FIRST STORY: "The Mark of the Monster" (15 pages)  It's the X-Men versus Frankenstein.  Only he's an alien robot.

What you need to know:
The idea of this story was that the Frankenstein Monster had always been a robot.  However, when Marvel created the short-lived Monster of Frankenstein series in 1973, that idea was dropped, and they just adopted the version from Mary Shelley's novel.  One of the flashbacks in this issue has to be a reference to the original Frankenstein, not the robot, so it technically counts as his first appearance in the modern Marvel Universe.

You may be wondering why the Mary Shelley novel exists in the Marvel Universe, as well as a real live Frankenstein.  The answer is the same as for Dracula: for continuity purposes, the books are historical accounts wrongly taken to be fictional.  Stupid?  Yes.  Extremely.  But that's the position.

A more innocent time:
Jean: "The answer to that question, Warren, is... yes and no!"  Warren: "And if that isn't a typical woman's answer, I don't know what is!"

Professor X has "always suspected that Frankenstein really existed."  Er... why?

Comments:
That sound you can hear is a shark being jumped.  The X-Men versus Frankenstein?!  Aside from the obvious stupidity of the concept, Frankenstein was already thoroughly neutered as a genuinely horrific figure by this point - for example, The Munsters had already been and gone, cancelled over a year before.

As if the concept wasn't bad enough, it isn't even done very well.  Despite the fact that Frankenstein has been trapped in ice for a century, it takes the whole issue for anyone to come up with the fiendishly imaginative plan of getting Iceman to cover him in ice.

The less said about this one, the better.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X (next in flashback in issue #65, then in flashback in X-Men: The Hidden Years #8, then in flashback in issue #43)
Marvel Girl I (next in flashback in X-Men: The Hidden Years #8)
Cyclops, the Angel, the Beast and Iceman

VILLAIN
The Frankenstein android (first appearance; destroyed)

GUEST APPEARANCE
The Frankenstein Monster (first modern appearance; in flashback between the flashbacks in Monster of Frankenstein #3-4)

OTHER CHARACTERS
Dr Powell and his assistants (first and only appearance)

SECOND STORY: "The First Evil Mutant" (5 pages)  Xavier tracks down Jack O'Diamonds, who is trying to pressgang Scott into helping him increase his powers.

What you need to know:
Xavier is using a prototype of Cerebro, called Cyberno.  Unfortunately, later writers included flashbacks establishing that Cerebro existed long before this point.  Maybe he's just being nostalgic.

Jack O'Diamond's origin story is, well, serviceable.  He was trying to steal radioactive materials from the nuclear power plant where he worked, in order to ransom them (?!) to pay off his gambling debts.  And, you guessed it, a lab explosion ensues!  His big plan is to get even more radiation so that he can become more powerful.

A more innocent time:
Xavier has his "own personal computer."  He's hi-tech!

Comments:
As with the earlier 5-page back-ups, it does its job, but not much more than that.  Reading these things in five-page monthly instalments must have been painfully slow; it's probably no coincidence that the other back-ups moved rather faster.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Charles Xavier
Scott Summers

VILLAIN
Jack O'Diamonds (also in origin flashback which is his chronologically earliest appearance, preceding the "Origins of the X-Men" story in the previous issue)

Written: 7 November 2004

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