Uncanny X-Men #138: Basically This Blog In Comic Form

The comic starts with Jean's funeral. The X-Men are there, as well as her family, and even Lilandra. Then it zooms to Scott, and we get a long flashback, as he talks about everything that had happened from X-Men #1 until now. Hitting all kinds of highlights that I really wouldn't have bothered with except I'm going for completeness. Lucifer, Nefaria, hell they even had a shot of that locust guy that I can't be bothered to remember at this point.

Classic X-Men #41-44, Marvel Treasure Edition #27

Reminder: The Classic X-Men backup stories were written roughly 10 years after the original stories, though take place during this time period. This means they will sometimes use characters, or set up storylines that will not take place until much later.

Classic X-Men #41-42, Mister Sinster vs Lonely Orphan Boy: This story takes place when Scott is still at the orphanage and before Xavier meets him. It involves the orphanage doctor lady getting close to him, and Scott's roommate "Nate" not liking that very much. Nate is also Mister Sinister and sabotages Scott's happiness throughout, including doing something to get rid of a couple that wanted to adopt him.

Uncanny X-Men #137: Jean Grey Dies (Again)

The Dark Phoenix crisis has been averted but we have one problem left. Jean did happen to blow up a whole inhabited planet. And the Shi'ar are here to see she is brought to justice for it.

Xavier calls for some obscure "trial by combat" that is allowed by the rules of the Shi'ar Empire, so instead of just Lilandra ordering Jean executed, instead the X-Men will have to fight the Shi'ar Imperial Guard for Jean's life.

Uncanny X-Men #135-136: Mastermind Done Fucked Up

With Jean taken complete leave of her senses at the end of the last issue, she has now turned fully "Dark Phoenix". The X-Men's craft is destroyed, and through quick thinking everyone reaches the ground safely. Phoenix then proceeds to straight up wreck everyone before flying off into space.

Beast arrives, having seen the Avengers alert (which he erased and then brought a Quinjet to where they were fighting). He helps the X-Men escape to the school and questions what to do next. He begins working on a device to scramble her brain if they can get it on her.

Classic X-Men #35-40

Reminder: The Classic X-Men backup stories were written roughly 10 years after the original stories, though take place during this time period. This means they will sometimes use characters, or set up storylines that will not take place until much later.

Classic X-Men #35, Kitty Pryde Forgets To Say No To Drugs: This takes place during the time period in Uncanny #129 where the X-Men have been attacked and she escaped, she gets vaguely knocked out and has weird ass dreams, before waking up and sneaking into the Hellfire Club's vehicle.

Uncanny X-Men #132-134: Messing With The Mind Of A Living God Is Not A Good Idea

Worried about their safety due to the Hellfire Club knowing so much about them, Scott immediately takes them all to Warren's "Angel's Aerie" in New Mexico rather than take them home. Xavier is sulky because Cyclops did this without consulting him, and also directly against what he said to do.

Scott and Warren talk about the Hellfire club and hey, it turns out that both Warren and Candy Southern are actually members (though of course, not part of the inner circle of assholess), due to their parents being old money. They use this influence to sneak into the Hellfire Club during a big party.

Marvel Team-Up #89-90, Amazing Spider-Man #203

Marvel Team-Up #89, Spidey & Nightcrawler At The Circus: Nightcrawler and Amanda Sefton find out that a guy named Jardine is trying to stiff Arcade and back out on a deal to kill Spider-Man because he is going to do it himself. Jardine is some asshole Circus guy, and Nightcrawler knew him from his circus days. He goes to the circus to warn Spider-Man, there is a big fight where they fight against the assassin Cutthroat. There is a big fight and the heroes capture both Cutthroat and Jardine (with a little help from Arcade)

Uncanny X-Men #129-#131: Xavier Gives Wolverine Ten Demerits

The X-Men head home from Muir Island, sans Banshee, who has decided to stay since his sonic scream powers have still not returned, and he feels that Moira needs support (which, yeah). Jamie, Alex, and Lorna also decide not to join the X-Men. Jean returns with them.

On the way home, Jean has another of her "oops, all 1700s" mindslips, and continues to think it is just remembering a past life instead of Wyngarde screwing with her brain. When they get back they discover that Xavier is back!

Classic X-Men #32-34

Reminder: The Classic X-Men backup stories were written roughly 10 years after the original stories, though take place during this time period. This means they will sometimes use characters, or set up storylines that will not take place until much later.

Classic X-Men #32, Extended Wolverine Warping: This is just an extension of the scene where Wolverine and Nightcrawler face Proteus, before Storm shows up. It kind of goes more in depth on how Logan got shook.

Uncanny X-Men #126-128: Colossus vs Man Whose Entire Weakness Is Metal

The X-Men rush across the Atlantic, not waiting for Beast to catch up, and get to Muir island to find that everyone is thankfully OK. Phoenix managed to fight off Mutant X, and Lorna was saved by a Jamie dupe. Moira explains that Mutant X is a reality warping mutant whose powers cause his body to deteriorate, so he has to jump from body to body to survive, killing each person he inhabits. He had taken the Multiple Man dupe and left the island.

