Originally Published July 1987
We begin at the picturesque Westchester mansion that serves as the campus Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. There, alumnus Alex Summers, aka the guy called Havok, has seen fit to make his return by way of blasting through the front doors.
The reason for his somewhat ostentatious arrival? Well, down in New Mexico, he had gotten signs that the Brood - insectoid aliens who like to lay their eggs in people, you might have heard - have landed on Earth, something the X-Men would definitely want to be aware of. But he's been calling and calling and getting no answer, and when that happens to superheroes, that usually means trouble.
And it's not exactly a happy reunion...
Instantly, these twisted, wicked-looking X-Men attack Havok, with Rogue draining the essence out of him, sending him spiraling into nothingness...
Only to awaken in bed next to Lorna. Has this all been a dream?
Panicked, and with his power going haywire, he bolts out the door and unleashes his energy in a mighty cosmic burst - "A man flashing as bright as any star (not too shabby)"
We learn that this has been a recurring dream for a few days. Between the pages, Alex had indeed visited New York, but found nothing there out of the ordinary. The X-Men were fine and dandy and send him on home. So why is he so troubled? Could his memory be wrong? Could the X-Men actually be in danger?
Alex decides to make another outing to New York. Lorna intends to go along but he makes her promise to stay home. That decision may prove fatal as we see them being watched by a familiar set of silhouettes: those of the Marauders.
Alex arrives, and finds the mansion as empty as he dreamt it, but learns through a dayplanner that Magneto has an appointment at the Hellfire Club today. There, Alex learns that Magneto, under the guise of Charles' long lost cousin, is indeed the newest Lord Cardinal - the White King, in fact - and that he forged this controversial alliance with the X-Men's erstwhile enemies at Storm's insistence. Havok is bageled at the thought - he wants to speak to Storm directly about the hows and whys of two of the X-Men's most legendary foes teaming up supposedly for the X-Men's mutual benefit, but Magneto says that's not possible. Havok storms off, and Magneto laments the fact that his reputation for mass murder really seems to hamstring his diplomatic attempts.
Back in New Mexico, the Marauders make their move, firing a rocket into Lorna's house as she sits at her desk. By the dint of her mutant powers over magnetism she survives, but is cornered and outnumbered.
In New York, Havok opts to trail Magneto down into the Morlock tunnels - his everyguy narration giving us ha-ha-larious deconstructions of superhero tropes by wishing his costume had pockets and maybe a sherpa lining. He thinks maybe Magneto is recruiting the Morlocks into a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (hey, the name recently became available again) but when he gets to the main alcove he finds none other than the X-Men themselves.
He arrives just in time to overhear Storm summarizing the situation as we know it - the X-Men and their many allies are being targeted by the ruthless Marauders. It seems they've really reached a stalemate with these implacable foes with no easy way to gain an advantage... except with some extremely outside-the-box thinking: The X-Men must die!
That's right, Storm intends for the X-Men to fake their own deaths in order to get some sort of advantage over their enemies. It seems like a bold, drastic action to take, emphasizing exactly how seriously Storm takes the threat of the Marauders. It also doesnt seem like Storm has all the logistics worked out yet, as even her fellow X-Men seem to have questions.
These questions unfortunately go unanswered: Havok just barely has time to react when he catches Rogue sneaking up on him, unleashing one of his plasma blasts on her - just barely managing to keep it below a lethal level - and in the process alerting the team to his presence.
They briefly scuffle, with the X-Men trying to take Havok down and Havok - still squeamish about getting into superhero action - constantly worrying about whether he's going to kill anyone, and if maybe, based on his dream, would that be such a bad thing?
While Alex tangles with the X-Men, Polaris proves herself a shockingly feisty opponent for the Marauders, using her powers in a myriad of ways that show she's no easy mark.
At long last, Havok's fight with the X-Men comes to an end - it's six on one, after all - as Havok demands to know exactly what is going on and why they ambushed him at the mansion.
It comes out, that, yes, there was something of an interaction between Havok and the X-Men at the mansion when he was there last week, and the tone wasn't entirely pleasant. Psylocke had tried to erase Alex's memories but Xavier at least managed to teach him that much about psychic defense. Psylocke defends her work by noting that editing Havok's memories any further would have caused permanent damage.
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| Strictly speaking, what Psylocke did is brain damage |
Havok demands to know just what is going on, feeling he has a right as a sometime-X-Man, but Storm tells him they were trying to protect him and keep him out of it. Ever-bloodthirsty Psylocke notes that they only way to truly keep Havok out of their beeswax is to kill him, but Storm, after an uncomfortable amount of consideration, declares they do not, in fact, slay their own (she would undoubtedly be casting a sharp glance at Wolverine as she did, if he were there.) They decide to let Havok in on what has been happening lately with the Marauders, and what kind of extreme measures they're prepared to take in order to defeat these foes.
In the course of all this, Havok realizes he can't stay on the sidelines anymore -- he's in the thick of it, and will have to join the X-Men.
Back in New Mexico, Polaris is positively reveling in her victory over the Marauders, to a degree that the sweet kid has never seemed to show.
That's right, Lorna has been Malice this whole time, ever since Alex left! Luxuriating in Lorna's body's potential for power and chaos, she declares herself the new leader of the Marauders under the vision and guidance of the mysterious Mr. Sinister.
Somebody should do something about that!
Further Thoughts:
It's always a notable issue when the X-Men get a new member (even if that member is, say, Mimic,) and that's been happening a lot lately as the team takes its new shape. Much like Psylocke and Dazzler, Havok gets a day in the limelight of sorts, with an issue dedicated largely to reintroducing his skill level, powers, temperament and neuroses - consistent with the way he's been portrayed since his first appearance and not really considered "hero material" by conventional standards. I already noted that these new X-Men were having a really hard time gelling, with Dazzler unable to tone down her solo instincts, Longshot being a bit of a ditz, and Psylocke desperate to show everyone that she can be as ruthless as Wolverine. After the last bout with the Juggernaut, the X-Men here were at serious risk of getting over their individual flaws and actually performing as a cohesive unit, so of course it's time to add a guy who would desperately like to be anywhere except performing the duties of a superhero, and also might accidentally kill everyone around him just by sneezing.
It's pretty compelling stuff.
All the while, the book emphasizes exactly how dark and morally grey the X-Men's work has truly become by facing them with decisions most comic books would rather not have done in the past, and having the X-Men consider the unthinkable, including killing one of their own (however brefily the idea is considered) just to protect themselves.
In a bold creative move that really pays off, the A-story of the issue is seen through Havok's limited perspective, with the X-Men themselves - appearing at first in twisted, half-dreamed evil forms - conspicuous by their absence. Like Havok, we are disoriented, since a few chunks of the story are missing and we have to backfill before moving forward. We know more than Havok does, but we don't know everything so it's easy to identify with him here as everything falls into place. Bret Blevins' art adds a great psychologically unnerving exaggeration to the proceedings, both in the dream form and in the harried reality Havok faces.
At the same time, Polaris, too, is reintroduced as a seemingly permanent vessel for Malice (which is short for Malicious Necklace.) It was a pretty neat twist to see her hand the Marauders their asses by way of declaring her leadership of them, but I have to cry foul since we can actually see that there is no telltale choker on Mal-Polaris' neck for the early goings of the fight. Not exactly a fair-play twist, I have to say, but it is what it is.
I am calling her malicious necklace from now on.
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