X-Men #2

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Cover Date: November 1963

Plot Overview: Professor X has called the X-Men to a meeting. The X-Men take various paths to arrive at the school. Beast climbs buildings and catches a ride on a train. Angel gets swarmed by a mob of girls and Marvel Girl uses her powers to bail him out. Strangely enough they refer to them as teleportation powers not telekinesis powers. Marvel Girl overextends herself with this act and Angel picks her up and flies her back. Cyclops and Iceman see a wall start to fall on a bunch of workers and Cyclops destroys the wall with his optic blast. The workers thank Cyclops and Iceman for saving them before they finally hitch a ride in an ice cream truck back.

Professor X has a mission for the X-Men. A potential mutant by the name of the Vanisher is a new menace to mankind. Professor X mentally shows them images of the Vanisher robbing a bank and then disappearing before the security could stop him. Professor X says that the X-Men will need special training and takes them to the danger room. He puts the X-Men through some rigorous challenges to prepare them for what might await them.

Meanwhile in Washington D.C., the Vanisher warns members of the Pentagon that he plans to return and steal defense plans. Xavier's contact, Fred Duncan, informs Xavier of the Vanisher's plans and asks for the X-Men's help. The X-Men take off for D.C. at once and arrive just in time. The Vanisher has stolen the plans and has appeared right before them. Beast grabs the plans but the Vanisher easily regains them. Cyclops blasts the plans out of his hand and Marvel Girl grabs the plans with her telekinesis powers. She reveals that she's a mutant as well and the Vanisher uses knock out gas on her to retrieve the plans. Iceman freezes his hands together and the Vanisher disappears before Iceman can hit him with an ice fist.

The X-Men sulk over their defeat and Iceman and Angel get into a fight afterwards. Professor X puts a stop to the fight and says that he'll be joining them for their next confrontation with the Vanisher. The Vanisher has demanded 10 million dollars from the government or he'll turn the plans over to the Communists.

The X-Men square off with the Vanisher and his gang of hoodlums in front of the White House. Professor X comes forward and mindwipes the Vanisher. He now has no idea of who he is or the fact that he has mutant powers. His gang realize their meal ticket has been taken out and attack the X-Men. The X-Men jump into action and make short work of the gang of hoods. The issue closes with Professor X saying that the greatest power in the world is the power of the human brain.

My Take: As with issue 1, I had read this when I was a teenager in a Marvel Masterworks collection. I was dreading this issue as I remember it being a fairly boring read and I was pleasantly surprised again by this issue. It was a really quick and fluid read and it does a really good job of establishing the characters and their powers in this book.

Lee really let the characters show off their abilities again. Just answering Xavier's call let Lee spend a little time with each character and how they would transport themselves in any given situation. The same with the danger room tests. Iceman is really the only character that didn't get to show off a lot this issue. Perhaps they felt he didn't need as much explaining to do. Lee is also doing a good job of letting the characters show some personality in each issue. You can pick out a moment for everyone in this book.

The ending was kind of a surprise. The Professor just wipes out the Vanisher's mind and that's that with his criminal career. It's interesting to see the different mentality today vs. back then. Such tactics would be frowned upon by, well everyone. This kind of thing was the subject of a DC crossover called Identity Crisis and the fallout wasn't pretty. And a recent issue of New Avengers saw this subject come up, but there hasn't been any real ramifications to that. I'm assuming it won't be pretty when it all hits the fan though.

The Vanisher's costume was really bad. I'm not sure what they were going for with it honestly. He just looked like a deranged bird more often than not. I also took issue with how the X-Men approached him the first time. If Cyclops can blast the defense plans out of his hands then why not just blast the Vanisher? Seems like it would have saved everyone a bit of trouble and he would've just dropped the defense plans anyway.

Aside from the awful costume for the Vanisher the art looked pretty good in this issue. The X-Men are all really distinct and snowman Iceman is a favorite look of mine. The action and movement in this issue also looked really good. But it's Jack Kirby and his stuff always looks good.

I give this issue **1/2 out of *****.

Notes: This issue features the first appearance of the Vanisher. He's really kind of a footnote in history kind of villain. Some meager appearances throughout the years. He does later become a bigger deal as he survives the depowering of the mutants and becomes one of the main transportation options for the more militarized X-Men during the Utopia days. So he still has his place 50 years later even if it's a very small one. This issue also features the first appearance of Fred Duncan. He'll be a Professor X contact throughout the 60s.

Next Issue: Fantastic Four #21

Posted in: Angel,Beast,Cyclops,Fred Duncan,Iceman,Jean Grey,Professor X,Uncanny X-Men,Vanisher