The professor’s absence has been building to what debuted this month, the battle between Professor X and Lucifer, but that is not all, for the Avengers seem to be on the hunt for the great evil arriving in Europe around the same time as our teenage heroes. One might think that this would lead to an awesome team-up, but given the trap that Lucifer laid, it leaves the X-men forced to fight the Avengers to stop them and save the earth.

Story

At this point in the marvel universe, it can be a bit understandable why our groups of heroes have yet to build the kind of repour and trust needed to follow the other’s leads. Still, it is quite the silver-aged comic book trope to undergo the Hero Vs. Hero comic book action that takes place for a large chunk of the book before the Avengers choose to leave this mission and foe in the hands of the younger X-Men. Still not leading to a team-up, mind you, or even staying for support given the strength of the threat. This is sort of explained(or hinted at) in this issue about how the X-Mens skills are needed but the avengers strength is not. But I find this flawed.

Characters And Development

Professor X

In this issue, we learn that Lucifer was responsible for the professor losing his ability to walk, which hints at a long-past conflict between the two. These serve as both seeds of things to come, but also as development for our Hero

The rest of the team

As for the rest of the team, the development is minor; we see Cyclopes grow some as a leader, and Jean’s feelings for him get revealed a bit more. But as a whole, it is the status quo. Meeting the Avengers and coming into conflict with them might be a big part of the issue, but it is reminiscent of what happened in the referenced Fantastic Four #31, even if it is done better here.

Originality & Continuity

This is the first dead man’s switch I recall seeing in comic continuity for Marvel, and it is quite the development setting Lucifer apart from other villains and showing what the X-Men can do to win the day against a foe so well-prepared. In many ways, the actual conflict reminds me more of what we might see in Doctor Strange, leaving the more normal action to be featured in the fight between the Avengers and the X-Men.

Artwork

Jack Kirby shows many of the talents that make him the undisputed king of comics in his work for this issue. We have fine examples of pacing, both over short moments as the X-Men change and over the conflict with the Avengers, where there is lots of motion and many things happen. I will stop here and let the artwork speak for itself in the gallery below.