Now this was a bit of a surprise when I rolled up into the 7-11 that week. Up until this point, MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION had featured reprints of earlier issues of AVENGERS. But with no warning whatsoever, this latest one instead contained a classic issue of X-MEN. The clue as to the reason was apparent on this cover, as Cyclops was battling Quicksilver, until recently a member of the Avengers in good standing until he and his sister the Scarlet Witch had rejoined Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. So clearly this story would be picking up on that plot threat in some necessary manner.
The issue was the work of writer Gary Friedrich, filling in to a certain degree on the assignment for his friend Roy Thomas, and illustrators Don Heck, Werner Roth and John Tartaglione. X-MEN was, at that moment, a series that was struggling. As a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy, that meant that it always got the last pick of the best talent. It was seen as a series where newcomers could be tested out on super hero stories (which were seen as more important to the firm than girl comics or westerns or war stories) and that seasoned veterans whose work was perhaps not as exciting as others could be deployed. Here, Heck provides the storytelling, Roth the finished penciling, and Tartaglione the inking. To fill out this issue of MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION as the X-MEN story was only 15 pages long, and to give the book some additional Avengers content, a flashback sequence of two pages was cobbled together from the previous issue showing what the Avengers were up to and indicating that they’d be pursuing Magneto and the Brotherhood.
But that was the Avengers–a whole lot had happened to the X-Men recently as well. In the issues leading up to this story, Professor X had really and no fooling died (we talked about it at the link below:)
In the aftermath of his death, Magneto and his Brotherhood had come on the attack, and they were able to defeat and imprison the X-Men. But the Angel was able to escape, and he went to seek help from the Avengers against their mutual foe. But along the way, he wound up having a side adventure in the sky kingdom of Red Raven. So at this point, the captured X-Men haven’t heard anything back from him in hours, and fear the worst. Cyclops’ optic blasts have recharged, though, and he’s able to eventually use them to liberate himself from his bonds.
Cyclops goes in search of the other X-Men throughout the base. He finds Marvel Girl, but strangely decides that she isn’t worth rescuing at this moment, this despite the fact that she’d gained Professor X’s telepathic powers after his death in addition to her usual telekinesis. And people say Cyclops is a tactician! Anyway, as Cyclops looks for the Beast and Iceman, he’s spotted by the Toad, who races off to warn Magneto. As Cyke searches forward, he’s also spotted by Quicksilver, who is having misgivings about his role in the proceedings. He attempt to talk with Cyclops, but the X-Man is understandably wary of Pietro’s entreaties, and he attacks in self-defense. Meanwhile, Magneto blames the messenger and punishes the Toad mercilessly when the latter informs him of Cyclops’ escape.
Back at the fight, there’s a momentary pause, as Quicksilver simply wants to talk with Cyclops, to convince him of the rightness of Magneto’s cause. All that the Master of Magnetism wants is to establish a sanctuary nation where mutants can live in peace without persecution. Quicksilver’s words are persuasive, but Cyclops remembers his late mentor Professor X and refuses to go along with Magneto’s plans. Krakoa was a long way in the future at this point. In any event, unable to talk sense into his opponent, Pietro once more attacks–with a forced perspective fist that is comically over-large. It’s an attempt at some Jack Kirby-style dramatics that doesn’t really work, misunderstanding the sorts of distortions that Kirby would employ frequently.
So now it’s fighting time for real, with the two fighters pretty well evenly matched. Cyclops can’t seem to tag the swift Quicksilver with his optic blasts, but Pietro also can’t seem to get close enough to Cyclops to put him down without running straight into those impactful beams. Elsewhere, Magneto watches the conflict without interceding, a fact that the Scarlet Witch questions him on. She, of course, is worried about the well-being of her brother. But Magneto uses honeyed words to assuage her concerns, while also admitting that if Quicksilver can’t beat a single X-Man, then he’s not good for much of anything at all.
As the fight goes on, both battlers are getting tired. Quicksilver scores a direct hit when he momentarily blinds Cyclops with some graphite that’s in the lab. Cyclops lashes out wildly, and hits Quicksilver square on as a result. As his vision returns, Cyclops is afraid that he may have unintentionally killed Pietro. But as he goes to examine his fallen foe, a voice cries out, Cyclops turns–only to be confronted by the irate Avengers, who just witnessed him striking down their teammate. How did they get here? That was a question that would have to wait for the following issue, because at this point, the book was To Be Continued!
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
It’s interesting that Don Heck supplied layouts. I assume this is because Stan didn’t feel Werner Roth’s storytelling was exciting enough (and thus a contributing factor in the book’s struggle to find readers). Personally, I never found Heck’s storytelling that interesting— less interesting than Roth’s, actually— but considering how many years Heck was a Marvel mainstay, he was certainly doing something right. But when I discovered the Roth run of X-Men (as back issues) I absolutely LOVED the look of the book! Simple as that: I enjoyed the way Roth drew, and I liked looking at it. (Unlike Heck who, I’ll admit, had a sketchy/angular style that took me a long time to appreciate; and his sense of design for costumes was not the strongest.) I’d like to think Stan felt the same way— “the guy can draw! Now let’s get him to draw the MARVEL way!” This was a gamble which paid off very well with Gene Colon and (especially) John Romita, but seemingly not with Roth. Too bad. Looking at Roth’s run, I can’t put my finger on what Stan might have thought was lacking— I personally though/think his dynamics were fine, and given the chance (and money!) would GLADLY add a Roth X-Men page of original art to my collection.
