There should only be five X-Men. I have spoken
I just bought this one the other week on ebay; I last read it about thirty years ago, reprinted in the British weekly Spider-Man comic. In 1976, it seems team-ups were a common theme of the Marvel annuals: Shag-Chi and Iron Fist; Iron Man and the Champions ( need to pick that one up soon!). Of course, we wouldn't know that in the West of Scotland, since these giants weren't on sale here, to my knowledge.
The All-New, All-Different bi-monthly X-Men wasn't on sale here either. I didn't see any issues between 100 and 109; that was a year and a half. This comic, then, depicts the merry mutants at an interesting point in their history. They're still relatively minor players in the Marvel Universe and in this issue they're shepherded by neo-scripter Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema. The cover depicts Cockrum's essential All-New X-Men: dynamic leader Cyclops, swashbuckling Nightcrawler, regal Storm, loose cannon Wolverine and cover star, the Soviet Superman, Colossus (who would never achieve his potential under Claremont).
The lengthy prologue introduces us to eight new characters and a narrator (who, in Sunset Boulevard style, has actually died in the explosion). A nuclear accident in a Nevada research base called The Nest transforms the team of scientists into the gods of Hindu mythology. Comics!
A year later, Peter Parker, Professor Xavier and his students are on board a Boeing 747 for an airborne conference on mutation. Of course, in 70s Disaster Movie style, the plane is attacked by flying robots, nicknamed Rakshasas, which have somehow survived the meltdown. I first learned this name for Hindu demons from the Savage Sword of Conan's 1976 adaptation of People of the Black Circle.
Spider-Man and Cyclops (son of a pilot, of course) manage to land the plane while the X-Men engage the "Raaks" with their powers. This is the second meeting of Spidey and Nightcrawler - they had previously encountered the Punisher and the grotesque criminal Jigsaw in a Ross Andru-pencilled story earlier in '76. There's also a cameo for Senator Turner whose son is lost in the Bermuda Triangle (in the pages of Skull the Slayer, Marvel's answer to Grell's Warlord. The "Viet Nam vet vs. dinosaurs" comic will be cancelled by the end of 1976. Incidentally, Cyclops' ex, Lee Forrester, hooked up with Scully many years later!)
The third chapter. "Enter..Hellpit", er, pits the heroes against the death-gods Yama and Kali. Interestingly, at this stage of their development, Colossus still has dialogue in Cyrillic and Wolverine is far from the Samurai Cowboy superstar of the Eighties: " Nice goin' pixie! Now, it's Wolverine's turn!...Death is MY business". Spidey puts the obnoxious runt in his place: " I don't hear them talking about YOU as the Amazing Wolverine..."
In the fourth chapter, the Lords have removed Jean Grey's clothing (eww) and replaced it with the "garb of the Phoenix". They want her to join with them as their powers are feeding, Galactus-like, on the Earth.
This sequence rather proves that the story can't fit comfortably into the X-Men's timeline in 76. To my recollection, Jean had been in hospital between issues 101-104 while the team were in Ireland and Scotland and they don't meet again until issue 105. Yet. Xavier refers to his anguished mental state in " Lords" which we only discover is a result of telepathic communication with Princess Lilandra in X-Men 107. Comics!
With their coloured jumpsuits and varied ethnicities, the Lords would have made an effective recurring super-villain team. However, in true Seventies style, their god-like powers run wild and they have to ascend into space to become a stellar body. This is achieved by the X-Men pooling their powers as they would on a few occasions ( somehow, Nightcrawler teleports "mindforce". Oh, Comics!) Spidey and Cyclops come up with the plan- otherwise, you'd wonder what the web-slinger's contribution actually was.
However, we've frequently seen several heroes and villains dispersing or becoming one with the cosmos: The Ancient One, Mar-Vell, Mantis, DC's Libra, Kang... I think it began with cosmic-powered beings like Trelane and Apollo in Sixties episodes of the original Star Trek. By 1976, it seems very tired.
We never hear of the Lords of Light and Darkness again except for a brief reference in the Arcade story in X-Men 123, in 1979. It struck me as odd, years later, that the fire-wielding third Thunderbird from India in X-Treme X-Men wasn't named Agni.
The Bullpen Bulletins page in this issue provides nostalgic trails for the wonderful Bring on the Bad Guys, Kirby's Black Panther, Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel number one. Quite an exciting year for Marvel.
We'll return to 1976 with Marvel Treasury Editions on Materioptikon in the winter. Next time on Place, we'll flash-forward eight astonishing years for more mutant hi-jinks in that inauspicious year, 1984!
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Who would have thought me taking a prolonged holiday could have such a traumatic effect on the internet? Thanks for the mention, Dougie.
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