The origin of Aaron Stack, aka X-51, now Mister Machine, eventually Machine Man, continues in this issue, as he’s imprisoned by the army, with his face removed. He uses his skills, including being able to impersonate voices, to escape his cell, and make short work of any forces sent against him, until Doctor Broadhurst orders he be given back his face and released (but not without a secret tracking device).

Out in the woods, X-51 encounters the Monolith for a second time, and then meets a young boy, who compares him to the Marvel super-heroes, and the boy’s Aunt Olivia, who give him a ride to the nearest town, but not before they get attacked by the forces of the mysterious “Mister Hotline”, who has heard that one of the X-models escaped destruction.

Lot’s of weird later period Kirby concepts and very in-your-face artwork in this run of issues. The Monolith/2001 bits are pretty superflous to the bigger picture, kind of a shame their presence means we may never see reprints of these issues.

Mike Royer inks the cover and 17-page story.

Published 1977