1991: A Great Year For Myriad Mind Control

Not too long ago, Not Blog X reviewed one of my absolute favorite X-men issues of yesteryear: Uncanny X-men # 273. In today's entry, we will also cover this comic, focussing on the multiple, mostly unrelated, mind control elements at play within these pages.

Call it an homage

A little background info: this is the first issue after the massive X-Tinction Agenda crossover. X-Tinction (re)united the X-men and saw them fighting alongside X-Factor and Cable's New Mutants against Cameron Hodge and his Genoshan cronies. After defeating Hodge, the three teams returned home to figure out their next move.

As Not Blog X-writer G. Kendall pointed out in his review, this is actually one of the first 'down time after a big crossover' issue in the X-franchise. A moment to catch your breath, take stock and set out in new, exciting directions. For my money, Claremont first told that type of story right after Inferno when he had the X-men and women enjoy some time off back in Uncanny X-men # 244 & 245.

But in # 273, all three teams enjoyed some time off together. And most of their shared interludes involved mind control in one form or another...

The issue opened with Storm, Cable, Cyclops and Jean reviewing their many enemies. It's quite the list...

Ever the soldier, Cable proposed to take them all out methodically, essentially turning the X-men into a squad of mercenaries under his command. Disgusted, Storm and Cyclops refused his offer to turn the team into an army (... how times change). But Cable's rant did spark a little concern within Storm who wondered if both X-Factor and the X-men hadn't outlasted their usefulness.

"Are we fit caretakers for longer, for Xavier's school and his dream? Or has the time come to turn that role over to others.. as it was handed first from him to you and you to us?"

And to think Ororo doesn't even recall yet how Kid Vulcan, Petra, Sway and Darwin all but died as the not-quite-so fantastic fill in X-men serving in that brief interval between the original and Storm's team.

The answer to Storm's question just sort of hangs there though, like the black cloud she generated. After the confrontation with Cable about the future of the team, the issue gradually focused on several ongoing plot points... Like Banshee finally being able to contact his lady love Moira MacTaggert to inform he hadn't in fact perished when the Reavers (remember them from the global threat map?) blew up his plane.

Unfortunately, Moira wasn't exactly the way Sean Cassidy remembered her to be.

"What has happened to her?! It's as though the fiercest highlander side of  her nature has overwhelmed all her gentler aspects."

Unbeknownst to Banshee, Moira and the other people on Muir Island had fallen under the subtle influence of the Shadow King. The ever present malevolent psychic entity had been working from the shadows for months, trying to form a viable power base.

Not only operating from Muir, but also taking over another physical form, one detective Jacob Reisz. As Reisz, the King chased after Storm and Gambit, even taking a Shadow Queen in the process. But let's not get ahead of ourselves...

While Banshee struggled with how Moira had changed, elsewhere in the X-men's basement Forge and Beast pondered a somewhat similar problem...

"The more time passes... the more that genetic lock sets...
until it becomes permanent and unbreakable."

The two genius level mutants are talking about Rahne Sinclair. Back on Genosha, she was turned into a mutate which meant she not only lost all her hair, but also became a willing slave thing, blindly following the commands of the Magistrates...

But in her case, the genetic reprogramming harbored an additional, cruel twist. It also made mutate Rahne fall madly in love with Alex Summers, who had been reincarnated as a magistrate (long story). this provided a second layer of mind control: she wasn't just resequenced to obey a uniform, she was also bound to someone... body and soul.... Who didn't even remotely feel the same way about her. And what's even worse: the longer it remained untreated, the harder it will be to remove.

Ah well, no rush...

Let's move to another X-man who only recently recovered from excessive mental tampering...

"The Hand used magic as well as medicine to do the job.
Even Forge can't puzzle out quite how."

Y'know, for an alleged mutant miracle worker, Forge sure can be a bit of a let down sometimes. He was unable to figure out a cure to Rahne's mutation and now he's clueless on the subject of Psylocke's transformation... all the while, Betsy herself is openly wondering if she might not still be serving the Hand in some way.

She shared all this with Jean Grey, surprisingly enough...a woman she only met once, rather briefly, during Inferno. 

Yet here they are, conversing like long lost friends while one takes a shower and the other watches. No implied subtext there whatsoever. Ow, grow up... After her talk with Psylocke, and still mulling over the things Cable said earlier, Jean found herself in the Cerebro room.

And even though she'd lost her telepathy over in X-Factor, she still donned the mutant scanning apparatus hoping to trace the missing X-men on the astral plane.

