X-MEN #67: The End of Days

Iceman and Cecilia are on the run from OZT!

Originally Published September 1997

We begin in what is currently known as Israel, where the local mutant superhero Sabra finds herself a target of Operation: Zero Tolerance. She is shocked to find such violence and intolerance in her country, which I guess is because they don't actually teach the history of Israel in Israel.

Maybe we need to revisecour "it's always a good time for a panty shot" policy

More pressingly, we find ourselves in New York, where Iceman and Dr. Cecilia Reyes are in disguise as a happy couple out on the town.

Trust me Cecilia, he doesn't like it any more than you do.

They've shaken the Sentinels that pursued them out of the Bronx, but in fact they are being watched...

The smooch of course is just a cover to check out Warren's penthouse, where they will take a moment to get their bearings, and Cecilia will remind us that she has a real job and has no time to learn complicated X-Men lore.

I think she means you

Although Warren and Betsy are out (what are those two up to these days?) the place is under the protection of another deadly foe...

No shade

This is Angie, house-sitter extraordinaire and onetime roomie of the late great Candy Southern.

Meanwhile, at Charlesbuster Base, Bastion tries to goad Professor Xavier into using his supposedly-missing mind powers on him.

Charles doesn't fall for it, but he does provide some insight: it's almost like Bastion wants to be stopped, as if he were some kind of machine that is simply obeying its programming.

Metaphorically speaking, of course

Back at Warren's Nest, Cecilia and Angie share a hot beverage while Iceman tries to contact every mutant in the book. No answer at Muir Island, can't even get X-Man on the phone.

Hi, 4-1-1, do you have the area code for Mojoverse? 

All of a sudden, Iceman isn't feeling so hot -- so to speak.

There's momentary confusion but helpfully we find our pretty quickly who's responsible:

That's right, it's Evil Angie!

With Iceman's powers out of commission and Cecilia's mutant defensive abilities being kind of so-so at best, it looks like our heroes are done for, until another old flame of Warren's shows up to save the day.

That being Detective Charlotte Jones of the NYPD, a card-carrying member of the Mutant Underground (human division.)

Back at the precinct, Cecilia is still ill at ease -- yes, Charlotte has a history with the X-Men and everything, but on the other hand, ACAB.

In this case, Cecilia's instincts are spot on, because All Cops are... Bots.

...and they've coerced Charlotte into compliance by kidnapping her son. Not cool, evil racist robot cops.

Just as Iceman starts to agree that the vibe is off at this New York City police station (can't imagine why) the whole building is plunged into a blackout.

 The robots send, like, the one guy there who's still a real person to go check it out, where he will meet...

To be continued!

Further Thoughts:

Something, something, seemingly average people gladly forfeiting their humanity in order to comply with oppressors and become worse than the thing they hate, yadda yadda, could it possibly be happening here, etc, etc, the world is trash. You get it, right?

Narratively, this issue is exactly what it's supposed to be, following up on the introduction of Dr. Reyes and putting these mismatched buddies on the run from a seemingly omnipresent enemy. I could always quibble with exactly how much (rather how little) further down the road we are after an entire comic, but this is not really that different from other events over the recent years, and the only slight progress of the story actually kind of underlines the claustrophobic, hunted feeling and makes the comic feel more like a pressure cooker. So I just talked myself into liking something I normally don't over the course of this paragraph.

But speaking of things I don't like -- we get that Cecilia is not willingly joining this escapade. It behooves her to mention that fact when germane. But we as the reader are bound to lose patience with a character who simply does not want to be here, who does not realize they are the hero in a mutant superhero book and cannot adjust her head accordingly -- it becomes very annoying because, despite her protests she is a character in a mutant superhero book and this is her life right now, and there's literally no stopping it.

She's allowed to have complicated feelings, but there is a very real drag on the reader when every scene has her all but rolling her eyes and going "this is stupid." (She is running for her life.)

No, no, nobody else get up, I've got it

I did like her diagnosing Angie's hypothermia though -- it's fun to bring a little bit of reality into the proceedings. Just a little bit. You know, before that character reveals herself to be a killer robot.