X-Men Part 15
The X-Men #24–26, 1966, by Roy Thomas and Werner Roth
We’re back in the Sixties after our First Class detour, and before we get into the action, let’s recap what happened at the end of the last regular issue we looked at, X-Men #23. After a two issue battle with Count Nefaria and his extremely disappointing henchmen, the X-Men returned to the mansion to find a letter from Jean’s parents informing her that she would no longer be attending Professor Xavier’s school. We start issue #24 in pretty much the same moment. We learn a few details right off the bat, with the news that Jean will be attending Metro College in New York City. Jean is shocked and upset, which is kind of crazy considering all the kids just graduated. I don’t know many parents that would want their kid to just hang out at the expensive boarding school they just graduated from instead of going on to college. This feels like a situation that Xavier should have been prepared for.
Regardless, Jean is taken into the city by Warren and a heartbroken Scott, where she immediately meets a cute (and non-mutant) fellow student named Ted Roberts, who shows her around campus and cheers her up. This is some good drama. Scott and Warren are both sad about Jean leaving, while simultaneously being jealous of each other. Jean is emotionally devastated that she won’t be in the same place as Scott (plus she’s unsure of how she can continue her superhero career while being a college student). And then Ted Roberts walks straight into the mix. I wouldn’t really call Ted exciting, and the fact that I’m this thrilled to see him is probably an indication that Roy Thomas hasn’t quite found his footing yet. But I’m really trying to look for the positive here.
Before we get too discouraged though, let’s see if Roy can make some headway with the action of the issue. Let’s meet our villain: Dr. August Hopper, who is also secretly known as The Locust! Ok, I admit the name isn’t the best example of Roy’s work. The civilian name is a terrible pun on the costumed name, and I wouldn’t call locusts intimidating exactly. But what’s his deal? What’s he trying to do? Surely there’s something we can grab onto there. Well, Dr. Hopper was a professor at Metro College until he was fired for his bizarre theories involving insects evolving until they are giant-sized. Now, he has developed a way to transform normal insects into giants, and he has started dressing up in a very ridiculous locust costume while running through farmlands and creating chaos with the massive insects he leaves in his wake. And this is all very specifically so that all the people that laughed at him will have to admit he was right, at which point he can publicly “cure” this epidemic of monster bugs.
So, no. There’s nothing to hold onto there. We’re going to drown in the madness. The Locust is a perfect example of what is simultaneously fun and frustrating about this era of X-Men. The Locust is so very stupid that he’s kind of great. This man’s motivations are essentially the same as a child who was knocked down on the playground by a bully. He dresses up in a costume that is truly insane. The locust is not a creature that many people would see and think that its appearance should be used as a template. Plus, it’s important to note that Dr. Hopper’s method of controlling these insects relies on the antennae of his costume. So, if something happens to the antennae (which it obviously does), he’s left hoping the monstrous insects he’s created won’t eat him because he sort of looks like he could be their cousin. That is not a good plan. But when it’s all thrown together, it’s kind of a fun story, in a really dumb way.
On the other hand, it’s also quite frustrating because this story doesn’t matter at all. It’s obvious from the very beginning that the Locust is not going to be someone that continues to bother the X-Men. This plot can barely fill up this issue, let alone turn into a recurring storyline. And that’s going to be something of a theme for the next little bit. All of these stories have some really fun elements individually, but they very rarely add up to something more. In the future, that build-up is really what makes the X-Men so much fun to read and obsess over. The stories build on themselves and pull elements from previous installments, and they reward the reader that’s paid attention to the details and refused to skip an issue. That’s not the case here. It wouldn’t matter if a reader skipped over the Locust. Sure, they would miss out on how bonkers a dumpy, goateed college professor looks when he dresses up like an insect. But that’s something most of us can do without.
The only other thing to note here is how the Locust is ultimately defeated. In an almost exact replay from issue #23, Professor Xavier uses his new mechanical leg braces to disguise himself, this time as some sort of strange hobo for some reason. This somehow allows him to get close to Dr. Hopper, and he essentially guilt trips him until he sees the error of his ways. Is this new theme of Professor Xavier disguising himself and disrupting the villain’s plans to tie everything up better or worse than him simply mind-wiping everyone at the end of each issue? It’s hard to say, but I can tell you that I’m not a fan of either option. They’re both boring and lazy ways to resolve the conflict. They elevate the least exciting and most morally dubious character in the book. And they highlight the lack of agency the ostensible heroes actually have.