She also after a bit more haranguing finally reveals that Mutant X is her son, Kevin MacTaggert.

Classic X-Men 28-31

Reminder: The Classic X-Men backup stories were written roughly 10 years after the original stories, though take place during this time period. This means they will sometimes use characters, or set up storylines that will not take place until much later.

Classic X-Men #28, Cyclops Is A Clown: The X-Men attend a costume party, which Nightcrawler enjoys cause no one will think twice about his blue furry face. An attempted murder happens and the X-Men stop it. Also, Cyclops is enticed by a girl that it turns out is actually Jean anyway, but this is the first sign of his remarkably bad ability to function in a relationship. Also he is dressed as a jester.

Uncanny X-Men #125: Someone Finally Tells Scott That Jean Is Alive

This one is another that is just a series of vignettes rather than one story. Everything is designed to set up for the next comic, which will start another multi-parter.

Thread one: Muir Island, Jean is having her powers tested by Moira, who is having concerns about the massive powerup the Phoenix has given her. It turns out that Jean had put mental blocks in place after the M'Kraan crystal situation to keep her power level down, but for some reason those are being unlocked again.

Uncanny X-Men #123-124: X-Men vs The Whimsical Jigsaw Killer

The comic starts off with the X-Men enjoying a night off. Scott and Colleen are out on a date (MISTY PLEASE), and are caught by Arcade's weird garbage truck. Piotr and Kurt are out on a date with Betsy and Amanda at some kind of performance, where Arcade's assistant gasses them. Wolverine is dropping off Mariko back at the embassy (apparently they resolved that issue of not letting him in off screen), when the truck kidnaps him, too. Finally, Arcade sneaks into the X-Mansion to grab Storm and Banshee with tranq darts.

Uncanny X-Men #122: Misty REALLY Should Have told Scott Jean Was Alive

This one isn't so much one story as it is a series of vignettes happening all at the same time.

The first follows Cyclops: Scott is running Colossus through a Danger Room session. Colossus is having some vague psych issues that are holding him back, and Scott is trying go figure out what's up. Wolverine damages the panels and puts himself in danger so that Colossus has no choice but to push himself to save him. Scott congratulates him, then tasks Wolvie with fixing things.

Doctor Strange #182, Power Man and Iron Fist #57

Doctor Strange #182, That Time Juggernaut Knew Magic: Organizational Note: This one actually happens a while back, but wasn't in the list of comics I had for X-Appearances. It isn't that important, but it is weird so I thought I'd dig it out and put it here. This one happened at some time between Uncanny X-Men #46 and Amazing Adventures #16.So while Juggernaut was stuck inside the Crystal, he learns magic powers and can throw bolts of magic. That is really the only thing that is important about this story. And since he gives them up to keep from dying of old age later, it isn't even important. I just thought it was hilarious enough to throw in here even though I originally missed it. The story in this one is Strange, caught in some dimension fighting Nightmare, uses Juggernaut (who is finding Strange as a way out of the other dimensions) to distract Nightmare and get free. Then both villains team up to fight Strange. Strange wins and escapes.

Uncanny X-Men Annual #3: X-Men vs the Akron Zips

The X-Men are attacked by a villain named Arkon, an Avengers villain I've literally never heard of, and which I keep reading as Akron, because he was looking for Thor, but couldn't find him, so the next best thing for creating lightning is Storm.

Classic X-Men #23-27

Reminder: The Classic X-Men backup stories were written roughly 10 years after the original stories, though take place during this time period. This means they will sometimes use characters, or set up storylines that will not take place until much later.

Classic X-Men #23, Stranded, Nightcrawler Buckles Swashes: Takes place during the time they are on the Japanese ship. Nightcrawler and a female crewmember of the ship manage to fall off and get shipwrecked on an island. There are some weird cultist superthings there. He saves her from them, the end.

Uncanny X-Men 120-121: Hudson Is Still An Ass

While on their flight home from Japan, the X-Men are forced to ground by a weird, unnatural snowstorm that even Storm cannot control. They land and are set upon by... Alpha Flight, led by James "Ass" Hudson. The Canadian government still refuses to let go of Wolverine, and they are going to make enemies of god damn everyone to get him.

Uncanny X-Men #118-119: Sunfire Actually Says Something Nice About the X-Men

The X-Men finally reach Japan as the ship they are on returns home from whatever its secret mission was. But the port they come in at is on fire! They quickly head for the shore and discover that mass earthquakes had started the fire, but the place seems to be evacuated.

They had to Sunfire's estate, where they meet the Japanese prime minister as well as Misty Knight and Colleen Wing who are there to help. It is explained that a villain known as Moses Magnum has some kind of crazy technology that will let him shake Japan apart. He had given them warning about the location he destroyed earlier to show them he can really do it.

Uncanny X-Men #117; Two Men Sit Down In a Bar, One Drops Dead

Our heroes are rescued by a Japanese ship, but apparently it is on a secret government mission, and is incapable of sending out any radio messages until it returns to Japan. So they continue to be out of contact, presumed dead, and presuming Beast and Phoenix dead.

