X-Men #108 (Dec 77): Armageddon Now!
Creative Team: Chris Claremont, author; John Byrne, artist; Terry Austin, inker; Wohl & Orz, letterer; A. Yanchus, colorist; Archie Goodwin, editor
Starting Line Up: Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Banshee, Storm, Colossus
Guest Stars: Pheonix, Beast (cameo), Captain America (cameo), Mr. Fantastic (cameo), Human Torche (cameo), The Wasp (cameo), whatever Ant-Man is called at this point (cameo), some other Avenger (cameo), Misty Knight (cameo)
Synopsis: The M'Kraan Crystal is reacting to the nine Death Stars and unleashing a power that is called "The End of All That Is". The X-Men want an explanation of what is going on, and Cyclops recounts every Lilandra told him earlier. Meanwhile, on Starcore Station, Dr. Corbeau is alerting the president, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four of reality blinking away. Meanwhile, back on a distant world, a small creature named Jahf comes out of the crystal. He's there to guard the crystal as long as the gate is open. Wolverine takes the challenge, but he's slapped clear into space. Corsair orders his ship's robot pilot, Waldo, to go after him. Jahf begins to mop the floor with the X-Men and the Starjammers. Pheonix tries to gather enough power to defeat him, but is still burned out from opening the warp gate. Banshee finally realises Jahf is nothing more than a robot, so he uses his sonic scream to scramble it's circuits. Modt, a giant robotic second guardian appears, his power a thousand times that of Jahf. And if he should be defeated, a third guardian who's power is a thousand times great will appear, and so on and so on. Waldo, now with Wolverine in the infirmary, alerts Raza that when Modt appeared, there was another cosmic blink. Raza, in a fit of rage, goes after D'Ken and throws him into the gate. There's an explosion of light, and suddenly every conscious body is transported to another place. Pheonix tells them there are inside the crystal. And inside the crystal is a sphere of immense power. Pheonix touches the sphere and everyone is launched into their own personal nightmare. D'Ken is fighting the Soul-Drinker. Nightcrawler is being hunted and lynches by the X-Men. Corsair is releaving his wife, Kate, being murdered. Pheonix' nightmare is death. But since she's already conquored death, it's no longer a nightmare. She tries to calm down Cyclops, whose nightmare is causing him to blast everything in sight. He hits the sphere, and it begins to crack. The other shell of the sphere is a living lattice. And it's dying. If it dies, the neutron galaxy held within will escape, and it will consum all of reality, destroying it, and then creating a brand new universe. Pheonix uses her power to try and restore the lattice. But she doesn't have enough power. Storm offers her life force to help. Pheonix tells her it will kill her, but if she has one other person, they might all live. Corsair is the only one conscious, so Pheonix pleads with him. When Corsair seems hesitant, she calls him by his real name, Major Summers. As he goes to her aid, she tells him she doesn't live, to take care of her love, Cyclops - his son. Pheonix finally has enough power to restore the lattice and the universe is saved. The X-Men use the warp gate and return to Earth, and are confronted by Firelord. Pheonix is so weak, she is willing to let him have her life. But Xavier has explained everything to him, so he only remained to watch the warp gate until their return. Lilandra also comes through the gate. She tells Xavier D'Ken is now catatonic and she will succeed him, except for the fact she led a rebellion, so is technically a traitor. Until the legal wrinkles are ironed out, she is exiled to Earth with her love.
Yeah, but is it good? Classic. This story is so timeless, it's still talked about today. X3 will most likely be the story of Pheonix (and done as poorly as the Weapon X story in X2, I'm sure). Once again, the X-Men are outmatched by cosmic forces, but Pheonix proves to have power beyong imagination. And what did I say before about Wolverine trying to tackle cosmic forces? He got smacked into space for his trouble. I am looking forward to the X-Men fighting more Earthly foes, though. The blurb at then is hilarious. This being the first John Byrne issue, they added to the bottom of the last panel "This book dedicated with respect and admiration to Dave Cockrum - who helped make the dream a reality." followed by "I'm not dead - Dave Cockrum".
Significata: Pheonix saves the universe. Corsair is revealed as Cyclops' father. D'Ken goes catatonic. Lilandra will be named as new Empress, but is will stay on Earth with Xavier for some time. First John Byrne & Terry Austin issue. The price of X-Men comics go up to 35 cents.
