MESMERO'S DEMI-MEN, 1968–69

MESMERO'S DEMI-MEN, 1968–69 Before Lorna Dane settled into life around the X-Men, somebody was already trying to turn her into the face of a mutant army. That is where the Demi-Men come in. In X-Men #49–52, cover-dated October 1968 through January 1969, Mesmero commands armored followers from a hidden Mutant City. A hypnotic summons pulls people with latent mutant abilities toward his operation. The X-Men investigate after Cerebro picks up the unusual concentration of mutants, while Bobby Drake encounters a young woman who has traveled a long way without understanding why. The Demi-Men are an army rather than a handful of costumed villains with individual names and rivalries. They patrol, guard the operation and overwhelm intruders with numbers and equipment. Mesmero supplies the direction, while the supposed return of Magneto gives the whole thing a much bigger name to rally around. Their attack catches the original X-Men during a period when the team has been scattered. Angel's discovery at the mansion helps bring them back into contact, but being together again does not immediately put them in control. The soldiers at Mesmero's headquarters have weapons prepared for intruders, and the rescuers end up needing rescue themselves. That gives the adventure two jobs at once. The X-Men have to break a military operation, and they have to convince someone caught inside it that the people promising her a future are using her. Breaking through the front door solves only the first part of that problem. Lorna is the prize. They want her power, but they also want her to believe she belongs with them. Her first adventure starts with other people trying to decide who she is.