X-Men #124 (Aug 79): He Only Laughs When I Hurt!
Creative Team: Chris Claremont, author; John Byrne, penciler; Terry Austin, inker; Tom Orzechowski, 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: Colleen Wing
Synopsis: Arcade is laughing at the X-Men while watching them in their private Hells on his video screen. Arcade then explains his origins to his captives, Colleen Wing, Amanda, and Betsey. He was a spoiled kid who killed his father after his father cut off his allowance. He became a killer for hire. He started building elaborate death traps to entertain himself. His first kill for hire was Captain Britain, but Spider-Man ended up coming along as well and they escaped him. Then Black Tom and Juggernaut hired him to kill the X-Men. Meanwhile, Cyclops and Wolverine and fighting off a brainwashed Colossus. Colossus accidentally knocks each through seperate hidden doors. He then goes looking for them in the giant maze. Storm continues to try to fly out of her water trap, but keeps getting zapped. Suddenly, the water level rises all the way to the top so she has barely any breating room. Cyclops ends up with Nightcrawler while Wolverine ends up with Banshee. Wolverine's senses let him know which planes are holograms and where the end of the room is. He tears through it, but inside he fights robot versions of Magneto and the Hulk. Storm tries to swim through her trap and finds the grate where the water is coming from. She uses her electrical power to melt it away. Cyclops blasts all the buzzcars and then blasts through the wall. He and Nightcrawler split up and go looking for the other X-Men. Cyclops stumbles on the battle with the robots. Nightcrawler finds Arcade's control room, but gets gased when he tries to tackle Arcade. The battle with the robots comes to an ends when a giant flood washes them away. They find Storm unconscious so Cyclops uses mouth to mouth to bring her back. Colossus then shows up and attacks them all. He knocks out Banshee and Wolverine, then grabs Cyclops and Storm by the throat. They try to talk him out of his brainwashing. It's not until Storm calls him her little brother that he comes around. Realising that he's lost, Arcade sets the X-Men free, shooting them through a long tunnel until they reach a distant amusement park. There they find Nightcrawler with the girls all wrapped up like presents. Wolverine wants to go back after Arcade, but Cyclops explains they have no idea where the base is. So they just go home.
Yeah, but is it good? Arcade issues are always good. This is the resolution to the set up, and it's tons of fun. This is actually more like a 60s comic. Back then the super hero teams would always be split up somehow and have to solve their individual problems to defeat the crazy villain. And I likes. This is just a pure fun issue with no major problems. They come soon enough. Colossus' doubts in himself caused him to be easily brainwashed, but his brother/sister bond with Storm is even stronger, and brings him back.
Significata: Storm means enough to Colossus to undo brainwashing.