But enough of that, let's see how Jean and Xavier are doing. Jean is leaving on a vacation, something to get her mind off of everything, as the X-Mansion is apparently too depressing with Xavier moping around it.

Classic X-Men #17-22

Reminder: The Classic X-Men backup stories were written roughly 10 years after the original stories, though take place during this time period. This means they will sometimes use characters, or set up storylines that will not take place until much later.

Classic X-Men #17, Mesmero Creepy with Jean: Backup story for the Mesmero circus comic that shows him brainwash Jean. Shows that while he can put her in slinky lingerie (ew), he can't get her to do anything physical with him (ew that he tried). I think this was mostly written just to show that nothing physical happened while she was brainwashed.

Uncanny X-Men #114-116: We Finally Learn What Wolverine Do

As our story starts we have Beast and Phoenix surviving and making it back home to tell Xavier that the rest of the X-Men are dead...

Then we just have the rest of the crew breaking out of a tunnel that Cyclops hastily lead the team in making, using Storm's powers to cool off the lava behind them, and his and Banshee's to dig through the solid rock. He had noticed something important about the location form the computers in the base: They are right near the Savage Land.

Uncanny X-Men 111-113: Circus Freaks & Baby Revenge

Our Boy Beast is off to try to figure out what happened to the X-Men. He finds the place empty, but Cerebro shows that they are all in Dallas, at a carnival. Beast is surprised to see Banshee as a carnival barker, and most of the X-Men (at least he guesses, he hasn't met most of them, and is going off how they were described to him by others) working as circus "freaks".

Marvel Team-Up #65-66, 69-70

Marvel Team-Up #65-66, Spider-Man and Captain Britain Pinball: This one actually isn't an X-Men crossover, but does introduce Arcade, a killer for hire who traps people in deadly funhouses basically. Anyway Peter Parker gets Brian Braddock (the newly minted hero Captain Britain) as a temporary exchange student roommate, and then discovers he is Captain Britain when there is a misunderstanding, a fight between them, and Arcade captures them both. They escape. (Also, Brian doesn't figure out the whole "Peter Parker is Spidey" thing).

Uncanny X-Men #110: X-Men vs Phone Repair Guy

The comic starts with our first "X-Men playing team sports with super-powers" moment. Moira goes inside to wait for a phone repairman. But uh-oh! the phone repair guy is a villain named Warhawk that is there to screw things up. He tranqs Moira and goes to the Danger Room to do some stuff to it. He also receives a mental message that if he messes up, his sanity will go bye bye.

Classic X-Men #13-16

Reminder: The Classic X-Men backup stories were written roughly 10 years after the original stories, though take place during this time period. This means they will sometimes use characters, or set up storylines that will not take place until much later.

Classic X-Men #13, Endangering Your Roommate To Save Dolphins: Phoenix and Misty Knight are hanging out on a beach. Suddenly, Phoenix declares that THERE IS SOMEONE IN DANGER, and takes off on a boat into the ocean with Misty. She dives into the ocean with no explanation. Misty follows, is attacked by a shark, protected by a dolphin. Turns out Phoenix was just protecting some Dolphins from the shark. Maybe explain that to Misty before jumping into the ocean and not coming back up?

Uncanny X-Men #109: Hudson is an Ass

The X-Men (along with Lilandra) are home. We get a quick scene that shows that Corsair makes Phoenix (who learned from reading his mind) promise not to tell Scott about him being his dad. Storm overheard and is like "oh that is a bad idea" and she is like "but I promised", anyway we can forget this subplot for a while.

Marvel Team-Up Annual #1, Marvel Team-Up #53, Marvel Tales #262, Marvel Treasure Edition #26

Organizational Note: From now on, crossover comics aren't getting their own posts unless I find it particularly good (due to necessary lasting continuity, or I just find them personally amusing enough to talk about more), or there isn't any other crossover comics to group it in with. Most of these are not important enough to main plot stuff to be worth a full post.

Marvel Team-Up Annual #1, X-Men and Spider-Man Fight Accidental Indian Gods: In this one, the X-Men and Xavier are travelling on some important flight along with a bunch of different bureaucrats plus Peter Parker acting as a reporter. Dumb Science Stuff happens and a government program in the desert turns a group of scientists into ersatz Indian Gods. Spidey and X-Men Fight them, then use Phoenix's powers to launch them into space so the universe doesn't end.

Iron Fist #15: Storm vs Potato Salad

Iron Fist is being chased by some dude who also seems to be an Iron Fist. He makes his escape and runs to Misty Knight's apartment, forgetting she is currently out of the country. Having returned from saving all of reality, Jean Grey decides to throw a party at her apartment, the apartment she shares with her friend Misty Knight. She has currently stepped out with Scott to get some last minute stuff. Shenanigans ensue.

Uncanny X-Men #106: The Dumbest Flashback

Back on Earth right after they all left, Xavier reminisces about that time that he almost killed all the X-Men in the Danger Room cause he was having a psychic seizure related to his connection to Lilandra back when he though he was just going insane.

