Let's make a short departure, shall we?
We're still in 1978, and the Phoenix Saga had just wrapped up. Last time, I discussed how Havok and Polaris were unceremoniously dumped out of the story without any real resolution. It seems Claremont and Cockrum got the idea of brainwashing them and setting them up against the X-Men – getting some mileage from the fraternal opposition of Scott and Alex in the mean time – but had no idea whatsoever where to take them from there. Nothing much came of Eric the Red, and they were just accessories to him, so they were ultimately rendered rather meaningless. And so they were packed off and sent to Muir Island, the depository for momentarily unneeded mutants.
However, Claremont would actually have had a golden opportunity to tie up their subplot satisfactorily, and possibly throw them a bone in exchange for portraying them as such chumps earlier. He failed to do either.
Marvel Team-Up was a long-running series that featured Spider-Man teaming up with various other Marvel heroes. The X-Men, either individually or as a team, had co-starred in it a few times. I usually don't regard typical guest appearances and team-ups as important enough to cover, but I'll make an exception in this case. (Now watch me slide down the slippery slope...) In 1978, Claremont wound up writing a few issues of it, and John Byrne was along for the ride. They wrote a two-issue story focusing on Havok in all the wrong ways, which also tied into developments in the X-Men title.
Issue #69 starts off with Alex and Lorna enjoying a walk along the shore. I understand not using this chance to, say, explore how they feel about having been mind controlled, since this is after all a stand-alone story and its readers weren't necessarily familiar with what had happened. But even considering that, their characterization here is weak. They each get off a single line (both pure exposition) before being attacked by servants of the Living Pharaoh, whom you might remember as the Egyptian supervillain who kidnapped Havok all the way back in X-Men #54-56.
After a brief fight, Alex is captured, while Lorna is left for dead in the sea. She manages to crawl out and call the X-Men for help, but finds that there's nobody home to answer the phone (which is rather odd for 3AM). She tries the next best thing: calling Beast at the Avengers Mansion. Hank is there and promises to get to the bottom of the matter. This plotline will be picked up in the next issue of X-Men, #111.
Meanwhile, in New York's Empire State University, Peter Parker comes across more of the Pharaoh's goons stealing some kind of mystic ankh. After some wacky hi-jinx, he ends up tracking them to their headquarters, where he manages to free Havok. Together, they fight off the bad guys a bit, before the Living Pharaoh himself shows up. His powers are evenly matched with Havok's, but one of his underlings slips the ankh around Havok's neck, which paralyzes him.
The Pharaoh seeks to reenact his earlier plan: sticking Alex in a box and siphoning off his energy. Their powers are linked, but manifest solely in Alex. The Pharaoh could just kill him and thus be the sole recipient of the energy, but Claremont provides an explanation why he doesn't do that. By keeping Havok in top condition and boosting his powers as he's in stasis, he apparently gains even more power through their link. Spider-Man tries to stop him but fails, so the Pharaoh once again morphs into the gigantic Living Monolith.
The next issue, #70, depicts Spider-Man teaming up with Thor to fight off the Monolith in the streets of New York. Thor's takes him on personally while Spider-Man works to free Havok. There's also an amusing scene where Spidey latches on to Thor's hammer Mjolnir with his webs and hitches a ride. With Alex freed, the Living Monolith once again loses all his power and vanishes into thin air, and that's the end of that. Alex heads back to Muir Island to see what happened to Lorna.
But I have to wonder what exactly the Monolith's plan here was. He rambles on about the power of the gods, but what's the point? Where does he go from there? I imagine walking the streets and being able to crush anyone is a decent rush for the power mad, but it's a very dead-end motivation for a villain.
(Bonus plot hole! In X-Men #56, the Pharaoh said that he and Alex were connected because they both gained their powers from cosmic rays. But with the cause of mutation having shifted firmly to evolution over the years, this explanation doesn't make much sense. Why are they connected in such a manner?)
It's a pretty decent story overall, but I'm sure you can imagine that it's pretty disappointing from the perspective of an X-Men fan. It's surprising that Chris Claremont – present writer and keeper of the X-Men – chose to deemphasize the only present X-Character to this extent. Alex's role in the story is weak. He's used more as a plot device than a genuine character. He spent most of the time out of action, even in issue #69, where he ostensibly co-starred. Thor didn't manage to defeat the Monolith, but he put up an impressive fight, while Havok was easily beaten twice. You kind of get the idea that Claremont didn't like him very much – but then again, Marvel Team-Up was largely Spider-Man's title, so perhaps it's not surprising that he overshadowed the guest stars to some an extent. But come on...
Index of Happenings:
Deaths: 6.
Resurrections: 4.
Revamps: 1.
Final word: It was a long, long, long time before Alex Summers finally got some respect.
Next time: The X-Men go on a tour around the world. For real this time.
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