STORY: "The Warlock Wakes" (20 pages)  The X-Men save Marvel Girl from the Warlock, a lunatic would-be world conqueror who kidnaps her and tries to marry her.

What you need to know:
The Warlock, who had previously appeared as "Merlin" in a Thor story, claims that he's the real Merlin and that he's a mutant.  Camelot, and Merlin in particular, is a bit of a murky area for Marvel, since there are several conflicting versions of the character floating around.  This one, however, has been comprehensively debunked - according to Incredible Hulk vol 1 #210, he's just some savage who was magically empowered by the Bloodstone (don't ask) and impersonated the real Merlin for a while back in the Camelot era, amongst his other exploits.

There's a token mention of the Factor Three storyline to keep it ticking over.

A more innocent time:
The narrator, four pages into the story, assures us that it'll all make sense soon: "If you're still a bit perplexed, pussycat, don't give up the ship!"

The Warlock's henchmen are armed with "modern weapons."  Specifically, tommy guns.

Xavier is riding a moped with wings on the last page.  God knows where it came from.

Comments:
What a weird issue.  Completely throwaway stuff, and very out of place among the other X-Men stories.  The Warlock is the sort of nutcase who hires normal henchmen and then makes them dress up as medieval knights - although this being Marvel rather than DC, the henchmen at least seem to realise that the boss isn't right in the head.

For the first time in X-Men history, we have in a fill-in artist.  It's veteran Jack Sparling, whose style was pretty realistic by 1960s standards.  Actually, in many ways, this issue looks a lot more timeless than the other X-Men stories from the period; it doesn't have the Marvel house style hanging over it quite so blatantly.  It's pretty good work.

Ultimately, though, this is a weird novelty story.  It's largely been forgotten, and it's not hard to see why.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X, Cyclops, the Angel, the Beast, Iceman and Marvel Girl I

VILLAINS
The Warlock I (last in Journey Into Mystery #96; next in issue #47) and his henchmen
The Exo-Mind (behind the scenes; last behind the scenes in Journey Into Mystery #96; next behind the scenes in issue # 47)
Factor Three: the Mutant-Master, the Blob, the Changeling, Mastermind, Unus the Untouchable and the Vanisher (all behind the scenes)

Written: 3 October 2004

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