X-Men #6
Lee/Kirby/Stone


Love that cover!!  The story starts with Jean making everyone dinner.. and all the boys are in suits and ties, even though they're just hanging in the school... ahhh, the 60s.  Everyone's kidding around, while the Professor reads the paper, and opines about Namor, wondering if perhaps he might be a mutant.

Magneto is thinking the same thing, and is actively hunting for him.  There's an incident where Mastermind 'practices' a Cyclops illusion, and Magneto almost blasts Scarlet Witch in trying to attack it... very cool scene.

After a shorter than usual training scene, we see Professor X sending HIS astral self to search for Namor, but when he senses Magneto, he backs off.

Magneto finds him, and sees Namor in a rage at his defeat at the hands of the Fantastic Four(#27, for those keeping score)... Magneto decides to have one of Namor's minons do the recruiting for him.

While he waits for his plan to work, Professor X rents a boat and heads out there with the X-Men.
Namor arrives, and Magneto is impressed.  He tries to get Wanda to seduce him, but she hexes by accident and electrocutes him, which neither hurts him or upsets him.

Having discovered them, Magneto blasts the ship to bits, but the X-Men escape no problem, and get to the island.  They attack as a team for a change, and catch Quicksilver.   Magneto readies a blast for all the them, but Namor stops him.  Apparently, he doesn't like the way Mags talked to the lady.  When the X-Men bust in, Magneto abandons Wanda and Pietro and runs with Toad and Mastermind close behind.   The Witch and Namor fight briefly with the X-Men, but the Professor stops them by returning Quicksilver, unharmed.  

Magneto takes a last shot at Namor, but ends up having his giant Magnet destroyed.  Magneto and co. flee to space(with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch tagging along behind, and Namor goes home.. X-Men win... legit this time!


Rating: 5/5: Best issue since #3 for sure.. amazing art throughout, and a fun crossover-ish story.

Notes:

-- The art is much more clean and crisp.. I think I like this inker alot better.

-- Magneto sends his Astral self to find Namor... it's implied that has nothing to do with being a mutant, but just 'brain power', which Magneto is 'second only to Professor X' in.  He even talks to an Atlantean in that form, and senses his feelings! Glad that didn't last... Mags is powerful enough!

-- Namor is, in fact, awesome.   How Susan Richards ever married that milk toast stretchy guy is beyond me.

-- Not sure what's changed now that the team has 'graduated'.. they're still having 'tests'

-- So, this is a different island hideout for Magneto, in addition to Asteroid M... it's clear he's in it for the mutant cause, because he clearly has plenty of cash!

-- Jean debuts the more feminine cat mask, instead of the hair-covering cowl.  Sadly, it effects her powers, as today she can't stop Beast from falling, when a couple issues ago she had, and before that she was lifting a 1/2 dozen people at a time.

-- Wanda being used as a piece of meat... bad, but era appropriate, I suppose.   At least Pietro didn't like it.

-- Nice to see a guest star get treated so well, too often characters get de-powered when 'on the road'.   

-- Why on Earth would the X-Men start an attack with Angel?  What's he going to do, startle them and make them have a heart attack?  He was scouting, I suppose, but then he should scout and report, not attack by himself and expose the team!  So much for all that training.

-- The team box on the cover is back to the original for some reason

-- They talk about Magneto's Giant Magnet like it's a thing, though it has never been scene or mentioned before

-- I love that Magneto doesn't believe Toad's loyalty... he's really a pretty straight megalomanic here, no grey at all.   That's all saved for the Maximoffs.

-- I would have liked it if Submariner's ship was one from the old days, but the giant golden 'S' on the nose suits him, even if he should be an 'N' for Namor.. he always despised the 'Submariner' name... though I suppose they kinda dropped that by now.

-- I didn't realize they called Namor a mutant way back then!  He was always a 'hybrid' that I can recall,until Byrne in the 80s.. guess that's not the case.

I read X-Men #6 last night, and it really refreshed my memory on why I like this issue so much.

For one thing, that splash panel. Where they're having dinner in their jackets and ties. I can talk about that panel for ages. I hardly know where to begin.

For one thing, Scott is using his eye-blasting power to direct the ray at Hank's hand because Hank is reaching across the table to get ... I think it's the sugar. That is just NUTS! That ray can stop an elephant in its tracks! And Scott is always worried about being a danger to his friends because of his awful power. And yet he's using it to correct Hank's table manners!

And which is more rude, reaching across the table or blasting somebody with your lethal eye rays? (Admittedly, Hank is also READING AT THE TABLE, so he should be happy that Scott is giving him a pass on that.)

And then there's the exchange between Professor X and Jean:

Professor X: It was a delicious meal, Jean! Thank you for helping out on the cook's day off!

Jean: I was glad to do it, professor!

Of course Jean was happy to cook all day for the boys! She's a girl who knows her place!

And that line about the cook's day off - Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters has a cook? Does the cook know they are the X-Men, or is he or she in an isolated part of the house and ignorant of the extracurricular activities? How big is the domestic staff at the mansion? So many questions on a subject that was never broached again!

And finally (for now, because I have to go soon), there's Bobby somehow whipping up some ice cream so he can have pie a la mode. Yup, he's using his ice powers to make ice cream and putting it on his pie! Is he somehow getting sugar and milk and whatever else you need for ice cream out of the air in addition to the water? Is this a new power for Bobby, like all those new powers they were always giving Thor in old issues of Journey into Mystery? Should we change his name to Dessert Man?

SO MUCH INSANITY ON ONE PAGE!!!

Warren is sitting between Scott and Hank with an amused look on his face and a word balloon going on about how sweet Scott looks when he smiles. But what he should be thinking is:

WTF?!?!?

