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Hello and welcome to another week of comic book royalty in Ye Olde School Café! In the last installment, we saw the X-Men as they were caught off guard by their former teammates, Havok and Polaris. On top of that, a new enemy, Erik The Red, seems to be influencing said teammates, and they get away from the scene of the brawl, leaving the X-Men with many questions, and few answers. To just sit back and wonder at the art by Dave Cockrum, and read these stories by Chris Claremont, brings pure enjoyment to anyone who reads them.

As the next issue begins, it’s Christmas time, and the team is gathered near Times Square. They are getting into the holiday spirit, but in the very next breath they’re attacked by Sentinels! The giant robots come crashing through the city, and have nothing but death in their programming. Jean uses her TK powers to topple one of them, and Scott blasts another one with his patented optic beams. Two more pop up, and one grabs Jean. Before Scott can answer, one blasts him, and Jean gets hit with some knock out gas, and her captor flies away with her in its metal hands. Banshee, Wolverine, and Storm then shed their disguises, and fly up to Scott to help. They dispatch the last Sentinel, and then wonder if Professor Xavier is in danger.

Speaking of the Professor, he and Peter Corbeau are spending some time relaxing on a fishing boat in the Bahamas. They talk about the recent UN project, Starcore, and how Corbeau is the head of this secret operation. The Professor explains to Corbeau that he’s been having these nightmares where an alien presence is plaguing him. As Corbeau is telling him that he thinks he should get professional help, the boat is attacked by a Sentinel. Initially, Professor Xavier stops it, but then it resurfaces, shattering the vessel into pieces. The Sentinel grabs the Professor, and Corbeau is left floating on a piece of driftwood.
The X-Men that have been captured find out that the mutant hater Steven Lang is the man behind their troubles, and we see that not only has Jean Grey been captured, but Wolverine and Banshee, as well. Lang taunts them, and even slaps Jean. This infuriates Wolverine, and he breaks his shackles, and savagely attacks the henchmen. A Sentinel busts in to stop them, but Banshee obliterates it with his supersonic voice. More Sentinels arrive to quell the disturbance, and it is now that these X-Men realize that their escape is futile, because they’re are on a base in outer space! Corbeau has finally made his way to land, and also to the X-Men. He tells them what happened to him and the Professor, and they deduce that since no trace of the others can be found on Earth, that the new space station is where they must be being held captive!

Wow, are things getting crazy! Half of the team captured in outer space by the bigot, Steven Lang, and the Professor still missing. The rest of the team must make a plan, find a way to reach orbit, and save the others. Will they? And at what price? Be back next time for the answers!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net