They get new costumes, and their leader, Professor X dies (or at least somebody playing him dies, as will be revealed almost two years later). They fight the Juggernaut, Tyrannus and the Mole Man, Spider-Man, Mekano, Factor 3, Frankenstein's Monster, and Grotesk. This book collects the 19 comics of the X-Men, issues #32 through 42. It is starting to become clear why the X-Men were cancelled. All the auguries point to the need for a new creative direction. One would think it impossible to make a bad issue staring Spider-Man and the X-Men, but Thomas and Co. The new uniforms do nothing for the series other than give Thomas an excuse to stereotype Jean again (despite turning around and giving her one of the best scenes in 42 she's had since the beginning, as mentioned above). You know a comic issue is bad when you are longing for the days of El Tigre, the Locust, or even the pirate ship. This collection also has some of the worst X-Men issues perhaps of all time: the combat with Spider-Man in 35, the Mekano issue in 36, the battle with Frankenstein's monster in 40 (you read that right), and the utterly inane Grotesk battle in 41-42 resulting in the death of Xavier. Too often, especially by the end of this collection, Thomas breaks out an inane deus ex machina to finish off the story, often saying the villain was an alien from outer space, destroying all personal interest in the conflicts. The Factor Three main story has some potentially good points, like the "trial" of the X-Men by former foes, but as mentioned above, Thomas never brings the good ideas to successful conclusions.
Not only that, but we have the beginning of Jean's telepathic skills as well, just in time for the startling conclusion in the final issue of this collection: the death of Professor Xavier. Somewhere along the line, Thomas drops the whole "Jean is away at Metro College" thing with no explanation at all, another example of this creative team's inability to sustain much.Īt times, Thomas proves he is capable of delivering quite interesting character moments, notably giving Jean a personality for the first time in the series since issue 1. He tries his hand at a major storyline (for the time) with the mysterious Factor Three story, an extended conflict of a mysterious group whose only redeeming value is the introduction of Banshee. Unfortunately, Roy Thomas proves himself not very capable of delivering very good stories with these issues.
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