UNCANNY X-MEN #103: The Fall of the Tower

The X-Men and their leprechaun friends team up to thwart Black Tom and Juggernaut!

Originally Published February 1977

Somewhere in the last issue, I mentioned that Nightcrawler was carried off in the middle of he heated battle with Juggernaut by actual leprechauns who come out of a hole in the wall, never to be seen again. As it turns out, Cassidy Keep is brimming with "little folk," as we learn they comprise the "families" Banshee had inquired about two issues earlier, and who Black Tom has thrown in the dungeon. This is all explained by Eamon, the Seneschal, or leprechaun-minder, of the Keep.

The leprechauns have Nightcrawler demonstrate his ability to turn invisible in shadow, which he himself did not know he had, despite presumably having been in a shadow at some point in his life (especially as he hails from the part of Germany that was still lit by torches by 1975.)

Also, aren't most things invisible in shadow?

Some have complained that this means Nightcrawler has too many powers, given he can teleport, cling to walls, turn invisible in shadow, use an image inducer to change his appearance, has a prehensile tail, doesn't turns soggy in milk and gets excellent cell service in any part of the country. But somehow the total package all works

Eamon takes Crawler to where the X-Men have been locked, by Tom and Juggernaut, in a starter kit torture lab, where Tom gloats over his evil plan to inflict so much mental anguish on the X-Men that Charles feels it and begs them to let them kill him.

I could make a joke here that Xavier actually does not care about the pain and suffering of his students, as not only he regularly sends them to risk capture, death and torture but also frequently is shown to toy with them for his own amusement or shady purposes. But even if you, like me, don't subscribe to the characterization of Charles Xavier as an altruistic pacifist, you could see him getting so fed-up and inconvenienced by all this secondhand suffering that he demands an end - sort of like when there's construction outside your window at 6 AM every morning and you're like "Gah, just kill me!"

Before you know it, Professor X actually shows up and begins taunting the Juggernaut and Black Tom, leaping around like an acrobat and proving that he only uses the wheelchair to get respect, like Guy Caballero. Before long, everyone figures out that "Xavier" is actually Nightcrawler (what with the clinging to walls and all) using his image inducer to et the drop on his foes.

In the fray, Juggy punches a hole in the side of the castle. The sight of wide open sky snaps Storm out of her panicked state, causing her to conjure up a storm that throws the baddies off balance. The X-Men are freed, but swept by the wind to the base of the castle.

Unfortunately, Tom and Cain still have Banshee as a hostage, and invite the X-Men up to rescue him and restart the fight, or else they'll send him down "one piece at a time." Storm flies up, but is met with defensive laser blasters built into the castle. Colossus tosses Wolverine (as payment for continually referring to his friend Storm as a "broad") but he lands on the far side of the castle. Piotr's only choice is to climb up by hand, leaving him prone.

That leaves Nightcrawler, whose newfound invisibility allows him to sneak up and free Banshee.

After a fight, he judo-trips his cousin over the castle battlement to the rocky shore below, probably to his death. Juggernaut, distraught at losing his only friend, flings himself off the castle to come to his aid. The two are never found, which in comics means they got away to menace the X-Men in the future.

Once that's all settled we glimpse the mysterious Erik the Red - whom we know from earlier in the issue was the money behind Tom and Cain's X-Men Killing enterprise - speaking to an even more mysterious (Alice Cooper-looking) figure via video screen. Let's see what he has to say:

A story about a rebellious Princess on the run from a Space Empire? I'm not sure if audiences are going to be into that here in 1977.

I wonder who could be this mysterious ringer Erik is bringing in?

Oh, okay then.

Further Thoughts:


I felt more compelled than usual to offer a play-by-play of this issue's action because it's quite good, well-choreographed with not a moment wasted. Cockrum and Claremont really have constructed a great little two-parter (two and a half parts, if you count #101.)

There's a ton of great material that helps build up the X-Men's individual personalities. Storm uses her thieving skills to pick the locks on Wolverine's otherwise unbreakable shackles (in the future, he probably would have had no trouble cutting them like a cake.) Colossus is protective of Storm in a way that led some readers to link them romantically: a famous anti-New-X-Men letter I saw recently suggested marrying them off into retirement together as a way of writing them out. But what we're really seeing is the beginning of a nice platonic, even familial relationship, which will result in Storm calling Colossus "little brother." That we are starting to know who the X-Men are in relation to each other is really key to this book's long term creative success.

Speaking of friendship, I do really love the dynamic between Juggernaut and Black Tom, who are not merely partners in crime but true companions. (I won't tell anybody there isn't a homoerotic subtext to this if you choose to read it that way.) Juggernaut sacrifices himself for his friend rather than continue to brawl with the X-Men, whom he's being paid to kill. And when he screws up and Black Tom calls him out on it, Juggernaut simply apologizes regretfully, rather than turn it around and say hey, you're in this too. Under Claremont's pen, Juggernaut is more human than he's ever been, and to be honest it's a good fit.

Courtesy of all-knowing leprechaun Padraic we get one more tease that Wolverine may in fact be a genetically-engineered actual wolverine in human form (which if true raises a lot of questions about his past - and it ended up being plenty crazy.)

Lastly, minor milestone here as I believe, in all this time reporting the story titles for these comics, this ("The Fall of the Tower") is the first issue not to end in an exclamation point, question mark, or ellipsis... We're moving away from salesmanship bombast and into more literary aspirations... For better or worse!