The X-Men #36

Boom: lowered. Just when you thought things could not get any worse than issue 35, Roy Thomas comes up with an embarrassingly horrible mess. It's so bad, apparently none of the other creative staff wanted to work on it (possibly not the reason for a new inker and penciler, but one never knows). Thomas has proven he can do some decent "down time" things with the X-Men, showing them as civilians with fairly interesting aspects, but this issue has none of that. Instead, the issue is crammed full of illogical, inexplicable, inconceivable elements. For no good reason (other than to set-up the flimsy scenario for the issue, which is not a good reason), Warren Worthington has no access to his family money while his parents are on a cruise. No financial advisers, no secretaries, no support staff to contact to gain access to his family money. This makes no sense - but then, nothing in this issue makes sense. Jean has apparently dropped out of college; at least, no mention is made of her being able to travel to Europe to rescue Professor X from the tediously absent Factor 3 (a couple issues was suspenseful, but five is too many ... a lesson they forgot for Onslaught). Scott shows an inane dearth of interest in the well-being of his fellow X-Men throughout the issue. At the beginning, which starts in medias res of Beast's fight with two burglars who somehow not only got on the grounds but also into the mansion and up the stairs (Juggernaut should hire these two), Scott ignores the noises from upstairs, insisting Hank can take care of himself ... what? Hank is wrestling with an intruder or two in the mansion and Scott can't take the time to investigate? Later, when Iceman gets arrested, Scott can't take the time to free him with his optic blast, even though he is standing a few feet away. Perhaps this is because he put on his special visor that turns his optic beam into an anti-gravity field! What in the world, Thomas? Since when can Cyclops grab hold of things in mid-air with his optic beams and levitate them to the ground? Has his love for Jean gotten to the point where he has absorbed her powers? Speaking of her powers, it is nice that Jean has strength enough at the beginning to levitate a few girders (let's not even talk about the thoroughly inane "X-Men trying to get work as construction workers, but we don't want Hank the strongest X-Man to help" extended scene which is shameless, meaningless padding, "designed" to show how desperate the X-Men are for cash), but she gets awfully weak quite rapidly. Haven't they been training and fighting for years by now? Why are they still so weak, so inexperienced? Thomas finally got them to the point of fighting together as a unified team, and suddenly in this issue they are flapping around fighting solo, unorganized, inconsiderate, ineffective. It's a thoroughgoing mess from start to finish. As nice as it is to see civilians give the X-Men a fair shake, the utterly preposterous resolution to Mekano's tantrum and the father's "oh, it's all my fault, son" garbage, and his "I just happen to have $1500 in my wallet right here" malarkey was pure Scooby-Doo - but not enjoyable, since you expect it and enjoy it in Scooby-Doo. When the X-Men do Scooby-Doo, it's junk, just like this issue. To cap it off, some member of Factor Three apparently recognizes the X-Men out of uniform with his spying device that has the ability to see across the globe out of a subterranean bunker. Sheesh.