> X-Men Masterworks Volume 2
 
 

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From the Mouths of the Marvels:

"I'm glad you schedule those field trips, Professor! Young people need a little exercise now and then! They can't get in shape for the world outside by burying themselves in books, you know!”

-- Mr. Worthington, pg. 20


This panel is so funny, I laughed so hard I had milk coming out of my nose!

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X-Men #18
March 1966 • 20 pages

Script: Stan Lee • Letters: Artie Simek
Pencils: Werner Roth (credited as Jay Gavin)
Inks: Dick Ayers


Title: "If Iceman Should Fail - - !"

Villain: Magneto

Guest Appearance: Mr. & Mrs. Worthington, Dr. John Thomas

Cameo: The Stranger; The Toad (in flashback)

Gadgets & Technology: Laser-Induced Hypodermic Needle


Synopsis: As the X-Men float slowly up into the stratospher in Magneto's hot-air gondola trap, the Master of Magnetism is refitting Charles Xavier's school to meet his own needs as a base to create an army of mutants to serve him. He greets the parents of Warren Worthing III, aka the Angel, at the door, and immediately hypnotizes them by means of "magnetic attraction." He commands them to go rest upstairs, until he can figure out what to with them.

Dr. John Thomas decides emergency action is needed to save the life of Iceman. He uses the untested and experimental laser-induced hypodermic needles to penetrate Bobby Drake's icy skin and introduce the Sulfa Drug. Up in the sky, Charles Xavier calls on the power from his "counter ego" to destroy the mental-wave distorter clogging up his mind, and then he rouses the rest of the X-Men to consciousness to help save them from being killed.

Magneto assembles a laboratory where he will enact his amazing plan: he will use the body cells of the Worthington parents, who sired a mutant, and duplicate them to create an army of super-mutant to conquer mankind. Xavier calls out to Iceman, who is now healed from his critical wounds, and he slides his way to the mansion, as Jean uses her powers to keep the gondola from rising any further into the sky. Xavier plumbs Magneto's mind and plays back images which he saw back on the Stranger's planet, where he managed to escape captivity by magnetically powering an old rocket that the Stranger had left behind to rot. (He also abandoned the Toad on the Stranger's planet.)

The Iceman makes it to the mansion and sees Magneto pursuing his diabolical plan. And just as the assembly line starts to produce his mutant army, Iceman disrupts the Body Cell Selector which is deconstructing the cells of the Worthingtons. Magneto investigates what is gone wrong with his equipment and discovers the icy mutant, who flees Magneto's awesome power with an ice slide. He traps Magneto inside an igloo he created as a trap outside the mansion, but the trap is only set for so long, as Magnete seals the igloos entrance so Iceman cannot escape.

Up in the gondola, Cyclops breaks through the balloon with razor sharp precision, allowing it to float slow enough to the ground to have Jean break their fall. They set out after Magneto, and a battle royale breaks out, but soon, the Stranger has come back, bidden to Earth by a mental message from Xavier. Magneto immediately breaks away from the fight to run away from the Stranger, who has come to reclaim him. The X-Men race inside to stop Magneto's mutant army from coming off the assembly line.

The next day, the Worthington's awake from their long sleep, and enjoy a nice dinner with Xavier and the rest of the students, never knowing exactly what happened!

--synopsis and panel images by Gormuu


Issues Reprinted
X-Men #11-21

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.

 
XMEN #11 XMEN #12 XMEN #13 XMEN #14 XMEN #15 XMEN #16
XMEN #17 XMEN #18 XMEN #19 XMEN #20 XMEN #21

 

All cover images are courtesy of the Silver Age Marvel Comics Cover Gallery.

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