"Cerebro. Essentially, a psychic scanning system, keyed specifically to my brainwaves... 

and yours, Jean... Designed to amplify your latent psi-potential."

In the years that followed, Kitty Pryde had redesigned Cerebro so even non-telepaths could use it to track their fellow mutants, albeit with significantly more trouble and headache. But apparently, even though she was presumed dead at the time, the Cerebro system was still keyed to Jean's brainwaves and off she went on to the astral plane.

 However, she discovered a bit more than she bargained for.

 "As I was, as I am... As I might yet become! An infinity of aspects...
But always the Shadow King."

 Oh Lord, not this creep again...

"Does this hurt? Don't worry. You'll soon come to love it."

The King does make a good point. After Xavier went into space back in # 200, they didn't give the astral plane so much as a second look. Psylocke used it once or twice during the Morlock massacre and Magneto put on the helmet on occassion, but it had been long since a proper telepath explored the astral plane or even updated Cerebro's protocols, allowing the Shadow King to grow more powerful and even bring allies like Lian, his Shadow Queen...

"Embrace my Shadow Queen, Grey. Be ONE with me."

Luckily, Jean had allies too. Psylocke used her psychic knife to literally cut her out off the astral plane, beyond the Shadow King's reach. So, another threat to add to the big board, eh? Well, kinda.

'Who was it that attacked you?"

In a bit of a convenient cop out, Psylocke's psi-knife messed up Jean's memories of the incident. She has no idea it was the Shadow King, even though Psylocke was in earshot when Lian called herself the Shadow Queen, so assuming the big monster might be the Shadow... King... wouldn't be the biggest stretch. For now, all they knew that there was 'something' wrong on the astral plane...

"There be dragons"

Still, the point is moot, because the issue closes with the X-men getting kidnapped by Lila Cheney to the Shi'ar empire where they'd fight an evil, mind controlling Charles Xavier for a couple of issues before realising in # 278 he was actually a disguised Warskrull. We all covered it here.

Point is: within minutes of being rescued, Charles (still naked and covered in Skrull bio-gunk) became aware of the Shadow King when Banshee mentioned Moira's odd behaviour and Storm started infodumping, trying to cover the events of the past 75+ issues in a single panel.

"By the eternal... the Shadow King!"

So, how's that for keeping the story moving forward? When you least expect it, Chris Claremont neatly weaves multiple plotpoints from # 273's 'downtime' issue into a single, mind control heavy thread as professor Xavier returns home to deal with the Shadow King once and for all.

... And oh yeah, isn't that Jim Lee art fan-f-ckin' gorgeous? 

Equal Opportunity Mind Control part II: Encore Ensemble Enslavement

When we last left the X-men... Oy, what a story.

Uncanny X-men # 257 saw Wolverine and Jubilee getting kidnapped by Lady Mandarin, who was actually their former teammate Psylocke, mind controlled by the Mandarin and the Hand to serve as their latest master assassin. The Mandarin took Jubilee under his wing, while the Hand tried to brainwash Wolverine.

Alas, the villains didn't have much luck with either of them...

But not for lack of trying, though. Psylocke actively kept trying to breach Wolverine's impressive mental resistance. She even tried to seduce him by taking on the form of his former lovers. Mariko Yashida, Yukio, even his old teammate Jean. Let's see how Logan responded to that...

"Seduction was but one... pathway to your soul!"

So, if the sweet and subtle way fails, you can always fall back on a bit of primal violence. After all, this is the Wolverine you're facing. You'd better fight fire with fire, right? Or as Psylocke herself puts it...

"My psychic knife... the ultimate focus of my psi-powers... is as deadly a weapon as your claws! With it... I make you forever MINE!"

Yeah, just like in the previous issue, Psylocke jams her psychic knife in his head... But this time, it doesn't subdue Wolverine. No, it actually forms a mental bond between the two combatants, which causes Psylocke considerable pain...

"Too late, bub!"

The reason for Psylocke's screaming is rather simple. Thanks to their mental rapport, she instantly experienced everything Logan had ever been through. From the Hand's recent, tortuous mental reconditioning to the abuse suffered at the hands of the Reavers... And let's not forget almost a century of anger, pain and frustration... It's a miracle she didn't turn completely insane.

Well, she did a little... Psylocke also got a taste of Logan's psychosis. Wolverine's healing factor had been failing, which resulted in unattended physical ánd mental ailments. And when it came to the brain department, it was a doozy: Logan had developed a major psychosis in which he envisioned being in the company of Nick Fury and Carol Danvers... Guess who came to visit Betsy.

