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| Cover by Neal Adams |
Cover Date: September 1969
On-Sale Date: July 1969
Synopsis: The X-Men take the injured Havok to Karl Lykos, an old friend of Professor X who just happens to be an energy vampire. And also a pterodactyl-man. And also a massive Lord of the Rings nerd.
Proposed Placement: XY 3, May
CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES:
This issue introduces Dr. Karl Lykos, aka Sauron, who at this point is not so much a ridiculous pterodactyl man but more a figure of romantic tragedy. As such he gets an origin recap that takes up a good chunk of the issue. I'll deal with that first.
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| Page 11 |
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Page 14
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Karl's father, as mentioned on page 11.2, was a sailor turned explorer's guide. While escorting a physician named Herr Anderssen and his daughter Tanya to their cabin in Tierra del Fuego, Tanya goes missing. Karl finds her in a cave being menaced by pteranodons, and is injured while driving them away. After recovering from his injuries, Karl finds that he needs the life energy of other to survive, and accidentally drains that of his dog Jager.
(These pteranodons are from the Savage Land, as will be shown in later issues. This is only the second appearance of the Savage Land, so its nature isn't pinned down yet. In later stories it's mostly confined to a small region of Antarctica, but here it seems to extend all the way to Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. I guess this could be a magic tunnel, but I get the feeling that at this point the Savage Land may have been thought of as some kind of Hollow Earth. It's definitely underground, but it has its own sky, so who knows what the hell's going on with it.)
Tanya is described on page 11.3 as an infant, while Karl looks to be somewhere around his early teens. This could pose some problems, as later on these two are going to get into some romance, and I'd prefer for Lykos not to be too much of a creep. An infant is usually defined as a very young child or baby, but I also see that the British definition is of a child between the ages of four and eight. By clutching desperately to that definition I can put Karl around 10 and Tanya in the 5-8 range, which keeps them decently close together (even though the parts of the story set in the present make her look 20 and him 40 at least). Assuming that Karl is about 30 in XY 3 and 10 in the flashback, that would place it in XY -17.
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| Page 15 |
As shown on page 15.5, Karl started experiencing strange episodes, and eventually would drain the life energy of at least one human (though not fatally). I've placed this a few years later, in XY -14.
Between page 15.5 and 15.6, Karl's father dies and he is taken in by the Anderrsens. By this time Tanya has grown into a woman, at least by Karl's standards, and they begin falling in love. Let's say she's 15, while Karl is 17. That would put the scenes of them falling love in XY -10.
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| Page 16 |
Herr Anderrsen disapproves of his daughter falling in love with someone who has no money, so Karl leaves to go to medical school. Assuming he's 18 here, this would put this flashback in XY -9. He works hard and becomes a successful physician, but most of his earnings are spent on machines to help him drain energy from his patients. He seldom sees Taya during this time, but they write letters and he is assured that she still loves him. This is a pretty long gap between Karl's youth and the first Sauron story, but he does have to fit medical school in there, as well as the establishment of a successful career. He should also be a contemporary of Professor X, who by my timeline is currently in his 30s. It makes Tanya's inability to marry Karl a little unrealistic, but let's just assume that her father is
very controlling.
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| Page 3 |
It's mentioned by the Beast on page 3 that Karl Lykos and Professor X worked together on a mysterious enterprise called "Project Mutant". Beast apparently learned about Lykos from Xavier's records, which are somewhat incomplete on the subject. Presumably Beast studied as many of Xavier's files as he could in the long gap between
X-Men (1963) #53 and
#54. This issue doesn't have much else to say about Project Mutant, but it's my main reason for insisting that Lykos has to be at least around thirty. He's described in several places as a colleague of Xavier's, which would suggest that they should be roughly the same age.
Later in the issue (shown above on page 16.7), Lykos declares that he was aware of Xavier's desire to find young mutants and train them, and that he secretly planned to use those mutants for their life-giving energy. I'd guess Xavier sensed this mentally, and this is why they stopped working together, but the details surrounding their partnership have never been fleshed out as far as I can recall. I've placed their work in XY -4, just before Xavier goes into complete seclusion, but there's room to shift it around.
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| Page 6, panels 1 to 3 |
Jean and Scott take a romantic drive from Manhattan to Westchester, using a new Maverick that Angel's parents sent to him. This isn't particularly important, but the Ford Maverick was released in April of 1969. I have
X-Men (1963) #54-60 placed in May, so that fits perfectly.
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| Page 8, panel 1 |
Lorna says here that her powers have been rejuvenated. Back in issue
#57 she said they were fading, so whatever caused them to come back happened during her captivity at the hands of the Sentinels. She spent most of that time with her powers suppressed by "anti-polar armbands" or in suspended animation, so maybe something to do with either of those brought her powers back? It's unexplained, and given the vintage and unimportance of this mystery I expect it to remain so.
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| Page 9 |
After the defeat of the Sentinels last issue, Judge Chalmers sets about releasing the various mutants that were captured. Above we see all of those whose captures were depicted in previous issues: Mesmero, Banshee, the Living Pharaoh, Unus the Untouchable, the Blob, Mastermind, the Toad, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver. We also see the Vanisher, whose capture was not depicted. There's a handy footnote to tell us that he was a last-minute arrival, so I guess he was captured some time during
#58 or
#59.
Given the small size of the group above, it's surprising to note that this is a fairly comprehensive list of mutants in the Marvel Universe so far. Magneto and Professor X are the most notable absences, but both are currently in hiding (and the latter is presumed dead anyway). The Changeling is actually dead, not that anyone knows it yet, but his absence is consistent with the Xavier death retcon to come. Jack O'Diamonds is dead. Namor's status as a mutant is an iffy one at this time, and the Warlock/Maha Yogi is similarly ambiguous. There are character from other books (such as the Avengers villain Whirlwind) who will later be classified as mutants, but at the moment that's unknown. At this point in time the number of mutants in the Marvel Universe really does top out at around 25.
Lykos' nurse says on page 10.1 that it's 1pm. The evening news aired during X-Men (1963) #58, so there has to be a point at which midnight ticked over somewhere in the interim. I'd say the best candidate is after Angel's capture on #58 page 15.2. He's not really seen after that, so presumably he's taken to the base and placed in a stasis tube between panels. There's also a time lapse for Scott and Jean, who witness his capture on a passenger plane: they're next seen assaulting the Sentinel HQ with Beast, so I'm happy to say that all of that happens after midnight (let's just ignore the colour of the sky shall we?). So the timeline since #54 now looks 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)
- 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)
- Day 3:
- Sentinels officially start operating in the US
- X-Men (1963) #58, p8.5 to 15.2 (Cyke, Jean and Angel return to US, Angel captured)
- Evening news says Sentinels started patrolling US this morning
- Scott and Jean have taken passenger plane from Egypt back to NYC, so time lapse needed
- Day 4:
- X-Men (1963) #58, p15.3 to 20 (More mutants captured, X-Men attack base, Trask revealed)
- X-Men (1963) #59 (Sentinels defeated, Alex injured)
- X-Men (1963) #60 (Alex taken to Lykos, Lykos becomes Sauron)
- It's around 1pm when Lykos sends his nurse away and starts his origin flashback.
- By the time he actually drains Havok and becomes Sauron it's night.
The letters page claims that X-Men (1963) #54-60 have taken place over "roughly the space of a week". I have it at four days, which is a little shorter, but I've probably been a little too generous with travel times. It's not too far off the mark though.
