengers were merely set-dressing in this issue, the Lucifer story was very compelling and added a new wrinkle to the mythology of Professor Xavier and the X-Men. The character looked familiar to me – kind of like that Master that appears in Alpha Flight stories in the late 80’s or so. I’m not sure if it’s the same character, but I can see the similarities. I’ll wait and see what the next appearance of Lucifer brings.

Note: This issue was reprinted in December, 1970 as the first story in Uncanny X-Men Annual #1 (Cover by Jack Kirby) and again in Januray, 2005 as X-Men: The Early Years #9 (Cover by Carlos Pacheco).

Professor Xavier and the X-Men #10 – By Art Holcomb and Nick Gnazzo

As far as re-imaginings go, this one is, again, fair. Some of the changes made to the story were done for no real reason than to make bigger bangs, and so much more of Lucifer’s story is related in this issue then the original.

In the opening sequence, the X-Men cross the Atlantic on a cruise ship. In Lee’s original script, Cyclops used his eye-beam to decimate a huge iceberg. The story reason for this was to show how powerful his eyebeam can be, countering it with the fine surgical skill needed at the end of the story. In this version, there is no iceberg, but a floating mine released by Lucifer that looks left over from World War 2. Cyclops uses his beam to detonate it before the ship hits it. This can’t take as much energy as the destroying an iceberg, but yet poor Scott is equally drained. I felt this was just a silly change that needn’t have been made.

Other changes are made to update the story with a more 90’s feel. Lucifer’s weapon is now an Electro-Magnetic Pulse weapon that will wipe every computer chip on earth, thrusting us back into another dark ages. Actually, I thought this was a nice update as it sort of hit the same chord as the whole Y2K virus fears of the time.

We do get WAY more information about Lucifer here than in Stan Lee’s original. Again, I’m guessing that Holcomb took advantage of hindsight to fill in these details, but it also removes a great sense of mystery from the character. Apparently, Lucifer is an alien scout – a precursor to an alien invasion. He’s a member of the alien race the Quist (which I kept misreading as “Quisp” and thinking it was time for alien breakfast cereal) and his leader’s are not very forgiving. The detonation of the EMP device would shut down earth’s defense systems and allow the Quist easy access to our planet and resources. Lucifer narrates a rather nasty version of his original encounter with Xavier in which he relishes the injuries he caused, but no more is revealed about that then in the original.

The story resolves with the disarming of the device in the same manner as the original, except that Holcomb feels he needs to add the obligatory countdown clock to heighten the tension. It was more effective to think that Lucifer was dying and they couldn’t save him without the Professor releasing him.

But, like the original, the Avengers are really nothing more than a prop for the X-Men to keep busy while Professor Xavier confronts Lucifer. The art is lackluster here as well – not even the two-page center spread splash page is all that exciting. Gnazzo just can’t compete with the unique perspectives and action panels of Kirby.

Overall, this retelling damages the story more than modernizes it.

Up Next: Uncanny X-Men #10 and Professor Xavier and the X-Men #11

Touch Me Not

Uncanny X-Men #8 – By Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

I’ve never read this original tale of Unus until now. I’d always heard good things about it and seem to remember him coming back at sometime in the future in a story that I didn’t quite get and don’t remember at the moment (but that IS part of this journey, right? To put some of this stuff back into perspective for me, and maybe for any readers too!).

What impresses me most, and I talk about it in every blog, is characterization – and this issue is full of it! I’m convinced that Stan Lee was most interested in the Beast at this point in the series, and this issue is a great example of it. For the first time, one of the X-Men really becomes the focus of the issue. A plain clothes-clad Hank McCoy saves a child in the beginning of the issue only to be rewarded by the crowd identifying him and Bobby Drake as mutants and possibly X-Men. They throw insults as well as punches at the duo and chase them away. Hank gets angry enough, that he declares his disappointment in mankind and no longer wants to protect them. So he leaves the X-Men.

While his attitude comes about a bit quickly, Hank has good reason to resent the crowds. They applaud the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, but the X-Men are despised and ridiculed for their genetics. He feels he’s wasting his time, and won’t be able to change anything and decides to take advantage of humans instead of being all-out evil. He must have been inspired by Peter Parker, because he takes up wrestling as a way to earn his fortune. Hank does rejoin the X-Men in the end, but we are left out of WHY he really decides to come back. Let’s see if Lee picks this up in the future.

Not to be outdone in the character department, Scott Summers gets his moment to grow as well. Assuming the leadership of the team, Scott starts by running a training session for the team. He’s not outfitted in his usual uniform, but in a suit on the sidelines barking orders to his teammates. He pushes them beyond their normal practice routines resulting in most of them failing in their tasks. When the Beast returns however, he gives him the latitude it takes to solve the problem of Unus and his abilities.

