The second issue of X-Men is here, and we've got a new villain to fight...The Vanisher!
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This week our team, ready for anything since their encounter with their first mutant villain Magneto, deals with their rising fame as well as an all new mutant villain The Vanisher.
The Vanisher is another homo superior who has the ability to teleport to anywhere he can think of. If you think about it, that is a really amazing power. I mean, as far as this issues goes, nobody has set up any sort of limitations to this, like how Nightcrawler's BAMF power works. As far as we are aware, The Vanisher can think of Hawaii, even though he's never been (as far as we know) and POOF! he's in Hawaii.
Or maybe he could think of being inside of a bank vault...I'm just saying...loophole to your whole story Marvel...loophole.
So what does this Vanisher do? Well Vanisher needs money, much like all super villains, but he doesn't want to get one of those "jobs" people have, so he decides to rob a bank. No joke, he robs a bank by telling cops that he's going to rob a bank. So the cops take him to a bank, thinking this is all a joke, and have the bank manager give the Vanisher a ton of money then laugh at how he will disappear with it...and he does! Shock!
Again - why Marvel doesn't just have him think his way into a bank vault totally unexpected is beyond me...but these were written for kids...so maybe I need to be a little more sympathetic. At least he doesn't arrive at the Pentagon attempting to steal the Continental Defense Plans, and when he acquires them teleport to the front steps of the freaking Pentagon where everyone can see him, right? RIGHT????
Wrong, that's exactly what he does! This is also where he encounters our friends the X-Men for the first time as well. This is his first encounter with other mutants, so our team have a little advantage over him since they learned a lot from Magneto.
The team fights hard to stop The Vanisher, but they just can't seem to lay a hand on him before he teleports somewhere else. Just when we thought all was lost, Professor X steps up his game.
Knowing that this mutant will test his team to their breaking point, and after reviewing some high speed footage of The Vanisher's teleportation, Professor X thinks up the most incredible plan. He'll go to battle with the X-Men and then mind-wipe The Vanisher.
Which, if you think about it, damn that's dark! A complete and total mind wipe? One would think that this would take time to contemplate as they essentially destroy a man's entire life...but Xavier doesn't bat an eye, he rolls up and goes Men In Black on The Vanisher.
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In issue 2 we have a couple of common things that I see starting to take place. The first is the call to action. Professor X is the direct instigator of this. As he scans radio frequencies and gets intel from government agencies, he is the one alerting the X-Men to the dangers happening in the world. This is important because it makes Xavier a critical component to the X-Men even though he isn't always out in the field of battle. If it weren't for these calls to action the X-Men would kind of just hang out and train all day.
Plus, these calls to action allow for Jack Kirby really to draw awesome full page panels like this...
The general from Issue One who made a promise to the X-Men that their name would be most honored definitely is a man of his word.
From X-Men Issue 1
In Issue Two we see that the X-Men have risen to fame almost overnight. They are being chased through the city by fans as they rush to appear before Professor X since he beckoned them back to the mansion. When the team arrives back to the mansion we are introduced to The Vanisher...and this is where my theory begins...
So we know from the first issue that Professor X is the child of some scientists who worked on the first A-bomb project. We also know that Professor X is crippled because of an accident he was involved in as a child. I speculated last time that perhaps this accident is also what gave Professor X his telepathic powers.
Last issue we also found out that Professor X has a direct line to some very important people in the government. Professor X uses those same informants in Issue 2 to gain some intel on The Vanisher. So here comes my theory.
I believe that Professor X did gain his powers after an accident involving the first A-bomb project. Powers that Charles didn't know how to control, or understand. Since he didn't know how to control them, various people within the government saw him use these powers, and while they still kept working on the A-bomb, they also started experimenting on Charles.
I'm sure he went through a rigorous training regiment, and when deemed ready, was given funding by the government to teach other people like him how to safely use their powers for good. Since this is a new, and rather dangerous project, the government has also provided Charles with amenities which are top of the line, painting the picture that he is not a mutant, but a wealthy, crippled recluse.
This would open up a lot of options for the X-Men team, who have no idea they are part of a government task force. They merely think that they are doing the right thing at all costs.
Also, since Charles believes that he is the first person ever with mutant powers we can put a hard start point to the mutant generation. Right around 1945 during World War II. That means his parents worked on the Manhattan Project. These are also the same bombs which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
So where the heck am I going with this?
Not only did Charles Xavier gain his powers from the atomic bomb testing, but whatever changed Charles from that explosion also somehow altered people's genes which were involved in the project. Those people had children and that mutated gene was passed on to them. The X-Men are a product of war, just like Godzilla.
Could all be BS, but I think it's certainly plausible.
Crazy theories aside, this issue really allowed Jack Kirby to get to know these characters better, and explore range of motion and expressions. Some of the life he breathes into these characters is amazing, they are so animated that Kirby can really express a mood and feeling over a few short panels.
This issue definitely felt like the classic "flavor of the week" style comic. The kind of story you throw in as filler when you are still building the world around them. That's not a gripe, I actually love that type of story, more of just an observation.
We also learned a couple of new things about the X-Men, for example, Jean Grey has a limitation on the capacity of her telekinetic powers.
This is also the first time that the Danger Room is referred to by name. We see that there are many different test and traps for X-Men to experience and learn from so that they can really be a fighting force.
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