Issue(s): ROM #17, ROM #18
Published Date: Apr-May 81
Title: "Hybrid!" / "And a child shall deceive them!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Sal Buscema - Penciler
Sal Buscema / Frank Giacoia - Inker

Review/plot:
Chris Claremont is listed as a 'consultant' on issue #17, and he and Mary Jo Duffy are credited with 'inspiration and assistance' on issue #18.

At least one Dire Wraith has fallen in love with a human and made a baby. But that baby is evil... eeeeeeevil!

And his name is, imaginatively enough, Hybrid.

Similar to the Sub-Mariner, the species interbreeding has also produced a mutant, so Cerebro detects it...

...and Xavier sends in the X-Men. But when they show up, they assume that ROM is picking on the mutant, because Hybrid is able to change into the form of a human child.

The fight, which occurs during a storm created by Hybrid, which Storm can't affect and which limits everyone's visibility, gets out of control really fast...

...and both ROM and Hybrid wind up getting sent to Limbo by Kitty, who is the only one who is able to wield ROM's Neutralizer because she can stay slightly out-of-phase.

Hybrid is awesomely scarey looking. He's designed much better than the Dire Wraith's we've seen so far. And while the story is mainly a formulaic Misunderstanding Fight, the resolution that allows Kitty to wield ROM's Neutralizer is a decent twist.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - first Hybrid. He'll be back a few times.

Chronological Placement Considerations: There's nothing to indicate placement for the X-Men. ROM is stuck in Limbo at the end of this issue.

References:

• There's no footnote, but when Colossus first hears the screech of Cerebro detecting Hybrid, he wonders if Banshee's powers have returned. Banshee lost his powers in Uncanny X-Men #119.
  
• This is the second set of super-heroes that ROM has met, the first being Jack Of Hearts in ROM #12.

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: N/A

Surprisingly well drawn X-Men from Sal.