Previous Posts: Introduction | Chapter 1: Lee/Kirby Era Part 1 | Chapter 2: Lee/Kirby Era Part 2 | Chapter 3: The Roy Thomas Era (1966-1968) | Chapter 4: The End of the Silver Age (1968-1970) | Chapter 5: Origins and Flashbacks Part 1 | Chapter 6: Silver Age Flashbacks Part 2 | Chapter 7: X-Men: First Class Vol 1 | Chapter 8: X-Men: First Class Vol 2 Part 1 | Chapter 9: X-Men: First Class Vol 2 Part 2 | Chapter 10: The Hidden Years | Chapter 11: X-Men on Hiatus (1970-75) | Chapter 12: The Champions Part 1 (1975-76) | Chapter 13: The Champions Part 2 (1977-78) | Chapter 14: The College Years (1978-83) | Chapter 15: The New Defenders Part 1 (1983-84) | Chapter 16: The New Defenders Part 2 (1984-85) | Chapter 17: The End of the New Defenders (1985-86) | Chapter 18: X-Factor Part 1 (1986) | Chapter 19: X-Factor – Mutant Massacre (1987)

 

The success of the Mutant Massacre kicked off a tradition of annual events across the X-books, though you wouldn’t really call “The Fall of the Mutants” a crossover. Mostly, its a banner that links a three-issue arc in each of the titles where the the swirling darkness that had hovered over the line came to a head. Oddly though, while Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants featured stories that ended in their teams’ ultimate defeats, X-Factor gave the team a huge victory and became a turning point that led to relatively happier stories.

This post covers the X-Men: Fall of the Mutants Omnibus era. If there’s a theme to Bobby’s story in these issues, it’s that he’s emerging as a voice of a distinct kind of mutant pride, in the wake of his big public speech at the end of issue #17. It’s a point of view that really hasn’t been present in the X-Books much at all yet (Angel, Beast, and Iceman being public figures in The Champions, The Avengers, and The New Defenders notwithstanding).

 

Marvel Fanfare #50 (April 1990)
Writer: Jo Duffy
Artist: Joe Staton

Beast and Iceman tell Archangel about the time the rescued a woman from Arcade who had claimed he fathered her child.

This is an old X-Factor inventory story that ran in Marvel Fanfare because, quite frankly, it’s not good enough to run in the main title, and in April 1990, the book was close to being retooled anyway.

The framing device on the story takes place between X-Factor #59-60. The flashback that makes up the bulk of the story has to take place after Angel commits suicide but after Iceman returns, so after X-Factor #17, but Boom Boom is also there, so it has to take place before #17. The official chronologies square this circle by saying that the story takes place between the pages of #17, which kind of strains credulity.

The issue itself also tries to address this by scripting a scene so that Skids and Iceman say the character who looks like Boom Boom is actually Rusty. No really. There’s even a sequence where Boom Boom tosses a time bomb and Skids says it’s a popcorn kernel that Rusty superheated. So, my personal interpretation is that it isn’t Boom Boom at all. Skids and Bobby are correct in identifying Rusty in drag, exploring his feminine side, and the story takes place between X-Factor #17-18.

Anyway, the twist in the story is that the little boy with the wings isn’t Angel’s kid. His mother is a delusional fangirl of mutant heroes and tried to make a mutant child with a combination of radiation and radical animal surgeries. She’s gone (even further) insane from the realization that her son is dying from cancer from the radiation exposure.

But along the way, we do get some scenes of Bobby and Hank being a cute couple again, and getting defensive when called on it.

This issue isn’t collected anywhere yet, nor is it on Marvel Unlimited.

 

 

 

 

X-Factor #18 (July 1987)
Writers: Louise Simonson
Penciller: Walt Simonson

Cyclops accuses Jean of being both Phoenix and Madelyne and they have a big fight in a story that sort of makes sense if you squint.

Iceman’s still a popsicle from last issue, though he does decide again to take positive action as a mutant to track down the missing Boom Boom.