Uncanny X-Men #105, 107-108: Can We Fix It? Yes, We M'Kraan

Organizational Note: I skipped 106 because it isn't really part of this story, it will be addressed in the next post. 

When we last left our X-Men the majority were fleeing a confrontation with Magneto because Xavier was in trouble. Well, as Lilandra finally arrives and teleports to Xavier who is currently at Jean's apartment with Jean's parents, that trouble arrives. Erik the Red has convinced Firelord, the former herald of Galactus, that Xavier is trying to take over the world. He attacks, Jean fights him to protect Xavier. The X-Men all arrive, more fighting ensues, Erik the Red shows up and abducts (turns out he was a Shi'ar agent!) Lilandra as Jean hurls Firelord to the next state.

Classic X-Men #9-12

Reminder: The Classic X-Men backup stories were written roughly 10 years after the original stories, though take place during this time period. This means they will sometimes use characters, or set up storylines that will not take place until much later.

Another set of Classic vignettes on the way!

Iron Fist #14: Chris, Do You Think All Rural Canadians Just Walk Around Saying Bub All the Time?

Iron Fist and Colleen Wing are off in a bunch of mountainous snow area being attacked. The attackers give up as they don't want to try to follow them, and surely at night with this weather they couldn't possible survive. They of course, find shelter.

Uncanny X-Men #104: Our Little Baby's All Grown Up

While in the UK, the X-Men are being sent off to check on Moira's lab. Yep. Moira, the "housekeeper" has a whole ass lab. She also is Dr. Moira MacTaggert. You know, she's been apparently dating Banshee for a bit and also told him none of this either.

Uncanny X-Men #101-103: The Leprechauns of Cassidy Keep

Jean manages to crash the shuttle into the water, and everyone survives! Including her. She has some kind of mysterious power up and a whole new costume. Everyone appropriately what the fucks. They all sneak out and get her to the hospital (she also changes her clothes while delirious to civilian clothes just by thought. Her costume just rearranges molecules into another set of clothes. Freaky.)

Classic X-Men #4-8

Reminder: The Classic X-Men backup stories were written roughly 10 years after the original stories, though take place during this time period. This means they will sometimes use characters, or set up storylines that will not take place until much later.

Another set of backup stories from the Classic X-Men reprints! These set of five stories are backups for Uncanny X-Men #96-100)

Uncanny X-Men #98-100: Creating Sentinels Never Ends Well For You Personally

It's Christmas-time and the team is all having fun together in Manhattan, then split up to go do their own things (Kurt with Piotr, Scott with Jean, Ororo with Sean and Moira, and Wolverine bah humbugging off on his own).

While seperated, the Sentinels arrive! We finally learn what Project Armageddon was. Another attempt to use Sentinels to murder all mutants, starting with the X-Men. Lang is apparently a Trask fanboy, who also thinks both of the previous Sentinel scientific heads were killed by Mutants rather than dying to protect the world from the Sentinels. When will they ever learn?

Amazing Spider-Man #161-162: Punisher Fights With Nerf Guns

Nightcrawler reads in the newspaper that a friend of his from the circus who had moved to NYC was killed. He travels to NYC to investigate. Then we zoom to Peter Parker enjoying an amusement park on Coney Island with MJ. From here they both see someone get sniped, they both go to investigate, they both of course, mistake the other for the killer, and fight each other.

Uncanny X-Men #97: I Can't Believe Two Different People Chose To Wear That

Xavier is having weird nightmares about a space alien in a spacesuit approaching him, and he needs a vacation. This is why he got Moira to come visit, to take care of things while he is gone. Now that we've established that, we zoom to Alex and Lorna, doctoral students (good for them!), who get attacked by someone mysterious, who turns them evil somehow.

Uncanny X-Men #96: Not Space Aliens, Just Demons

We start with Cyclops walking the grounds near the mansion feeling guilty and angry with himself over Thunderbird's death. He was the leader, so in his mind, he was responsible. In his anger he fires off his eyebeams dramatically. Of course, he hit some kind of little plinth with symbols all over it. That he kind of ignores as he convinces himself he has to move on. I'm sure that plinth won't come up later...

Giant-Size X-Men #3-4, Classic X-Men #1-3

So in 1986, Marvel decided that they wanted to do reprints starting with the new team, which they titled Classic X-Men. In addition to being straight reprints, the first 44 had a few added pages here and there, and each one also had an added backup story. These backup stories did things like flesh out the non-superhero lives of the X-Men, help clean up a few odd things, or tie some past stuff in with things currently going on in the comic in the 80s. As I'm reading everything for the most part chronologically, I'll occasionally be popping in a post to cover some of the backup stories, or added materials. I'll be doing several in one post each time as they tend to be only 8ish pages each. Additionally, for this first one, I'm including the new content from Giant-Size X-Men #3-4, which were written in the 2000s but take place between Giant-Size X-Men #1 and Uncanny X-Men #94.

