X-Men #117 (Jan 79): Psi War!
Creative Team: Chris Claremont, script; John Byrne, pencils; Terry Austin, inks; Clem Robins, letters; Glynis Wien, colors; Roger Stern, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief
Starting Line Up: Cyclops, Pheonix, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Banshee, Storm, Colossus
Guest Star: Misty Knight (cameo)
Synopsis: The X-Men are in the middle of a horrible storm on their flimsy craft. Storm is using her powers to hold back the storm, but the rage still threatens their small boat. A Japanese ship spots them and goes to their rescue. The ship in on a top secret mission, so the X-Men are left without communication back home and have to wait for the ship to return to Japan. Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Pheonix is leaving. The mansion is too full of memories for her to deal with. Lilandra consoles Xavier. He tells her the tale of how he thought of creating the X-Men. At one time he was in love with and engaged to Moira McTaggert. While he was drafted to fight in Korea, Moira sends him a letter breaking off the engagement. Xavier was depressed afterwards, so he started bumming around the Mediterranean, trying to put his life back together. He eventually ended up in Cairo. There, a small pick pocket took his wallet. If it wasn't for his mental powers, he would have never know she was there. He chased her down and used a mental bolt to stun her for a moment. The little theif was Storm. He recognised her latent mutant abilities and when he tries to scan her mind, he was was struck, hard, by another's psychic bolt. He followed the source into a cafe. While he sat and wait, a mutant named Amahl Farouk entered. They spoke telepathically. Farouk offered Xavier to join him, but Xavier refused to join someone so evil and challenged him. They dueled on the astral plane. Xavier, having never used his powers this way before, was overwhelmed. Xavier enventually figured out the only limits on the astal plane are his imagination and was able to defeat Farouk by making him explode. The physical Farouk just slumped over, not dying, but suffering through a mental anguish that will last forever. At that point, Xavier realised there are potential dangerous and evil mutants in the world, and he needed to stop them before they damned all mutants. Lilandra then asks Xavier to come with her to the Shi'ar empire, when he can be her consort as she rules. Feeling he has nothing left on Earth, he accepts. Meanwhile, at Kennedy Airport, Pheonix runs into her roommate, Misty Knight, who she hasn't seen returning from Antarctica. Misty then has to run, as she's catching a flight to Japan.
Yeah, but is it good? I love these Xavier flashback issues that come up from time to time. It gives such good insight as to WHY the X-Men exist, or how Xavier came to be the way he is, thus affecting the influence he has over the X-Men. Farouk isn't much of a villain, he's decent enough for the first evil mutant Xavier ever meets. The whole Xavier & Pheonix think the X-Men are dead story is interesting as always, as it dramatically changes their lives and drives them to make totally different decisions than expected.
Significata: The story of how Xavier decided to create the X-Men after meeting his first evil mutant. Xavier first meets Storm many years before she joins the team. Xavier decides to leave Earth and live with Lilandra. Pheonix goes on a long vacation. She still hasn't told Misty the X-Men are dead. The X-Men are on their way to Japan. So is Misty Knight.
