Halfway through this one I had to flip back to the beginning to confirm this is the same writer. It was genuinely enjoyable. And weirdly enough, it didn't even have one of the types of villains I've been calling for. The villain was a knockoff Iron Man who had a personal issue with Tony Stark called Cobalt Man. Turns out the guy Jean has been hanging out with at Metro College's brother had built an Iron Man suit out of Cobalt... though if it runs for 2 hours it turns into a bomb. But let's back up a bit. Our story starts with our usual Danger Room episode, where we learn Angel is fully healed. And due to all the work they've been putting in, Xavier says it is time to take a break for a few days! Everyone makes plans to head out except Cyclops, who is moping and just going to stay at the school and help out Xavier. And then Xavier does something unexpected: He actually does something genuinely nice. He tells him no, no, we haven't returned those books to Jean that she borrowed from the Metro College Library back when we fought El Tigre. Go take those back for me. (On Scott's way out he even thinks about how he knows they have a thing for each other, and maybe this push would help). Anyway Angel admits he was planning to go that way anyway and offers to drive Scott to the school. They meet up and Jean is hanging out with her friend Ted and his brother Ralphie (who had just hit his head trying to pole vault). They all decide to check out Ralphie's lab, except for Warren, who goes out and decides to give up on Jean (another good development) and runs into his old friend he grew up with Candy Southern. Ralphie shows off his Cobalt Man suit to Ted and gets in it, except the combination of the Cobalt and apparently hitting his head turns him MANIACALLY OBSESSED with Tony Stark, so he attacks, Cyclops and Jean try to stop him but are trapped. Cobalt Man runs to Stark Industries to blow it up.
Our friends Beast and Iceman are hanging out with the girls they are dating, Vera and Zelda, at a beatnik bar which leads to an actual line that made me chuckle in response to a poetry recital:
Anyway, they get called away mid-date about the emergency (again, this happens to them a lot, poor guys), Warren runs off from the date he is currently having (and does much better at excusing himself), Cyclops and Jean extricate themselves and they all confront Cobalt Man on a bridge. They manage to beat him, Ralphie comes to his senses, and agrees that the Iron Man suit technology is too dangerous for just anyone to wield, the end.
X-tra Notes: Guys it was legitimately good. I don't understand. After about 10 issues in a row that topped out at mediocre, the writer perhaps caught his footing. I think the thing I like about this one is that it feels like it is about the characters, rather than just being "random things happen, superheroes confront thing". It has the later "soap" feel of later X-Men as well. Plus it had good character writing, Xavier actually acted like a helpful mentor, and a joke or two that actually landed. It could also be that I'm developing Stockholm Syndrome.
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