Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #24
Cover Date: Sep 66
Title: "The plague of... the Locust!"
Credits:
Roy Thomas - Writer
Werner Roth - Penciler
Dick Ayers - Inker

Review/plot:
Roy Thomas' first two issues with full writing credits had him assemble a team of established villains to fight the X-Men. They weren't at all related to the mutant themes (such as they were) like the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants or Sentinel stories that Stan Lee generally had this book focused on, but at least having the X-Men fight some decent super-villains was kind of fun. This issue, however, is really out there. Thomas introduces a new villain called the Locust (real name: Professor August Hopper) who makes giant bugs.

The X-Men fight Locust and his bugs...

...but it's Professor Xavier, dressed up like, well, Gandalf the Wizard, who ultimately convinces the Locust to give up his activities.

Weird.

At the end of the last arc, Jean Grey got a letter that said she had to leave Xavier's school. We learn this issue that it's for the perfectly logical reason that now that she's graduated high school, her parents don't see any reason for her to be hanging around a school with a bunch of boys, so they're shipping her off to Metro College.

When she arrives, she meets Ted Roberts, who will be a potential love interest for Jean (and, we'll eventually learn, the brother of Cobalt Man). Scott remains absolutely incapable of asking Jean out on a date.

Roy Thomas' original run on X-Men isn't all this bad, but it kind of shows you how he was flailing around.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Locust. First Ted Roberts.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place while Johnny Storm and Wyatt Wingfoot are in the Himalayas, so after Fantastic Four #54.

References:

• The X-Men graduated in Uncanny X-Men #7.
  
• Johnny Storm also goes to Metro College, but he's currently in the Himalayas after Fantastic Four #54. Angel is worried that Jean might hook up with Johnny since... he can also fly. Johnny and Wyatt Wingfoot are actually shown in a panel, but a note assures us it's not them.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men vol. 3

Should it get a half-point historical significance boost for an early iteration of Roy's trademark walk-it-back caption? The Wyatt-Johnny thing reminds me of that Hitler-didn't-really-say-"Geronimo" caption in Invaders.

Come to think of it, I wish a lot more editors would use the walk-it-back caption. Imagine how, say, "Sins Past" would have been improved by a few of those: "Gwen didn't really have two kids with the Green Goblin, true believer we were just making sure you were awake!"

(I guess it's actually Stan's caption rather than Roy's, tho.)

I think that at the time, the caption would have been written by Roy, even if it was signed Stan.

Walter: Hilarious!

Michael: Was that true even at this point? These are among the earliest issues that Stan wasn't writing himself, so i imagine he was actively involved as an editor. I know he didn't physically write the captions but he's probably the one that caught the fact that Johnny and Wyatt were unavailable (especially since Stan was still writing the FF).

I do know what you mean, though. I was disappointed when i first learned that the editorial captions were actually written by the writer.

It makes you wonder if the writers had a contest to see whose caption could sound the most like Stan.

I never liked Jean being away from the team and couldn't wait for this plotline to end. That said, I found the Locust entertaining enough for what he was.

I never understood why the Locust never became a bigger villain. He has a good name, a cool costume, and creates giant insects. He's BIBLICAL!

Maybe some writer will come along and make him their pet villain, like Jason Aaron did with the Orb.

Metro College never became the Marvel institution like Empire State University did, likely because the Spider-Man title based Peter's life in it while team titles like X-Men and FF had too much going on to develop Metro (that Johnny was even a college student there was completely forgotten).

I am pretty sure ESU is the Marvel counterpart of Columbia University. Do we have similar placement for Metro College? I suspect it would either be NYU or CUNY. I don't think ESU/Columbia comparison was established in this era, so it's possible Metro College was never developed enough that it became established with an actual real college counterpart.