The nice thing about having one's own review blog is not having to wait for someone else to tear something a new one when I can do the job myself. From September 1967, this is "Mekano Lives!"
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Then again, given the way our heroes behave in this issue, I'm not sure I blame him. The X-Men come off as amateurish at best, and looking like complete ****ing morons at worst. The idea of them looking for jobs as their superhero selves is...well, see the GIF above for my thoughts on that. I don't know what kind of jobs they expected to get on such short notice, but I'm sure they'd have to be at them for a while to afford plane tickets to Switzerland, so this isn't a very time-sensitive solution. They don't even think to ask the Fantastic Four or the Avengers if they can borrow a plane (or even some gas or plane fare). It'd be one thing if they asked but the other heroes were unavailable, but for them to not think of it at all? The comic actually does address why they can't just sell Xavier's Rolls Royce, saying that the car's in his name, but it still feels like poor planning on Xavier's part. He sends a bunch of teenagers into battle with dangerous supervillains and killer robots, trains them in a danger room loaded with lethal traps, but he doesn't trust them with his car in case of an emergency like this? Is his Rolls such a sweet ride that he'd rather be a prisoner of a supervillain than allow his students to sell it if they had to?
It's even worse whenever the X-Men go into action. After everything he's been through, The Beast should not be having as much trouble as he does taking down two ordinary yutzes (and it's hilarious how the rest of the team refuses to help on the grounds that he can handle himself - which to be fair, he should be able to do). Come to think of it, all of the X-Men seem to forget they have their abilities. Iceman moans he's too tired to use his powers...while still in his icy form. Marvel Girl can wield I-beams and construction equipment as if she was building something out of Legos, but Mekano is too much for her powers to handle. And while I'm on the subject, the idea that Mekano is more than a match for the X-Men at this point in their careers is beyond ridiculous. This is a superhero team that's already battled some pretty powerful enemies (even if a number of those battles consisted of the X-Men stalling for time until Professor Xavier could use his telepathy to win in the end). Just for some context, here's a few of the X-Men's various sparring partners by this point in their comic book history:
- Magneto - The X-Men's arch-enemy, with the power to manipulate magnetic fields and anything metallic. Also the leader of his own team of mutants (called *snicker* The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants *snicker cackle chortle guffaw*).
- The Vanisher - A mutant teleporter.
- The Juggernaut - Professor X's evil step-brother who was bonded to a mystical gem and is now not only super-strong, but 100% invulnerable to physical harm.
- The Sentinels - Giant killer robots programmed to hunt down and kill mutants.
- The Mimic - A mutant who can gain the power of all other mutants in his near vicinity at the same time.
- The Avengers - The original line-up that included Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, the fershlugginah Norse god of thunder. (The circumstances of said fight were really stupid, and it naturally ended in a draw, but they still get the XP nonetheless.)