X-Men (1963) #58

Cover by Neal Adams

Cover Date: July 1969

On-Sale Date: May 1969

Synopsis: Iceman and Angel are captured by Sentinels as the rest of the X-Men prepare to assault the Sentinel base. Larry Trask is revealed as a secret mutant just after he gives his Sentinels the order to destroy all mutants.

Proposed Placement: XY 3, May

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES:

Page 6.2 reiterates what has already been well established: Iceman is the youngest of the X-Men, and Beast is the oldest.  It's hardly worth mentioning at this point, but I like to be thorough.

Page 9

Since his capture on page 7, Iceman has been placed in a steam tube that was specifically designed to rob him of his powers for four hours.  I'd thought that maybe this info would be relevant in determining a timeframe for the rest of the story, but Iceman spends pretty much all of this issue and next in suspended animation.

On the last panel Larry claims that he vowed to make the X-Men pay three years ago.  This is consistent with the timeframe he quoted last issue, but as before it doesn't work with my timeline (which has it closer to two years).  I have to write it off as a reference to the real-world publishing dates.

While I'm on the topic of Trask's past, Judge Chalmers says on page 8.5 that he was once Bolivar's closest friend.  It's not clear when that friendship was a going concern, and why he refers to it in the past tense.  The most likely reasons are either Bolivar's death, or a disagreement over how zealously to pursue the mutant issue.  Possibly Chalmers got mad at Trask for activating the Sentinels before he was finished with his five-year study into the mutant issue.

Page 10, panels 2 and 3

After Havok's capture last issue, he was taken by the Sentinels to their headquarters, where he agreed to put on a costume provided by Trask in exchange for a promise not to harm the X-Men.  This costume serves to regulate Alex's power levels, and he'll wear it for the better part of the next 20 years worth of comics.  Trask also gave him the codename Havok, so this is a pretty significant moment for Alex (and him getting his entire superhero identity from someone else really does play into his ambivalence about the whole deal.)

Havok says on page 11 that he also made another deal with Trask.  When Lorna was captured she was delirious, and unable to defend herself; Havok agreed not to fight back in return for a promise to leave her alone.  This is another moment that will define Havok as a character, as he and Lorna become an inseparable couple for quite a long time after this, and this is their first interaction.

As with Havok and Iceman, Lorna has had her powers neutralised.  Page 12.3 shows that she's been fitted with anti-polar armbands after her capture last issue.

Page 16

Remember that weird Magneto/Mesmero story from X-Men (1963) #49-52, where Magneto raised an army of mutants and claimed Lorna was his daughter?  Here it's revealed that that Magneto was actually a robot.  I have no idea why creators Roy Thomas and Neal Adams decided to retcon this version of Magneto into a robot, but it does help to make my timeline a little more plausible.

The question of who built this robot won't be answered for quite a long time.  Initially it's suggested that the robot was built by Magneto himself; certainly that's what Larry Trask seems to think on the page above.  Much later in Captain America (1968) #247 it's suggested that the robot was all part of a plot by the villain known as Machinesmith.  I don't think the specifics of this plot have ever been revealed, so I guess we'll file it under "nonspecific villainy".

Mesmero claims that he's spent "lonely months" serving this robotic Magneto.  I have a half-year gap since their last appearance, so that fits.  With this "Magneto" now decoupled from the real Magneto's timeline, there's also room for it and Mesmero to have spent more time together before X-Men (1963) #49.

Page 17, panel 1

It's suggested here that, after the new Sentinels were activated, their own logic systems told them to build their current headquarters.  This was done with little to no input from Larry Trask, and this is the first time Judge Chalmers has seen it.  All of this, of course, was accomplished well before this story started last issue.

Page 18, panels 4 and 5

This flashback shows Bolivar Trask giving his son Larry a medallion that belonged to Larry's mother on the day of her death.  At his father's behest Larry swears to never take it off, and apparently the poor guy never has: luckily for him he's managed to be alive in the late 1960s, the only era of modern history where men wearing medallions is socially acceptable.  It'll be revealed later in the issue that the medallion's purpose is to hide the wearer's mutant powers from Sentinel detection.  This raises the question: if the medallion did in fact belong to Larry's mother, was she a mutant as well?  Or is Bolivar totally bullshitting his son into wearing the thing?  Mrs Trask hasn't appeared in any comics as far as I can tell, so it's all conjecture at this point.

Next issue reveals that Larry had his first prophetic vision (courtesy of his mutant power) at age 5.  I have him leaving for college at the beginning of XY 1; assuming he would have turned 18 the year before, he would be 5 in XY -13.  I'll place this flashback shortly afterwards, although there's nothing to say it can't happen later.

Page 19, panels 1 to 3

The Sentinels spend a chunk of this issue rounding up mutants, and one of those mutants is the Banshee.  He was apparently captured earlier in Ireland, where he gave up without a fight.  Presumably he did so in order to get into Sentinel HQ, not that it worked out so well for the guy.

COUNTING THE DAYS:

On page 13.1, there's an evening news report that claims the Sentinels have been patrolling America since early this morning.  This would suggest that everything since Lorna's capture at the start of last issue happens on the same day, but it's very hard to make that work.  For one thing, Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Angel fly from Cairo to New York during this issue, a 10-hour flight in our world.  Between those scenes we have a 6 o'clock news broadcast from last issue, and an evening news broadcast in this issue.  I guess I have to say that the Sentinels started officially operating in the US that morning, but the attack on Lorna was done before as a covert operation.  I have the timeline for recent issues working as follows:

• Day 1:
• X-Men (1963) #54 (Alex's graduation attacked by Living Pharaoh)
• Begins on a Spring day, probably takes a few hours
• X-Men (1963) #55, p1-8 (Pharaoh captures Alex/Scott, leaves for Egypt)
• Continues from last issue
• Day 2:
• X-Men (1963) #57, p1 to 2.1 (Lorna captured by Sentinels)
• Dawn in NYC, would be midday in Egypt
• X-Men (1963) #55, p9-15 (X-Men fight Pharaoh in Egypt)
• The X-Men have flown from NYC to Egypt, so a gap's needed here
• X-Men (1963) #56 (X-Men defeat Pharaoh/Monolith) 
• Follows last issue
• X-Men (1963) #57, p2.2 to 15 (Sentinels kidnap Havok, Iceman/Beast return to NYC)
• Initial scenes are at night in Egypt, which would be midday or afternoon in NYC
• X-Men left Lorna's house "not two days ago"
• The last scene in NYC happens during the 6pm news
• Beast and Iceman fly back to NYC during this sequence, but I'll give this one leeway because it's the only trip not reliant on a commercial passenger plane
• X-Men (1963) #58, p1-8.4 (Sentinels fight Iceman/Beast, other X-Men decide to return to NYC)
• Follows last issue
• Day 3:
• Sentinels officially start operating in the US
• X-Men (1963) #58, p8.5 to 20 (X-Men arrive in NYC to attack Sentinel HQ)
• Evening news says Sentinels started patrolling US this morning
• X-Men have taken passenger plane from Egypt back to NYC, so time lapse needed