STORY: "Beware the Juggernaut, My Son" (20 pages)  Professor X tries to wake the Juggernaut.  But Factor Three interfere, and the Juggernaut ends up with Xavier's powers, while Xavier is left comatose.  The Juggernaut decides to meet up with Factor Three.

What you need to know:
Bobby turns 18.  Warren brings Candy with him to the birthday party, and their romance subplot continues.

Scott and Jean finally head off alone for a heart-to-heart conversation.  Awww.  Only took them thirty issues.  Strangely enough, they simply drift into being a couple after this point, even though the actual conversation in this issue is just Scott explaining how angst-ridden he is about his optic beam.  This was eventually smoothed over by a flashback in issue #138, which extends the conversation to include Scott and Jean declaring their love for one another.

Xavier has a stab at waking Juggernaut, who's been in a coma since issue #13.  It's finally dawned on him that perhaps leaving Cain buried under a mountain all those years wasn't very brotherly.  In fact, Xavier's carried out a load of experiments and is convinced that he has a way of removing the Juggernaut's powers.  It doesn't work, but this story blames that on Factor Three's interference.  You'd have thought Xavier might have given it another try later on.

Factor Three have been hovering around in the background for a while now - Xavier keeps mentioning that he's looking for them.  This issue, however, they finally do something, by waking up the Juggernaut.  He's not particularly grateful, but he decides to meet up with Factor Three to see what they've got to offer him.

A more innocent time:
More fantastic stuff in Greenwich Village.  Bernard the Poet (who resembles Rolf Harris this issue, for some reason) writes a tribute poem for Bobby's birthday.  Unfortunately, it actually rhymes and makes sense, so the crowd immediately turns on him.  Meanwhile, the house band refuse to play a waltz because they'll "get drummed out of the Folk Purists Union."

Bizarre dialogue from the Juggernaut: "Once again, I exude an aura of sheer energy, even when standing still!"  Because most people have to break into a jog before they start to exude an aura of sheer energy...

The first page carries an apology for not managing to fit the story into one issue.

Comments:
I love this issue for the Greenwich Village stuff alone, which is genuinely very funny.  I can only wonder what the kids reading this in 1967 made of it.  ("Mommy, what does petit bourgeois mean?")  There's also a wonderfully silly fight with the X-Men fending off some bikers who try to disrupt the party.  The plot excuse is that one of them asked Zelda out and she turned him down; really, though, it's just an excuse to do the obligatory power-demonstration sequence in a different way.

As for the story, this is only the second Juggernaut storyline, and obviously he's a character well worth bringing back.  To be honest, he doesn't come across quite so impressively this time - why is the Juggernaut wasting his time with levers that turn staircases into slides?  Thomas doesn't really convey the sense of unstoppability which the original story had. 

But the Factor Three subplot is kept simmering nicely, which is the main point.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X, the Angel, the Beast, Iceman, Cyclops and Marvel Girl I (between pages 12 and 14, the latter two appear in flashback in issue #138; all last in the third story in X-Men Unlimited vol 1 #42)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Vera Cantor and Zelda (both next in issue #41)
Candy Southern (next in the Angel story in Ka-Zar vol 1 #2)

VILLAINS
The Juggernaut (last in X-Men Forever #3)
Rocky Rhodes and his Satan's Saints (first and only appearance for all)
Factor Three: the Mutant-Master, the Blob, the Changeling, Mastermind, Unus the Untouchable and the Vanisher (all behind the scenes)

OTHER CHARACTERS
Bernard the Poet (next in flashback in Marvel Holiday Special 1994)

Written: 27 October 2004

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