The Saga of the Original Human Torch #3 (June 1990)

As you all know, I'm a big ol' Marvel head. I've also been feeling in a bit of a Golden Age mood lately. As such, I thought it would be fun to look at a comic starting one of the Marvel Universe's first superheroes: Jim Hammond, the Golden Age Human Torch. 

Mr. Hammond has graced this blog in the past. We have looked at past issues of his first mini-series here (a retelling of his origins and first battle against the criminal element), and here (a retelling of his first battle with Namor the Sub-Mariner, his meeting Toro, and his time with the Invaders). We also saw how he helped form the Invaders here. As such, I thought I'd look at issue number three, which tells of the Torch's continuing adventures after World War II. Let's look at Saga of the Original Human Torch #3!

The cover is a Rich Buckler piece. It's pretty cool, showing the murderous tyrant Adolf Hitler retching in fear from the Human Torch. The angle makes Jim look like a towering monster, ready to deliver vengeance on him for all the horrors he helped cause. 

"Out of the Ashes"
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciler: Rich Buckler
Inker: Alfredo Alcala
Letterer: Timothy Harkins
Colorist: Nel Yomtov
Editors: Mike Rockwitz, Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story begins on April 30, 1945. The Nazi regime is collapsing. Jim Hammond and Thomas Raymond, aka the Original Human Torch and Toro, are flying over the skies of Berlin. The Russian Army is making their way through the German capital, hoping to get their hands on the mad tyrant Adolf Hitler. Jim and Thomas are hoping to capture him so he can stand trial for the horrors he caused.

Iin his bunker, Hitler and his wife Eva Braun prepare some cyanide for their suicide pact. As Jim and Tom fight their way into his bunker, Hitler as his gun to his head. Torch and Toro burst in. They tell the madman that they will take him to American command where he will stand trial for his crimes. Hitler says he will not be captured alive, not by anyone. He reaches to press a button, but Torch blasts him with flames. 

“🎵 BUUUURN, BABY, BURN! 🎵”

As Hitler burns, he tells one of his attendants to tell the world that he killed himself, denying the Torch the ability to say he took out one of history's greatest monsters. Jim doesn't care, figuring that maybe it's for the best. After all, maybe if the world believes he took what Jim calls "the coward's way out", maybe the world can put this war behind it and make something better. With that done, Jim and Tom had out, letting the Russians finish their mission here. 

Heading back to England, they learn that Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were presumed missing after a battle with Baron Heinrich Zemo in Southern England. And Namor is out in the Pacific taking care of kamikaze pilots. It looks like with the end of the war, the Invaders are at their end, too. But the new President, Harry S. Truman, has other ideas in mind. After all, there is still the Pacific Theater. The world still needs Captain America and Bucky.

"Wait, who are these guys?!"

Meet the new Captain America and Bucky, aka William Naslund/The Spirit of '76, and Fred Davis. The Invaders would continue on. With the war finally ending, the group would become the All-Winners Squad in 1946, adding Miss America (Madeline Joyce), and Whizzer (Robert Frank) to their ranks. After a battle with a supervillain called Isbisa, Jim and Tom head to Boston for a much-needed vacation. Get some R'n'R, and also a nap. Or a recharge, in Jim's case. Because he's an android.

While there, Jim decides to visit his old creator, Professor Phineas T. Horton. But there's a surprise waiting for the two Torches.

*Terminator theme intensifies*

Yup, he's an android, too.

Well, not really. This isn't one of those "he was an android all along" things, someone made off with the real Horton and put a robot Horton in his place. And who was that?

"I will destroy humanity in the name of my lemon cosplay!"

Meet Adam II. Much like Ultron decades after him, he is an android who has dreams of destroying humanity. Jim and Tom are able to dispatch the android's equally artificial goons, but Adam II is able to trap them in a water tower with the real Horton. They end up rescued by Jeffrey Mace, the Patriot.

"Is this some weird kink you guys have?"

Horton tells the three costumed heroes that Adam II plans to get rid of a young up-and-coming politician and replace him with an android. That politician? One John Fitzgerald Kennedy. During the battle, Naslund is killed, and Mace becomes the newest Captain America. The All-Winners Squad then next battled the supervillain known as Future Man and the master criminal known as Madame Death. Travelling the world, the members of the Squad defeat the two villains. This adventure would be the Squad's swan song. The group breaks up, with Whizzer and Miss America marrying and retiring from heroics. Namor, the two Torches, and the Jeff Mace Captain America (alongside presumably the Fred Davis Bucky) do continue crime-fighting, but mostly as solo acts.

