Punch Up: “To Me My ❌-Men”
Chapter Eleven:
September, 1983 DazzlerNo. 30 by Springer, McDonald, Colletta, Yamchus, J, Chiang, + Harris/Macchio and Sienkiewicz cover
Mixtape tracks: Breaking the Chains by Dokken
Chapter 11 in “to me my ❌-Men,” where our story intersects with “real” people at the 16th San Diego Comic Con.
Previously on “to me my ❌-Men,” we were treated to a lighter romance comic, of pop stardom, where Angel was bleeding out on the carpet, Alison and her sister, a newly minted mutant murderer, Lois were with him in the bedroom of a naked old man. The old man and Lois exclaimed, “YOU,” at the same time like a Spidy meme; leading us into an Adventures of Tintin like car chase fight with Raven and Irene’s daughter Anna Marie.
This issue comes with warning about being an assistant editor on a comic.
We have jumped an issue, so now Alison is in a plane with a passed out pilot over mountains…so we have switch from Brenda Star vibes to Temple of Doom vibes. She saves two men and herself by parachuting them passed out into the desert air. Its title rendered in a classic adventure/romance comic style. Frank’s pretty good at this.
Between panels and pages the cops passing by have recovered them and returned them to safety, in a the hospital. “Soon…”
I guess one of the guys was a pop star, and Alison is not his level of famous, but that’s the plan. The staff are star struck.
“Later…” a page later, the naked guy who said “you” was Lois Dad, Alison’s step. Lois and Alison have the same mother and both have the X-gene. There is a little business and family drama. So Ali leaves.
She is picked up by a stranger. I guess if they don’t look like Caliban it’s safe…especially if they talk about it before getting in the car. I wonder how many children were lost because of this issue? No wonder Prof X and his telepathy can so easily populate his superhero school with children.
So the guy in the car is Ralph and he is an editor and he is headed to San Diego. WAIT A SECOND?! 😏
So She-Hulk is my favorite, in part because she brakes the fourth wall. But Marvel has a long tradition of grounded fantasy comics. They are designed this way for relevancy and intimacy with the experience for the audience. So they reference our reality a lot. Depict it to. “My Thor” comics are DC and Marvel’s first crossover, but also take place in Rutland VT at a real event where the creators of the comics actually were…and they put themselves in the comics. The same thing is unfolding here. The assistant editor Macchio is picking up Dazzler.
They are now heading to San Diego Comic Con. Presumably the 16th, were there was about 5,000 attendees, like Harvey Kurtzman and Trina Robbins. This issue’s publication is a month after the event.
Side story, I guess the Army has figured out Alison is a mutant and are after her, like she is the Hulk.
“Meanwhile, in New York…” Bob Harras (editor of this comic) hasn’t heard from Ralph. Oh wait, maybe Bob is the assistant and he has free rein over the story because Ralph is out of town. It’s hard to tell, but it seems like Ann Nocenti, Liouse Simonson, Frank Spring, and other Bullpen members are in this page…or maybe they are at Comic Con. I definitely think that is Nocenti though.
So back in San Diego the convention is on. Ralph is autographing, so he has to be the head editor. Alison is commenting on the crowd…again 5,000…hahaha! And the Army and a mutant giant purple lizard is there and now Comic Con is trashed. Pandemonium! Alison saves the day and Ralph makes his phone call to Bob back in NYC, on the only standing structure. Part of a wall with a pay phone attached. Ending Bob’s reign of editorial power!
(Bob would end up being editor-in-chief as Marvel was in bankruptcy proceedings in 1996-1997…he then went to Image and then DC…and yes Macchio gave him his big brake. Macchio was a newly minted editor at this point. He was assistant editor under Dennis O’Neil the year before).
Alison is resolute to return to being a pop star.
Next: Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 No. 179