Uncanny X-Men #94-95: Sometimes You Just Got To Punch Out A Jet Fighter

We start at the beginning of this story with the original X-Men saying it is time for them to move on. Jean, Bobby, & Warren all decide to go. Cyclops though, decides to stay, as he feels that his place is with the X-Men, and he doesn't have anywhere else he belongs. Jean is not too happy about this (at some point in the Dark Times they had actually confessed their love for each other and are an item), but she has made up her mind to leave. Sunfire also decides to leave cause fuck America.

Giant-Size X-Men #1: New Team, New Problems

And today, we finally reach the end of the Dark Times with the restart of the X-Men, and with this restart we get an all new, more world-wide team (seriously, of the original team + Xavier, 4 are from New York state, Cyclops is from Alaska, and Beast is from Illinois).

Incredible Hulk #180-182: Rude Canadian Vs Hulk

Hulk is trying to find a peaceful place to rest in Canada. At the same time, a lady is trying to save her brother from being the Wendigo by using magic to put the Wendigo into someone else, namely, the Hulk. Her brother's friend is also with her as a reluctant helper.

70s Cameo X-Travaganza

Ok, so throughout the 70s during the Dark Times the team and their villains would occasionally show up in other comics in cameos. As none of these are really "X-Stories" I'm not going to go into much detail, but I read them and some of them do have some lasting consequences, so let's go through them real quick like.

Amazing Adventures #11-16

Now we are in the dead years, but there were still several releases that featured our valiant mutants. Amazing Adventures #11-16 was all about Beast getting his own solo stories. (Technically #17 is also Beast, but is just a reprint of his origin story previously told as a backup story in the main X-Men title).

The Start of X-Cessive Ridiculousness

So there are a few things I want to keep track of as we go, but don't want to constantly add new blog posts adding bits and pieces to it. Instead, I'm adding a page called X-Cessive Ridiculousness that you can find HERE, or by checking it out on the site sidebar. Want to find how many family members orphan, no family, Scott Summers has had introduced? Want to know how many times Magneto has "died"? Want to know what Bad Thing Charles has done recently? Then click on the link to check it out.

The Original Run Is Complete!

So now that I've finished the original run of 66 comics let's talk a little bit about it. At this point, the X-Men comic was not doing particularly well, and was cancelled for about 6 months, and then when it was brought back at the end of 1970, it was just a reprint title. From issue 67-93, nothing new was added. Which makes this a good place to take a quick break and talk about what we've seen so far from a larger perspective than looking at each comic/storyline individually.

I think we can break things down into a few different "eras" of the original run.

Uncanny X-Men #66: We Just Got This Asshole Back, Can't Let Him Die Again

Xavier is down, and the X-Men need to figure out how to get him back before he dies. Using an experimental device Jean gets only one thing from Xavier's mind: The Hulk. There is also some scuffling during this point between Alex and Bobby over Lorna's affections, to which she tells them to knock it off and she doesn't belong to no one, good for her. The two guys agree now is not the time and move on.

Uncanny X-Men #65: Xavier Is Alive, Also, It's Still Space Aliens

Returning from the capital, the X-Men are greeted at the door by Havok and Polaris (Lorna) in costume demanding they come to the briefing room immediately. The X-Men are like "wait, we're fucking tired guys let us get some rest). Instead of you know, talking like adults, they continue to be obnoxious and demanding, leading to some light scuffling, then Cyclops finally agrees.

Uncanny X-Men #64: Guys I Can't Make A Joke About Hiroshima

This one off story introduces Sunfire, a Japanese mutant who can create plasma blasts and heat and use them to fly. He has appeared in NYC and declared war on the Americans. He then flies to the UN where a Japanese diplomat Saburo Yoshida is unveiling a new statue that was gifted to the US from Japan. Sunfire blows it up rants angrily calling Saburo a traitor, and then after a fight with the X-Men flees.

Uncanny X-Men #62-63: Magneto Becomes a Fashion Designer

While searching for Lykos's body, the X-Men have descended down into... The Savage Land! Ok, why it is here when it has been established that this is the Arctic not the Antarctic, that kind of gets handwaved away. At any rate, here we are, and the X-Team, minus Angel run into their "friend" Ka-Zar who is fighting against some of the "evil" tribes, who have gained super-powers somehow.

Uncanny X-Men #60-61: The Most Evil Villain In All Of Literature

The first introduction of another classic X-Villain! Havok (Alex) was injured pretty bad in the last comic in the climax. Scott contacts a doctor with connections to Xavier to help him, not trusting public medical care as the X-Men are still possibly wanted. That doctor was Karl Lykos. They leave Alex with him and we learn that Lykos, due to something that happened as a child involving the Arctic and some pterosaurs (do I smell the Savage Land?) left him with a desire to feed on the energy of others. And he thinks mutants could give him an extra special high.

Uncanny X-Men #57-59: Like Father, Like Son

With the X-Men and Alex still in Egypt, the story actually starts at Lorna Dane's apartment where the Sentinels rip the walls open and capture her immediately. Seriously, this comic is already off to a killer start. Instant action, and the return of a classic villain.