The Beast initially encounters Unus in the ring, but the X-Men discover him through Scott’s use of Cerebro. Unus is a mutant whose power is a force field that protects him from any harmful contact. Unus himself can initiate any sort of touch – sitting in chair, picking a flower – but he can’t be punched, shot, zapped, poked or prodded in any way. His downfall comes when the Beast creates a ray that amps up his powers. Unus’s ability gets so powerful, that eventually even he can’t initiate contact with anything – not even to eat! The Beast gets him to agree not to join Magneto or harm anyone else in exchange for a shot from the ray that will reverse the effect. In the end, Unus agrees and walks away in a similar fashion to the Blob from last issue.

Hank’s emotional rollercoaster was the most interesting part of the issue for me. I like it when a character needs to face an issue, but sometimes needs to put it aside for the greater good. Hank didn’t want to come back, but he knew that the team needed his brains to defeat Unus. While he still may not be crazy about helping regular humans, at least he understands that they DO need the help!

An interesting issue that will set the stage for more emotional turmoil in the future.

Note: This issue was reprinted in December, 1994 as X-Men: The Early Years #8 (Cover by Tom Raney).

Professor Xavier and the X-Men #9 – By Jorge Gonzalez and NickGnazzo

This time around Gonzalez and Gnazzo stick to a pretty strict re-telling of the original story – even including some of Lee’s original dialogue and panels very reminiscent of Kirby’s artwork.

The biggest change is the story is narrated by Hank McCoy, the Beast. Being privy to his thoughts makes this story more compelling and gives the reader a better insight into McCoy’s thought processes and frustrations. It’s interesting to be part of Beast’s daydreams in the initial Danger Room sequence and hear his thoughts about Scott Summer’s taking over as Team Leader. The presentation here is a little heavier-handed then just witnessing Scott’s actions, but it gets the point across in the new perspective.

Most of the rest of the issue plays out almost exactly like the original with little exception. The budding Scott-Jean love affair is given more page time here. Lee embedded some dialogue in a panel here or there, but this version gives a full page to their flirtations, again with Scott being stoic about his leadership position. I feel Unus gets rushed through the realization that his increased powers are NOT a good thing. He’s moved too quickly too panic for my taste.

And finally, at the conclusion of the issue, we get some thought balloons and actual dialogue giving better resolution to the Beast’s return to the X-Men. Gonzalez picks up the dangling threads that Lee left and wraps them up into a neater little bow. Again, as with the original, I think his decision is a bit hasty, and the difference the X-Men make doesn’t REALLY involve plain humans, but Hank’s heart is in the right place.

As a reimagining, this was a fine read. It stayed truthful to the text of the original story, added updates where it fit, and closed some of the holes left in the original plot. I only wish more of this series were like this issue.

Up Next: Uncanny X-Men #9 and Professor Xavier and the X-Men #10

He's Baaaaaack!

Uncanny X-Men #7 – By Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

It’s graduation day in the X-Mansion! Yep, after only seven issues the Merry Mutants are done with school and have the diplomas to prove it. And no sooner does Professor Xavier shake their hands and get a picture, he’s walking out. So, again the X-Men will have to face the hordes of evil mutants on their own. I never realized how often Professor X takes off on them. We already had a couple of early issues with an “injured” Professor out of the fight and the kids taking on Magneto themselves. Now, he’s just off to handle some of his personal projects. Well, heck, aren’t the X-Men his personal project?

Before he goes, he nominates Scott as his “Group Leader” and shows him the secret Cerebro. Xavier explains that while he can search out mutants with his power, someone with a “normal brain” needs help. Now we saw Xavier create an enhancer for his own abilities the first time the X-Men encountered the Blob. I wonder if Cerebro somehow is the version 2.0 of that.

In any case, Scott takes his new job very seriously and stays behind to monitor Cerebro as his teammates head out for a night of fun. We get so see some humorous moments and more spotlight time for the Beast and Iceman. You can see these two are definitely becoming Stan Lee’s favorite to write for. They get more gags out of costume and more fantastic moments in the action scenes as well.

Magneto tries to recruit the Blob and again demonstrates his minimal psychic abilities, but he can’t break through the block that Xavier put in the Blob’s mind in issue 3. The carnies all assume that Magneto is trying to harm the Blob somehow and attack. This group of carnies is nowhere near as interesting and the fight is not nearly as fun as the one in issue 3. During the fight, Magneto pulls a bunch of underground pipes up, and the resulting explosion knocks Blob on the head and loosens the psychic block. As his mind clears, the Blob considers throwing in with Magneto and his brotherhood.

The X-Men arrive on the scene and Magneto has prepared a brace of missiles for them. Iceman has some unique uses of his powers to take out some of the missiles, Angel dodges a lot of them and the Beast tangles directly with the Blob. Overall, this isn’t a very thrilling fight scene. As the X-Men regroup to take on the angry Blob, Magneto unleashes the rest of his missiles – without a care for the Blob being in the way. Blob ends up taking the brunt of the missile hits, protecting the X-Men and Magneto and the rest escape in his newly revealed “Magna-car.”

In a rather anti-climactic ending, Blob walks off declaring he will “live and die as a carnival freak.”

Certainly not one of the best issues of the series, this shows Lee really falling into a formula for the stories. We get a few character and storyline moments in the beginning of the issue, then a few action scenes that didn’t amount to much. Lee didn’t advance Blob’s story much here, except that now he pretty much hates ALL mutants – good or evil. And with Magneto, we’ve seen more elements of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch appalled at his tactics and lack of concern for teammates.