Meanwhile, everyone’s slowly realizing that Hodge doesn’t have their best interests at heart, which makes you wonder why he’s still around. With Warren dead, who’s paying X-Factor’s bills? Can’t they fire him? Or quit? By the end they figure it out.

Apocalypse tells Angel that the process he’s going to use to give him back his wings is derived from his own malleable cells. That’s right, Apocalypse is putting his DNA inside Angel.

 

 

X-Factor #19 (August 1987)
Writers: Louise Simonson
Penciller: Walt Simonson

While Iceman, Beast, and Caliban search for the missing Boom Boom, they’re attacked by three of Apocalypse’s Horsemen. Iceman stops the Horsemen by freezing a giant chunk of Central Park under a glacier.

In an uncharacteristic bit of humanity from Marvel Universe bystanders, some normal humans cheer Bobby on for his speech at the end of issue #17.

Apocalypse continues to seduce Angel.

 

X-Factor #20 (September 1987)
Writers: Louise Simonson
Penciller: June Brigman

With Iceman and Beast recovering from last issue’s fight, the X-Factor kids decide to try to undo the damage done to Central Park.

Rictor gets upset with Rusty for trying to make Bobby get better by doing a good deed. He says Bobby’s no “Tinkerbell.” He gets so agitated he inadvertently causes his soda bottle to explode. It’s not the last time Rictor will “SPLOOSH!” in a redheaded guy’s face.

Artie seems to be dreaming of hugging Rusty. Leech also seems weirdly happy to climb into bed with Bobby. I know these characters are children, but the storytelling choices are odd here.

The teens succeed in thawing out Central Park, oddly signified by bent trees suddenly standing “straight and free.” Rictor convinces the kids to leave an ice sculpture of Bobby’s pro-mutant speech from #17.

And let’s take a moment to acknowledge that this is the first issue of an X-Book drawn entirely by a woman, guest penciller June Brigman. It may also be the only issue of an X-Book that is both written and drawn by women.

 

Incredible Hulk #336-337 (September-October 1987)
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Todd McFarlane

X-Factor get called in when the now-grey Hulk is spotted in Illinois and mistaken for a mutant.

We actually saw Iceman deciding to go on this mission in X-Factor #20, but the scene plays out differently here. In this issue, Bobby wants to go on the mission to prove he can handle his super-charged powers, even though he’s terrified he’ll be unable. Beast doesn’t appear in this story because he’s still recovering from the battle.

Our story begins when grey Hulk knocks over a building as he’s turning back into Bruce Banner. A bystander named Dick saves Banner from getting crushed and takes him home to recuperate, but also so he can call in X-Factor to claim what he assumes is a bounty on mutants. Although Dick has had confirmed heterosexual relations (he needs the money because he knocked up his girlfriend) there’s a definite queer vibe between them. It sure sounds like Melanie’s been introduced to plenty of Dick’s hunky shirtless “cousins.” Dick probably swings both ways.

Issue #336 has a whole page of X-Factor arguing about how stupid the premise of their book is, but how it’s worthwhile if they just tweak it a little. I’d like to think this is Peter David auditioning for his own run on the book four years later.

Bobby manages to stumble into Bruce Banner on the street by blind luck. He recognizes him from X-Men: First Class Vol 2 #5, but he also met Hulk (not Banner) in X-Men #66, Incredible Hulk Annual #7, and Incredible Hulk #278-279. (Again, more reason for why First Class should be canon!) He ends up capturing the Hulk by encasing him in a glacier.

Once again, Bobby is hiding his face to protect his identity, even though he’s been a public superhero for ages at this point.

Cyclops decides to call in Gamma Base to imprison Hulk, which doesn’t impress Jean or Bobby. Bobby gets a whole page to brood over how bad he feels about helping the government take Hulk. He stops reinforcing the ice on the trip to New Mexico, which lets Hulk briefly escape.

Ultimately, SHIELD turns on X-Factor and tries to arrest them, both because they’re wanted criminals, and to cover their planned murder of Banner. X-Factor and Hulk team up to escape.

