X-Men (1963) #44

Cover by Don Heck

Cover Date: May 1968

On-Sale Date: March 1968

FIRST STORY: "Red Raven, Red Raven...!"

Synopsis: With the X-Men captured by Magneto, Angel makes a desperate flight to get help. Along the way he gets sidetracked by 1940s hero the Red Raven, because Roy Thomas is writing and of course he fucking does.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES:

Page 2, panel 5

Magneto designed special "confining apparatus" for each of the X-Men: a lead shield to cover the eyes of Cyclops, hypno-magnetic bands to stop Marvel Girl using her powers, titanium shackles for the Beast, an electrified cage for Angel, and a thermonuclear heat tube (!) for Iceman.

It's also noted on page 3.1 that Magneto had Toad disconnect Cyke's glove controls.  How he found out about them is a mystery, as Professor X only had them installed recently (according to the back-up story from last issue, anyway).

Page 6, panels 2 and 3

Quicksilver recently learned to fly for short bursts, in an issue of Avengers that the editor can't be bothered to look up.  It actually happened at the start of Avengers (1963) #43, which was released at the same time as X-Men (1963) #35.  I'm placing it in the long gap between X-Men #39 and #40.

Page 8, panels 3 and 4

Upon finding Red Raven's island, Angel wonders if it's Hydra's island, which was destroyed "a few months ago" in Strange Tales (1951) #158.  The X-Men had a small cameo in that story, which I have placed in late December of XY 1.  By my estimation that's around 8 or 9 months ago, which is a little outside my definition of "a few months", but it'll do.

Page 11, panels 4 and 5

Here we begin the obligatory origin flashback for Red Raven, who was a baby when his parents crashed their plane into the floating island of the Bird -People.  Red Raven had his own self-titled comic, which ran for one issue that was published in 1940.  In that story, he is given mechanical wings upon becoming an adult, and sent to combat evil in the human world.  Based on later panels in the flashback that would make him 21 in 1940, which puts this flashback around 20 years before that in 1920.

Page 11, panel 6

Red Raven turns 21, and the wingless dolt finally figures out that he's not a bird-man.  This flashback presumably happens just before his adventure in Red Raven Comics (1940) #1, which I assume takes place in its publication year of 1940.  (The original story has this happening on his 20th birthday, so Red Raven may be misremembering the details here.  Regardless, this is an X-Men project, so I'm going with the details given in this comic.)

Page 12, panels 3 and 4

Page 13

The remainder of the flashback, showing Red Raven putting the Bird-Man armies into suspended animation, is said to have happened 20 years ago.  That would place it in 1948.  The way it's written here makes it seem like this happens right after Red Raven turns 21, but that doesn't work with later stories.  There needs to be time for his World War II adventures with the Liberty Legion, mostly depicted in Invaders.  Red Raven's not a character that's tied to the modern timeline, and he spends decades in suspended animation, so putting this flashback in 1948 (rather than XY -18) should be fine.

Page 13.2 mentions that the Bird-People had valves with suspended animation gas installed on their island, as a way to save their race should they ever be defeated in war.  The Bird-People are eventually revealed to be an offshoot of the Inhumans who split off around 500 BC and built their floating island Aerie around that time.  Let's assume they put the valves in then, not that it really matters.

The whole story ends up being moot, as Red Raven knocks Angel out, puts his people into suspended animation, and sinks the island.  Angel continues on his way, and aside from some thoughts next issue he completely forgets about the whole affair and gets on with trying to rescue his friends from Magneto.

COUNTING THE DAYS:

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

SECOND STORY: "The Iceman Cometh!"

Synopsis: Bobby Drake uses his ice powers on a bully, and is thrown in jail by angry townsfolk. Professor X sends Cyclops to rescue him.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES

Page 1, panels 1 and 2

It's a Fall night in 1963.  This issue is published in 1968, so that would put it five years ago, in XY -3.  That's a bit too early: it seems unlikely that Bobby was recruited into the X-Men 2-1/2 years before their first fight with Magneto.  I've moved it up into XY -2, which is still stretching things a little but fits well with the origin stories of Beast and Angel (as I'll explain when I get to them).

Bobby has already been on a few dates with Judy.  He'd be around 14-1/2 here, so his declaration of love is perhaps premature (and that's leaving out later revelations about his homosexuality).

We also learn here that Bobby's family lives in Nassau County, on Long Island.  This fits with earlier mentions of his family living in the New York area.

Page 2, panel 5

Bobby uses his powers here to freeze Rocky Beasely, and it's clear that he's already aware of his mutant abilities.  Usually mutant powers manifest at puberty.  Bobby would have turned 13 in January of XY -3, so he probably learns he's a mutant during that year.

Page 3, panel 2

Bobby's parents are also aware of his powers, and have told him never to reveal them for any reason.  (This fits extremely well with their later characterisation, especially with Bobby's father.)

Page 5, panels 6 and 7

The story ends on a cliffhanger that leads right into next issue, with Bobby sitting in jail when Cyclops shows up to rescue him.

COUNTING THE DAYS

This story takes place over two days in Fall.

• Day 1:
• Page 1.1 to 5.3: Bobby goes on a date, freezes Rocky Beasely, and is thrown in jail
• Day 2:
• Page 5.4 to 5.7: Professor X reads about Bobby in the newspaper and sends Cyclops to bust him out