"Summon lord Matsuo! ... He's returned to his island!"

Turns out lord Matsuo made the right call by leaving, because things were about to go from bad to worse fo the Hand. Their master assassin was fighting ghosts and now their main quarry was starting to wake up. And we all know what adamantium claws do best: go *snikt* and break stuff. Like glass sensory deprivation tanks...

"Any objections, shorty... to my shortening the odds?"

Wait, how come figment Fury is cutting those Hand ninjas to ribbons? Madness, you say? Well, yes... Psylocke's, as a matter of fact. After getting a taste of Wolverine's psychotic worldview, she considers  Fury and Carol real people whose actions have an actual impact on the world. So... if their bullets hit somebody, Psylocke uses her mental powers to convince the victims they have been shot.

Mind control to make a psychotic persona feel validated... that's a new one.

However, Psylocke eventually overcame the effects of the psychosis and tore Wolverine a new one. In fact... his last one.

"Dispose of the remains, if you please"

Seeing Wolverine's corpse was such a shock that Jubilee was able to shake off the dominating effect of the Mandarin's 'mento-intensifier' ring. Overcome with emotion, she lashed out with her mutant powers... Usually, that resulted in some blinding but hardly harmful fireworks, this time her pyrokinetics caused an explosion that tore apart the Mandarin's massive villa.

Psylocke took advantage of the Mandarin's initial shock to attack the master villain. Turns out she was no longer under his control either. But defeating Iron Man's arch nemesis is far easier said than done, as both X-women were about to find out.

"Eh?!? My arm... it will not move!"

Oh, sweet, sweet mind control... you never disappoint, do you?

"You forget, Mandarin... I have worn your rings... and touched your mind!"

But just as the Mandarin was about to overcome her mental domination... Wolverine turned out to be too dead after all. And with a third adamantium claw about to pop his head off, the Mandarin was suddenly rather open to discuss a truce.

Americans achieving peace with honor after a stalemated conflict in Asia...and they didn't even need doctor Henry Kissinger. Truly, these are more modern times...

"Gimme a break! She's a telepath, she could be playing with your head!"

Leave it to Jubilee to point out what the readers might be thinking... And it's not even that big a stretch. Who would trust this 'new' Psylocke, after all she's done? Well, Wolverine does...

But hey, hé's nuts...

Equal Opportunity Mind Control part I: My Fair Mandarin *the musical*

Uncanny X-men # 258 marked a unique moment in Chris Claremont's long and storied career.

He managed to write an issue in which every single one of his main characters get themselves mind controlled in one way or another. Even some of the unnamed bitplayers standing in the background get in on the action. Not bad for an Acts Of Vengeance tie in.

The fun actually started a month earlier. In # 257 Psylocke arrived in Madripoor on her first mission as the Mandarin's personal assassin. She was sent to take out Patch, who might become a problem once the Mandarin turned his attention to the island. Patch, of course, is an alternate identity used by Betsy's former teammate Wolverine.

He wasn't in the best of shape after getting kidnapped and crucified by the Reavers. Jubilee eventually freed him, but the damage was so severe his healing factor was no longer able to take care of even the slightest injury. Even worse: Logan's mind had started to break down too: he saw hallucinations of Carol Danvers and Nick Fury who he treated as real people, actually engaging them in conversation.

All Wolverine wanted to do in Madripoor is catch his breath and heal up. He didn't get his wish.

"Blast... somehow she nailed the kid."

Yup... That's Psylocke dressed as, well, she said it, you read it... Lady Mandarin. After mind controlling Jubilee, she found out where Patch was hiding and attacked. It wasn't really a fair fight, though... Psylocke clearly had the upper hand and that was even before she lost her head gear and Logan somehow recognised his teammate in her new Asian body, leaving him vulnerable to a knockout blow...

Well, guess his mental issues gave him some sort of unique insight. It wasn't enough to save him though. After stabbing him with her psychic knife, Psylocke learned that 'Patch' was actually Wolverine... and that he'd be far more valuable alive... That's why she brought Logan and Jubilee before the Mandarin and his partners in the Hand. They decided to give Logan the same mind wipe treatment used to make Psylocke one of their assassins... Yay, more mind control!

In Uncanny X-men # 258, the sensory deprivation sessions were already well under way... As shown in some rather visual and gruesome panels...

