FIRST STORY: "When Mutants Clash" (15 pages)  Cyclops escapes and fights Quicksilver until the Avengers arrive to help.

What you need to know:
Basically, it's Cyclops fighting Quicksilver for an issue, and arguing about whether you can trust Magneto.  Of course, this is Silver Age Magneto, and the answer is emphatically "no" - the tone of the story is pretty clear that Magneto doesn't really want to help mutants at all, and it's all just a power grab.  ("There will be no place for weaklings in the kingdom of Magneto!")

Angel is still brooding about Red Raven.  Perhaps there were plans to pursue that storyline, but it certainly never went anywhere. 

The storyline is resolved in Avengers vol 1 #53.  The Angel enlists the Avengers, but they find a bug planted on him and decide that the X-Men are in league with Magneto.  Magneto uses mind control devices on the X-Men, and the obligatory inter-hero fight ensues until everything is sorted out.  The Brotherhood (including the Toad) turn on Magneto, who seemingly plummets to his death.

This issue was reprinted in issue #93 (April 1975), marking the end of the reprint run.  Yes, you read that right - the 1970s reprints end halfway through a crossover.  The story is also reprinted in Marvel Triple Action #45 (December 1978), an Avengers reprint title, in order to make sense of the crossover.  Otherwise, it hasn't been in print since then.

A more innocent time:
The credits box begins "Roll up for the magical mutantia [sic] tour, marvelites!"  Nitpickers may object that "mutantia" isn't actually a word, but credit for being cutting edge - the film didn't even open in America until December 1968.

Comments:
Basically a bit of a time-killing issue, because the plot can't be resolved until Avengers #53.  Most of the story is a lengthy fight scen, but quite a good one - and it's striking just how hard it is to reconcile the 1960s Magneto with the version later established by Chris Claremont.  This guy is just cynically blathering about mutant rights but doesn't mean it.  Claremont's version is much more interesting, of course, but it's also a kind of tacit retcon that requires stories like this to be quietly ignored, or at least viewed with a lot of charity.

For the most part, the art's pretty good in this issue - with a couple of glaring exceptions, which stand out all the more because the rest of the issue is so easy on the eye. 

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Cyclops, the Angel, the Beast, Iceman and Marvel Girl I (all next in Avengers vol 1 #53)

GUEST STARS
Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch (both next in Avengers vol 1 #53)

VILLAINS
Magneto and the Toad (both next in Avengers vol 1 #53)

GUEST APPEARANCES
The Avengers: The Black Panther, Goliath I, Hawkeye and the Wasp (between the flashback and the main story in Avengers vol 1 #53)

SECOND STORY: "And the Mob Cried, Vengeance!" (5 pages)  Cyclops tries to break Bobby Drake out of jail, but he doesn't want to come.  So they fight.

What you need to know:
Er... nothing, really.

A more innocent time:
For reasons best known to the editors, this story was reprinted in Marvel Triple Action #45, the same issue which reprinted the lead story.  The lead story was necessary to complete the Avengers storyline which was being reprinted at the time; this back-up strip, which is part 2 of 3, had nothing to do with anything and must have been a bit of a waste of space.  The story also appears as a back-up strip in Amazing Adventures vol 3 #8 (July 1980).

Comments:
Rubbish, to be honest.  All Bobby wants to do is sit quietly and wait for his trial, so naturally Cyclops attacks him to make him leave.  It doesn't make much sense, and Cyclops comes across as an asshole.  There's a reason why nobody talks about this story much.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Cyclops and Bobby Drake

OTHER CHARACTERS
The sheriff of Nassau county

Written: 4 December 2004

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