Uncanny X-Men #48Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #48 Review/plot: ...and a radio news correspondent, respectively. Then they get into a fight with Quasimodo (which a footnote reminds us is actually short for Quasimotivational-Destruct-Organ)... ...and his robot army, which is controlled by an even bigger robot called Computo. Nothing wrong with fighting weird robots... ...but really, what is the point of all of all of this? Scott Summers, intrepid reporter? Really? One interesting thing is that Marvel Girl's telekinetic powers are exponentially more powerful than they were in her earliest appearances. The last we saw of Quasimodo, the Silver Surfer had turned him into a statue, but it's not explained here how he escaped that (but see Michael's comment). As Mark points out, the next issue blurb suggests that as of this point the book was going to continue with the solo/duo adventure stories, but that direction (and the Metoxo plot) ends up getting abandoned. The back-up this issue is just an introduction to the Beast's powers and personality. Quality Rating: D+ Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A References:
Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men vol. 5 Inbound References (1): showCharacters Appearing: Computo, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Quasimodo 1968 / Box 4 / Silver Age CommentsOlshevsky's X-Men Index assumes that Quasimodo was freed when the Surfer had his power drained by the Sonic Shark in FF 72. Posted by: Michael | January 3, 2013 8:04 AM Considering that the team had now graduated school and their mentor was dead, it makes since they needed to become adults, get jobs, and start working for a living. Unfortunately, I don't think anything was done to suggest they had interests and education besides being mutant superheroes. Jean's model job is the same job most female characters seemed to have in the 1960s, especially protagonists. As for radio correspondent, that's very left field. This has always been an issue for the X-titles as finding adequate civilian jobs is difficult because nothing about that is intrinsic to the characters or the team concept. Posted by: Chris | January 4, 2013 8:18 PM And at the end, the infamous blurb for "Metoxo, the Lava Man!"...which we wouldn't see for about 3 decades later. No idea if any art or script from 1968 actually exist for it. Posted by: Mark Drummond | January 5, 2013 5:52 PM Tony Isabella has a letter here. Posted by: Mark Drummond | June 29, 2013 4:26 PM Actually it makes no sense, on either a story or a conceptual level, for them to "get jobs" and "start working for a living". Xavier is a multi-billionaire and I'm sure it was set up that Scott and Jean, at least, would have access to his money should anything happen to him, in order to continue X-Men operations (which must be expensive). Of course it's also just absurd to suggest that superheroes need to get "real jobs". No they don't. They're superheroes. THAT's the job. They should be subsidized. It's actually a bizarre idea, to call that an "issue" for the x-titles. You think Cable should be sitting in a cubicle doing spreadsheets? You think Iceman, who has godlike superpowers, should be flipping burgers? These people are super-soldiers and activists. I think the humans in the Marvel Universe should be extremely grateful that most superheroes are subsidized or are independently wealthy. Cause when superpowered people are broke, they don't work - they take whatever they want. Posted by: Paul | August 18, 2013 10:34 PM Also I know people will counter with somebody like Superman - but Supes having a day job and an alter-ego never made sense, and is actually really dumb. A guy who can save countless people any minute of any day, spending hours and hours a day in an office pretending to be somebody else and doing meaningless journalism nonsense - it's silly. Subsidize him and let him run around saving people all day. Common sense. Spider-Man and Daredevil have jobs and in their cases the jobs and the alter-egos make a bit more sense - they're powerful (but not ridiculously powerful) street vigilantes. They aren't super-powered, they're not soldiers, they're not activists - and, properly written, they're not a part of any kind of team, movement, or community. The superheroics for them are like a hobby, or something they added to their lives, rather than who they are. Posted by: Paul | August 18, 2013 10:44 PM Superheroes having day jobs I think is something give them humility and allow for them to better interact with the community if not do something to improve their own position or give them a means to get to what they need to. Spider-Man obviously it works but I think it also works with Superman, with his being a reporter giving him a means to interact with others and find out where and when crisis are; think of it as more an outgrowth of an era prior to mass media and communications allowing for all crisis everywhere to be known immediately. Likewise the whole movement of having Thor keep the "Donald Blake" concept while trying to open a clinic to help people shows the humility in character in wanting to help people in his own way as a human while gaining more respect as a "God of the People". Sure