More later. Mostly about Wanda. And Magneto pimping Wanda.

With all the Brotherhood love on this thread, it might make sense to include Journey into Mystery #109 in the reviews.

That's great to hear--and I guess you're also going to include Strange Tales #128, Wanda and Pietro vs. the Thing and Torch (interesting that years later Pietro and Johnny would battle over Crystal). 

I don't want to hold the thread up, so this isn't a review, exactly, since I don't actually have the comic to review

Fantastic Four #28 features a pretty standard 'first the fight, then they Team Up' Marvel hero interaction.   The Puppet Master and the Thinker team up, with Puppet Master taking over Professor Xavier's brain, and convincing him the FF plan global domination.  The X-Men try to ask for help to lure them out of the Baxter building, then attack to get them to chase them (as Reed refused to help them).

They fight again, until it's clear the X-Men are not feeling it... Puppet Master tries to get the Professor to directly control his team, and Beast fights it off, leading the Professor to realize what's going on.  The two teams then fight the Awesome Android while Thinker and Puppet master escape.

A couple notable things I found:

It's awesome that they have Jean fight the Thing, instead of the usual token girl vs. token girl clash.

When talking about the visit, Sue mentions the X-Men defeated the Space Phantoms... I assume this is a Stan brain fart, but it could also be some awesome untold tale


At some point, I'll make this an actual review (still debating what form to get the early FF in... Masterworks, future epics or Omnibus)

X-Men #7
Lee/Kirby/Stone

The cover is actually colored right!  Though Quicksilver looks rather off to me.

Graduation day!  The X-Men take a class picture, and the Professor announces he's leave them for a while, and will appoint a new leader.

Meanwhile, at the (seriously downgraded) Brotherhood HQ, Mastermind arrives early to hit on the Scarlet Witch, and gets rebuffed... but doesn't take no for an answer until Magneto arrives and throws a chamber pot at him (yes, that's right!).  He has...a plan!

Back at the mansion, the new graduates plan a trip to town, but the professor (to only Scott's shock) picks Cyclops as his replacement, and shows him Cerebro.  Scott takes up residence in the Prof's office, and refuses to go have fun.   We also get a little angst, as he's still whining about being a mutant.  Jean is sad he won't come, of course.

Magneto visits the carnival, and finds the Blob.  He tries to recruit him, but the carnies try to run him off before he can chat, so it's carnies vs. the Brotherhood!  The brotherhood fares far better than the X-Men do (no elephant, I guess), but the Blob is still not interested.. until he attacks Magneto and gets conked on the head.  He suddently remembers all about the X-Men trying to recruit him, and agrees to join Magneto.

His mind getting back straight triggers the X-Men to know about it.. Scott summons the X-Men back to the mansion, and they spring into action.

The fight is not forced at all.. Magneto calls them on the radio to challenge them to a fight, then they show up.. not expecting any sort of trap.. .that'd be crazy.  

The find the Blob waiting, and, as before, he fights the whole team to a stalemate, until Bobby puts him on ice... literally, to give a few minutes to let the rest of the Brotherhood have a turn.  When the Blob breaks out, things look grim for the X-Men when Magneto decides to fling a bunch of torpedos at them..even though the Blob was in the way.   He takes them without too much trouble, and Magneto and the Brotherhood scatter.  The Blob is pretty mad, and swears off getting involved ever again.  The End!


Rating: 3/5 -  Too many silver age logic holes in this one... it started to get to me.  Some of it was really fun, though, it just doesn't quite hold together.



Notes:
--  Professor X tells Bobby and the others they all get a 'Prep School' diploma... what the heck is that?  Is it just intentionally vague, or is it a 60s thing?

-- Another X-Men comic, another Brotherhood HQ, this time a mansion like the X-Men have, only more of the creepy rundown kind... I guess their last defeat hit Mags pretty hard.

-- Back to the full team box on the cover, with Angel flying over the logo.. while not on the cover, the title page has a sunburst with 'Co-starring Magneto and his evil mutants' in it.

-- I didn't realize Cyclops was such a whiner!  The self-deprecation is really silly in hindsight.

-- Ok, gotta call Shenanigans here... 1) Magneto couldn't 'sense' the Blob, like he's sensed mutants before.. he just guessed he was a mutant when he saw his act.  They didn't forget Magneto had big mind powers, though, as they mention them, they just fail... even though Xavier's worked just fine.   2) Why the heck would Blob join, when they did the exact same thing the X-Men did (attack and try to force him)??  I guess we're supposed to think he's just inherently eeevvvilll.

-- I love how Cerebro (which is called Cyberno in one panel, incidently), has little glowly lights for each mutant, then an 'unknown' one.. classic.

-- So the X-men (with Scott, in charge, mind you) have to sign a log book to see where they've gone... even though they don't live there?  Or maybe Stan forgot the commuting montages a couple issues ago?  It's great that Angel has a car radio Scott can call... and good thing he was sitting in the car waiting for that call, instead of hanging in the club with his girl.. that makes sense.

-- Bobby's turn for the plaid jacket this time.   LOVE the 'barefoot beats'!  I definitely LOL'ed at that.  

-- I guess the proto-Blackbird is in the shop, or the Professor took it.  This time, the X-Men arrive in a red helicopter, which Magneto destroys... guess it's better than losing Warren's sweet convertible (which, strangely, was totally un-colored in one panel)

-- Scott really directed traffic during the fight, but seemed to forget Jean was there entirely.. on purpose or by accident?  He was happy to bark orders at the others, though.

-- I never would have guessed the Blob would be my favorite early X-Men character.

-- I love they deal with little things, like getting a cab home from the fight after Mags trashes their helicopter.  Though, it does make me wonder why they used a helicopter in the first place if it's not that far.