STORY: "When The Tigers Come At Night" (20 pages)  Professor X dreams about Magneto and Amelia Voght.

What you need to know:
A really odd one, this. The entire issue is Xavier dreaming that he's having an argument with Magneto. However, it appears that we're supposed to take all of this at face value, and so here's the information that gets revealed.

It's confirmed that Magneto was the unidentified man who saved Professor X's life in X-Men Unlimited #1.

Professor X is resentful about Scott and Jean's wedding because he sees it as symbolic of everything he gave up by devoting his life to the X-Men. Naturally, he pretends he's very keen on the marriage.

Professor X's mother, Sharon Xavier, was beaten by her second husband Kurt Marko, and turned to alcohol. The Professor feels guilty for not protecting her.  (This is the only mention of either abuse or alcoholism.)

The Professor met Amelia Voght when she was working in India as a nurse. He was taken to the hospital where she worked after he was left paralysed following his battle with Lucifer (in issue #20). They fell in love but she abandoned him when he decided to form the X-Men, believing that the X-Men would simply heighten tension and make matters worse, and that mutants should stay in the closet. Xavier used his telepathic powers to try and make her stay before realising what he was doing.

There's obviously a big gap between Amelia's attitudes as revealed here, and anything that might drive her to join the Acolytes - something that is going to have to be addressed at some point.

If you were really charitable, you could read this as subtle foreshadowing of the Onslaught storyline, where Onslaught turned out to be a mixture of parts of Xavier and Magneto created after Xavier wiped Magneto's mind in X-Men Vol 2 #25. Except of course we know the creators didn't come up with that plot for years.

Comments:
A weird one, this, but with a lot to recommend it. Lobdell does a good job at illustrating the levels of self-delusion which Professor X has got in place to maintain his self-image, and the idea that Xavier is resentful towards his pupils for not living such a wholly duty-driven life as he does (particularly his ever-loyal lapdogs Scott and Jean) is marvellous. The Amelia Voght flashback has a lot to recommend it as well. Definitely one of Lobdell's strongest stories.

Romita's art is back on form after the previous month, although this issue does stem from a thoroughly annoying period when he kept drawing the occasional page sideways. This didn't help storytelling at all and just resulted in readers having to keep swivelling the book about.
 

FEATURE CHARACTER
Professor X (last in X-Men vol 2 #28; next in X-Men vol 2 #29, then in pages 1-11 of X-Men vol 2 #30, then in What If? vol 2 #60, then in pages 12-22 of X-Men vol 2 #30, then in X-Factor #101-102, then in X-Factor Annual #9, then in X-Men vol 2 #31-32, then in issue #312; also in flashback between pages of X-Men Unlimited vol 1 #1; also in flashback between the flashbacks at pages 5 and 7 of issue #12; also in flashback between flashbacks in issues #389 and #117; also in flashback following the flashback in issue #161 and preceding issue #321; also in flashback following X-Treme X-Men #46 and preceding the flashback in Uncanny X-Men 2000; also in flashback following Uncanny X-Men 2000 and preceding the first diary entry in X-Men: The Wedding Album; also in flashback between pages of the Origins of the X-Men story in issue #42)
Jean Grey (last in X-Men vol 2 #28; next in X-Men vol 2 #29, then in X-Men: The Wedding Album, then in pages 1-11 of X-Men vol 2 #30, then in page 10 of What If? vol 2 #60, then in pages 12-14 of X-Men vol 2 #30, then in the second story in X-Men: The Wedding Album, then in pages 17-20 of X-Men vol 2 #30, then in pages 26-27 of What If? vol 2 #60, then behind the scenes in pages 21-22 of X-Men vol 2 #30, then sends the thank-you card seen at the end of X-Men: The Wedding Album, then in Uncanny X-Men Annual #18)
Cyclops (behind the scenes in flashback between pages of the Origins of the X-Men story in issue #42)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Amelia Voght (in flashback which is her chronologically earliest appearance, preceding issue #300; during this flashback, she also appears in X-Men vol 2 #-1, then behind the scenes in the second story in issue #38)
Sharon Xavier (in flashback; last in flashback in X-Men Unlimited vol 1 #12; she makes no further appearances, but is reported dead by the time of a flashback in X-Men vol 1 #12)

VILLAINS
Magneto (in flashback; last in flashback at page 10 panel 3 of issue #161; next in X-Men vol 2 #40)
Kurt Marko (in flashback; last in flashback in X-Men Unlimited vol 1 #12; next in flashback in X-Men vol 1 #12)

Last revised: 16 August 2004
 

back | next