Donald Blake was ultimately removed, but it was an interesting idea and shows that heroes don't want to just get people's respect by running around in tights. Further, I don't think it's fair or right that every superhero has to be "rich". The point of many of the Marvel heroes is that many of these characters are just like you and me only with superpowers and they have other things to worry about alongside saving the day. By making them rich, then it just feels like its more a hobby to save the world than a duty or just one of many things. Heck, look at the whole "heroes for hire" concept: that's completely made to show that sometimes heroes can use their powers to do other duties and make a living, with it as another notch on a resume than the be-all and end-all of their character. Yeah it may be silly to have Cyclops and Jean try to get jobs here but at least it was an honest attempt to have them be more integrated into society at the period...and doesn't it work for mutant rights if mutants are just like you and me instead of just costumed freaks fighting other costumed freaks? Posted by: Ataru320 | August 19, 2013 8:41 AM I think there's also a conflict between what's realistic and what works metaphorically/thematically. Chris' comment was about how it works as a theme. The X-Men were teenagers (with their powers being a symbol of adolescence), and now they've graduated school and grown up so they should get adult jobs. It wasn't well executed here and it's difficult to get it to work anyway as an ongoing without losing what makes the X-Men different than other super-heroes, but it's sort of a logical conclusion to that theme. And it could work especially as the mutant powers became more representative of being a minority, as Ataru suggests. What Paul suggests is probably more like what would happen in real life, but it leads to stories like what Marvel tried circa Civil War, where every super-hero is a member of SHIELD. Nothing wrong with that but you lose the "world outside your window" aspect of the Marvel universe. Posted by: fnord12 | August 19, 2013 9:00 AM "Also I know people will counter with somebody like Superman - but Supes having a day job and an alter-ego never made sense, and is actually really dumb. A guy who can save countless people any minute of any day, spending hours and hours a day in an office pretending to be somebody else and doing meaningless journalism nonsense - it's silly. Subsidize him and let him run around saving people all day. Common sense". Superman, early on, acted as a social protestor (threatening mine owners and slumlords), so he kept his identity secret, much as Zorro did. In the days of the pulp and radio heroes, prior to the debut of Superman in 1938, Doc Savage stood as officially deputized and so did not maintain a dual identity. The radio hero the Green Hornet acted, as an outlaw, however, had a dual identity. (The Green Hornet worked as a newspaper publisher and stood as a normal human, so he had more of a reason to associate himself with the press.) Posted by: PB210 | August 19, 2013 7:57 PM Also, most of the pulp and radio adventurers did not have overly astonishing powers, so they needed wealth to fund their adventures and lack demands on their schedule. Tarzan had wealth as a British Lord (see, Ka-Zar even copied that), Zorro had wealth, Richard Wentworth (the Spider) had wealth, Jimmie Dale (the Gray Seal) had wealth, the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Phantom (Walker), etc. Posted by: PB210 | August 19, 2013 8:01 PM http://www.blackgate.com/2013/04/18/secret-identities-and-the-gothic-that-demmed-elusive-pimpernel/ See further PB210 comments Posted by: PB210 | August 19, 2013 8:02 PM I think the humans in the Marvel Universe should be extremely grateful that most superheroes are subsidized or are independently wealthy. Cause when superpowered people are broke, they don't work - they take whatever they want. Posted by: Paul | August 18, 2013 10:34 PM In the days prior to Superman, the idea of wealthy urban outlaw crimefighters stood as more of a default situation, as far back as Prince Rodolphe von Gerolstein* in Eugene Sue's Les Mysteres de Paris in the 1840's (who in turn inspired the Count of Monte Cristo). Outside of comic books, heroes seem to have tended to just work as official law officers, with Paul Benjamin/Kersey from Death Wish and to a degree Dexter Morgan (who has a sort Barry Allen forensic situation) as exceptions. *Which long predates Ruritania and Latveria Posted by: PB210 | August 19, 2013 8:24 PM What Paul suggests is probably more like what would happen in real life, but it leads to stories like what Marvel tried circa Civil War, where every super-hero is a member of SHIELD. Nothing wrong with that but you lose the "world outside your window" aspect of the Marvel universe. Posted by: fnord12 | August 19, 2013 9:00 AM "World outside your window" more describes the Wold Newton Universe, which tries to keep less bizarre phenomenon out of its bounds. