Polite Dissent

This comic takes place back in the Chuck Austen period of the X-Men. It stars many of Austen’s favorite characters including Sammy the fish boy, Annie the nurse, Annie’s mute son Carter, and Juggernaut. Plus those second string characters Wolverine, Iceman, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Professor X.

Sammy and Carter are swimming at the local fishing hole when they notice the mutilated remains of several fish. This horrifies Sammy, but Juggernaut tells him it’s just “boys being boys” and anyway, it was “just fish.” This upsets Sammy even more. He goes to Jean Grey and asks her to use her telepathic powers to track down the perpetrators. She tells him that reading people minds without permission wouldn’t be ethical. Next Sammy tries to convince Professor Xavier, but he agrees with Jean. He tells Sammy that intrusive mind-reading is not justified unless something more severe happens.

“Something more severe has happened,” Annie says as she and Carter bring in a neighborhood dog that has been tortured and left to die. Jean is able to read the fading thoughts of the dog’s mind to discover the culprits — three neighborhood boys who have made a hobby of torturing animals. The three have a treehouse where they are just about to dissect an unfortunate and still living squirrel when Wolverine shows up. He offers to show them what it feels like to have a leg cut off, but before he can carry through on his threat, the rest of the X-Men show up.

Jean uses her powers on three boys (and Juggernaut, who keep saying “boys will be boys”), making them relive every torture they carried out on their animal victims. In the end, two of the boys repent and the one that does not ends up in jail for animal cruelty (“There’s some pretty harsh penalties these days for this kind of cruelty to animals,” intones the sheriff.) Juggernaut apologizes to Sammy and the two of them go for a swim in the fishing hole.

Notes:
1. This comic was co-sponsored by the Marvel Comics and the Doris Day Animal Foundation. The Doris Day Animal Foundation (now part of the Humans Society) is the same group behind the Superman: For the Animals comic. X-Men Unlimited #44 appeared in the usual direct market edition, but there is also a give-away version with the Doris Day Animal Foundation logo instead of the barcode and price, and an opening letter from Bill Jemas.
2. This is the most coherent Chuck Austen X-Men comic I have read.
3. They never explain how Jean is able to affect Juggernaut with her telepathic powers while he is wearing his helmet. They make a point of mentioning his surprise that she can, but no explanation is ever given.
4. Despite being on the cover, Beast and Angel do not show up in this comic. I assume they and Wolverine were chosen because they’re the most animal-like of the big name X-Men.