STORY: "Promise of a New Tomorrow" (22 pages)  The Promise try to recruit Lorna Dane to join them in suspended animation.  When the X-Men come after her and get defeated, the Promise haul Havok and Angel off as well.

What you need to know:
The Promise get a proper introduction.  They're a group of mutants founded by a telepath called Tobias Messenger.  Messenger and his followers think that a war between humans and mutants is inevitable.  But instead of fighting, they plan to sleep through the whole thing in suspended animation.  Once a decade, they wake up for a few days to check whether the war's over yet, and to recruit new members.  In theory, once the war is over, they will emerge to lead a grateful nation as "voices of reason."  Messenger seems to be insane, and his followers don't seem like the sharpest tools in the box.

There are seven members of the group, although most of them don't really matter.  We've already met Tad Carter in issue #14, and you'll recall that he was the star of the proto-X-Men story in Amazing Adult Fantasy #14.  Tobias Messenger was the namely telepath at the end of that story.  One other Promise member, who's only named as Gracie, seems to have been picked up in the 1980s. 

That leaves Lucy Robinson, plus three guys called Craig, Gene and Simon who never get surnames.  We're told that they were originally brought together by the Yellow Claw, of all people, who forced them to work for him.  This apparently means that they're the characters seen in that role in Yellow Claw #2 (December 1956).  None of this seems to have any bearing on the story, which makes one wonder why Byrne bothered with such an obscure reference.

The Yellow Claw was basically Fu Manchu with added communism.  He's even named after one of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels.  He's an ethnic stereotype of the old school, complete with pale yellow skin.  It goes without saying that this makes him, shall we say, rather unfashionable in the modern era.  This story is rather coy about him, describing him as "a would-be world conqueror who exploited the fears and prejudices of the time", and referring to him only as "the Claw."  This coyness might explain why this ultra-obscure continuity reference is not favoured with a footnote - if they won't mention his name, they can't mention the comic either.

Oddly for a John Byrne comic, there's a major continuity error near the end when Havok blasts Cyclops and it actually has an effect.  As every good X-Men fan knows, their powers don't affect one another.

The opening page narration is so gloriously purple that it's worth quoting in full.  They really don't make them like this any more:-  "The night air is cool and crip, bearing hints of autumn yet to come.  In the cloudless sky, the stars are clear and bright.  On the dark waters of the Long Island Sound, boats large and small bob gently in the light of a midnight moon.  Summer is ending, and soon it will be too cold on these waters for pleasure craft.  Too cold to lie on deck and gaze into the wondrous infinity denied to the eyes of those wrapped in the eternal light of cities and towns.  Those who do, this night, are treated to a sight but few have seen.  A brief and fleeting shadow 'cross the moon, half seen, half guessed.  The Angel is on the wing!"

The hidden cover number is #84.  It's on Iceman's left side (from his perspective), doubling as highlights on the ice.

Comments:
The Promise storyline is downright odd.  As you can tell from the material above, there's some real backwater continuity being referenced here, none of which really seems to matter.  Of course, since the concept is that they've been in suspended animation for decades, any pre-existing character would necessarily be a bit obscure.  But it's presented in a strange way.  On the one hand, it doesn't matter who these people are, but on the other hand, we're given clear and prominent explanations about Amazing Adult Fantasy #14 and Yellow Claw #2 as if it did.  Tad Carter, who seemed to be the focal point and at least has some peripheral X-connection, falls by the wayside pretty quickly in favour of Lucy Robinson. 

And it's another Hidden Years story which introduces an intriguing premise but never really does anything with it.  They're presented as a third ideology, which at this stage is quite interesting.  But in the end, all we get is a story about a bunch of nuts trying to bundle Lorna Dane into suspended animation.  The big idea is there, yet it never connects with the plot.  Besides, as we'll see over the remaining issues, the whole thing just sort of peters out.

Judged purely in isolation, this is a decent set-up issue.  But on re-reading, it suffers from the knowledge that the story never delivers on the promise.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X, Cyclops, the Angel (last in issue #16), the Beast, Lorna Dane, Havok, Iceman and Marvel Girl I

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Teri Martin
Ashley Martin (behind the scenes between issues #16 and #21)
Candy Southern (behind the scenes between issues #16 and #22)

VILLAINS
The Promise: Tobias Messenger, Tad Carter, Lucy Robinson, Craig, Gene, Gracie and Simon
Kraven the Hunter I (behind the scenes; next in Astonishing Tales #1)

Written: 2 June 2006

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