Featuring: X-Men
Release: November 3, 1966
Cover: January 1967
12 cents
Stan Lee editor
Roy Thomas writer
Werner Roth artist
J. Tartaglione inker
Artie Simek letterer
Irving Forbush noise-maker
20 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Daredevil #24 | Reading order | Sgt. Fury #38 |
| X-Men #27 | X-Men | X-Men #29 |
How could these puny humans– who dwell among the smoke and noise that they call civilization– hope to appreciate such matchless beauty?
So my normal standard for making posts is to prepare the post one day, but not publish it the same day. I sleep on it and give it a last lookover before publication.
I’m skipping my usual standards today. Because today is St. Patrick’s Day. So I’m posting this without my usual extra day to edit. And from a pub. While some number of drinks in.
As seems appropriate.
This issue feels appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day because it introduces the character of the Banshee.
Who I think is Irish. Though they don’t say so. At least, I associate banshees with being Irish. Of course, I also associate banshees with being women, so shows what I know.
Or is he Scottish? He steals a painting that’s a landscape from the Scottish Highlands. That doesn’t mean he’s Scottish. It might just mean he appreciates the scenery in Scotland. And really, who doesn’t?
He’s an odd-looking fellow. Is he odd-looking in an Irish kind of way?
He does refer to everybody as “lad”.
He and the Ogre are working for an organization called Factor Three. Factor Three is a secret organization bent on world domination. Banshee refers to them as the “most dangerous secret organization on Earth”. But… presumably there are other secret organizations he doesn’t know about. That would be the point of being a secret organization. Is Factor Three more dangerous than Hydra?
Obviously, anybody is more dangerous than those goofballs in the Secret Empire.
Banshee’s power is to scream. But his scream has some effects. One is that people find it loud and annoying. Two is that it lets him fly, as screams do. He can also hypnotize people with his scream and make them pass out. It can be used to shatter glass or metal. He can fly fast enough to be invisible and vibrate fast enough to be immune to Mimic’s powers. And he can vary the type of scream attack, at one point unleashing a solid sonic blast.
It should also be noted that Banshee loves his tobacco pipe. Enough to go steal some tobacco.
A hard-of-hearing janitor is resistant to Banshee’s powers.
The X-Men use earplugs to protect against Banshee. In a bit of attention to detail, we see they all have to communicate telepathically since they can’t hear.
What is with the locked door in the cellar of Xavier’s mansion? What secret is Professor X keeping from the X-Men?
It turns out Banshee’s not such a bad guy. He meant the X-Men no harm. His headband made him a prisoner of the Ogre, who could kill him at a whim with it.
Though he wasn’t manipulated into stealing a painting or tobacco. So he’s not that good of a guy.
He also describes ordinary folks as “mortal fools” and “puny humans”. He and Hulk may have some ideas in common.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 53/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
Obviously Banshee is a signicant enough character to earn the 4-star significance rating.
No points for introducing the Ogre, who won’t show up again for over 30 years.
Scans are from a reprint sold from JC Penney in 1994.
I also have this issue reprinted in X-Men #76, 1972. The GCD notes this issue is actually reprinted from X-Men #76, not directly from the original.
Characters:
- Banshee
- Ogre
- Angel
- Cyclops
- Iceman
- Professor X
- Beast
- Mimic/Calvin “Cal” Rankin
- Ogre
- Jean Grey/Marvel Girl
- Ted Roberts
Story notes:
- Banshee flies through the air, seemingly by screaming. He flies so fast that nobody can see him, but they hear him. People complain the noise is deafening.
- Banshee flying past Madison and E. 59th St.
- Narrator notes it is autumn. We rarely get mentions of months or seasons. We should be past fall of the first university years for our assorted heroes. Could this already be their second year at university?
- Banshee varies his sonic vibrations to shatter glass. He also could have shattered steel, he claims.
- The entire block is unconscious from his screams. Banshee describes this as a trance.
- Banshee’s goal was to steal a landscape painting, a “Gaelic landscape” of the Scottish Highlands.
- Once he is gone, people wake up.
- Professor X used his mental powers to increase the duration of Mimic’s abilities. They are testing his limits with Mimic flying in increasing circles away from the school.
- Mimic gets cocky and flies further than the recommended limits, and his wings start to shrink.
- Professor X suggests he has increased both the duration and the range of Mimic’s powers.
- Cyclops warns Mimic to follow Professor X’s orders if he wants to be deputy leader of the X-Men.
- Ogre locates secret headquarters of X-Men and notes Factor Three will be pleased.
- Banshee and Ogre in league and working for Factor Three.
- Janitor with hearing problems unaffected by Banshee’s hypnotic scream. He attempts to lock Banshee in tobacco shop. But Banshee’s power tears through metal.
- Cerebro showed evidence of brief mutant activity in Manhattan a few hours earlier.
- Cerebro reacts to Banshee’s power more strongly than to Magneto’s.
- Professor X deduces this mutant will attack the X-Men.
- Jean tries to learn more about Ted’s relationship with his brother Ralph when they hear the news about the Banshee.
- Professor X has twice recently had the sensation of someone trying to take control of his mind.
- Their foes have discovered a defense against Cerebro.
- X-Men use wax and ear shields to protect them from the Banshee. Since they can’t hear, they communicate telepathically.
- The ear shields lessen the effects, but not enough.
- Banshee ordered to leave quickly before Mimic absorbs his powers and becomes immune to his scream.
- Ogre is not a mutant. His powers are mechanical, like jet-equipped boots.
- Ogre captures Professor X to further Factor Three’s plans of world domination. But Marvel Girl shows up to save the day.
- The ear shields allowed the X-Men to recover more quickly than they might have.
- Banshee blasts with a different sonic weapon, this one almost solid.
- Banshee vibrates too fast for Mimic to mimic.
- Banshee overused his powers and had little strength left.
- Initial assault fails to capture Xavier.
- Professor X probed Ogre’s mind to replicate his own ear shields.
- Mimic absorbs enough of Banshee’s power.
- Banshee sealed in vacuum chamber.
- Cyclops notices Professor X has a locked door in the cellar.
- Ogre attacks with Repello-ray.
- Ogre intends to kill Banshee for his failure.
- Mimic defeats Ogre.
- Banshee controlled by Ogre’s headband. Ogre could use it to kill him by remote control.
- Banshee calls Factor Three the most dangerous secret organization on Earth, with the means to conquer the world, or destroy it.
| Previous | #641 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Daredevil #24 | Reading order | Sgt. Fury #38 |
| X-Men #27 | X-Men | X-Men #29 |