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ReedRichardsIsUseless Posted by: PB210 | August 19, 2013 8:30 PM I always found it stupid that Superman bothered with the secret identity. He doesn't need a home. He could sleep anywhere he chose, without worrying about health effects. Well, he can also build himself his own fortress in Antarctica, if he chooses. All he needs is some money for food, and I'm sure a charity could get donations for him to buy food, considering all the good he does for Earth. Spider Man and Daredevil, on the other hand, had a reason to need a job. Which is in contrast with those earlier superheroes (Batman could be included, and etc.), who were all independently wealthy. Most of them didn't even have super-powers. It was more of a hobby, to keep from growing bored with all their wealth. Posted by: Chris Kafka | August 19, 2013 11:22 PM Remember, Superman was raised as Clark Kent. He grew up living a relatively normal childhood and interacting with other people before he became Superboy-Superman. So he's USED to living in a normal home,etc. Posted by: Michael | August 19, 2013 11:43 PM I don't want to get into this too deeply (wrong publisher and all), but Michael expressed succinctly what I was thinking. Getting a regular job, a regular-person home, and regular-people friends as "Clark" was an important part of the character's identity. He was raised by the salt-of-the-earth Kents in Middle America. He was always a kid from Smallville besides being a Kryptonian demigod; he would have a yearning for that kind of grounding and consistency. Besides, that was part of the emotional appeal to the reader. An ordinary hard-working person like you, or your parents, can also be extraordinary, even if others don't see it. It made him relatable. Posted by: Todd | August 20, 2013 12:23 AM Oh, I understand the appeal and ramification aspects. Posted by: ChrisKafka | August 20, 2013 1:23 AM What Paul suggests is probably more like what would happen in real life, but it leads to stories like what Marvel tried circa Civil War, where every super-hero is a member of SHIELD. Nothing wrong with that but you lose the "world outside your window" aspect of the Marvel universe. Posted by: fnord12 | August 19, 2013 9:00 AM "World outside your window" more describes the Wold Newton Universe, which tries to keep less bizarre phenomenon out of its bounds. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ReedRichardsIsUseless Follow-up on Wold Newton http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Chron0.htm Posted by: PB210 | August 20, 2013 7:28 PM A Metoxo the Lava Man story was finally printed in Marvel Holiday Special 1994 with a current setting framing story book-ending it. It's not clear if it's actually the original script or something they decided to write to finally "solve the mystery" of the lost story. Further interesting info is here: http://unpublishedxmen.blogspot.ca/2012/02/featuring-beast-and-iceman.html Which shows the original story might have been different and there is even a page of the original artwork. Posted by: Jay Demetrick | October 7, 2013 2:37 PM I always thought having a job away from superhero work would at times be a welcome change to some heroes, who wants to be super 24/7? The Animated series episode of Superman 'the late Mr. Kent' demonstrates very well I believe, what happen if dupes couldn't be Clark Kent newsreporter anymore. Posted by: Silverbird | July 9, 2014 9:52 PM I had wondered... Few issues ago, Jean Grey went to a university and went to see X-men on weekends only. That never concluded. She just stopped going there. She could have continued her university career (where she was one of the few women). Instead she went modeling. That wasn't very smart. Posted by: Karel | July 3, 2016 11:51 AM She also dropped out of school in X-Factor, when she went to take psychology courses at night. That was Bob Layton's last issue and never was it spoken of again. Conclusion, Jean isn't very scholarly in the MU. Movie Jean is much smarter. Posted by: Brian C. Saunders | July 3, 2016 6:02 PM Computo was also the name of a similar giant robot computer character created by Jerry Siegel for DC's Legion of Super-Heroes comic book in 1966. The similarities are as likely coincidence as not. Arnold Drake had recently come over to Marvel from DC, but he didn't work on Legion, and I wouldn't assume that he was even familiar with all the many Legion characters. Computo was an obvious name and an obvious type of giant-computer character for the times. DC's Computo was/is a murderous computer-gone-bad, along the lines of Arthur C. Clarke's HAL-9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, invented by Legionnaire Brainiac 5. If super-heroes don't have real jobs and encounter the "little people" on an ongoing basis they're likely to wind up detached from humanity and psychopathic as per US politicians. Ref.: Miracleman/Marvelman Posted by: James Holt | October 4, 2016 11:36 PM No wonder X-Men eventually got cancelled...I mean, look at the ridiculous villains they systematically go up against. Aside from Magneto, Juggernaut and the Sentinels, every single villains is absolutely forgettable. Posted by: Bibs | April 3, 2017 5:09 AM I think the the Kirby / Lee run of the first 18 issues was good, as was the Adams / Thomas run near the end. But between that... Posted by: Mortificator | April 3, 2017 1:42 PM Comments are now closed. |
|||||||||
SuperMegaMonkey home | Comics Chronology home |