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LOST BOYS (and GIRLS)

Membership: Big Top, Monitor, Shatterbox (Joey Bailey and Gailyn Bailey), Speedfreak

Purpose: Assist Nanny in "rescuing" mutant children

Aliases: None

Affiliations: Nanny, Orphan Maker

Enemies: N'astirh's demons, X-Factor (Cyclops/Scott Summers, Marvel Girl/Jean Grey)

Base of Operations: None (disbanded);
    formerly mobile aboard Nanny's ship

First Appearance: X-Factor I#35 (December, 1988)


History:
(X-Factor I#35 - BTS) - Determined to save all the superhuman children of the world and make them into her "salvation army," Nanny first saved young Peter (who would become the Orphan Maker) and other children soon followed. She kept them in cold sleep aboard her ship, determined to waken them when they were needed. To ensure their cooperation, Nanny would use the mind altering Pixie Dust on them, which brainwashed the group into obeying all her commands.

(X-Factor I#35 - BTS) - Prior to the full initiation of Inferno, Nanny learned of a number of mutant children being held in stasis at a secret facility beneath an orphanage. Realizing that there were too many children to capture herself, she selected five of the kids she'd already "saved" to assist her. She provided them with costumes and codenames, taking the quintet for their first outing as her Lost Boys and Girls.

(X-Factor I#35) - Upon arriving at the orphanage, Nanny, her assistant Orphan Maker, and the Lost Boys were confronted by Cyclops and Jean Grey who were looking for Scott's son, Christopher (later Cable), at the same location. Nanny ordered the Lost Boys to carefully retrieve the pods, which contained the mutant babies as she and the Orphan Maker battled the X-Factor members. Immediately sensing Shatter-Box to be her niece and nephew, Jean asked Nanny how they came to be in her possession; Nanny told Jean they were orphans like the others. Hearing this made Jean fear her sister Sara (who had gone missing) had been killed. Unbeknownst to Nanny, Orphan Maker, and their opponents, the Lost Boys were overtaken by a group of demons working for N'astirh who wanted the babies as well.  No match for the demonic forces, the Lost Boys lost all the pods and thn alerted Nanny. The mission now a failure, Nanny ordered their retreat, but not before Jean could unmask one of the Shatter-Box duo to confirm it was indeed her niece Gailyn. Thinking Gailyn and Joseph to be safe for now with Nanny (as compared to N'astirh's threat), Jean and Scott made their way to find Scott's son Christopher first.

(X-Factor I#40 - BTS) - After the events of Inferno, the members of X-Factor returned to their ship with all the mutant babies they rescued from N'astirh. When Nanny found out about this, she decided to engage them to once again try to steal the babies.

(X-Factor I#40) - Nanny (along with Orphan Maker) hijacked the X-Factor's plane in mid-flight just as the team was en route to return all the babies. Nanny and the Orphan Maker planned to take the little ones to "rescue" them, but proved to be no match for the combined efforts of X-Factor, who defeated them with relative ease. Although not able to fully read Nanny's mind, Jean followed her instincts and managed to find out where Nanny was keeping her niece and nephew. After rescuing them, Jean threatened to take Nanny apart bolt by bolt if she wouldn't return the children to their right minds. As X-Factor tried to free the other captured mutants from Nanny's ship, Freedom Force came barging in. Some of the parents of the missing children had already been located through the FBI, and could be returned to their respective homes.

Comments: Created by Louise Simonson (writer), Terry Shoemaker (pencils), Josef Rubinstein (inks).

    I think the idea of Nanny's Lost Boys (and Girls) is a great concept that could be renewed at any given moment. After the Avengers vs. X-Men event of 2012 mutants are back in the Marvel Universe, thus providing enough new mutant children for Nanny to steal and forcibly recruit into her Lost Boys.

    With Big Top, Monitor and Speedfreak most likely de-powered following M-Day, and Gailyn and Joey Grey killed by the Shi'ar Death Commandos in Uncanny X-Men I#467-468, I wouldn't expect any of the current members to ever resurface... Then again, stranger things have happened.

    Also noteworthy is/are the adult versions of a number of the mutant children involved in Inferno appearing in New Mutants#15 (2010) - 21 (2011)

Original profile by Snood

New profile by MarvellousLuke

CLARIFICATIONS:
Lost Boys has no known connections to

Big Top has no known connections to

Monitor has no known connections to

Speedfreak has no known connections to


BIG TOP


    Although his/her gender wasn't all that clear to make out, Big Top appeared to be a mutant girl with the superhuman ability to enlarge and animate her teddy bear, Bonzo. She mentally controlled the stuffed toy's movements, being able to make it move independently from her own actions. Despite its increase size, which offered a measure of super-strength, Bonzo retained all the vulnerabilities any plush toy has, as one of N'astirh's demons ripped a hole right through the toy's stomach. Big Top was probably rescued alongside Shatter-Box and returned to his/her family.


--X-Factor I#35, X-Factor I#40 - BTS






MONITOR


    The girl known as Monitor was another of Nanny's Lost Boys, she possessed the superhuman ability to monitor the life signs of others, but possibly had additional abilities as well. Monitor was probably rescued alongside Shatter-Box and returned to her family.


--X-Factor I#35, X-Factor I#40 - BTS







SPEEDFREAK


    Speedfreak was the rockabilly member of Nanny's Lost Boys, recognizable by his dark hair cool shades. Possessing superhuman speed, he could also take large leaps due to built-up momentum. Speedfreak most likely experienced the world at a much faster rate than average humans, making him appear impatient and annoyed at how "slow" those around him seemed to be. Nanny had to keep him in check on occasion, reminding Speedfreak it wasn't a race when she sent him and the other Lost Boys out to "rescue" the mutant children from the orphanage. Speedfreak was probably rescued alongside Shatter-Box and returned to his family.

Note: Apart from making him seem extra cool, Speedfreak's shades also provided a measure of protection, preventing him from getting hit in the eye by bugs or grains of sand and dust while moving at super-speed.


--X-Factor I#35, X-Factor I#40 - BTS



images: (without ads)
X-Factor I#35, p, pan (main image)
X-Factor I#35, p, pan (attacked by N'astirh's demons)
X-Factor I#35, p, pan (Big Top)
X-Factor I#35, p, pan (sitting on Bobo)
X-Factor I#35, p, pan (Monitor)
X-Factor I#35, p, pan (Speedfreak)


Appearances:
X-Factor I#35 (December, 1988) - Louise Simonson (writer), Terry Shoemaker (pencils), Josef Rubinstein (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#40 (May, 1989) - Louise Simonson (writer), Rob Liefeld (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)


First Posted: 09/08/2001
Last updated: 08/19/2014

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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