In 1947, Jim and Toro battled a pair of imposter Torches as part of a plan by his old nemesis the Asbestos Lady. Jim reveals that later on, she would get sick from exposure to asbestos. The two would continue to fight other villains and criminals, like the Masked Monster, and in 1948, they battled the Hyena. 

The 1950s were only a couple short years away, and at that time, Jim got himself an apartment in New York City. He also got himself a secretary. Wait, why did he need a secretary? Was he now an executive or something? 😕

"I'm getting tired of getting those weird notes from Richard, Jim."

Meet Mary Mitchell. She gives a letter to Toro. His foster mother is ill, and his foster father wants him to come see her. Toro wants to, but there's a crime wave going. Jim assures him that there's never a shortage of crooks. Also, I can imagine Jim wants Tom to spend some time with his family while he can. Toro flies off, and Jim remarks it will be strange to fight crime solo, as he's spent the last few years either with a partner, or as part of a team. Luckily, Mary has a solution to that problem.

"I just threw this together with a dress I got from a thrift shop."

Jim nixes it, as Mary has no superpowers. She is a trained hand-to-hand combatant, thanks to her time in the WAACs during the war. Also, there's a superheroine now running around with the Jeff Mace Captain America called Golden Girl. Fun fact, that Golden Girl, Betsy Ross, would be eventually revealed to be a relative of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, one of the Incredible Hulk's regular rogues.

Jim hears some police sirens and brings Mary with him to investigate. She reveals she took the secretary job because she wanted to fight crime with Jim. The Sun Girl shows herself to be rather capable as Jim's new partner. During the months Toro is helping his ill mother, Jim and Mary continue fighting crime as the Human Torch and Sun Girl. Eventually, Jim got an urgent message from his creator, Phineas T. Horton. The two have had their differences over the years, but Jim hoped it was nothing serious. After all, Horton was still his "dad", in a sense. Jim sees an ambulance and some police cars in front of Horton's home. Evidently, the worst has happened: Phineas T. Horton has passed away.

It was on this night the Academy of Science (presumably Thomas meant the American Academy of Arts and Sciences) came to give him an award, finally recognizing his achievements. It was something Horton always wanted. Horton had a bad heart and was bedridden for the past few months. He lapsed into a coma, and then passed away. Jim says his goodbyes to his creator and flies off. But once he leaves, there's a surprise.

"I really don't care about my android son."

Yeah, Horton lives.

The government faked his death to prevent the creation of more androids (presumably after the Adam II disaster). Horton's not happy with it, but at least he can start again. It would be revealed later on that Horton took on the name "Thomas Raye", married, and raised a foster daughter named Frankie, who would go on to become Nova. Fun fact, Frankie Raye was co-created by Roy Thomas, the writer of this miniseries. It's now 1949, and despite the tragedy of seemingly losing his father, there is one bright spot: Toro is back!

His parents are doing much better, and he's itching to fight some crime. As shown earlier, Jimmy's been working with Sun Girl, but he's got no qualms with leading a trio. The more the merrier when it comes to crime-busting. Worked for the Legion of Super-Heroes after all. He's going to need the help. There's a new crime boss in town, and he's a dangerous man. Aren't they all, really?

The two head back to Jim's apartment, where Mary has a message from the 'Crime Boss'. Basically, he's daring the Torch to meet him in a warehouse in New York City. Torch and Toro are on the way. Mary offers to come along as well, but Torch feels he and Toro have it handled. So much for wanting to try fighting crime as a trio, eh Jimmy?

The two bust into the warehouse and easily take care of the Crime Boss's goons. However, the Boss has a nasty surprise for our fiery heroes.

"ECTO COOLER ATTACK!"

The substance makes the two into essentially living statues, unable to move or use their powers. The Boss orders his men to load the Torch on a plane, while leaving Toro behind. Why didn't they just shoot Toro? Man isn't bulletproof, and it's not like he could fight back right now. Maybe the Boss thought he'd be a neat decoration. 

