Issue #1 was the “assemble the team and introduce one new character” issue—a pretty standard launching pad, so this issue should be establishing what the ongoing conflicts will be.
The first is Scott and Jean and Scott’s wife Madelyne. Scott is basically an emotional infant. He seems to have fallen in love with Madelyne just because she looked like Jean, and now that Jean has been resurrected from the Hudson River he finds he still loves Jean but now he has a babymomma (and a baby Cable as well!). Rather than talk this out, he shoots the telephone with his eye beams when he learns his wife, who has grown tired of his bullshit, changed her phone number without telling him.
The “villain” of this episode is a new mutant called Tower who is basically a mutant version of Giant-man.
Big fight.
He’s on a mission to kidnap Beast and take him to an evil scientist whose son, Artie, looks like a Close Encounters alien.
Artie has psychic powers as well. Professor Maddicks wants Beast to help him reverse his boy’s mutation.
X-Factor rescue Beast just as he’s being experimented on, the lab explodes, and Professor Maddicks dies during their escape. The big result of the experiment?
Beast still has blue hair, but only on the top of his head—he’s otherwise reverted to a fleshy body again, thus making X-Factor even more like the original X-Men.
I was not wild about the Beast’s ( contrived ) reversion back into relative humanity. In life, everyone makes irreversible mistakes, that is just an ( unfortunate ) aspect of life. Hank McCoy’s big, irreversible life-mistake came in ‘Amazing Adventures’#11, when he drank that extract and turned himself intoan ape. This should have been the permanent status quo going forward. I think that Marvel was wrong to turn Hank into an ape in the first place, but, having done it, what’s done is done, so now we all have all the drama to look forward to in dealing with it. This issue undoes it. Booooooo, Marvel. If only we all had some sort of “magic Macguffin” to fix our past mistakes. But that’s not how life really works, and it really shouldn’t even be how make-believe funnybook life works. Storyline integrity, don’tchaknow. Scott’s attitude towards his “Jean/Madelyn” problem does seem a little immature from this man, knowing what we already know about him. ( a totally stand-up guy ) I am usually vehemently against a character coming Back From The Dead, but Madelyn’s case was the exception. Faced with this problem, having Madelyn conveniently die was just a little too convenient. Having Maddie around as the Goblin Queen works for me, because she is a constant reminder of how Scott Summers once really made HIS permanent, life-altering mistake. With Maddie conveniently dead, there are no consequences for Scott’s Really Bad Behavior. So, I’m glad the Goblin Queen DID Return From The Dead. Besides, she’s sexy, and very easy on the eyes! Sorta like Jean’s nasty, evil, but really sexy sister!! Now, that’s MY idea of high drama! Word up!