Issues #25–26 are, unfortunately, not nearly as much fun as the ridiculous saga of Dr. August Hopper. This pair of issues tell the story of the treasure hunter/grave robber El Tigre and his two henchman/guides/sidekicks Ramon and Tuloc. They uncover part of a gem in an ancient Mayan pyramid, and once they steal the other half from the City Museum in New York City, El Tigre is transformed into the superhuman host of the Mayan god Kukulcan. Unfortunately, this is accompanied by both stereotypes and a fairly unexciting story (and I’m not even going into what a terrible idea it is to name a story “Holocaust”).
Kukulcan is a strange adversary, in that he is an actual Mayan god. Marvel had already used Norse and Greek mythology pretty extensively at this point, but I’m not aware of many other instances of South American pantheons being pulled in. Sadly, this outlier is not very exciting. He uses his power to brainwash a bunch of civilians into rebuilding his ancient Mayan city, and then gets defeated when Bobby covers his giant Serpent Totem with enough ice that it can’t absorb the sun’s energy anymore. In his attempt to get rid of the ice, Kukulcan starts an earthquake that destroys his own rebuilt city and the source of his power, leaving him transformed back into normal, boring El Tigre.
Despite the problems, there are a couple of interesting things to discuss here. First, we have another example of how the X-Men are always better as a team than they are solo. When the team tries to head El Tigre off at the museum, before he can steal the other half of the gem, they split up to search the building faster. Despite being able to take on a literal god as a team in the next issue, they are easily overpowered while on their own by Ramon and Tuloc wielding bolas and machetes.
I think a huge reason for this disaster is the absence of Jean throughout this adventure. Issue #25 opens with the team taking her back to Metro College after a weekend spent at the Xavier School. They, of course, have to stop and save everyone at an orphanage that’s on fire, but they still get her to the school in time to be met by Ted Roberts. Her absence for the rest of the story is keenly felt. Jean typically proves to be both a voice of reason and a uniting force for the team. Would the team have split up if she had been with them? It’s hard to say for certain, but I think it’s highly unlikely. Who knows if we would have even seen the reborn Kukulcan if Jean had been with the team?
Jean attending Metro College also gives us the small bit of soap opera that we’re treated to in this story. We see Warren and Scott both jealously observing Ted Roberts while he carries Jean’s bags after they drop her at the school. Warren seems determined to find someone else, while Scott just sinks further into the hopelessness that seems to define him in this era. This mutual jealousy explodes during the final fight with Kukulcan when Scott misses the villain and hits a flying Warren with his optic blast, severely injuring him. Warren immediately accuses Scott of hitting him on purpose because of his uncontrollable jealousy. And while Scott, without a doubt, doesn’t know how to process his emotions, the idea that he would lash out at a friend and teammate in this way is outrageous. Sadly, while this is obvious to the reader, even Scott begins to doubt himself under the weight of Warren’s injuries.
Before ending, I want to mention two other small details. First, Issue #25 has the Professor’s mechanical leg braces malfunction and short out. Incredibly, he anticipated this and apparently had robotic arms installed all over the mansion to catch him whenever this event inevitably happened. I doubt Roy Thomas intended this scene to act as a clue to the extent of the Xavier family fortune, but it can certainly be read that way. Thankfully, Xavier never fixes the mechanical legs, and they are never seen again.
Finally, Issue #26 sets up a future adventure as Jean is introduced to another classmate by Ted Roberts. This new student is a familiar face, Calvin Rankin, aka The Mimic. He doesn’t remember who Jean is, thanks to Xavier’s earlier mind-wiping, but he knows that they have met before. And despite Jean’s assurances that there is no possibility of them having known each other previously, Mimic is determined to figure out who she is.
Overall, this is a forgettable and ill-advised journey into Mexican mythology. But we at least get these small moments that move the overall story forward in some microscopic ways. And hopefully it won’t be long before Roy Thomas finds a direction to move in without quite so much stumbling around.