The Boss's men take Torch on a little flight to the deserts out West, and they dig a grave for the Torch. A very deep, dark grave. They throw the Torch in and fill in the hole. Jim tries to fight his way out, but the sand and rock is too heavy, and presumably he's still under the effects of Solution X-R. Jim goes into a sort of hibernation (think a form of "stasis lock" if you're a Beast Wars fan), and the story ends with him lying under the rocks and sand, inert and helpless. However, the Crime Boss and his men didn't just bury him anywhere in the desert. They buried him in Yucca Flat...where in the future, it would be a site of nuclear tests...

I did enjoy reading this issue. I don't have a lot to say about it story-wise, mainly because this is essentially, a comic-length recap tale. 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2014 trade paperback Sub-Mariner and the Original Human Torch. Thanks for reading this blog entry!

Text Play: Pokemon Xenoverse #32

Hello, and welcome back to the Eldiw region! This is entry number 32 in my Text Play of Pokémon Xenoverse!

Now, as is tradition, I wish to warn you, I will be spoiling this game.

As such, I highly recommend that you play through the game yourself before reading these Text Plays. You can download it here. And with that out of the way, let's go!

Last time, we got to witness a concert from one of the region's most prominent artists, Wallace Daddy. Well, sort of. It turns out that an X Pokémon caused a bit of sabotage that ruined the concert. The day before, it slipped some bad berries into a celebratory buffet that caused a LOT of puking at the concert.

As a result, we ended up teaming up with the GEIST gang, our old friends from Westar City (we last met them in entry #24) to deal with this Pokémon, which resulted in two problems. One, the Pokémon didn't turn out to be a Ghost-type, which rendered GEIST's equipment useless, and second...it's a Slurpuff the size of a kaiju. Yeah, a big angry Xenoverse Slurpuff. And it likely killed them. That sucks, I really liked those guys. Well, it's naturally up to us to deal with this monster.  

X Slurpuff (Lv. 46) - Defeated by Palossand

Palossand was a real MVP here. Its Bulldoze attack really did plenty of damage. Phantump also helped, as it started the battle with giving the X Slurpuff a dose of Leech Seed. And X Slurpuff's Drain Punch has no effect on Phantump. Doesn't affect Palossand, either. Don't bother wasting your Xeno Balls, you can't catch this thing. 

Once defeated, the giant X Slurpuff shrinks down to a smaller size, and you get a nice achievement for it (The bigger they are...). The fanboy theorizes that it was able to get so big thanks to absorbing energy from his sweets. I have no idea. Maybe it's this thing's equivalent of Leech Seed?

 Wallace wants to beat the little pocket monster into next week, but the X Slurpuff starts acting sad, sniffling and crying. It turns out it came to this burg because, well...it likes music. It likes to dance and groove to the beat. 

The little Pokémon uses Clear Smog as a way to make amends for causing the illnesses of everyone at the concert with its sweets. Turns out the X Slurpuff isn't really a bad guy, he just wanted to help cater the party. He wasn't aware his treats were poisonous to humans. I can imagine they weren't to people in the Xenoverse, so I can imagine the little guy's confusion.

Wallace then remembers that during his time in Alola, a Malasada shop owner told him a person who can cook could not be a bad guy. And the shop had a Slurpuff on its sign. He sees it as a bit of cosmic kismet. He asks the Slurpuff if it will join its team. Slurpuff agrees. Looks like all's well that ends well, I guess.

With that weirdness out of the way, we can challenge Wallace for our sixth badge if we want to. ANd we will do that. Can't go forward without doing so. But for now, I want to explore Hypelion City some more. After taking my Pokémon to the Pokémon Center to get healed up, I noticed a pair of garbage cans outside the building.

The one on the left contains some Lemonade. Why on Earth would anyone throw away lemonade? I mean, it likely was perfectly good lemonade. I wouldn't be surprised if someone drank half the bottle and threw it away because they felt they didn't need the rest.

It's a little pet peeve of mine. If you buy a bottle of a drink, drink all of it. You don't have to right away, but just finish the drink. 

Ignoring that unpleasantness, let's head to the right. I had noticed that many of the houses here have graffiti on them, including murals of Pokémon. I guess it makes sense, considering this town was founded by a hip-hop artist. Anyway, at the end of the street, we meet a pair of breakdancers.

