X-Men #111!!11eleventy-one

X-Men #111 opens very unusually, with Hank McCoy looking for the X-Men, and having just found them at a carnival in Texas. He's there at the request of Lorna Dane, who had called the X-Men to request help dealing with Havok being kidnapped (see Marvel Team-Up #70, we're told), but had got no answer. Beast arrived at the mansion to find a large backlog of post. Moira, we know from #110, was going back to Scotland; Xavier and Lilandra have gone somewhere unknown on holiday; the X-Men themselves have ended up as attractions at a travelling carnival. What?

After chatting with "Slim" Summers (nice nod to his original name there, not a nickname that has been used very often since) and Jean Grey, he figures they've been mesmerised. But by who? Mesmero! The X-Men break free of his control and defeat him, which involves Wolverine punching people, and then Mesmero collapsing just as they go to confront him. And then we see, sitting in a chair, Magneto, who is Mesmero's boss or something? (Or is this another android?)

I'm not sure I like the idea that Mesmero is able to hyptonise the Phoenix, but this is nothing compared to what will happen a dozen issues from now. The decision to open the story in medias res and the use of Beast as initial protagonist (remember, he's not been on the team since the relaunch and wasn't part of the team that got captured on Krakoa - he's not been regularly portrayed as part of the X-Men for five years or more), make this stand out a bit from what would otherwise be a fairly generic story.