Let's see how the gang deals with this new foe!
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This issue picks up exactly where issue 12 left off. The unstoppable force known as The Juggernaut has broken into the mansion, swatted down all of the X-Men, and is now standing in front of Professor X ready to strike him down. This issue is action packed!
Professor X speaks to Juggernaut just long enough for the X-Men to find their footing again. Marvel Girl lifts Juggernaut in the air while Cyclops moves Xavier to safety and then uses his optic blast to bore a hole into the floor of the mansion. Marvel Girl then quickly drops The Juggernaut into the hole. However, they all know this won't hold him long.
Professor X and Marvel Girl dash off to his lab, and he instructs Ice Man and Beast to go out and find all of the components for his new Mento Helmet. This is a device Xavier has invented which will intensify Xavier's brain waves (you know, like that other machine that he built...Cerebro). After Xavier puts the helmet on he sends a telepathic message out into the city of New York. A message that is intercepted by plane pilots, kids in their HAM radio hobby class, and two very special New Yorkers, Matt Murdock and Johnny Storm. You might know them as the famous Daredevil and Human Torch.
As Xavier is beaming out his messages, Juggernaut explains to himself really, for the fifteenth time, that he has the powers of Cyttorak, and is unstoppable! Juggernaut starts punching foot holes and hand holes into the sides of the pit he's in, and climbs up toward the top where Angel and Cyclops are waiting for him. Cyclops is shooting his optic blast into the hole, which also limits his vision. Neither Angel nor Cyclops see Juggernaut tunnel just underneath Cyke, and are caught off-guard when he bursts through the floor underneath Cyclops.
Cyclops then directs his optic blast at The Juggernaut while the Angel flies around trying to find his best vantage point to attack. However, The Juggernaut doesn't allow this to happen for long. He grabs hold of Angel and throws him in front of Cyclops' beam. Luckily Cyclops was able to dim the beam's intensity, merely leaving Angel stunned.
Beast and Ice Man enter in at the end of this fight, and Ice Man tries to encase Juggernaut in a solid block of ice, but Juggernaut's power is much too strong, and he bursts out of the ice with ease. The Beast then intervenes and gets Juggernaut into the Danger Room, where he quickly turns on all the training scenarios.
The Juggernaut avoids and survives all the Danger Room has to offer, and then as a last ditch effort Beast releases a ten ton steel cylinder at Juggernaut, but the Juggernaut's sheer power that radiates around his body repels the cylinder back at Beast, knocking him unconscious.
The Human Torch arrives at the mansion just as Juggernaut and Professor X are about to confront one another. Xavier instructs the Human Torch to fly around and distract the Juggernaut while he telepathically calls for Angel. The Human Torch then ignites his flames to maximum, blinding Juggernaut where he stands. Angel, who has now had enough time to recover his energy, swoops down and removes The Juggernaut's helmet, which we learned is a psionic helmet which blocks Xavier's mental powers.
With his helmet removed, Juggernaut is hit with an intense blast from Professor X's mind and passes out. The fight is over.
Xavier thanks Johnny Storm for his aid, then wipes his memory.
The rest of the X-Men team, injured, are laid up in bed. Their wounds being treated by Jean Grey, and boy do they love having her as a nurse. Professor X knocks them back down to reality when he tells them as soon as they recover they have to clean up the mansion because they ruined it. You know, Xavier is kind of a dick like that.
Till next issue!
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So Juggernaut has a pretty interesting origin story and relation to the X-Men, but his reasons for wanting to obliterate Xavier are rather silly. Cain Marko was a dick growing up, and Charles Xavier was a person who pursued extracurricular activities and excelled in sports due to his powers. Cain Marko let his jealous of Xavier consume him because he wanted Xavier's trophies?
Simple solution Cain, don't be a dick! It's not that hard to do!
Sigh, but instead Cain Marko found an ancient power and decided to harness it himself to destroy his brother...almost twenty years later. Talk about a grudge.
These issues I would put on part with issues four and five where we first meet The Brotherhood. It's always awesome when the X-Men get to just sit there and duke it out with a baddy. I also like these issues, because I feel this is where the artwork really gets a chance to shine. They really make each panel interesting and impactful, their expressions of motion and emotion are so well focuses. These are the issues that put artists like Jack Kirby in the "all time great" category.
I also really dug that we got introduced to Daredevil and Human Torch both in this issue. Again, what we are continually seeing here in these first thirteen issues so far is Marvel building this world of mutants around them, and then showing how everyone plays in the other's backyard. Daredevil has the slums (Hell's Kitchen), the Fantastic Four have the Manhattan and more upscale areas, and the X-Men have upstate New York.
When these forces meet it makes for one great issue.
One thing I just can't get over in these books is how Xavier or Magneto, or anyone really, just knows how to make all these crazy contraptions that boost mental power or restrict mental power. I mean you don't find that technology in books. I understand that they are smarter than the average bear, but it is like they don't even struggle to think about this stuff. It's like Xavier says "Hmm, I sense a growing threat...I better build something. I'll need a telephone receiver, some wires, a paper clip, the souls of my students, and a chin strap...shit's about to get weird."
Was Xavier the inspiration for MacGuyver?
I'll let you ponder that question while you wait for Issue 14!
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