Jean Grey gets a nosebleed from using her powers too intensely – I think that’s a first for her.

And this story also features the first appearance of SHIELD Agent Trump, an obvious parody, who makes a few more appearances in David’s Hulk.

 

X-Factor #21-23 (October-December 1987)
Writers: Louise Simonson
Penciller: Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema

X-Factor fire Hodge, but he’s already seized the Worthington fortune and control of X-Factor. He arranges for The Right to attack X-Factor at the reading of Warren’s will and kidnap the kids back at headquarters. X-Factor and Boom Boom (returning from the Fallen Angels miniseries just in time to miss being captured) manage to rescue the kids, but Hodge gets away. And in the last panel, X-Factor are teleported away to appear in the big event.

Bobby gets so emotional when Hodge’s betrayal of Warren is revealed that his powers flare up. Hank cuddles him close as he carries him out of the courtroom.

Once again, it’s Bobby who is first to use his powers openly when The Right attacks in order to protect people.

Another parallel between The Right and the 1980s Republicans – the “Smiley” robots seem to be a clear reference to President Reagan’s famous smile.

Poor Rictor repeatedly says it would be better for all of the kids to die rather than be taken custody by the The Republicans Right, and almost takes them all out a couple of times. Someone really should talk to this kid about his trauma.

In the final confrontation, the Right robots (the story is ambivalent over whether they’re robots or humans in big mech suits, though modern appearances have them as AI) slap a big ugly power dampening belt on Bobby, but it turns out that he’s so powerful now it can’t hold back his powers. Actually, it just stops his powers flaring out of control like they had been since Thor #379. Bobby will keep wearing the belt through the end of his time in X-Factor and into Uncanny X-Men before it’s quietly dropped. There’s perhaps something worth noting in the evil Republicans trying to stop Bobby from being so powerful and fabulous by forcing him to wear a chunky, ugly, grey belt, possibly the most hetero fashion accessory imaginable.

In the subplots, Hank has discovered that every time he uses his super strength, he gets dumber, due to lingering effects of Pestilence’s touch in issue #19. And Apocalypse finishes transforming Angel into Death and appoints him leader of his Horsemen.

 

X-Factor #24-26 (January-March 1988)
Writers: Louise Simonson
Penciller: Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema

In X-Factor’s contribution to “The Fall of the Mutants,” Apocalypse captures the team and unleashes his Horsemen on Manhattan. Caliban betrays the team and offers himself to Apocalypse in exchange for power to get revenge on the Marauders. The team rally and defeat Apocalypse with the help of Power Pack, they take over Apocalypse’s ship as their new home, and Angel goes off on his own.

X-Factor is the only title to actually have crossovers: Power Pack kill Pestilence and save the Statue of Liberty in Power Pack #35 (Bobby makes a one-panel cameo there). Daredevil helps keep control on the streets during the Horsemen’s rampage in Daredevil #252. And Captain America and his ally D-Man (who, in a bit of nominative determinism, comes out in a 2014 story) stop Famine from destroying America’s farmland in Captain America #339 (Perhaps also worth noting that Bobby has an inconsequential one-panel flashback in Captain America #338, covering the New Defenders’ fight against Professor Power in New Defenders #128-130). X-Factor don’t appear in the latter two issues.

Apocalypse has a long monologue in which he explains that he was the inspiration for various world religions’ gods of war. He explicitly refers to the Hindu goddess Kali-Ma, The Black Mother, as one of his identities, so yes, Apocalypse has been gender queer since his earliest appearances.

Apocalypse flashes a picture of Ronald Reagan signing the Mutant Registration Act – a recent storyline that had culminated in Uncanny X-Men #224 – explicitly identifying Reagan and the Republican Party as the foes of mutantkind.

Caliban offers himself to “serve” Apocalypse “body and soul,” in a pair of panels that make his supplication appear faintly sexual. I think he must be able to track more than mutants.

