First Appearance of Moira

X-Men #96

Writer: Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo
Artist: Dave Cockrum
Colorist: Phil Rachelson
Inker: Sam Grainger
Letterer: Dave Hunt
Published by Marvel Comics, 1975.

Night of the Demon!

The ending of the last issue was pretty tragic as we saw the death of one of the X-Men. His sacrifice was not in vain; however, as he stopped the evil Count Nefaria from escaping and with the rest of the X-Men stopped Armageddon.

But Scott Summers is taking the mortality of his teammate hard. He was the leader and feels he should have been able to prevent the loss – it was pretty apparent to any reader, though, that there was no way Cyclops or any of the X-Men were gonna stop the events as they occurred.

Regardless, in this issue, we see Scott unleash his anger, and in his anguish, he dials his eye beams to eleven and inadvertently opens a portal to a demonic realm. From this dimension, a being calling itself Kierrok, a child of the Elder Gods, invades to kill the mutants and take their souls.

And he seems to be able to do it too! That is until Moira MacTaggert pulls out a machine gun to help out. This is her first appearance, and she’s gonna be pretty big in the mutant world even to 2019’s House and Powers of X.

Verdict

So the bottom line for this issue is that it’s a pretty cool fight against in ill-defined enemy that introduces a key character in the X-Men universe, so I’ll rate it a Must Read.

This comic can be found on Comixology, on Marvel Unlimited, or at your local comic book shop.

Comic Corner | Reading Recommendation of X-Men #96