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I only read the Roth run in reprints but I loved it as well. His characters were attractive, emotive, and he could really lay out a story well. I too never understood why he wasn’t a bigger thing. This was also before I gained an appreciation for Heck. For the longest time I only saw the things I disliked and tuned out what made him a mainstay of DC and Marvel for an incredible length of time. Now when I reread a Heck story I’m stunned by how much craftsmanship I missed back then.
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The way Quicksilver’s moving here looks more like flying than running. Maybe’s he’s stumbled on Johnny Quick’s speed formula. 😉
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Roy gave Quicksilver the power of limited flight a short while earlier, in an attempt to differentiate him more from the Flash and others. But it didn’t last long and eventually vanished without comment.
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Rascally Roy. Years before Union Jack got electrical powers, and Mr. Thomas suggesting giving Batman superpowers. Holy tinkerin’ Thomases.
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Hardly comparable. Batman’s Batman while Union Jack II was a hero Roy had introduced maybe a dozen issues before he got the upgrade. It’s not like giving him Thor’s lightning powers was tampering with an iconic figure.
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No, it doesn’t seem limited to either iconic characters or otherwise. He was trying to make characters, in his mind, maybe, seems more appealing, to maybe increase the audience. I was only pointing out cases of him doing that. I didn’t see the need to quantify it further. But it’s still 3 characters he thought should be altered. Was just an observation. I didn’t mean to upset anyone. Thanks.
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Not upset. But I do think “give Batman super-powers” is an entirely different thing from “give”someone who isn’t Batman super-powers.”
I don’t think Thomas even stands out that much. Al Pratt got superstrength post-WWII, Gardner Fox gave some of the JSA stronger gadgets in the Silver Age (Dr. Midnite’s cyrotuber weapon, for instance), Steve Englehart gave Cap super-strength, Alan Scott briefly got to channel the emerald power without his ring (as Sentinel!). I think it’s a common “fix” even if characters don’t need fixing.
But … Batman?
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Being upset over it would seem like a waste of energy. The Batman reference came from 1 of Roy’s suggestions to other DC editors, as part of some event being proposed. Tom posted it previously.
Thanks for your comment to my comment.
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I think I first encountered Roth’s work when X-men was in reprint mode. While not particularly distinctive or dynamic I think his work on X-men is pleasing and the storytelling is generally solid. I think he seemed a good fit for teen book though it’s likely that like a lot of artists of his day his depiction of teenagers was out of step with the times.
In regards to Heck…. he’s a solid professional with a distinctive style, but trying to adopt Kirby dynamics did him no favors. Earlier in his career he was adept at conveying comic book action within certain parameters, but I don’t think he could manage going over-the-top like Kirby without it looking forced and hokey. But if you look at Ironman’s origin in Tales of Suspense #39 pay attention to how good he is at facial expressions, and using black to draw your eye into a picture.
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My exposure to this storyline in X-Men and Avengers had a weird history. As a kid living in Japanin the late 1960s, I got the X-Men issue in which the Angel escapes from Magneto’s shackles and escapes the island but then just happens to run into Red Raven, making what was then only his 2nd ever appearance since first showing up in his one and only self-titled mag in 1940. Moving forward a few years, to 1975, I had been regularly collecting X-Men when it was in all-reprint mode, as well as Marvel Triple Action. As such, I got X-Men #93, which ended on a cliffhanger with the Avengers showing up. Two months later, I got X-Men #94 and found out not only did that not conclude the cliffhanger but it was an entirely new story with a mostly new cast and it was following up a story in a Giant-Size mag I hadn’t gotten. My family was now living on a navy base, Treasure Island, in the San Francisco Bay, and the Navy Exchange there did not get any of the Giant-Size mags (not that I could have afforded them even if they were on the racks). Moreover, the story I’d been following in MTA had also ended in a cliffhanger which was concluded in yet another Giant-Size mag. I missed the 2nd reprinting of X-Men #45 in MTA #45 as well as the other few remaining issues of MTA’s run. Much later I got the back issues to fill in the gaps in my X-Men and Avengers collections (at least for those stories I didn’t have in reprint form). Most of the pre-Adams run X-Men were pretty terrible, bad writing and, aside from Steranko’s brief run, bad art.
As to this particular story, I hadn’t realized until I got some of later original issues of X-Men from that time frame that Marvel was playing around with the format of X-Men stories, focusing on one or two members rather than on the whole team, which explained the nearly solo Angel story from the previous issue and the solo Cyclops story in this one (while I’d read issue 44 when it was new, it got tossed out by my dad long before 1975 and I had no memory of the logo format on the cover). Seems rather bizarre in retrospect but does give a hint as to the desperation Marvel was experiencing in trying to boost the sales of the title when apparently no one at the time had any really good ideas as to what to do with the mag. Well, it turned out Adams did but still couldn’t save it from cancellation. But that was enough to inspire Claremont and his collaborators after Wein & Cockrum had resurrected the team via the Giant-Size mag.
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I too quite enjoyed Roth’s art on X-Men when I was first reading those issues way back when. Roth had a good storytelling style and drew likeable characters. In later years I discovered his 1950s work for Atlas on Lorna, Jungle Girl and Apache Kid when it was reprinted in the 1970s. He also did work for DC’s romance line (with a few jobs inked by John Romita) and had a nice run on Lois Lane in the early 70s. Don Heck is another artist I liked as a kid but grew to appreciate more in later as I discovered his versatility and true strength in drawing everyday people and situations. His 1950s efforts on horror, romance and westerns are particularly good. If you want to see some of that work and an overview of his career you can take a look at two of my posts on Don: https://nick-caputo.blogspot.com/2017/01/appreciating-don-heck.html https://nick-caputo.blogspot.com/2015/05/don-hecks-pre-superhero-art-1952-1962.html
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