A mostly Cyclops issue where he fights D’Spayre, and is aided by Man-Thing.
Who is drawn to suicidal ideation.
D’Spayre gets an old man to kill himself (and it’s pretty graphic as Marvel suicides go), and then replaces him–scaring the crap out of his daughter.
I didn’t know he could do that.
It happens in Florida, and Man-Thing is drawn to the girls’ feeling. When he reaches D’Spayre, we see that Man-Thing burns himself when afraid.
Meanwhile, Cyclops is also in Florida, in a bar, playing pool.
He eventually meets up with the Man-Thing story, and together they take down D’Spayre. The connection comes when he charters a boat from Lee Forrester, whose father committed suicide and thus she became a ripe target for D’Spayre. Over the next several issues, Scott gets involved with Lee, they will get shipwrecked on Magneto’s island, and she will become the only woman to sleep with both Scott and Magneto.
Chris Claremont made this issue a rare tonal change for X-Men. It’s got some superheroics, but it’s largely a horror story.
During it, Scott has hallucinations (above) and a flashback that remembers how his mother and father “died” when their plane exploded, and he and his brother escaped.
Professor X seems to be figuring out that aircraft (and other stuff) blow up a lot, and that it’s expensive.
Also Kitty gets teased.