The garbage bin behind them contains...garbage. Yeah, just garbage. Seriously, that's deceptive. You give the impression items can be found in trash bins, don't pull this. I understand it's more realistic, but then don't have it so you can find items in garbage bins. Let's go into the house in the screenshot. 

Yeah, this place needs a cleaning. There's paint splotches everywhere. The old bald guy likes to brag about his waxed scalp. I'm not kidding. The young woman is doing the dishes, intent on making them shinier than the man's head. Heh. Let's go upstairs!

This is a nice little room, despite the graffiti and paint splotches everywhere. I'd have painted the walls a nice dark green myself. I think it's a relaxing color. The young lady remarks that Wallace Daddy has a gold addiction. Yeah, his teeth showed that. She gives us a Yellow Flute. It's an item that plays a melody that snaps a Pokémon out of confusion. Considering it has a counter in the Battle Items section of our backpack, it can be assumed this is a one-time use item. When we leave the house and go upwards, we find another garbage bin. 

This one contains TM05: Roar. Why would someone throw this out? Is it defective? If we keep going to the left, we'll end up near an RV. That's cool, you don't see those often in official Pokémon games. At least, not to my knowledge. I think I may have encountered one in Sun/Moon...

Looks like the RV has adopted the aesthetic of the rest of the city. The guy on the left will give you a Luxury Ball. Next to the RV is a house with a blue roof.

I'm wondering if the paint splotches are a deliberate aesthetic choice at this point. The couple here is having a few relationship issues. Evidently, the guy's obsessed with Wallace Daddy, and it's led him to neglect the lady. 

Yeah. Fanboys. They can be nuts. Let's go upstairs, shall we?

One bedroom for three people. I can imagine this would lead to some...awkward situations.

The boy inside asks if you want to see his vinyl collection. Hey, vinyl collection! That sounds neat! He rattles off some vinyl album names, presumably Wallace Daddy's works, considering his significance to this city. Rags to Riches, Red Sun, All Lightz on Me, Top Dawg, Savage, King of the Jungle...all he needs is Native, which evidently is a very rare record. I personally think Red Sun is underrated. For letting him show off his records, he gives us TM24: Thunderbolt. Would be handy for Harrowk if it can't learn it on its own...

Let's go upwards, shall we? We end up in front of Wallace Daddy's clothing store. Notice the Mega Lopunny stand in front? You're supposed to stand behind it, make a screenshot, and post it to social media. Like this.

Neat, huh? Let's go inside the store.

Yup, looks like a high-fashion boutique where everything costs an arm and a leg. Got a nice variety of items here. Shoes, sunglasses, hats, shirts, vests...

(get on with it)

Sorry. You can't really buy anything here, unfortunately. Al though that may be for the best as I remember hearing clothing items here were quite expensive. There's this nice-looking lady standing in front of a shelf filled with racks of shoes and sunglasses.

She'll ask you if these glasses she's picking out suit her, and an honest opinion would be nice. If you choose "Ahem, actually...", she'll take it in stride. She admits that she's not sure they suit her either, so she gives them to us. Turns out, these sunglasses are actually Choice Specs. Give these to a Pokemon, and it will boost said Pokemon's Special Attack stat. Downside of it is that it will only be able to use one move. If we go all the way to the left, there's a stairwell leading upwards. This leads to some changing rooms, with people standing in front of them.

The man on the left is your stereotypical hipster, grumbling about a lack of vintage pieces. Buddy, you are in the wrong store for that! The woman on the left is waiting for her sister to finish trying on clothes. If we go to the right, we find this dude, and I think maybe some windows?

He's a Move Tutor, who can teach Sound Pledge to any Pokemon that can learn it. Would be handy if you have a powerful Sound-type. Maybe I can teach it to my Trishout. 

(Batman Hmmm)

From the Hip-Top clothing store, we can go to the right, to the road between the store and the stage where Wally tried to hold that concert in the last entry. Go upwards, and to the right. Keep going past the Gym, and we'll end up here.

Hey, it's a little Walk of Fame! I wonder how you get on it. According to the lady, these stars are symbolic. They represent the hard work and hardship that Wally put in and overcame to achieve his dreams. I think this was a missed opportunity for a bit of worldbuilding. I would have had the stars put in the names of people who helped Wallace Daddy get to where he is now. It would be a nice way of showing that he hasn't forgotten those who helped him on his way. Just a thought.

