X-Men #123 (Jul 79): Listen - Stop Me If You've Heart It - But Thie One Will Kill You!
Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; John Byrne, penciler; Terry Autin, inker; Tom Orz, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Roger Stern, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief
Starting Line Up: Cyclops, Pheonix (DNA), Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Banshee, Storm, Colossus
Guest Star: Spider-Man, Collen Wing
Synopsis: Spider-Man is swinging through the city and spots Cyclops with Colleen Wing. He stops to say hello. As he leaves, a garbage truck snatches them up. Spidey recognises the sound, and figures none other than Arcade has kidnapped the two. He goes to warn the rest of the X-Men. At the opera, Nightcrawler (without image inducer) and Colossus are on a date with Amanda and Betsey. Arcade's assistant, Miss Locke tells them Xavier's private box is being refurbished so she leads them to another, where they're gassed and captured as well. Wolverine is leaving Mariko Yoshida's New York residence and is also captured by a garbage truck. At the X-Men's mansion, Acrade himself creeps through the shadows and tranqs Banshee and Storm. The phone rings. Arcade answers. It's Spider-Man, but he's too late. Some time later, Cyclops wakes up to find himself and the rest of the X-Men each in a plastic pinball on a giant electrified pinball game surface. After bouncing around and being zapped for a while, each ball then takes a different path. Cyclops lands in a room with three exits, and an opposite wall that is slowly closing in on him. It will also slam on him once a door is opened. One room supposedly leads out while the other two to certain death. Acrade laughs to himself there's a concrete wall behind all three. Colossus lands in a dark room and is interrogated by KGB agent Col. Alexei Vazhin. Vazhin accuses him of being a traitor to mother Russia. Wolverine lands in a hall or mirrors and the mirrors keep popping out android versions of his warped reflection. Nightcrawler lands in a giant bowl shapped room in which cars with buzz saws can follow him anywhere. Banshee lands in a room which is the middle of a WWII air battle. Some of the plans are holograms, but some of them are real, and without his sonic powers to reflect, he can't tell which are which. Storm lands in a giant pool. She tries to fly back up, but gets zapped. Cyclops realises he can't get out playing by Arcade's rules, so blasts one of the other walls, which leads him to Wolverine in the hall of mirrors. The two destroy all the androids. When they think they've found Colossus, he proclaims himself the Proletarian, worker's hero of the Soviet Union, and he's going to destroy the X-Men.
Yeah, but is it good? Arcade issues as always good. This is just a set up issue, though. Everyone's getting stuck in their individual challenges, and now we get to see how they resolve it. Cyclops was the first, and he got it right. Don't play by Arcade's rules. And good ol' Spidey makes a guest appearance, but even though he knows the X-Men have been kidnapped, he doesn't do much to help, that bastard. Speaking of bastards, and by which I mean bitch, that Colleen Wing is still after a serving of Cyclops. She's not written to be a bad person, but I still can't stand her. HIS LOVER JUST DIED! And it's interesting to note all the X-Men except Storm have some sort of love interest at this point. This will become a point later on.
Significata: All the X-Men except Storm have a love interest (although some more casual than others). Banshee is still powerless. Colossus' doubts about himself and being an X-Men allow him to be brainwashed by a (fake) KGB agent.
