Wrath of the Proletarian!

 

OR: "Whole Lotta SFLANNGin' Goin' On"

Previously, we'd been taking a look at a mid-1979 issue of Uncanny X-Men which catches up with the team following their return to the states from Canada and finding their Westchester base virtually mothballed, with no sign of Professor X. Yet we also learned that Peter Rasputin, the steel-formed Colossus, was experiencing doubts about his capabilities as an X-Man--even as an assassin by the name of Arcade is hired by "Black Tom" Cassidy and the Juggernaut to destroy the mutant team.

Arcade is also known by readers of Marvel Team-Up from a prior story in early '78 where the Maggia had contracted him to kill Brian Braddock (the civilian identity of Captain Britain)--and it's that story we briefly return to first, as Spider-Man joins forces with the Captain only to fall prey to a method of capture which is as clever in its simplicity (and originality) as it is perplexing in its ability to succeed against super-powered individuals who appear helpless to either evade or stop it.

Thankfully, both Spider-Man and Captain Britain prevailed in their struggle against Arcade--but when Arcade begins to corral the X-Men for their own visit to "Murderworld," artist John Byrne, perhaps with the old adage of if it ain't broke, don't fix it in mind, recycles Arcade's previous method of capture which turns out to work just as reliably with super-powered X-Men.

(You can bet Cyclops didn't waste time adding this rig to the team's Danger Room.)

Being a careful man when it comes to a job, Arcade naturally doesn't put all of his eggs in the same basket when it comes to capturing his new targets--and so he personally surprises and snags the rest of the X-Men from their mansion, and off they go to his Murderworld complex, where his planned treatment of Colossus is soon underway.

For the sake of the story, a brainwashing treatment that would have normally taken a minimum of days to succeed is expedited--and faster than you can say "Dmri, tovarishch!", the Proletarian is unleashed on his fellow X-Men, who have become separated in the deadly chambers of Murderworld.

As for the instigator of this madness, he couldn't be happier at the X-Men's predicament. After all, for Arcade, fun is the name of the game when it comes to murder.

(I wouldn't go so far as to say the Proletarian is "power-mad," Mr. Cover Captioner.)

In the prior issue, Wolverine was surprisingly effective in the method and words he used to help restore Peter's confidence in himself--but here, he unfortunately sees only black and white in regard to his former friend, someone who has dropped any pretense of being an ally and embraced a new role for himself as a Russian agent bent on their destruction. Unfortunately for Wolverine, his artist believes that, as fast and agile as we know him to be, a trodding, steel-bodied foe is faster.

Meanwhile, Storm has escaped her own trap, while Cyclops has come to the rescue of Nightcrawler and Banshee--only to fall prey to the power-mad rampaging Proletarian, who finds his foes in a weakened state and proceeds to fulfill his mission of termination.

Elsewhere, Nightcrawler has been successful in his own mission to sabotage Murderworld and effectively bring an end to Arcade's threat, though the man himself manages to escape. As for Peter, his indoctrination as the Proletarian faded as swiftly as the need for it--but in a later story, artists John Romita Jr. and Dan Green appear to take their inspiration from the character when outfitting Colossus in a new costume designed with a Proletarian slant.

(Quite a coincidental story title, all things considered.)