Super X Man

Super X Man by James Hampton Belton © 2009

Panel 1 Text This is certainly the most interesting case I've worked on in a long time. The subject, who I call 'K', is extremely resistant to suggestion. Unless I can help him, I fear the worst.

Graphic A muscular man with short black hair and a square jaw lies unconcious on a medical table. A middle aged, bald man sits behind the table, looking at the other.

Panel 2 Text When we first found him, he was already incredibly dangerous. His mental instability comes and goes. At times he is able to lead a relatively normal life. In fact, for many years he held down a job in Chicago, where he worked as a staff writer for one of the local newspapers.

Graphic The man who was lying on the table is standing on a street corner, wearing glasses and dressed in a suit and tie, holding a folder newspaper. He is hailing a cab.

Panel 3 Text Unfortunately, his schizophrenia makes him prone to paranoid delusions. He came to beleive that he was the last of a race of alien biengs whose planet had been destroyed in a cosmic accident.

Graphic Huge explosion in space as a moon collides with an earthlike planet. Space capsule with a young boy with black hair inside streaks away from the planet.

Panel 4 Graphic A young woman in a lab coat joins the man. She holds a seringe in her hand. She is standing, he remains seated. He has turned to look at her, she looks at him. Jean: “Here's the serum Professor.” Prof X: “And the needles?” Jean: “Magneto came through with the adamantium.”

Panel 5 Graphic Close up of the tip of a hypodermic needle making a deep dimple on the skin of a heavily muscled arm.

Panel 6 The woman holds the syringe, the seated man is looking at the unconcious patient. Prof X: “Damn. That was our best chance to save his life.”

Panel 7 Text K's mutant X gene was activated during his teenage years. He grew up on a farm in Iowa, and one day, when a truck had fallen on his father, he found the strength to lift the vehicle off him, saving his life.

Graphic A teenage boy lifts a one ton farm truck (50's body styling, front driverside wheel removed), freeing a man who is trapped underneath the front quarter on the driver's side. A crumpled axel stand lies on the ground next to the removed wheel.

Panel 8 Text I sensed him quickly. His mutant power was clearly one of those exceptional level 5 abilities that appear so rarely among us. I watched him carefully as his power grew.

Graphic Professor X, seated, eyes closed, split screened with a vision of the teenage boy racing a diesel train.

Panel 9 Text Soon I detected the signs of his illness. He grew more and more paranoid, leading ultimately to the death of his boyhood rival.

Graphic The teenage boy stands over the body of a young man, who is bald and dressed in a sweater and slacks. A young blond girl looks on, horror stricken.

Panel 10 Text When the boy was commited to an institution, I felt I had no choice but to intervene.

Graphic The boy is seated across the desk from Prof X, who is speaking to him. Prof X: “Hello, Clark. My name is Charles Xavier. I'll be working with you to make you well again. You can call me Charles.”

Panel 11 Text Using my own mutant power, I carefully supressed Clark's knowledge of his own gift. His memory of Alexander's death became one of a crime of passion. I prescribed him the standard treatment of Lithium for his Schizoprenia, and pronounced him cured.

Graphic Clark and Prof X shaking hands outside an institution. Clarks parents in front of the pickup truck, waiting to take him home.

Panel 12 Text Years went by, and after college, Clark moved to Chicago, earning a job as a writer at the Chicago Tribune. Meanwhile, other things kept my attention from him.

Graphic Clark sits at a desk, a black haired woman standing beside him. Split panel. Prof X and Magneto stand

on the center platform of the partially completed Cerebro.

Panel 13 Text While my attention was elsewhere, Clark's illness returned, destroying the mental block that I had used to prevent him from realizing his mutant X power.

Graphic Pedestrians watch in amazement as a man strips in a phone booth.

Panel 14 Graphic A dozen policemen wrestle Clark to the ground. He is hysterical and is wearing a cape, tights, and boots. (No logo is visible).

Panel 15 Text When the (real name in Chicago) asylum called me, I had Aurora fly me to Chicago.

Graphic Hospital room, bars on windows. Clark is held to a bed with a half dozen iron bands. Prof X, in a wheel chair, is at his bed side. Aurora stands behind him, dressed in street cloths. Prof X:

“Clark, do you remember me?”

Clark:

“Lex! Let me out of here.”

Prof X: “No Clark, its Charles, Charles Xavier. I treated you back in Iowa when you were a boy. The doctors here at ____ called me.”

Panel 16 Graphic Clark stares in horror at the needle in Aurora's hand as she prepares to inject him. Clark:

“So that's how your keeping me here. Where did you get the kryptonite, Lex.”

Prof X:

“Calm down, Clark. This is only a sedative.”

Panel 17

Graphic Prof X speaks to Aurora, Clark sleeping in background. Prof X: “Now that we've suppressed his mutant X gene, I'll try to reestablish the mental blocks. His mind is very fragile, though.”

Panel 18 Text What I didn't know was that Magneto was planning to use Clark in his war against the humans.

Graphic Clark in the hospital, only one restraint holding him. Dreams of Magneto. Magneto:

“Kal El, my son. You must come to the north pole to learn your true identity.”

Panel 19 Graphic The hosital room lies empty, the restraints smashed apart, the door kicked open.

Panel 20 Graphic Clark stands in a futuristic ice palace, staring at a holographic projection of Magneto. Magneto: “I am your father, Jerel. Son, you must help these people fight their oppressors. They have lost their greatest leaders. That is why I sent you here, to help our kind, mutant kind, against those who would destroy them.”

Panel 21 Graphic Clark, again dressed in cape, tights and boots, flys in front of a giant robot, blasting it with laser vision.

Panel 22 Graphic Assault troops fire mutant suppression darts and live bullets at Clark, but all bounce harmlessly off him.

Panel 23 Graphic Prof X subdues Clark using mental domination.

Panel 24 Graphic The X-men carry Clark, unconcious, to their plane.

Panel 25 Graphic Same graphic as panel 6, but Prof X's expression is grimmer.

Panel 26 Graphic Similar graphic, but Jean has Phoenix's eyes. Prof X:

“Phoenix, I must call on your help.”

Panel 27 Graphic Energy begins to emanate from Pheonix. Prof X has moved behind her. Clark's eyes are open.

Panel 28 Graphic Energy surrounds Clark, who has begun to sit up.

Panel 29 Graphic Clark's body has begun to dissolve in the rays of power pouring over him. His expression is agonized.

Panel 30 Graphic Clark's body dissapears in a shower of particles, his skeleton forming the last visible solid within it.

Panel 31 Graphic Prof X bows his head. Pheonix looks at the empty bed, an expression of joyful hatred on her face. Prof X:

“Good-bye Clark.”

Panel 32 Graphic Prof X stares at Pheonix, who looks confused. Prof X:

“Jean, Jean, come back to me Jean.”

Panel 33 Graphic Jean has turned back to Prof X, and is no longer Phoenix. Jean:

“Professor, what happened?”

Prof X:

“What had to, I'm afraid, Jean.”