Psylocke had to monitor Wolverine's progress telepathically, because he was still "invisible" to electronic systems (courtesy of Roma, long story). That's why she was in his head, trying to sway him over, as the Hand's chief Matsuo Tsurayaba explained to a shocked Jubilee...

"Primal clay... that I, through Psylocke's telepathy, will shape and mold... 

into the image of the Hand."

But having one of the world's most potent psi talents use all her mental swaying power in a relatively small space caused some unexpected side effects... As the Hand scientist tried to explain to Matsuo while he was busy intimidating Jubilee...

"The resonances she's receiving from Wolverine and broadcasting to us... are beyond the capacity of even our strongest psychic dampers!"

In other words... Psylocke's attempts to mind control Wolverine splashed over to those around her, but mixed in with Wolverine's feral, bestial rage. You can guess what happens next, right?

"Some of our more susceptible personnel are bound to be affected!"

And then some... While Matsuo was busy stopping the Hand goons from killing each other, Jubilee took advantage of the confusion to make a bold and daring escape. Alas, she didn't get too far before she literally bumped into, well, as always, he'll tell you himself...

Have you no manners, girl?"

Ow, the Mandarin knows how to fix that!

"My mento-intensifier ring will give me dominance over your psyche...
And ensure your proper behavior."

It's interesting to note that the Mandarin didn't simply mind control Jubilee to stop her, no... He was actually apalled that 'a daughter of the middle kingdom' as he put it, had been 'sullied by the mongrel ways of the west'.

He meant to turn her into a proper Chinese lady... An Asian professor Higgins to Jubilee Doolittle... "My Fair Mandarin: The Musical".

"What about Psylocke and Wolverine? How do they fare?!"

A more than fair question, which we'll answer in part II of Equal Opportunity Mind Control: Encore Ensemble Enslavement 

See Psylocke Control Minds While Getting Mind Controlled Herself

A picture really is worth a thousand words... That's why today's entry focuses on a single panel from the past, but this time using a lot more words and a bunch of extra pictures to fully explain the magnitude of the mind control involved...

Case in point:

"I return these things... won in fair combat... to their rightful lord and master... who has for now and for all time... become mine."

Back in 2008, this image from Uncanny X-men # 256 was included as part of  a previous entry, but there's so much more mind control to cover from that issue. How did Psylocke go from a British, pink haired telepath and member of the X-men to an Asian assassin subservient to the Mandarin?

Well, remember how she mind controlled the X-men into entering the Siege Perilous, effectively having them commit suicide so the Reavers wouldn't ambush and kill them? Psylocke went through the mystical reincarnation gem as well, only to resurface in Uncanny X-men # 255.

Literally.

She washed ashore on a very familiar island, now controlled by the Hand. Naked and absolutely amnesic, no one knew who she was, until local crime kingpin Matsuo Tsurayaba arrived and got a good look at her...

"She is the mutant X-man Psylocke. And by all the gods who ever were...
I know full well what the Hand may do with her."

Tsurayaba's big plan unfolded in Uncanny X-men # 256 when he visited the Mandarin with an intriguing proposal: after some proper modification (read: mind control) Betsy would be ideally suited to be the Mandarin's mind reading premiere assassin. Taking care of his enemies ánd learning all their hidden secrets in the process.

Intrigued, the oriental warlord tentatively accepted Matsuo and the Hand's offer. They began Betsy's mental reconditioning using a combination of mystical influences and sensory deprivation, .

"Our ambition is to reconfigure her mental mosaic into a more... useful pattern"

Mind control by any other name, really.

Incidentally, probably the biggest reason the Mandarin appears in this storyline at all is the fact Uncanny X-men # 256 happened to be the first of three Acts of Vengeance crossover tie-ins. 

The big idea behind this Summer event was simple, yet elegant: tired of getting beaten by their archenemies, the villains decided to swap and attack heroes who weren't used to fighting them... Daredevil got Ultron, the Punisher fought Dr. Doom and the X-men had the Mandarin show up.

So, how was Psylocke's mind control going?

Honestly, who knows? Claremont writes a rather hard to grasp, perhaps purposely disjointed string of scenes that depict Betsy in the various stages of her life.

You remember how she started out as Captain Britain's blonde twin sister? Here she is, little more than a child, sitting in a prop Spitfire airplane on a carnival ride, imagining about really flying and killing Germans... And then the fantasy becomes all too real.

"A monster. A demon... No... Coming to claim me. No. No. Body and soul... No no no..."