As seen in the screenshot, next to the stars is a house. Let's go in, shall we? 

Please tell me this guy owns the house. Well, it turns out that this isn't a home, this is a gallery. Yeah, this is a place where you can do a bit of graffiti if you want to.

And there's where we'll stop for the month. Join me next time for when we hopefully get to take on Wallace Daddy for our fifth badge! Wish me luck! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!

International Dog Day

 Today is International Dog Day!

I hope you spend this say hugging your beloved woofer!

Uncanny X-Men #210 (October 1986)

The 1980s could be argued to be both a Golden Age and a Dark Age for Marvels' Merry Mutants. How so? Well, it was a Golden Age because at the time, the X-Men practically ruled the Marvel Universe. They were the hot team. But it was also a Dark Age because the storylines showed them dealing with a harsher, crueler world, where being a mutant seemed to become a death sentence. The comic we're looking at here is the beginning of one of the darker storylines of the era: the Mutant Massacre. A lot of mutants are going to die, but there was a calm before the storm. Let's see it here in Uncanny X-Men #210!

The cover is a John Romita Jr, Bob Wiacek, and Danny Crespi piece. If it were painted, this cover would give a vibe of a movie poster. Despite that, I think it's a bit of a plain poster, just showing the X-Men at the time. Although, what is going on with Rogue's face back there? Is she winking? 

"The Morning After"
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Dan Green
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editors: Ann Nocenti, Terry Kavanagh
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins in Los Angeles, California. We focus in on two people: A man named Richard, and a woman known only as Tommy. Richard and Tommy. Sounds like a sequel/response song to "Jack and Diane". Anyway, Richard ends up getting some...spinal problems.

Page 6, Panel 2

As you can tell by his uniform, Richard is a soldier for the Hellfire Club. Shame their health insurance doesn't cover harpoon injuries.

Richard pleads with Tommy to give him his gun, but the mutant woman flees. She manages to sneak on board a train after her pursuers kill Richard. She manages to escape, but the Marauders aren't worried or angry. They'll get her. She's in unfamiliar territory, and they'll get plenty of kills soon enough. It'll be fun hunting Tommy, and they wonder if a compatriot of theirs named Malice is also having some laughs in San Francisco. 

And speaking of the Golden Gate City, we look in on one of the X-Men's occasional members.

Page 9, Panel 4

Don't let the black hair throw you off. That's Alison Blaire, aka the Dazzler. She just knocked out a heckuva performance, and now she wants to take a nice rest. Recharge the batteries, and all that. While in her trailer, she laments that her career as a singer has been derailed thanks to her being publicly revealed as a mutant. This happened in Marvel Graphic Novel #12: Dazzler the Movie. You know Alison, you could have used your platform to help promote human-mutant peace. Win over hearts and minds. 

I think I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the X-Men SUCK at promoting human-mutant peace. Alison notices her reflection changing... 

Page 11, Panel 1

"GIMME YOU FAAAAAACE!"

Meet Malice, a being who has no body of her own. In fact, this comic is her debut. She attacks the Dazzler, but she seemingly fights Malice off. The lightengale then notices this nice-looking choker around her neck. She thinks nothing of it and decides to take a nap.

We next go across the country to New York City. Manhattan to be exact.

One member of the X-Men, the Southern powerhouse known only as Rogue, is flying over the city.

Page 12, Panel 1

I find it so funny people are shocked to see people flying around in the MU's New York City. You'd think they'd be used to it. I mean, this city is the traditional homebase of the Avengers and Fantastic Four. Spider-Man and Daredevil regularly swing and leap through the rooftops. At this point, they should look at Rogue flying and think "Oh, some new superhero is debuting". 

Anyway, Rogue isn't just flying around because she loves the wind in her hair. She is looking for Rachel Summers, aka Phoenix. Basically, she's the daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey from the dystopian Days of Future Past timeline. She vanished after a battle the X-Men and the Hellfire Club had against a futuristic Sentinel robot called Nimrod. Rogue laments not being more supportive of Rachel, as she understands what it's like to be alone, being that she can't touch anyone at all. However, some action gets her attention. 

