X-Factor (1st series) #107

Issue Date: 
October 1994
Story Title: 
Punch-o-rama
Staff: 

Todd DeZago (story), Paul Borges (pencils), Al Milgrom (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver (colors), Kelly Corvese (editor), Bob Harras (group editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief)

Brief Description: 

Strong Guy means to catch a plane, when he encounters the Blob at the airport, intent on hijacking a plane. Chaos ensues as the two mutants begin fighting each other, laying waste to parts of the airport and several planes in the process. Guido finally bests the Blob, in spite of having absorbed more kinetic energy than is healthy for him. When X-Factor, who were busy preparing to capture Mystique, join him, he collapses in front of the press.

Full Summary: 

Strong Guy’s in trouble: it had started innocuously. He was down at the airport, waiting to catch a flight to Seattle to catch the big Lila Cheney concert. Lila and he had been pals for years. Before he took the X-Factor gig he used to do some bodyguard work for her… among other things. Last time he saw her, they parted on bad terms - it didn’t help that he was naked…

He is waiting for the plane, when, out on the runway, the Blob is trying to hijack a small plane. So, Strong Guy politely tells him the plane might be too small for somebody of his statue. To which the Blob very rudely knocks Guido through a couple of hangars. When the plane doesn’t’ hold the Blob’s weight, he lands… on Guido. Needless to say, the hero is a bit rattled: That’s a lovely dress you have on today, Mrs Cleaver he hallucinates.

Tearing at Guido’s lock of hair, Blob loudly wonders why Guido has the stupid thing, but today it’s coming in handy… Say yaw pwayers, wabbit! See ya in the emergency room! With that, he hits Strong Guy brutally and starts running.

Guido remembers everything he learned about the Blob. His real name is Fred J. Dukes and he’s been involved with every evil mutant group since Professor Xavier had training wheels. The most important thing is his powers. He’s got the hide of a Sherman tank, meaning he’s nearly invulnerable. He’s got the strength of a bull and he’s virtually immovable; he can create his own personal gravity and root himself right to the ground. Important things to know. Guido’s glad he read the files. Guido glad Alex made him read the files. He’s glad Alex took away his Nintendo until he finished reading the files.

Airport security begins to cordon off the area and Guido is about to give it another go.
Running after the Blob, he attempts a lame joke. Ignoring him, the Blob jumps onto a luggage cart, more gracefully than Guido expected. Guido jumps as well, figuring they are giving the poor driver a heart attack. Grabbing the Blob by the throat, Guido jokes that the airline’s got enough trouble keeping track of all the luggage without the Blob wallowing around in it. Or is he trying to film a new Samsonite commercial?

The driver is so engrossed in watching the battle on the back of the cart that he doesn’t notice he’s heading straight for a van, loaded with jet fuel, until both combatants warn him. Seeing the danger, the man jumps out of the car. Both Strong Guy and Blob try to reach the steering wheel, at first getting in each other’s way until Guido finally grabs it and turns the van around… a little too close, as it turns out as the luggage cart’s rear end rams the other truck after all. Both men jump off before it collides with something, though Blob unfortunately jumps into the way of a moving Boeing 747. As he wanted to get a plane out of there anyway, he grabs onto the plane’s landing gear, as does Guido, who points out that the plane is landing.

The pilots in the cockpit reacts after experiencing the disturbance with their landing gear by taking off again. Suddenly, the plane moves upwards again and the Blob kicks Strong Guy off. As Guido falls, he can only think of having missed his plane and that he wished he could talk to Lila Cheney one more time.

Guido lands on the control tower and falls through all five stories, absorbing more and more kinetic energy from each impact. Blob, in the meantime, has punched a hole in the floor and boarded the plane. Tearing down the door to the cockpit, he orders the pilot to fly to St. Croix. But they haven’t got enough fuel, the pilot protests. The Blob orders him to land the crate and get some.

Back at X-factor’s Georgetown townhouse, the team is holding a practice session in their version of the Danger Room against several monsters. Forge reminds them of their objective: the program won’t shut down until the target is identified and neutralized. He orders Polaris to watch Wolfsbane’s back and give her room to work. Rahne announces that Forge masked the smell well this time, as all the other scents are so similar. But finally she has it. She pounces Havok and her attack reveals that he is merely a robot. The program terminates at 23.6 seconds.

Forge commends Rahne on her time. Rahne asks if they haven’t done this enough. Forge apologizes but he doesn’t want them to be caught off-guard. They are dealing with a very dangerous person, who can change their physical appearance in the blink of an eye. Her wolfen senses may be all they have to rely on.

Heads up, the real Havok announces, as he enters the room. Guido’s on the news and he’s not doing the weather. He and the Blob are pounding the hell out of each other at Dulles airport. The team decides to help and Polaris levitates them on their way.

At Dulles airport, Strong Guy is in agony, as the swan dive through the airport made him absorb too much kinetic energy. As a result, he grows huge. The power burns through his skin and he needs a way to release it - preferably on the Blob. Said villain, unfortunately, has, in the meantime, gotten into the cockpit of a jumbo and trains it towards Guido.

Realizing that not only is the plane going to turn him into the first mutant roadkill, but it will also plough straight into the terminal, where many people stand petrified. Guido knows he is the only thing standing between them and death. Using all the energy he picked up, he tries to stop the plane, managing to finally bring it to a stop, mere inches away from the terminal. That’s when the pain hits, an incredible pressure in his chest, though technically he also has to deal with a pain in the butt… the Blob. Guido takes another breath, figuring the pain is a result of indigestion.

Guido recalls how he called the Blob the Pillsbury Doughboy before. Not overly politically correct, but fitting – because, if he pokes him one in the stomach as he is doing now, all he does is giggle. “Strong Guy?” the Blob mocks. He doesn’t think so. How about “grotesquely disproportionate Guy” or maybe “Goggle Boy”?

He goes on insulting Guido’s intelligence, neither of them aware that they are standing on leaking jet fuel. With all his extra power, Strong Guy keeps on hitting the Blob and slowly starts making a dent. Finally, he has the Blob dazed. He lifts him up, intending to throw him down hard, when he notices the exposed wires on the ground, thanks to some parts of the floor coming up with the Blob. Combined with the jet fuel, a fire starts.

At that moment, the Blob gets an arm free and makes his bid for freedom. Unfortunately, with the flames and the smoke, he has no idea where he’s going - and, from where Guido’s standing, he can see that he is definitely headed into the wrong direction, namely a truck with Roxxon jet fuel. Guido can see everything - the advantage of being “Goggle Boy.”

The fire reaches the fuel truck and the Blob takes the brunt of the ensuing explosion. Strong Guy gets him out, as X-Factor arrives. Strong Guy tells them the Blob punches like a baby and suggests that, before they take him to the authorities, they should shave his head and get him a tattoo. Forge refuses. How about just taking some pictures of him dressed as Madonna, Guido asks hopefully. A journalist joins them, hoping for a few words from Strong Guy. Before he can make a statement, Guido collapses from exhaustion. Polaris helplessly tells the press that Strong Guy has no comment at the time.

Characters Involved: 

Forge, Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Wolfsbane (all X-Factor)

Blob

Innocent bystanders, airport personnel and a journalist

Story Notes: 

Guido’s last rather embarrassing encounter with Lila Cheney was shown in X-Factor (1st series) #93.

Issue Information: 
Written By: