STORY: "Into the Crimson Cosmos" (20 pages)  The Juggernaut is banished to the Crimson Cosmos after touching an ethereal ruby which the X-Men have recovered from that dimension.  Meanwhile, Factor Three abduct Professor X.

What you need to know:
While the X-Men are off dealing with the Juggernaut, Factor Three break into the Mansion and abduct Professor X.  Xavier doesn't get home again until issue #39.

We get a flashback fleshing out the background to the Ruby of Cyttorak - by adding some details which make very little difference.  Several centuries ago, the Ancient One (Dr Strange's mentor) went to the temple and got into a fight with its guardian, Xorak.  The Ancient One used his magic to trap Xorak inside the Ruby.

The X-Men have a stab at contacting the Ancient One using Cerebro.  Rather surprisingly, this actually works, to an extent - the astral form of Dr Strange shows up, right in the middle of Strange Tales vol 1 #157.  (The footnote says #158, but it's wrong.)  Strange helpfully teleports Cyclops and Marvel Girl to the Temple of Cyttorak so that they can perform an incantation, and then returns to his own story.

A more innocent time:
The cover art had to be changed because the Comics Code Authority insisted that Xorak the Outcast was too scary.  (He's a kind of generic demon/gargoyle thing.)  The Juggernaut's head was drawn over him.  A reconstruction of the original art appears in Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men vol 4.

The Temple of Cyttorak is patrolled by Commie guards.  Since it's North Korea, the Commie bit hasn't actually dated.  But the appalling dialogue certainly has.  ("Yes!  I, too, am filled with a feeling of dread!")

Comments:
In his introduction to the Marvel Masterworks reprint of this issue, Roy Thomas comments that "The most notable thing about issue #33 was the cover."  No kidding.

This one simply doesn't work.  It's a load of running around in magical dimensions getting mysterious objects that do things convenient to the plot.  Once again, it reads like an example of Roy Thomas having an idea that belongs in a different title entirely - in this case, the Dr Strange strip in Strange Tales - and shoehorning it into X-Men because this is the title he happened to be writing at the time.  The result is a rather poor and uninspired imitation of a Silver Age Dr Strange story.  Werner Roth just seems lost.

On the plus side, the Juggernaut puts up a more impressive fight this month; and the Factor Three storyline continues to advance nicely.

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

VILLAINS
The Juggernaut (next in issue #46)
Xorak the Outcast (first appearance; destroyed; also in flashback preceding this story)
Factor Three: the Mutant-Master, the Blob, the Changeling, Mastermind, Unus the Untouchable and the Vanisher (all behind the scenes), and their minions

GUEST APPEARANCES
Dr Strange (between panels 5 and 6 of page 8 of his story in Strange Tales vol 1 #157)
The Ancient One (in flashback; last in flashback in Amazing Spider-Man #503; next in flashback in Wolverine vol 2 #113)

Written: 27 October 2004

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