X-Men Vol 1 99

X-Men #99
Previous Issue	X-Men #98
Next Issue	X-Men #100
Alternate Covers
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Art by: Dave Cockrum and Irving Watanabe
Art by: Dave Cockrum and Irving Watanabe
Cover Date	June, 1976

1. "Deathstar, Rising!"
Appearances · Synopsis
Writer(s)	Chris Claremont
Penciler(s)	Dave Cockrum
Inker(s)	Frank Chiara
Letterer(s)	Irving W. Gaspar Saladino
Editor(s)	Marv Wolfman

 You know nothing! She is our friend, our comrade in battle -- she could be... dead! And you act as if you do not even care! Well, Colossus cares!! 

—Colossus

Appearing in "Deathstar, Rising!"

Featured Characters:

• X-Men
  • Cyclops (Scott Summers)
  • Storm (Ororo Munroe)
  • Wolverine (Logan)
  • Colossus (Peter Rasputin)
  • Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner)
  • Banshee (Sean Cassidy)

Supporting Characters:

• Jean Grey
• Starcore Project
  • Dr. Peter Corbeau
  • Colonel Kutuzov (First appearance)
  • Hilary
  • Dmitri
  • Several unnamed others

Antagonists:

• Project Armageddon
  • Sentinel MK III
    • Sentinel L-1 (First appearance; dies)
    • Sentinel R-71
    • X-Sentinels (First appearance)
      • Professor X (First appearance)
      • Cyclops (First appearance)
      • Marvel Girl (First appearance)
      • Beast (First appearance)
      • Angel (First appearance)
      • Iceman (First appearance)
  • Stephen Lang
• Black Tom Cassidy (First appearance) (Cameo)

Other Characters:

• Judge Robert Chalmers (Appears on screen)
• Roger Grimsby (First appearance)
• Geraldo Rivera (First appearance)
• Mr. Flaherty (Sean Cassidy's lawyer) (Death)

Races and Species:

• Humans
• Mutants
• Sentinels

Locations:

• Earth
  • Earth Orbit
    • Sentinel Space Station
  • United States of America
    • Florida
      • Cape Canaveral
    • New York
      • Westchester County
        • Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
  • Ireland
    • Dal'Roon (First appearance)
• Starcore One

Items:

• Cyclops' Visor, version 2
• Cerebro

Vehicles:

• Starcore Project Shuttle (First appearance)

Synopsis for "Deathstar, Rising!"

An escape attempt gone awry has left Banshee, Wolverine and Jean adrift in outer space until they are rescued by Sentinels, who have been programmed to keep them alive for the time being. They are contained in environmental bubbles and brought back aboard the space station, where Lang assures them that escape is impossible.

Back on Earth, anti-mutant hysteria has once again erupted following the return of the Sentinels. Meanwhile, Peter Corbeau uses his connections with NASA to launch a StarCore shuttle into space under the pretense of examining an approaching solar radiation storm. In reality, the launch is a cover so that the X-Men can rescue their comrades from space.

Aboard the space shuttle, the X-Men are uncomfortable with their situation. Storm struggles with her claustrophobia while Colossus loses his cool entirely. He abruptly changes into his metallic form, destroying his spacesuit in the process, while shouting out the name “Mikhail.” He explains to a concerned Nightcrawler that his elder brother Mikhail was a Russian Cosmonaut who was (seemingly) killed when his spaceship exploded. Cyclops agonizes that he and Jean should be parted this way after they had repressed their feelings for each other for so many years. As the shuttle (piloted by Corbeau) blasts off into space, StarCore One detects a solar flare with a direct course for Earth’s orbit. They alert Corbeau, but it’s too late to turn back.

Meanwhile in the village of Dal'Room, Ireland, a solicitor named Flaherty sends an urgent letter to Sean Cassidy (Banshee). He is then confronted by a man who claims to be Sean's cousin. When the cousin learns that he’s too late to prevent Flaherty’s message, he blasts him with an energy bolt from his cane, killing him.

Corbeau’s shuttle approaches the space station. Detecting its approach, Lang dispatches Sentinels to destroy it. Their initial attack ruptures the hull of the shuttle, sucking Storm out into space. Colossus initially appears at risk of suffocating, until he realizes that in his metallic form he does not need to breath. Corbeau rams the shuttle through the hull of the satellite so that they can board the station.

Adrift in space and confronted by a group of Sentinels, Storm discovers that she can manipulate solar winds and cosmic energy as easily as she can control weather on Earth. She therefore makes short work of her robotic opponents. Inside the space station, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Cyclops have managed to hold their own against more Sentinels. Convinced that Storm must have been killed, Colossus is particularly savage in battle. However, Storm arrives alive and well at the end of the skirmish, much to the Russian mutant’s joy.

Cyclops is contacted telepathically by Jean who tells him that Wolverine and Banshee are being held in a lower deck cell block while she and the Professor are being held in the mission control center. Wanting to save Jean on his own, Cyclops orders the other X-Men to go to Banshee and Wolverine’s rescue.

Making his way to the main mission control, Cyclops easily overpowers Lang and is about to beat him to death before Jean stops him. Then someone strikes Cyclops from behind, knocking him out. Jean confronts Cyclops’s attacker but is shocked at who she sees. Moments later, the other X-Men, now with Wolverine and Banshee, arrive in mission control. They are confronted by what appears to be the original X-Men: Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Beast, and Iceman -- all led by Professor X who demands the original X-Men to kill the new team!

Notes

• The story continues into the next issue.
• Colossus's brother Mikhail (who he states is deceased) is introduced into the series much later on and very much alive.
• The space station is later revealed to be a SHIELD space-platform (docking station for spaceships) that was commandeered by Lang and the Sentinels. This is related via dialogue spoken by Nick Fury in Avengers #167.
• Storm first makes reference to her sacred vow never to kill another person. However, she attributes the vow to a promise she made to her parents. This is later retconned to her swearing never to kill another person after having to kill someone in self-defense (see #150).

Trivia

• There is a panel that simulates a newscast, with reporters named Roger and Geraldo. They are patterned after ABC New York journalists Roger Grimsby and Geraldo Rivera.
• During an acrobatic battle move, Colossus and Nightcrawler make reference to Olga Korbut.
• Gaspar Saladino lettered items on page 1 and was not credited in the comic.
• There was a coloring error on pages 1, 10 and 11. The blue and yellow color plates were interchanged.
• The address of Professor X's school is shown to be "1407 Graymalkin D[rive], Scarsdale, New York"

See Also

• 14 image(s) from X-Men Vol 1 99
• 8 reprint(s) of X-Men Vol 1 99

Links and References

• The Official Marvel Index to the X-Men #5 - See for further referencing
• The Official Marvel Index to the X-Men (Vol. 2) #2 - See for further referencing