X-Men (1963) #43

Cover by John Buscema

Cover Date: April 1968

On-Sale Date: February 1968

FIRST STORY: "The Torch is Passed...!"

Synopsis: After Professor X's funeral, the X-Men attack Magneto's island and are defeated.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES:

Page 2, panel 1

As this issue begins, the X-Men are attending Professor X's funeral.  That means it's been probably no more than a few days to a week since last issue.

Page 5, panel 1

Banshee couldn't attend the funeral because he was on a mission.  We'll learn later that Banshee was an Interpol agent, but at the moment all we know about him is that he's some Irish guy who got nabbed by Factor Three.  I don't think this mission is ever revealed, but I'll keep it in mind when I'm placing events in Banshee's backstory.

Page 6

Xavier says that he has known he was dying of an incurable illness for the past few weeks.  During that time he's been working with Marvel Girl to add telepathy to her power set.  Jean's reaction can be read as simple grief, but it also works fairly well with the later revelation that it was the Changeling who died. (Presumably, she was expecting the professor to tell everyone the truth during the video, hence her disbelief when its finished.  As for her tears, she's either a great actor or she's mourning the Changeling.)

The timing of this video is very specific.  It was made right before the "Professor" (actually the Changeling) went to meet his fate at the hands of Grotesk.  The professor has also sensed Magneto's return to Earth, which means that X-Men (1963) #41-42 are intertwined with Avengers (1963) #47-49.  Presumably he recorded this message before Magneto's very public appearance at the UN.

Page 11

A few days pass between the funeral and the attempted attack on Magneto's island by the X-Men.  During this time, Cyclops hatches a plan to stow away on board a ship scheduled to pass by Magneto's island.  The ship is carrying computer equipment, and several other ships bearing similar equipment have been taken by Magneto in recent days.  Angel used his monthly allowance to buy passage for the X-Men on the ship.

Page 15, panels 4 to 6

This issue ends on a cliffhanger, with the X-Men having been captured by Magneto.  It technically continues directly into next issue, but that story will be much more heavily focused on Angel faffing about with the Red Raven.  Look, sometimes Roy Thomas just has to revive a Golden Age character.  He can't help himself.

COUNTING THE DAYS

This story takes place over several days, beginning a few days after the end of last issue.

• Day 1:
• Page 1 to 6: The X-Men attend Xavier's funeral, which is crashed by Quicksilver, and watch his farewell video message.
• Several days later:
• Page 7 to 15: The X-Men attack Magneto's island and are captured.

SECOND STORY: "Call Him... Cyclops"

Synopsis: Cyclops demonstrates his powers to the reader.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES:

This isn't so much a story as a series of vignettes designed to highlights aspects of Cyclops' powers.  Although it's not chronologically relevant, this is where we learn that his optic blasts are solar powered.

Page 5, panel 2

The other revelation we get is how Cyclops is able to activate his eyebeams without touching his visor.  The buttons in his gloves were supposedly designed by Professor X shortly before his "death".  This doesn't make a great deal of sense, because Cyclops has been seen eye-blasting without touching his visor much earlier than that, but I'll roll with it.