Who is Erik the Red? And what is Cyclops' cunning plan to defeat Magneto once and for all?
Originally Published January 1969
When we last left out favourite mutants, they were reeling from a stalemate attack against Magneto. Lorna Dane has seemingly sided with her evil father, and Iceman, annoyed that nobody is taking him seriously, has quit in a huff. Cyclops, however, is said to have a mysterious plan.
However, a new player has joined the field, the mysterious Erik the Red, whose costume seems to push the boundaries of what is okay by the Comics Code Authority. He strolls into Magneto's headquarters, fingerblasting anyone who dares get in his way.
His objective? To join Magneto and usurp Mesmero's place as his #1 guy. But before he can do that, he'll have to... pretty much just ask. This guy has a seriously easy time getting in good with Magneto, who, for a supposed evil genius, has never had a knack for choosing his allies wisely. A shame, since Mesmero has proven himself extremely loyal and halfway-competent. And Lorna seems to be coming around to Magneto's way of thinking.
Just when this evil alliance has been formally consolidated, the X-Men arrive for "Operation Twilight." They first run into Erik the Red and...
Wow! No kidding.
With Cyclops having infiltrated Magneto's squad, the X-Men get to work sabotaging the base so they can electrocute all of Magneto's henchmen using a booby-trapped floor.
It goes well.
That's right, Bobby made a very poorly-timed return to the team, and gets floor-tazed for his trouble.
The X-Men at a disadvantage when the Mesmero and his henchmen arrive on the scene. They defeat Mesmero, largely because Negative Energy Henchman from last issue isn't around. Bobby get away to find Lorna because in his spare time he has found out some very interesting facts about her supposed parentage...
As it turns out, according to Bobby. Lorna's real real parents died in a plane crash. Isn't that great? Magneto just happens to have discovered her mutant powers and used the deep-seated emptiness that comes from being an orphan to con her into believing she was his daughter.
Predictably, Lorna does not laugh it off.
Magneto beats a hasty retreat, one again using the old "blow up your own base" routine. This leaves the X-Men to essentially call this one a win, with Lorna Dane rewarding Bobby with dates and possible smooches to come.
Further Thoughts:
This whole story was coming very close to sticking the landing, but luckily for those of you who come for cheap laffs at the simple backwards ways of old, the final became largely a replay of the last few big X-stories, the Factor Three affair and the Avengers crossover.
I honestly don't know who is worse at planning - Magneto or the X-Men. Year after year both show themselves to be absolutely terrible at any of this.
We are led to believe that Cyclops' masquerade as Erik the Red was a great deception that helped them get the drop on their enemies, but even if everything went well, all they would have done was take out some, probably not all, of Mesmero's henchmen (who admittedly had been pretty elite in previous issues.) And that's not taking into account Bobby coming in at the exact worst possible time to wreck the plan, and himself.
It seems likely that Cyclops just wanted some excuse to wear the red leather bondage gear he had lying around without anyone questioning it. I'm thinking he was bitter that he never got to show off how toned his thighs are in his normal costume.
Magneto's scheme, meanwhile, relies on what turns out to be an incredibly flimsy lie that Iceman is apparently able to disprove with a few days to prep. Or maybe he didn't even look it up and just told Lorna all that in hopes that Magneto wouldn't call his bluff.
Personally, I was hoping it would turn out Mesmero was Lorna's father, and that, dejected at being replaced by Erik the Red, he convinces her to turn on their master. Lorna, fed up with being a pawn in their grand machinations, does away with both of them. At the very least that would explain Lorna's green hair. It's been 50 years and we never have gotten an explanation for Lorna's hair.
So there you have it. What started out as an extremely promising storyline and made for a pretty good ride for several issues ended up fizzling with a quickie mess of an ending that isn't at all out of character for the series so far. It feels like the creators are starting to develop some big ideas for what comics in general - and this comic in particular - could be, but are still hamstrung by the limitations of... the medium? Editorial? Writing down to their audience? I don't know who's to blame.
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