Page 13, Panels 2-3

Rogue manages to rescue the falling window washers and keep the platform from harming anyone by tossing it into the East River. One of the window washers offers a kiss of gratitude the skunk-haired beauty, but she turns it down and flies off. After all, kissing her would be very bad for his health. She sees herself in a building's windows, and realizes she needs a proper change of clothes. Wouldn't be becoming to fly around in a tattered superhero costume. Rogue keeps some money in her belt in case of stuff like this.

Nowadays, it'd likely be a debit card. Rogue then tries out some of the hot 1980s fashions.

Page 15, Panel 4

She next goes to get her face done up. She ends up gathering a crowd. Evidently the X-Men are somewhat celebrities. I don't know.

One man gets up in his feelings and screams that Rogue has no right to shop there because she's a mutant. If this comic was done today, he'd scream Rogue was trying to turn people "woke" or some other nonsense.

Lucky, one of the window washers she saved earlier comes to her defense. He points out that she may be a mutant, but she still saved him and his window washer partner's life. And if the man has a problem with it, he can take it up with the window washer's fists. Rogue decides to leave. She flies off and spots an ad for X-Factor, realizing this may be the reason for the increased paranoia. I've already given my thoughts on the idiocy of the X-Factor concept, so I won't repeat them here. 

Over at the Xavier Institute, Piotr Rasputin/Colossus and Illyana Rasputin/Magik are hanging out, doing some catching up. Magik notices a sketch of Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde drawn by Piotr. She points out that Kitty's still upset about Rachel and Nightcrawler. She wonders if Piotr can reach her. She could use some support right now. 

Speaking of Kitty, she's doing some maintenance on Cerebro. She manages to upgrade it so any of the X-Men can use it scan for mutants, not just telepaths like Professor X or Jean Grey. Afterwards, Kitty laments that for all the X-Men do, things just don't seem to get any better for them or mutantkind. Considering the X-Men don't actually do any promotion of human-mutant peace, I wonder why things never got better.

She, Piotr, and Illyana briefly discuss the current state of the X-Men when Cerebro blares a contact alarm, revealing it picked up a mutant. In New York City's Fifth Avenue, former X-Men nemesis-turned-Xavier Institute Headmaster Magneto floats down and sees a bunch of police cars and press trucks at the scene. He's not surprised, as the X-Men and the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle had battled the mutant-hunting robot from the future known as Nimrod there in the last issue. 

Also there is X-Factor, aka the original X-Men in a new disguise. He mistakes Jean Grey for Madelyn Pryor, Cyclops's then-wife. Foreshadowiiiiiiiiing! He enters the Hellfire Club's building (he was invited there). The Inner Circle proposes an alliance with the X-Men, as considering they are all mutants, they'll need to survive what appears to be increased efforts to exterminate their kind. Magneto tells them he'll think about. 

In a warehouse on the Hudson River, Nightcrawler is running for his life. 

Page 23, Panels 1-2

Yeah, the X-Men really need to hire a PR person. Colossus, Shadowcat, and Magik are able to rescue Nightcrawler, as he seems to have lost his power to teleport.

At the Delacorte Theater, Storm and Wolverine are trying to find Rachel, but the trail ended there. The two briefly discuss Wolverine's actions towards her. So, how is Tommy doing? Well, let's find out. The young mutant woman managed to make her way to New York City, heading back to the old Morlock tunnels. She thinks she's made it to safety, but the mysterious people following her managed to, well, follow her. 

One of them reveals they let her escape so she could lead them to the rest of the Morlocks. It was nothing personal, they're just doing a job. And before they kill her, they let her now that she'll have a lot of company.

This comic was enjoyable. This story had a nice balance of character stuff and action. My favorite moment in the comic was one of the window washers standing up for Rogue and calling her a hero after she saved his life. It was a nice little heartwarming moment, and I wish stuff like this appeared in more books. I would have loved to have seen that guy be a regular ally of the X-Men, as I feel that having human friends help remind the X-Men of their own humanity, and it helps give the idea that the X-Men are making actual progress on the whole "promoting human-mutant peace" thing. Something Jonathan Hickman should have kept in mind. 

If you want to read this comic for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2013 trade paperback X-Men: Mutant Massacre. Thanks for reading this blog entry! See you next time!