I am so in for this.

I'm interested in the first 20 (or so) issues of the X-Men - I think it would be fun to re-visit those stories and it's would be cool to go from the beginning of one of the most cherished Marvel Group around.

'X-Men'
By Lee/Kirby/Reinman


The story starts at home, with the Professor calling his 4 students for a 'test' of their mutant powers. Each one shows off what they can do in turn, even Iceman, who apparently usually doesn't get to, because he's the youngest. The Professor is very strict and formal here. We find that the X-Men exist to project the world from evil mutants.

One of those evil mutants, Magneto, decides to terrorize the military, and he does so , sending rockets and missiles into the ocean, and proving himself invincible.

Back at the manse, the professor introduces his newest student, Marvel Girl. The boys (except Iceman.. I guess he still thinks girls are icky) fall all over themselves to talk to her. Suddenly, the Professor sends them off to stop Magneto.

They arrive on the scene as the military runs out of ideas on what to do. Why not let masked teenagers who won't tell you who they are help? Exactly, he gives them 15 minutes to dispose of Magneto.

We get a nice power display from Cyclops, but he gets tired and they all run away. After some ineffectual fighting, Magneto corners them with some jet fuel and seems poised to blow them up. Luckily, Cyclops is able to dig underground to save them from the blast, which makes Magneto decide it's time to run away.

While there are some very cool visuals (I love Kirby's magnetic fields, especially), the story is pretty much by the numbers with an unsatisfying ending. From such humble beginnings....

Rating 3/5 (2 for story, 4 for art)

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Notes

-- How old the X-Men are is pretty weird. It's specifically stated Iceman is 16, and the youngest while Beast is the oldest.... that makes the others early college age. So why are they in a school for gifted 'youngsters'.. why not a college? There's also the fact they ACT alot younger... by appearance, story, and personality, I'd peg Bobby at 12-13 and the others at 15-16. It's almost like they wanted them to be kids, but felt sending kids into battle wasn't OK. I know later the ages get knocked back a bit (Bobby tells Kitty in a WatXM issue he started at 14, IIRC)...I do wonder if there was intent, or Stan just hadn't really thought about it?

-- The Professor carefully explains the 'X' is for their "eXtra powers"... which is hilarious. It read like an old man explaining to naive kids why he named something after himself.

-- It's clear the Professor has lots of money, the kids take a Rolls Royce to his private airport to get to the fight with Magneto. Strangely, it appears not only that he's with them in the car, but DRIVING the car. Then again, his legs aren't mentioned at all, though he is shown in a wheelchair in at least one panel.

-- It's made clear that Professor Xavier feels talking is passe, and mental communication is the way to go. He also implies it takes practice to engage in said mental communication... that clearly went by the wayside quickly.

-- While 1/2 the comic tries to show otherwise, the X-Men really aren't that impressive, power wise. Cyclops is just a built in ray gun, and he beat up all three of the others.

-- No Danger Room yet, just a tricked out lounge/classroom

-- Speaking of powers, holy inconsistency! It takes all he has to pop Magneto's force field, and he passes out. Yet, just a few minutes later, he musters enough juice to dig a 15+ foot trench by vaporizing the contents. Besides the fact that he should have incerated the team worse the the rocket fuel, that WAY more juice than he had just 5 minutes before.
Magneto, too suffers from power flucations. He easily sends a rocket into the ocean from a distance, but has to use an 'energizer' to launch missiles, which should have been simply flipping a switch.

-- In the fight, when Iceman freezes those missiles to get them to crash, should they have exploded on impact?

-- Magneto refers to mutants as 'Homo Superior' right away. Also, I had forgotten the devil horns on his helmet... much cooler that way

-- Cyclops is introduced as 'Slim' Summers, not Scott

– Iceman as a rough pile of snow seems so Kirby to me now... funny how he pretty much as Green Lantern powers, but with ice, yet doesn't really realize it.

Probably has more to do with it being hosted by tripod than with the content itself.

Well that and the nude pics of Professor Xavier...

wildfire2099: Nice write up here and I agree with your assessment - 2 for the Story and 4 for the Art. I loved the way Kirby does the artwork showing the magnetic fields of Magneto. That's one area that I'm quite fond of the early days of the X-Men. Off to good start!

If I had the guts to do a review thread, I might have started with this one. I read this series from #1 through #450 or so in late 2013/early 2014 before losing interest in rereading a bunch of bad comics in the mid-400s. Looking forward to it, wildfire, and I'll chime in when possible.