Hey everybody, glad you could make it back to another week in Ye Olde School Café! This week, we’ll be continuing with the limited series that made Mephisto a household name in Mephisto Vs. Why did it do that, you say? Well, first of all, because his name is in the title, and secondly, it pitted him against the premiere teams in the Marvel U. Last week, we saw the Fantastic Four, but this week Mephisto will have to contend with the mutants in X-Factor! Now these aren’t the muties of this day and age, but they are the five original members of the X-Men!
As Mephisto is gloating about trapping Sue Richards in his proverbial hell, Reed, Johnny, and Ben are trying to figure out how in the world they are going to rescue her. Reed deduces that he needs a dimensional transporter to open a gateway to Mephisto’s realm, so he begins construction on one immediately. Ben then remarks about the fact that even if they can reach his realm, they can’t do anything to hurt him anyway. This causes Reed to become quite dejected, and recall his latest defeat at the hands of the devilish fiend. Reed then tells Johnny and Ben that they need to bring an unknown quantity into the situation. One such quantity might be called an X-Factor!
Next, we see X-Factor training inside a secret facility. Iceman and Cyclops, Beast and Jean, are all having a great training session, but it gets broken up by an alarm from outside. It’s Reed, and he quickly enters and explains the situation to the team. After listening to Reed, Scott tells him that this might even be out of their league. A knock at the door startles everyone, and then an old man enters and tells them that a woman was seen disappearing and reappearing down by the docks. X-Factor immediately takes off to see what’s going on, but the old man grabs Reed, and then reveals himself to be Mephisto! He then zaps Reed into vapors and departs.
As an angry crowd begins to corner Sue, X-Factor shows up to lend a hand. Sue runs into a building, and X-Factor gives chase, but as they reach her, Mephisto appears and tells them to not interfere with his property. The team threatens him, but Mephisto uses his brains instead of brawn to talk his way out of this. Well, at least he tries to, but when he approaches Jean, Beast steps in. Mephisto tells him that he can cure him of his hairy appearance, then he tells Iceman that he could reverse his mutation so he could live among people unafraid. Iceman then tries to attack Mephisto, but gets melted into a puddle of water. Cyclops goes berserk and tries to incinerate him. Mephisto casts a spell, though, and Cyclops thinks he’s toasted his wife (Madelyne Pryor) and child (Cable). Just as everyone is figuring out that they are just illusions, Mephisto is ready for their attack. Beast leaps at him, but is turned into a demon. Warren then tries his luck, but Mephisto summons some of his demons to attack him.
One by one, Mephisto gives X-Factor a beating until only Jean remains. He again offers her a deal. She can come with him, and her friends will live, or stay, and they die. Jean knows this is some sort of ruse, but can’t bare to see her teammates (especially Scott) hurting. She acquiesces to Mephisto’s request, and the two are then swept away to his dark realm. There, Jean is about to get besieged by a horde of demons as Mephisto laughs at her fear.
Well, that’s part two of this great mini-series, but come back next week to witness the fall of the mighty Uncanny X-Men at the hands of the dark lord himself! See you next week!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net