Uncanny X-Men Backup Story #54-56: Origin of Angel

This one actually occurs BEFORE the Beast origin story (as the X-Men that rescue Hank include Angel). It starts with showing Warren as a child, apparently he was a very rambunctious child, which is why his rich old money parents sent him off to a nice private boarding school. There he basically excels at everything, and as a teen his wings started to grow in, so he intentionally makes everyone hate him until they stick him in a private room (with the Worthington's level of money, this seems unnecessary).

Uncanny X-Men #54-56: But Have You Heard About Second Summer(s)

Our story begins with Cyclops being confronted by two police officers and them accusing him of murder and trying to arrest him. He then pulls a "Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got into this situation…" and we zoom back a bit.

Right at the start, we have the X-Men all attending Scott's brother Alex's college graduation (for some reason, Scott was keeping his brother a secret. Why? Who knows). This is the start of "for a character who was supposedly an orphan with no family to visit while on breaks, Scott has a whole lot of family". Anyway we have some congratulations all around, Alex goes back to his room to change so they can go out, but gets attacked. The others follow after he doesn't show up and find signs of the struggle. Jean uses her telepathy to find the last minds that were in the room.

Uncanny X-Men Backup Story #49-53: Origin of Beast

And with issue #53 finished up, we also finish up the Origin of Beast backup story! This one covers a lot of time, from before he was born to the point he was recruited by Prof X. We start with Beast's parents getting married, with his dad being a worker at a nuclear plant. During a meltdown, he heroicly saves the day but is injured by radiation. Despite this he recovers fine. On the other hand, his child is affected because at this point they were making a big deal that "mutants" came from radiation to the parents, rather than being just random like it is in later comics.

Uncanny X-Men #53: Bobby vs the 19th Amendment

And now we have a quick one off before we get another multi-parter. In this one, the X-Men are experimenting with a machine that could convert her thoughts into radio waves that would be able to explore the galaxy. A mistake in it's operation attracts the powerful Negative Zone Fantastic Four villain Blastaar who has been banished to be unable to affect the prime universe by someone on Earth (I'm assuming Reed, sounds like something he would do). The machine lets him piggyback in and appear in the X-Mansion and attack.

Uncanny X-Men #52: Cyclops In Fetish Gear

Erik the Red, who has just arrived, is handed second in command of Magneto's forces (man, Magneto is trying to compete with Lorna over who can make the dumbest decisions), displacing Mesmero. He orders the Demi-men to go and scout the surrounding areas.

Then the X-Men attack unseen, as it turns out that Erik the Red was Cyclops in disguise the whole time, and the suit lets him redirect his eye-beams out of his fingertips. A huge fight begins, and Magneto orders Lorna to attack the X-Men, she complies because again "oh he is evil but he is still my father"... girl has issues.

Uncanny X-Men #49-51: Polaris Has Daddy Issues

While Angel is returning to the school for a bit of nostalgia, he hears Cerebro going off. There he finds a MASS of mutants all moving together. This mass all seems to be congregating on the west coast, near where Beast and Iceman are now stationed. He gathers up Cyclops and Jean in a supersonic craft that he had borrowed from the Avengers and heads that way.

Uncanny X-Men #47-48: And We Never Hear About Any of This Ever Again

I'm combining these two into one post not because they are one storyline, but because they are both so throwaway that I don't feel like they are worth writing much about.

First up we have a Beast and Iceman story, in which they are out on a date with Vera and Zelda when they run into the Warlock, going by the name Maha Yogi and using stage magic shows hypnotizing people into being his minions. They beat him (crazy how easy he is to beat down now this second time), end of comic.

Second we have a Cyclops and Jean Grey comic. It starts with them in their new civilian cover stories, with Jean Grey working as a model (with a lot of fan service swimsuit shots at the start), and with Scott pretending to be her jealous boyfriend. He also works at a radio news station, so that he can be on top of things happening. Then they fight some robot things, beat them, and it turns out the villain was Quasimodo, a sentient computer in a weird misshapen partially human body. It's weird.

X-tra Notes: Yeah, these are both really boring. BUT, one good thing did happen during this time. The writing switched from Friedrich to the Arnold Drake, a veteran comic book author even at the time, and the creator of both Deadman and the Doom patrol for DC. He will continue to write the comic for another half year after this.

Uncanny X-Men Backup Story #44-46: Origin of Iceman

We start with a pre-X-Men Bobby Drake on a date with a girl. Some dudes show up to beat up Bobby cause she was the gang leader's "girl". And try to lead her off. Bobby reacts by doing the only thing he can do: using his mutant powers that his parents had told him to hide to defend himself. He runs back home and tells his parents, but then a mob comes and attacks the house. His dad tries to stop the mob, but they attack, and Bobby uses his ice powers to try to fend them off. He gets tackled and taken to the prison where for some reason the sheriff puts him behind bars (literally all he did was defend himself, and why would the sheriff just put someone in jail cause a mob attacked him and dragged him there???)

