X-MEN #44: Lost and Found

Professor X searches for Cyclops!

Originally Published September 1995

We begin in the snows of Antarctica. Colossus has just crash-landed here, to be discovered by a mysterious figure in body armor. Missing in action is the comatose body of Magneto, which Piotr had rescued from the falling Avalon. He mistakes this stranger for an attacker and gets "tranquilized" for his trouble.

Also missing are Exodus and Holocaust, who are presumably still out there somewhere going at it to no particular end -- who cares, we're done with them, we've moved on.

Meanwhile,  Professor Xavier is doing the most, working all day and all night to locate his missing students (and maybe, if they happen to be nearby, some of the Acolytes.) Amelia thinks this endeavor, like most things, is futile.

Luckily, when all seems lost, Bishop and Psylocke radio in: they've found Jean Grey! And Skids! They landed in the jungles of Madagascar, and in spite of the TACTACTAC-ing the took on their way back into the stratosphere, they are none the worse for wear and absolutely nothing of interest happened. 

Unfortunately, the news isn't all good: some heavy duty psychic static is covering the Earth and the Astral Plane and whatever. Jean's psychic rapport with Scott is on the fritz. 

The good news is, Scott and the Acolytes did not die between issues: instead, they landed in a place where beer does flow and men chunder.

At least they found water -- the less chunder the better.

Also apparently Scott needs to go to the barber every other day or he gets shaggy.

The Acolytes have mixed feelings about following their sworn enemy through the desert on a survival trek. The Kleinstocks have been indoctrinated to see the X-Men as mortal foes, while Cargill and Unuscione are starting to come around on the notion that Scott Summers is the only person who can get them home alive.

The Acolytes are no more: now they are the Outbacolytes

Night falls, and all attempts to locate civilization -- led by the electro-transitional Acolyte Scanner -- are fruitless. Nevertheless, Scott Summers is not a quitter, except when it comes to relationships and parenting.

Back at the X-Mansion, a few days have passed and Jean Grey absolutely will not stop trying to locate Scott Summers for some unknown reason. Professor X, the most brilliant telepathic mind on the planet, comes up with a new plan: combine his mental powers with Amelia Voght's misty, teleporty powers to extend the range and amplitude of the search.

Does it make sense? No. But is it wildly dangerous for Professor X? Yes. And that's what makes it worth trying.

In Oz, our wayward Cyclops-Acolyte group -- the Cyclopolytes -- are stuck between a rock and a hard place, literally at the bottom of a cliff face. Scanner has located the destination Scott seeks just on the other side. But how, how, how, will these super-powered mutants get through a rock wall?

That mountain was only sacred to the Aboriginal population, no big deal

And where did this walkabout end up bringing them? Go on and guess. Just take a stab. Think really hard about it and get back to me.

You ready?

Yeah buddy, we're back in Reavertown!! Population 5 or 6, depending on the Kleinstocks.

Back in Westchester, Charles and Amelia put their crazy awful plan into action, with predictable results.

No, they do not locate Cyclops, but they do briefly share a moment of unity with all of existence and each other, which surely comes as some consolation.

But before they have a chance to get too disappointed, the phone rings and it's Scott, who has gotten the Outback phone online.

(In case you're wondering, Gateway has been palling around with Generation X lately, so he's indisposed to teleport Scott & Co straight home.)

With that all taken care of, Amelia takes the opportunity to scold her onetime paramour for his senseless self-sacrifice, stopping just short of accusing him of virtue-signalling or some other meaningless phrase people use to give themselves permission to be asaholes. Charles retorts that self-sacrifice is cool, actually, all the kids are doing it.

Amelia has to confront the fact that she doesn't really believe in anything -- she wants to live her life but she's too afraid to even do that.

In Antarctica, Colossus and his mysterious benefactor have made it to Magneto's old base, which the mystery-person infers the escape pod was programmed to find. When Colossus awakens, he is surprised to find out just who saved him -- and indeed it is an old flame of his...

Was anyone else kind of hoping it was Nereel?

Yeah, remember when these two were smashin'?! Who could forget?? Also, she's not dead, so that's cool.

Further Thoughts:

Somewhat annoyingly, the Phoenix callback from last issue is not followed up on but otherwise... what an issue! It's not one where anything major happens, but Nicieza, Kubert & co are firing on all cylinders to bring you the best "Scott leads the Acolytes through the outback and Xavier searches for him" comic possible. It was a great spotlight on Scott's grit and leadership skills, and a compelling "enemy mine" scenario that emphasizes that deep down all of these people are human (I mean, mutant-human... you know what I'm saying.)

I also really enjoyed the back and forth between Charles and Amelia. Voght has become a really compelling character for her desire to sit the middle ground between Magneto and Charles, and for her complicated feelings about her powers and mutant identity. She's tried on being a revolutionary and a cult follower and it doesn't seem to work for her, but she isn't sure where, exactly she does belong. In a world where people are sometimes signing up to be X-Men two days after learning they have powers, it's refreshing to see that kind of ambivalence and self-doubt depicted without any concrete resolution.

After all that, there's the cliffhanger with Callisto which undoubtedly plays into some of the Morlock revelations we got in X-Men Prime and I'm actually quite interested to watch unfold. This is a strong, strong outing and one of my favourite regular issues of X-Men in a long while. I said recently that the X-Men comics of '95 really knew how to be the X-Men comics of '95, and this is a great example. Kudos.