Bobby manages to break out of Apocalypse’s prison simply by turning off the power-regulating belt The Right gave him. That’s correct. The Right’s secret anti-Bobby weapon always had an off button right on the front of it.

Bobby celebrates the team’s win by leaping into Hank’s arms. When X-Factor take over Apocalypse’s ship as their new HQ, Bobby and Hank immediately look for a bedroom they can share. To put this in perspective, the Ship is meant to be about twice the size of the World Trade Centre, so they’re not short on space.

Angel now claims that he didn’t commit suicide. Even though we saw him about to press his plane’s self-destruct button, he claims Cameron Hodge rigged the plane to blow up before he could. This is a drastic rewrite of the end of X-Factor #15.

X-Factor #26 is actually all epilogue to the battle. The public’s attitude toward X-Factor shifts as they realize the mutants saved the city, and even Trish Tilby starts warming to Beast, kicking off their long-simmering romantic subplot (poor Vera). But meanwhile Beast is still getting less intelligent as a result of Pestilence’s touch.

Cyclops has a long torturous monologue in which he says he never really loved Madelyne and only married her because he hoped she was actually Jean. For some reason, this makes Jean super-horny, because she forgives Scott for lying to her about Madelyne and they fuck. Neither is aware that Madelyne just died in Uncanny X-Men #227 after making a televised plea for Scott to find their missing son – they’ll find out next issue.

Bobby and Hank rescued a big-time fashion designer during the battle, and he’s gifted the team with all new outfits, which Bobby is just gushing to show-off at the team’s tickertape parade. Even in pre-Grindr days, the gays always found each other.

But even though that was all epilogue, there’s still two more chapters of epilogue! We’ll cover X-Factor #27 next week, because it’s oddly placed in the Inferno Prologue omnibus. But before that, there’s:

 

Fantastic Four #312 (March 1988)
Writer: Steve Englehart
Artist: Keith Pollard

X-Factor’s tickertape parade gets caught up in an attack from the imposter King of Latveria. When the Fantastic Four and X-Factor refuse to help Dr. Doom reclaim his throne, he double crosses them by kidnapping Beast and the new Ms. Marvel. The heroes stop Doom, and Black Panther allows him to leave in exchange for Crystal’s life.

Not a particularly important story for X-Factor – even calling it a “Fall of the Mutants” tie-in really strains reason – but it keeps Beast’s subplot about his waning intelligence ticking over.

Where to find these stories: All but the Marvel Fanfare issue are available on Marvel Unlimited. They were all collected in X-Men: Fall of the Mutants Omnibus, or if you prefer the TPBs, these issues are all in X-Men: Fall of the Mutants Vol 2.

Next Week: We’ll look at Bobby’s appearances in the “Inferno Prologue” period.

Meanwhile, in the other X-Books: 

• In Uncanny X-Men: Storm hands leadership to Wolverine while she tries to get Forge to return her powers (#220, #223-224); the X-Men find Madelyne in San Francisco, but are forced to fight a Malice-possessed Polaris, and Mr. Sinister debuts (#221-222); the X-Men’s “Fall of the Mutants” story sees them sacrifice their lives to stop the Adversary in Dallas, but Roma brings them back from the dead and makes them invisible to electronic surveillance (#225-227); on their way to Dallas, Wolverine fights the Hulk (Incredible Hulk #340)
• In New Mutants: they fight aliens at a Lila Cheney concert (#55), they meet Bird-Boy and fight the Hellions (#56-58); the New Mutants’ “Fall of the Mutants” story sees them try to return Bird-Boy to the island of the Ani-Mates, where the fight The Right and Doug Ramsey is killed.
• Wolverine teams up with Daredevil to fight Bushwacker in Daredevil #248-249
• Wolverine teams up with Alpha Flight to fight Bedlam in Alpha Flight #52-53
• Mastermold recovers from his fight with Cyclops in X-Factor #13 to fight Franklin Richards in Power Pack #36. Mastermold claims Franklin is one of “The Twelve” but he eventually turns out to be wrong. Blame the corrupted circuits.