X-Men (1963) #39

Cover by George Tuska

Cover Date: December 1967

On-Sale Date: October 1967

FIRST STORY: "The Fateful Finale!"

Synopsis: The X-Men stop Factor Three from starting a World War, and defeat the Mutant-Master by exposing him as an alien.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES

Page 14, panels 1 to 3

The Mutant-Master says that he came from Sirius to conquer a world.  It's interesting that this guy's home planet orbits Sirius, because the alien Lucifer was shown in flashback conquering a planet that also orbited Sirius.  The native people shown in that flashback didn't resemble the Mutant-Master, but the possibility is still there that he came to Earth because he was fleeing from Lucifer's people.

Page 15, panel 1 to 3

Before the X-Men fought the Juggernaut (in X-Men  (1963) #32-33), Jean had been working on new costumes for the X-Men.  This was Xavier's idea, as he believed that they had earned some individuality.  I'll assume that Jean did most of the work between issues #31 and #32, as it doesn't seem right to me that she'd be making costumes while Xavier is a captive of Factor Three.

COUNTING THE DAYS:

This story takes place in a single day, the same day as last issue.

SECOND STORY: "Origins of the X-Men: Lonely are the Hunted!"

Synopsis: Scott Summers, on the run after being exposed as a mutant, gets into trouble with hobos and meets a guy in a shack with telepathic powers.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES

Page 3

Mr. Lamb, an orphanage supervisor, took Scott to see an optometrist a few months ago, to get him examined due to repeated headaches.  The optometrist noticed a weird glow in Scott's eyes, and after trying many different types of glasses discovered that wearing ruby quartz glasses eased the headaches.  It's already been said that Xavier designed Scott's glasses, so there's a contradiction here.  I've reconciled it by saying that Xavier just improved the design that the optometrist came up with.

Scott was meant to see the optometrist today, before the incident with the crane derailed his plans.

It's implied here that the flashback shown last issue was the first time Cyclops used his optic blast.  This will probably be contradicted later, but hopefully I can make it all fit with Sinister's involvement.

Page 2, panels 3 to 6

After noticing the glow in Scott's eyes, his optometrist secretly reported this to the FBI, which is how they have records on him.

Shortly after Scott's disappearance the orphanage contacted the police.

Scott and Mr; Lamb supposedly left the orphanage that morning to go and see the optometrist, but that timeline directly contradicts what was shown last issue, where a day passed between Cyclops blasting the crane and the story appearing in the newspapers.  I'll just assume the receptionist has made a mistake here.

The story also seems to be a little confused about where it's set.  Scott and Mr. Lamb went to New York to see the optometrist, but other parts of the story suggest that the optometrist is in Washington.  Maybe Mr. Lamb had business to attend to in New York before taking Scott to the optometrist in Washington, but it's a pretty ugly workaround.  The place where Scott blasted the crane is described as "midtown", which also makes it sound like New York.  Uncanny Origins (1996) #1 seems to settle the matter by having Scott and Mr. Lamb get off a bus in Washington, on their way to see the optometrist in New York.  Does it make sense to pass through Washington on the way from Nebraska to New York? I have no idea.

Page 4, panel 3

As you'd expect, Scott is a teenager during this story.

COUNTING THE DAYS

This story spans two days.  Most of it follows directly from last issue, but the first page or so intertwines with flashback scenes from that story.

• Day 1 (the same Day 1 as last issue)
• Page 1.1 to 2.1: The mob chases Scott. These scenes are intertwined with the flashback from last issue.
• Day 2 (following from the end of last issue)
• Page 2.2 to 5.5: Xavier interviews Scott's optometrist, Scott hops a train out of town and meets a mysterious telepath in an old shack.