In this feature, I spotlight five scenes/moments from within comic book stories that fit under a specific theme (basically, stuff that happens frequently in comics). Here is an archive of all the patterns we've spotlighted so far.

Today, based on suggestions by readers Jim R. and James C., we take a look at the X-Men and the surprising frequency of their home base of the X-Mansion being destroyed.

Enjoy!

The X-Mansion was originally Charles Xavier's family estate in Westchester Country, New York. It eventually became the home to Charles Xavier's School for Mutants and the home base of the X-Men.

While it saw some damage over the years (perhaps most notably when the Juggernaut attacked it) it would not be until Uncanny X-Men #154 (by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, Bob Wiacek and Joe Rubinstein) that the mansion was first destroyed by some alien bounty hunters searching for Corsair...

By #163, the mansion was being rebuilt...

And by the next issue, everything was finished...

In Uncanny X-Men #243 (by Claremont, Marc Silvestri and Hilary Barta), the combined forces of X-Men and X-Factor track Mister Sinister back to the then-abandoned X-Mansion. As it turns out, it was a trap by Sinister, who lured them there just to do the following...

The Mansion was rebuilt in time for X-Men #1 in 1991.

The next destruction of the Mansion is a weird one.

When Xorn is revealed to be Magneto in New X-Men #146, we never actually see him destroy the mansion (now dubbed the Xavier Institute)....

But in X-Men #155 (by Chuck Austen, Salvador Larroca and Danny Miki), we see that Magneto DID destroy the mansion off-panel...

In Astonishing X-Men #9 (by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday), the Danger Room coems to life and uses her ability to control other X-Men machinery to send the X-Men's own plane, the Blackbird, barreling through the mansion, destroying it (or close enough to destroying for Wolverine to hang a lampshade on the whole cliche a bit)....

Finally, at the end of X-Men #205 (by Mike Carey, Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend), Chapter Five of the Messiah Complex storyline, the X-Men's Sentinel bodyguards turn on the X-Men and destroy the school...

Ed Brubaker, Billy Tan and Danny Miki continue the destruction in Uncanny X-Men #493(Chapter Six)...

This time around, the X-Men leave Westchester period and set up shop in San Francisco. Wolverine later rebuilt the school as the Jean Grey School. It has yet to be destroyed...but it is only a matter of time!

Okay, that's it! I hope you enjoyed 'em! If you have any ideas for future editions of Drawing Crazy Patterns, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!