After leaving the carousel, she finds a pretty ring. And pretty soon afterwards, she finds another. These are the ten rings of the Mandarin she is somehow collecting. But she's a bit too busy getting pushed around in her own mind to notice the villain's presence... or the rings' powers. Until she gets a make over that is...

"THERE you are, my naughty, naughty toy!"

By this time, she'd miraculously grown to adulthood, started wearing skin tight black leather outfits. 

"We can't have a westerner running the Hong Kong underworld. Art as life... I do love it so!"

By now, it's obvious we've reached the part of Psylocke's life in which she was under Mojo's thrall. Back in New Mutants Annual # 2, the ruler of the Mojoverse already mind controlled her and even transformed poor Betsy in a copy of himself. 

"And yet, for all that's changed... the oldest hurt remains"

And here we have the debut of the Asian style Psylocke.

There are just a few problems here: for one, all of this allegedly only plays in her mind. Changing Betsy's mental form should have no impact on her physical body. And yet it does. Also: what's with all the memories she has to work through? Didn't we establish earlier in the same issue she washed ashore a complete amnesiac?

Ah well, onward and upward... Betsy's about to resume her quest for the rings. And now, she knows they're powerful ánd that her former friends the X-men have them. With Storm conveniently enough standing next to her, she starts with Ororo who refuses... And this is when a mind controlled Psylocke uses mind control to get what she wants...

"You have no will but mine... That's my girl. Give it here."

So, a proven, strong telepath also uses the Mandarin's mind controlling 'mento-intensifier' ring (not to mention a flame blast) to get her hands on Storm's bauble. Well, one might call that overkill, but hey... whatever works.

Psylocke then goes on to kill Colossus, Dazzler and Havok for their rings. And, in a nice, foreshadow heavy nod to a future storyline, she doesn't have to fight Rogue, because she's already fought Ms. Marvel to the death...

Her brother Captain Britain would have been next on Betsy's hitlist, but then the unexpected happened:

"The impact beam is mine, Psylocke... And so now my pretty, at long last, are you!"

The disembodied voice belonged to the Slaymaster, a Captain Britain villain from back in the day who fought Betsy when she took over for the titular hero and was blinded by him in the process. The appearance of Slaymaster wasn't part of the mind control strategy the Hand and Mandarin had set out.

The whole idea was to force Psylocke to actively kill off everyone she cared for in her old life, so she would be hurt, vulnerable and open to whatever the villains wanted her to do. The Slaymaster threatened to throw the proverbial monkey wrench in that scheme. Luckily, Betsy overcame her fear for the villain and struck back, discovering not everything is quite as it appeared...

Smashing the Slaymaster's helmet, the face of the Mandarin was revealed. He immediately used whatever rings he still had left (count em in the upcoming panel, if the story makes any sense he could only have two out of ten). Not that he'd have time to count, because Psylocke was about to end him.

But even when caught at a distinct disadvantage, the mastervillain still tried to come out on top...

"Cast aside your boulder, Psylocke... And acknowledge the Mandarin as your lord and master."

Looks like he now has all his rings back. How come Psylocke doesn't have any left? Also why are Mojo and Spiral there, hovering in the background? And, more importantly, did Betsy just say 'no'?

"Your mind may control the ring... But mine... through my telepathy... controls your thoughts."

Ooh snap.

So, even while she herself is busy getting mind controlled, she controls others a record total of two times in the same issue. That girl sure is a pro. But surely, she wouldn't actually follow through on that threat now, would she?

Well, guess she would.

So, judging from this story... after witnessing her coming to terms with being changed against her will, after seeing her face and deal with childhood trauma and insecurities, not to mention having her stare down her greatest fears while fighting the Slaymaster ánd beating the tale's actual villain in the process... You'd think ... It's only logical to assume Betsy would end the issue a free woman.

Yeah, you'd think...

And so, with Psylocke killing everyone who tried to control or shape her, we come full circle, with this scene: Psylocke fully submitting to the Mandarin's rule after all. It makes very little sense indeed.

Y'know, not unlike an actual ring of the Mandarin.

X-tremely Early X-men Mindcontrol

The year is 1991 and Chris Claremont has been forced into a corner.

During his impressive 15 year run on Uncanny X-men, Claremont made a bit of name for himself as a talent scout, handpicking the pencilers that worked with him on the title. Starting with Dave Cockrum and John Byrne, the selection of popular artists like Paul Smith, John Romita Jr. and Marc Silvestri were increasingly up to Claremont... and culminated with the pick of Jim Lee.

