X-Men #113 (Sep 78): Showdown!
Creative Team: (no credits given, but assumed to be the new regular team of Claremont/Byrne/Austin)
Starting Line Up: Cyclops, Pheonix, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Banshee, Storm, Colossus
Guest Star: Beast
Synopsis: Magneto has been raiding research fascilities in Australia and New Zealand, and none of the super groups are available to stop him. Xavier, on the Greek isle of Kirinos with Lilandra, is worried by the fact he's lost his telepathic rapport with the X-Men. In Magneto's Antactic base, Nanny is spoon feeding, bathing, and brushing the hair of th X-Men and Beast. It's driving them all insane. When Nanny leaves, Storm, with limited motor skils, knocks off her headdress and tries to get out her lock picking tools. She recalls the tests Achmd El-Gibar used to put her through as a child. When she gets very close to picking the lock on her wrist using the pick between her teeth, she loses and control and drops it. Nanny returns and puts the headdress back on. Meanwhile, on the newly restored Asteroid M, Magneto gets a warning that he is needed back at the Antartic base. When he arrives, he find Nanny rolling in circles. He's then suddenly attacked by the X-Men, this time as a team. Storm apparently tried to escape a second time, and succeeded. The X-Men keep hammered Magento, one after other, keeping him all balance, while Storm increases the humidity around him. Pheonix blasts him so hard, that he flies back and into his control panel. The force field that was holding the lava in the volcano back starts to give away. While the X-Men scramble to find an escape plan, Magneto uses his power to escape to the surface, and away to another base. Pheonix blasts through to the surface as well, but with only Beast in tow. What happened to the rest of the X-Men is not revealed. Pheonix' power then gives out again, and she faints. Beast then has to carry her, but to where? They're in the middle of Antarctica.
Yeah, but is it good? To me, this is what X-Men comics are all about (that and the social commentary of race and sex issue masked under the "mutant" monicker). A kick ass villain like Magneto, and the team having to work together to defeat him. And the new X-Men finally do it! This is the first issue that read like an old X-Men issue (with better writting). The whole point of super teams is their ability to work together. That was always the selling point of The Avengers. Not that Iron Man and Thor are in the same comic together. Rather, how will they use their abilities in tandem to overcome their obstacles. I realise that was being built to in this series. The new team couldn't come out, guns blazing, and be perfect. What makes this comic so great is the evolution of the characters and the team as a whole. And what better villain for the team to finally break that barrier against than Magneto? It's also not a decisive victory, so there's anticipation of the next great battle.
Significata: The new X-Men defeat Magneto, and do it by finally working as a team. Magneto is working on some new plot, to be revealed much later. Pheonix' powers continue to top out on her before their reach anywhere near their potential. Pheonix and Beast get seperate from the X-Men while they escape. What will each group think happened to the other? What did happen to the X-Men? This is the first monthly issue of X-Men since the title was cancelled years before.
