This is mostly a story where Scott and Jean visit the orphanage Cyclops was raised in.
We get an extended version of Scott’s childhood, when his powers manifested, the inevitable bullying, etc.
While there, they find Nanny and Orphan Maker, the duo responsible for kidnapping babies for Mr. Sinister.
They find Nathaniel Summers (i.e., baby Cable) in a clear tube…
…and also the rest of the “Inferno babies,” several of whom will grow up to be recurring characters in the 1990s.
A demon steals the baby back at the end, and will deliver it to Madelyne in X-Men #241.
There are scenes of Beast and Iceman in New York dealing with the Inferno event. Beast is blue again.
It’s the kind of story you have to have—to make sure that in an event as complicated as Inferno, you keep briefing the reader on what’s going on, but it’s not very exciting reading.
There’s also check-in with Archangel, who tells N’astirh that he better not attack New York (which will happen when Magik’s portal opens in New Mutants #71 and is also seen in this very issue) , or else Archangel will unleash his “evil.” He’s not evil, but he still thinks of himself that way.
Interesting that both he and Beast are blue, and that being blue seems to make you more powerful and less rigidly “ethical.”
Issue #36 ends with the X-Factor team being fully united for the first time in about a year, all fighting demons and heading to Mr. Sinister and Madelyne in an effort to rescue baby Cable.
