STORY: "Beware of the Blob" (24 pages)  The X-Men try to recruit the Blob, and end up getting into a fight with his circus.

What you need to know:
Cyclops' first name is given as Scott, for the first time.  (He was called Slim in issue #1, and they never use his real name in issue #2.)

Stan's obviously been doing some work on the X-Men's personalities.  Scott has become humourless and started brooding about the agony of needing to shield his eyes.  The Beast has started talking loquaciously.  The Angel is being played as somewhat conceited, so he's still under development...

The Jean/Scott romance makes its first appearance.  Scott is smitten, but fears making a move while he has his uncontrollable powers.  Jean, meanwhile, tries to choose him as her partner when they're hunting for the Blob.

Professor X reflects that he's in love with Jean Grey, but can't tell her because he's "the leader of the X-Men and confined to this wheelchair."  No, really, he does.  Because if it wasn't for those two things, a romance between a middle aged teacher and his teenage pupil would be completely okay.  Presumably Stan Lee realised what a horrible idea this was, because it's never mentioned again.  Or rather, it was only mentioned again twice - once in a throwaway line of dialogue in issue #101 (where Xavier says he once thought he loved Jean) and once some 35 years later, when Mark Waid dredged it up as an example of Xavier's repressed dark side while building up to the "Onslaught" crossover.

The Blob debuts.  He's eventually given the real name Fred Dukes, but that's not until issue #140.  Basically, he's a big fat guy, but there's a little more too him than that - he's also bulletproof, seemingly invulnerable to fire, and he can't be moved once he's rooted in place.  He's working as a sideshow freak at the beginning of the story, and after Xavier wipes everyone's mind at the end, that's where he winds up again.

After toying with the slogan "The World's Strangest Superheroes" in the first two issues, the book changes to "The Most Unusual Teenagers of All Time."  That lasts up to issue #12.

A more innocent time:
Scott, who's meant to be a teenage boy, is wearing a particularly hideous checked suit this issue.

The X-Men fight a circus.  And get beaten up.  It's not exactly a career high for them.

Comments:
The Blob has proved remarkably enduring, considering that he's basically just a big fat guy.  He's continued to appear fairly regularly over the following decades.  Mind you, he usually ended up in a henchman role, and that certainly seems a better fit for him.

Let's be honest, the X-Men don't come across very well in this story.  They hunt down the Blob simply because Xavier detected a mutant in the area.  Scott barges into his caravan and just demands that the Blob comes with him.  ("And the X-Men don't take no for an answer!")  The Blob asks him to leave, so Scott blasts him with an optic beam.  Blob eventually tags along, plays along with some tests, and gets zapped by Iceman simply because the X-Men find him a bit obnoxious.  Then they invite him to join the team, and he declines.  So they attack him.

Now, is it just me, or are the X-Men acting like assholes?  If the Blob feels like rounding up some of his mates to come back and beat up the X-Men... well, can you blame him?

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, the Angel, the Beast and Marvel Girl I (all between Avengers vol 1 #3 and Thor Corps #3)

VILLAIN
The Blob (Fred Dukes; a fat, strong, immoveable and partially invulnerable mutant; first appearance; next in issue #7)
Circus performers (first appearance; some next in issue #7; Svenzaldo Zambooba, his brother, Stretcho and Tex are identified)

OTHER CHARACTERS
The owner of the Blob's carnival (first and only appearance)

Updated: 26 March 2005

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