Lee's art was more than a little impressive. In fact, it was so stellar the X-men editors started to realise the artist might well be more important than the writer. Editor in chief Bob Harras spotted a rising star when he saw one and decided to cater more to Jim's needs than whatever Chris set out to do.

While Lee wanted to revisit X-men classics like the Sentinels and the Imperial Guard, Claremont wanted to look forward but was repeatedly overruled... until he finally decided to quit in 1991 after launching the second monthly X-men title with Jim Lee.

Adjectiveless X-men # 1 was a smash hit, with a record 7.1 million (!) copies printed up. It involved Claremont's final status quo changing story for both the X-men and their arch enemy Magneto... and oh yes, lots of mind control...

The story opens with a battle in space, near Magneto's orbital home base Asteroid M. Involving himself in the skirmish, the master of magnetism is stunned to learn one of the involved parties is a band of mutants who have come to pledge them to his cause. Intrigued, he takes them in...

The fight didn't go unnoticed on Earth either. The Russians picked it up, handed it over to SHIELD which sent Nick Fury to deliver it to the X-men.

The X-men go on high alert and split up into two teams: X-men blue and gold. A clever way to maintain seperate casts of characters for the two main X-men titles. X-men blue, scheduled to be X-men's main cast, was comprised of Cyclops, Beast, Gambit, Rogue, Psylocke and Wolverine. 

After fighting the X-men in the Atlantic, Magneto makes an appearance in Genosha where his newly minted Acolytes are cutting a bloody swath through the mutant oppressing magistrates. He has a bit of news to share with the world...

Proclaiming Asteroid M a sovereign nation and threatening to avenge any mutant is bound to get a response from the global super powers... But for now, the X-men fought Magneto and the Acolytes while Genosha burned. So just who are these Acolytes, what can they do?

Well, there's their red headed leader Fabian Cortez for one. After planting a kiss on Psylocke, he used his abilities to regulate mutant powers to amp her telepathy up to the Nth degree... Causing her to lose control of her self as her mind almost drowned in other people's thoughts.

Luckily, she recovered in time for the next Acolyte to make his move. Meet Chrome, he can do stuff like this...

Yup, he turned most of the team into living statues with just a wave of his hand. Of course, he could have done it half an issue earlier, but then it wouldn't have been much of a slobberknocker, now would it?  Magneto takes the X-men blue team prisoner as he and the Acolytes return to Asteroid M where a stunning discovery awaits them.

Someone has been messing with Magneto's genetic codes... And he knows full well who is responsible...

Way back in the 1970s, Magneto fought the Defenders and professor X with the help of Alpha, the ultimate mutant. During the fight, Alpha realised Magneto was the real enemy and turned him into a baby. Charles Xavier took the helpless child to Moira's Muir Island facility so the young Magnus might have a chance for redemption. 

Unfortunately, Moira instead used all her time to mess with Magneto's mind, in an attempt to 'cure' the once and future master of magnetism of his more... insane... tendencies. Let's see how Magneto appreciated her efforts.

Comparing Moira to Nazi doctor Josef Mengele might be a bit harsh... Then again, both doctors experimented on young children with complete disregard of their professional ethics and morality. 

It is truly horrific to see what Magneto puts Moira through. Torturing her until she agrees to something that will truly haunt her for the rest of her life: using the same techniques to mind control the captured X-men. The procedure goes off without a hitch and the X-men blue team swear allegiance to Magneto's cause, just as the X-men gold team is mounting a rescue operation. The clock is ticking though, because the UN has decided to blow Asteroid M out of the sky, no matter who's on it.

But, how can Storm, Jean Grey, Colossus, Archangel, Iceman, Banshee and Forge possibly beat their fellow X-men, the Acolytes ánd Magneto?

Not easily. 

But sometimes, the only way to end a fight is to fight.

Rogue's back to her old self again and the others are soon to follow as the third issue of X-men draws to a close. Y'see, Moira's mind control technique doesn't really stick because, well, let's have her explain it... She's the Nobelprize winning geneticist here after all...

Yup, Moira's mindwipe won't stick if a mutant has already used his or her powers. It's a bit of a pop psychology psychobabble cop out, but hey... At least it established Magneto's fully responsible for his own actions and can't pin his crimes on Moira's handiwork. With that established, the UN deadline conveniently runs out and, as promised, Asteroid M gets hit with an orbital laser cannon.

Preferring to go down with their home, Magneto and the Acolytes stay behind as the X-men race for their ship. And in the closing moments of a 15 year run, Chris Claremont has professor Xavier offer up a few last nuggets of wisdom