X-Men #1

Issue Information

Title- X-Men (Vol 1) #1

Release Date- September 1963

Writer- Stan Lee

Artist- Jack Kirby

Major Points

The issue is the first appearance of the X-Men team but also the first appearances of Charles Xavier/Professor X, Scott Summers/Cyclops, Bobby Drake/Iceman, Warren Worthington The Third/Angel, Hank McCoy/Beast, Jean Grey/Marvel Girl, Eric Lehnsherr/Magneto and the Danger Room. It is also the first issue written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby

Brief Summary

The issue opens up at an exclusive school with Professor X meditating before he calls his X-Men through telepathy. Cyclops, Iceman, Beast and Angel all answer the call and prepare for their daily lessons. Each X-Man seemingly pass their lessons with flying colours before Professor X tells them that a new student is joining the school. A short time later a young woman named Jean Grey arrives at the school and Professor X reveals to her that she is a mutant along with himself and the other X-Men. He also reveals that humanity is not ready to accept mutants into the world and that his school was a safe haven for mutants where they could learn to control their superhuman abilities.  Meanwhile near Cape Citadel in Florida the super powered villain known as Magneto uses his magnetic powers to take over base so that he can use its weaponry to destroy humanity. The army based in Cape Citadel are not equipped to combat someone who can use their weapons against them. He also creates a magnetic barrier around the base so that no one else can enter. Professor Xavier sends the X-Men to Cape Citadel so that they can combat Magneto and end his threat to humanity. Cyclops is able to use his optic blasts to break through the barrier so that the team can get to Magneto. Although the villain is staggered at first he quickly recovers and takes the fight to the X-Men. Only through the combined might of the X-Men are they able to defeat the villain. In a last ditch effort to destroy them Magneto uses his magnetic powers to throw a tanker of jet fuel at the team. Only the quick thinking of Iceman save the team from certain doom as he creates an ice shield around the team thus saving them from the explosion. Seeing that he is unprepared Magneto flees and the X-Men are unable to prevent his escape. Both the military and Professor X congratulate the X-Men for saving the base, for this day they are heroes.

My Thoughts

So this is where it all began, the infamous X-Men #1. Well it was written in the sixties so the text used is a little cheesy but all in all a good start. This is the most reprinted issue from the original X-Men series and also the most duplicated cover. God knows how many different versions of this cover have appeared over the years. Professor Xavier did seem very strict in this issue but that’s just so that his students remain disciplined. He also explains that he is possibly the first mutant on the planet, we know nowadays that this isn’t the case but at that time that’s just what he thought. Iceman looked strange at the beginning because rather than the traditional iced over look that he has today back then he looked more like a snowman. At one point in the issue he even puts on a carrot and a few buttons so he can look like a traditional snowman. From the get go he’s portrayed as the class clown and it’ll live with him for the vast majority of his career. When I first read this issue some years ago I couldn’t get over the fact that Beast looked normal. I first saw him in the classic X-Men The Animated Series and he was blue and fury, back then he looked normal and to me it didn’t seem right. He didn’t seem to be that much of a beast, just a man who was strong and agile with big hands and feet. Cyclops is called Slim rather than Scott and that was strange to me because I’ve always known him as Scott. I’ve never been the character’s biggest fan but this issue showed that he had the potential to become the leader that we all know and love today. With Angel this is all long before his manipulation by Apocalypse so the only thing special about him is that he has wings. He is portrayed as a rich boy and he is definitely the most unremarkable of the team but unfortunately his wings mean that he still stands out. It was touched in an issue of Ultimate X-Men how Christians reacted when they saw him and took him for a biblical angel. I doubt anything like that would have been possible to print during the sixties with the comic book code. At this point in her history Jean Grey only has telekinesis and has absolutely nothing to do with the Phoenix force. As we all know she has the potential to be the most powerful mutant on the planet but for now she is just another student for Xavier, how the other go crazy around her is typical for a comic of that time. If it were written today I think the men would have been a bit more subtle but it was still funny to see how she rejected them. Magneto was interesting in this issue and not just because it was his first appearance. His lines were cheesy but hell it’s better than ‘Welcome To Die’ and ‘I am Magneto master of magnets’. He is definitely one of the coolest X-Men villains and possibly the greatest villain in comic book history since his hatred is somewhat justified. You can’t blame a man who saw his family destroyed by the hatred of others want to make sure that his own species doesn’t face the same fate. Although it is the first issue it is not my favourite but is a very good starting point. Quite a lot of times the first issue or episode of a series is not fantastic but in this case the series it definitely picks up later on. How much later on is up to many people’s opinions. For now I am happy to spend a bit of time in the more innocent stories of the sixties.

Next Issue

X-Men (Vol 1) #2