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Post by james on Jan 7, 2022 18:41:45 GMT -5
I have started reading X-men from issue 1. I’ve collected for 40 years and have a decent X-men collection but I never actually read
Most of the first 100 issues. My question is since the X-men were technically together before Jean joined in issue 1 and one of the boys says “Nothing is unbelievable when you join the X-men”. was there ever a comic published of their adventures before Jean? Kind of an like untold tales ?
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 7, 2022 20:01:31 GMT -5
IIRC, that got retconned pretty early on so that Jean WAS the first. There is a pre-X-Men team that was written at one point with Wolverine and Sabertooth in it, but I don't exactly recall what it was called or if it was any good.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jan 8, 2022 6:21:19 GMT -5
Closest thing to what you're asking about from ye olden days (i.e., pre-1990s) that I can think of are a series of back-up stories in the original X-men series back in the 1960s. They recount how Cyclops, then Iceman, Beast and Angel realized that they were mutants (i.e., how their powers first manifested) and eventually became pupils in Xavier's school. In each successive origin story, the other X-men made appearances, so they were indeed like pre-Jean X-men adventures. I only read the Cyclops and Iceman stories, because that's all Marvel managed to reprint in the revived Amazing Adventures in the late 1970s. As for the "X-men before there were X-men" that wildfire2099 mentioned, that was done in a pretty recent(ish) series called First X-men. The team included, among others, Wolverine, Sabretooth and Magneto, which should be a red flag right there. The art is by Neal Adams, who also co-wrote it (that's an even bigger red flag) with Christos Gage. I've never read it, as the premise doesn't interest me one bit, but I should add that - ironically, perhaps - what really convinced me that I shouldn't read it was listening to Adams tout it in a podcast interview with Kevin Smith. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 8, 2022 9:33:06 GMT -5
That's the one I was thinking of! They did have those origin stories (I actually reviewed those in my X-Men thread)... I didn't think of those, but you're right, those would totally be what james was asking about! |
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Post by spoon on Jan 8, 2022 11:41:22 GMT -5
Closest thing to what you're asking about from ye olden days (i.e., pre-1990s) that I can think of are a series of back-up stories in the original X-men series back in the 1960s. They recount how Cyclops, then Iceman, Beast and Angel realized that they were mutants (i.e., how their powers first manifested) and eventually became pupils in Xavier's school. In each successive origin story, the other X-men made appearances, so they were indeed like pre-Jean X-men adventures. I only read the Cyclops and Iceman stories, because that's all Marvel managed to reprint in the revived Amazing Adventures in the late 1970s. The back-up Origins of the X-Men feature mentioned here were published in (Uncanny) X-Men #38-57. At this point, there are various places to find them reprinted including Essential, Epic Collection, and Omnibus TPBs and HCs. It's pretty much the story of the X-Men getting assembled, as Edo described, so if I recall correctly it ends with the fourth member joining. In other words, we don't get further adventures with an established team of four going on adventures. The retcon that wildfire2099 mentioned regarding Jean involves Xavier meeting her first, helping get her out of a catatonic state and suppressing her telepath. He doesn't actually put her on the team until after he meets the other four; I forget why. This retcon has been told in various places. Off the top of my head, I think one of the earliest (maybe the first) was in Bizarre Adventures #27, a black & white magazine which has been reprinted in various places. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jan 8, 2022 18:47:03 GMT -5
Closest thing to what you're asking about from ye olden days (i.e., pre-1990s) that I can think of are a series of back-up stories in the original X-men series back in the 1960s. They recount how Cyclops, then Iceman, Beast and Angel realized that they were mutants (i.e., how their powers first manifested) and eventually became pupils in Xavier's school. In each successive origin story, the other X-men made appearances, so they were indeed like pre-Jean X-men adventures. I only read the Cyclops and Iceman stories, because that's all Marvel managed to reprint in the revived Amazing Adventures in the late 1970s. As for the "X-men before there were X-men" that wildfire2099 mentioned, that was done in a pretty recent(ish) series called First X-men. The team included, among others, Wolverine, Sabretooth and Magneto, which should be a red flag right there. The art is by Neal Adams, who also co-wrote it (that's an even bigger red flag) with Christos Gage. I've never read it, as the premise doesn't interest me one bit, but I should add that - ironically, perhaps - what really convinced me that I shouldn't read it was listening to Adams tout it in a podcast interview with Kevin Smith. In my personal canon, that was a What if..? story, and even as an imaginary story, it was struck from the multiverse by the most recent Secret Wars mini. In other words, it never, ever, ever happened!  |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 8, 2022 19:12:42 GMT -5
heh, thats the good part of the current MU, since the actual canon is a total mess... you can just make your own  For instance, for me, Iron Man's history goes from the "hands of the Mandarin' crossover to the Busiek run.. that stuff in between didn't happen. Also, Howard and Maria Stark are Tony's ACTUAL parents, no aliens or hippy SHIELD agents. and Arno is his son from an alternate time line |
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Post by Mormel on Jan 10, 2022 5:29:44 GMT -5
I feel like the X-Men's mission to stop Magneto in X-Men #1 was the team's first assignment 'out in the open', as it were. The recruiting missions to enlist Bobby, Warren, and Hank mostly take place under the shadows, so the general public never finds out there's a costumed band of mutants at large. All their other time before Jean's arrival is spent training, I'd like to think.