Xavier had sent Cyclops to help, and he blows a whole on the jail wall and tries to break him out. Iceman doesn't want to escape, but ends up on the run from the mob again because you know, "world that hates and fears them". They capture Bobby and Cyclops, and decide they are going to lynch them. The sheriff tries to intervene. They escape, and receive a message from Xavier to run to Bobby's parents house.

They manage to get there, Xavier has erased everyone's memories, and has Bobby join the school. He also erases his parents memories of him being a mutant.

X-tra Notes: This one is really not as good. The general ideas are there, but there are dumb weird things in it. Why wouldn't Xavier just show up, mindwipe the town and sheriff, and walk Bobby out of there? Why would he send Cyclops to just bust a wall down and try to jailbreak him? There is ALREADY a record of him being arrested. They knew who he was. Also, Jesus Xavier, why would you erase the memories from his PARENTS. Like for everyone else I understand, it is to protect him. But his parents were lovely people who loved him for who he was. They deserve to know. Xavier, you are an ass.

Uncanny X-Men #46: The FBI is Stupid

We begin with the team again trying to pay respects to Xavier. This time they are visited by Agent Duncan of the FBI, who Cyclops was familiar with, though the rest of the team didn't know. He wants to talk, and they had back to the school to do so.

Waiting there though is Foggy Nelson, acting as the lawyer who will read out the last will and testament of Xavier. Pretty much everything, his wealth, the school, and all, was left in a trust to be managed by Cyclops. Foggy leaves, and before Duncan can speak, an explosion goes off downstairs.

Juggernaut has returned from the weird Cytorrak dimension, apparently Xavier was still trying to save him, but the machine did it automatically. There is a fight, the X-Men are barely holding it together but then Juggernaut disappears back to the other dimension cause apparently Xavier made the machine to do that.

Then Agent Duncan drops the news: The government wants the X-Men to split up. Says they are in too much danger all in one place, and also could respond faster to dangerous mutants if they covered more ground.

X-tra Notes: Ok, so here we need to go into a little detail. Halfway through the last set of stories, the writer for the series was switched from Roy Thomas to Gary Friedrich. I've heard that Friedrich has written some great comics, so this is not a knock on him as a comic writer. But at this time in his career at Marvel, he was mostly being used to hand off comics that were floundering in sales. He was intentionally trying to shake things up, and I understand that. But even though I understand that decision, I really despise the whole splitting the team concept, and don't think it worked well.

Uncanny X-Men #43-45, Avengers #53: Toad Is A Strong Independent Mutant Who Don't Need No Man

Another long story, with an added Avengers Crossover. This one spans 4 comics so will definitely be another that needs a "read more" cut. So let's get started.

We start with Xavier's funeral. Quicksilver, who is currently following Magneto again (a bunch of Avengers stuff, him and Wanda tried to be heroes, Wanda got shot, lost her powers, and now he hates all humans) tries to attend the funeral from a difference out of respect, but the X-Men spot him. There is some minor scuffling and he basically is like "I should have known" and takes off. The X-Men listen to a recorded message from Xavier right before the Grotesk battle. The only real important thing that is shared here we didn't already know is that he had started training Jean in telepathy in addition to her TK.

Uncanny X-Men Backup Story #38-42: Origin of Cyclops

The first backup story arc has finished! From issue 38 to 42 we got to see the origins of Cyclops joining the team. The story starts with a news story on tv about some stuff falling off a construction crane due to a bolt of energy, then before it could hit the ground, another bolt came in to destroy it, and on the film, was caught a young teenager emitting the second blast from his eyes.

The government decides to start a special FBI task force for mutants, and Xavier, who had been a recluse until now decides to walk right up to it and say "Look, let me deal with it". They agree (and that is how Xavier gets his government ties as well).

The teenager, obviously Scott Summers, is now on the run due to the news having seen him, and encounters a man with mental powers and diamond hands named Jack Winters. He wanted to use Scott to help him break into the place that the accident that gave him diamond hands happened so he could be diamond all over. Scott doesn't want to but can't cleanly get away.

Xavier intervenes, there are several fights, and then Jack succeeds and turns himself entirely into diamond. BUT he is dangerously unstable (not just mentally, like his physical body). While fighting, Xavier instructs Scott on using a machine that should have helped him, but Jack refused to accept that he was in danger and instead was shattered into a million pieces. Scott feels remorse for the death, Xavier tells him it was self defense, and invites him to the school.

X-tra Notes: This is actually a pretty fun story when read from start to finish at once. It feels to drag when you are only reading like 1/5th of it at a time. There is some details about how he was getting terrible strain in his eyes before his powers came online, and that the eye doctor had found that the only thing that he could get to work was ruby quartz lenses. Why he tried this... who knows. But that at least explains how he had the glasses and wasn't just blasting everything in all directions until Xavier found him. (though those who have more knowledge of future comics know there are more explanations to this in the future that make more sense).

Uncanny X-Men #41-42: Xavier Dies Due To Inability to Share His Feelings

This one has too many scenes and it has a conclusion that is too important to gloss over the story, so buckle up everybody, we're in for a long one... I'm even including a "read more" jump which I haven't done in a reading post yet.