Nothing spectacular here, but I’m looking forward to seeing how long the Professor will be gone and what effects it will have on Scott’s character.

Note: This issue was reprinted in November, 1994 as X-Men: The Early Years #7. Cover by Mike Parobeck.




Professor Xavier and the X-Men #8 – By Fred Schiller & Jorge Gonzales and Nick Gnazzo

Wow, talk about turn-arounds. I actually enjoyed the remake more than the original!

When I started reading the issue I was VERY skeptical because the Schiller/Gonzales version dropped the first half of the story – really just relegating the graduation to a one-panel burst of exposition and it completely skipped the Brotherhood’s little battle with the carnies. Cyclops narrates the issue and he tells us the Professor has left and he’s in charge now. Cerebro gets the one sentence mention, but this version is clearly assuming that readers are familiar with the X-mythos and know what that is.

What the issue lacks in scene variety, it makes up for in actual characterization. First off, the Blob makes a BIG deal of Xavier wiping his mind after the last encounter. He’s pissed and he has every right to be. In fact, this issue alone creates a lot more dialogue between Blob and the X-Men (particularly Cyclops) and gives the characters room to stretch. This element was almost completely missing in the original, and I think it was a big miss on Stan Lee’s part. This is a moral dilemma that the characters have to face – and they explain it was a decision that Xavier did not take lightly. This is an issue of personal freedoms and truly more important today in storytelling, but I’d think a writer in the ‘60s would have jumped at the chance to be able to proselytize for personal freedom.

At any rate, the characters amounts of screen time balance out more in this version. We even get a bit more explanation about why characters can’t deal with the missiles so easily. Even Cyclops comments in his narration about how Iceman has developed his powers and he’s still believes in the good in Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.

On the other hand, we get so much LESS of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. There were some nice scenes in the original that developed Mastermind a bit more, showed Toad’s loyalty to Magneto and the naiveté of the Scarlet Witch. Sometimes it seems that Stan Lee was more interested in the villains then the heroes in X-Men. They do get drawn a bit better as characters.

The ending works out pretty much the same, but Blob is much more clear spelling out his disappointments at both the X-Men and Magneto. He actually has good reason to be angry with both teams and agrees to remain neutral in their conflict if they just leave him alone. I actually felt more for him here. He really DOES want to be part of something, but everyone betrays his trust.

Overall, this was a superior issue then many before it. I’m going to attribute this fact to the scripting of Jorge Gonzales. It seems the issues he’s been involved with have been better than others – particularly those penned by Fred Schiller alone. Honestly, I’m not sure how much “plotting” Schiller could have done on this issue as Stan Lee handled that 30+ years before!

It’s not very often that this series improves on the original, but in this case it certainly does!

Up Next: Uncanny X-Men #8 and Professor Xavier and the X-Men #9

Fantastic Foray

Fantastic Four #28 - By Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Marvel icons meet for the first time in this classic issue by Lee and Kirby, and I have to say this was one of the most enjoyable issues I've read since starting this blog. As it should be, this is an FF story that truly guest stars the X-Men. You can see after so many issues, Stan Lee is very adept at handling the FF and their villains. The ease of presentation and flow of their dialogue in this issue really shows how new the X-Men are in his mind and now their characters are only just beginning to solidify.

The story is also something you could only do after having so many issues under your belt. You have recurring villains in the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master (and I can't forget the Awesome Android), who have already been defeated by the FF a number of times and they're looking for an advantage in the next confrontation. Mad Thinker drafts the Puppet Master into creating a puppet of Professor Xavier and controlling the X-Men through their leader. Overall, a great scheme to get someone else to do your dirty work. But the story is actually more then just setting one team against the other.

After an initial "dust up" at the Baxter Building, the X-Men kidnap Sue Storm and head out - luring the male members of the FF to follow them. Sue is taken to an island (its always an island with Stan Lee, isn't it?) pre-set by the Mad Thinker with booby traps designed to capture the entire FF. As the second confrontation between the FF and the X-Men begins, the booby traps click into place incapacitating the whole team. After the villains reveal themselves, its falls to the Beast to overcome Profesor X's numbing command to "sleep" using the superior power of his brain against the professor's power diffused over all the X-Men. He breaks the doll of Professor X and the villains flee.

This issue is full of great character moments for the FF. If you remember my second column ("Enter....The X-Men"), I talked about how much the Beast and Iceman were clones of the Thing and Human Torch. In this issue, Lee really shows that the X-Men have grown beyond that - particularly the Beast. But he does have a few moments here and there where he intentionally puts the characters up against each other in an obvious poke at his earlier critics. In fact, the Thing calls the Beast ugly and freakish on occassion - a nice turn on how he thinks others perceive him.

Overall, this is just a great comic. Full of fun situations and dialogue and supported by wonderful Jack Kirby artwork, this one is truly Fantastic!

Up Next: Uncanny X-Men #7 and Professor Xavier and the X-Men #8