I guess their encounters with Jack O'Diamonds and the Conquistador, and learning about their own fantastic powers, as well as having a telepathic teacher, is enough to justify the 'nothing is impossible' line.
EDIT: Forgot about Professor X-s mindwipe trick he pulls a couple times in those origin stories to make people forget they had seen the X-Men use their powers. He was fond of using that in the Silver Age!
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jan 10, 2022 12:49:45 GMT -5
As for the "X-men before there were X-men" that wildfire2099 mentioned, that was done in a pretty recent(ish) series called First X-men. The team included, among others, Wolverine, Sabretooth and Magneto, which should be a red flag right there. The art is by Neal Adams, who also co-wrote it (that's an even bigger red flag) with Christos Gage. I've never read it, as the premise doesn't interest me one bit, but I should add that - ironically, perhaps - what really convinced me that I shouldn't read it was listening to Adams tout it in a podcast interview with Kevin Smith.
That sounds atrocious beyond belief. That said, I always felt like somewhere there must have been an adventure with Xavier, a pre-Magneto Magnus (or whatever his name is currently), and Namor (Marvel's first mutant).
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jan 10, 2022 13:08:05 GMT -5
That sounds atrocious beyond belief. That said, I always felt like somewhere there must have been an adventure with Xavier, a pre-Magneto Magnus (or whatever his name is currently), and Namor (Marvel's first mutant).
Well, there wasn't a story featuring all three, but in X-men #161 there was an 'untold tale' (shades of another thread!) recounting when the young, pre-disabled Xavier first met the young, pre-raving Magnus/Magneto. Special guest star: Baron Strucker! It's a pretty good story, actually. |
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Post by Mormel on Jan 10, 2022 15:17:58 GMT -5
That sounds atrocious beyond belief. That said, I always felt like somewhere there must have been an adventure with Xavier, a pre-Magneto Magnus (or whatever his name is currently), and Namor (Marvel's first mutant).
Well, there wasn't a story featuring all three, but in X-men #161 there was an 'untold tale' (shades of another thread!) recounting when the young, pre-disabled Xavier first met the young, pre-raving Magnus/Magneto. Special guest star: Baron Strucker! It's a pretty good story, actually. It was! Funny thing about that one is that it's the first issue to establish any kind of shared history between Prof X and Magneto at all. Only 12 issues earlier, Prof X was going over Magneto's file and thinking to himself how Magneto's real identity and origins are unknown (with nothing in his thought bubbles suggesting that he knows him). It's the issue after that which first mentions that Magneto's a Holocaust survivor. So at first glance bit of a radical 'retcon', but boy did that go a long way in fleshing out both characters. |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jan 11, 2022 12:50:59 GMT -5
That story was good until Xavier's powers mysteriously failed to work on Strucker. I thought Claremont got Xavier's personality right, but he never seemed to understand what to do with such a powerful telepath, and was constantly coming up with arbitrary and ad-hoc reasons to shut him down.
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