Zelda, Vera, Bobby, and Hank are on the train when it is suddenly stopped by a giant white skinned yellow eyed dude who jumps in the way and just manhandles the train. In the dark, they sneak out from under their girlfriends' noses (again) and don their costumes to confront the villain. They fight, and the Beast calls him grotesque, which the enemy immediately takes as his name (though it is spelled Grotesk when he says it. I'm not sure how the spelling changes when he says it, but sure). The fight ends with all sides retreating, and the tunnels sealed off.

Uncanny X-Men #40: It's Always Space Aliens

A quick throwaway story to follow our big finale to the Factor Three storyline. This time, we have Frankenstein's Monster. No, really, it is just the monster from the story. I do give them credit for actually seeming to know the original novel, as they find the monster incased in ice in the arctic. Xavier even calls out that Bobby should have know how that makes sense, as he had assigned the Shelley novel to the class to read in the past (who would have guessed that Bobby would be the one to have skipped a reading assignment...) Anyway, the story is mostly just multiple fights, so not going to elaborate much on that. The win is of course due to Iceman, who freezes the monster at the end, though it strains to escape and explodes. Turns out it was a incredibly sophisticated android that was created by an alien species as a first contact device. It malfunctioned and the aliens had to put it down by freezing it in the arctic. And somehow Shelley had learned something about it and wrote the novel around what she had known.

X-tra Notes: It is a throwaway, and it didn't feature any of the civilian parts that I've grown to enjoy from Thomas, but I did like this one just because it played a bit with the literary version of Frankenstein.

Time for an X-Men Fashion Review

In issue #39 of Uncanny X-Men the whole team got new looks. This is the first time that we've had a major shakeup of the costumes since the start with the yellow over blue sack uniforms (there was a minor change to the costumes to make them a little more formfitting and add more blue and less yellow a little bit back, but nothing major).

As such, it is time for a Fashion Review. I will look at all five of our new outfits and then review and rate them.

Uncanny X-Men #37-39: Of Course the Big Villain Was A Space Alien All Along

Organizational Note: Starting in issue #38, we have backup stories as well, the first one detailing how Cyclops was recruited by Xavier. Instead of including them with the comics they appear in, I'm going to pop each arc into their own post when one entire backup story arc is completed, as they don't match up with the arcs in the main stories and it would otherwise get confusing.

And now for the big Factor Three finale! Ok, a lot happens here, so let's get started

Our heroes arrive in the Alps, get captured, and then put on trial by the leader of Factor Three, the Mutant Master, with his second in command Changeling, and then the rest of Factor Three, who are all returning characters: Unus, Blob, Mastermind, & Vanisher. The charge? Treason against Mutantkind. Basically each of the four members who have faced them before gives testimony about how "hey they got in our way of being assholes to defend humans" and then Mutant Master declares them guilty. Pretty sure that isn't a fair court.

Anyway Mutant Master declares he is going to start WWIII by attacking a Russian and American base and causing the nukes to start flying so that each blames the other. The X-Men escape, separate into two groups to stop the attacks, Cyclops and Iceman head to the US, Angel, Beast, and Jean head to Russia. They each face some problems, including each group facing two of the Factor Three's members (with Mutant Master and Changeling staying out of it), but ultimate stop the bombs from flying.

They then face off against Mutant Master in his other base, Changeling finds out that Mutant Master really wanted to kill everyone so he frees Xavier and Banshee, the rest of Factor Three turns on Mutant Master as well cause... hey they hate humans but don't want everyone to die. And then Banshee blows apart all the robot attackers, and Mutant masters suit and it turns out he was a weird alien all along who just wanted to annihilate all life on earth to take it over. He commits suicide to avoid... something and then the heroes and villains part ways to fight another day.

X-tra Notes: The writing in these was pretty good. Had some good quips, characters felt like their characters. Why though do they always feel the need to shove in space aliens? Must have just been the sixties. Also, at the end, the heroes all get new costumes so they can look like individuals instead of all wearing the same outfit!

Uncanny X-Men #36: Remember When Unions Existed In The US?

This one is a very silly throwaway. And so much so that I can't tell if I like it for being silly or wish they would have just "got on with it". The X-Men need to get to the Alps. Except... they don't have any gas in the X-Jet, they don't have access to Xavier's accounts to get plane tickets, and Warren's parents are on a cruise and he can't get in touch with them. So they try to make money other ways. Jean/Cyclops/Angel try to work on a construction site, but can't be hired because they aren't union. Beast and Cyclops try performing in the street, but instead get used as a distraction for the villain Mekano, who was using a suit to try to tear down a library that was opening soon. They stop him, and it turns out that he is just a college age kid who stole the power suit because his dad was a big philanthropist who had built the library and never paid attention to him. The dad decided to not press charges, and says he will change, and also rewards the X-Men by loaning them the money for plane tickets.

X-tra Notes: Come on, there is no way that a rich kid like Warren wouldn't have access to at least SOME emergency accounts without his parents. Also, if he was really in a tight spot, why not try to ask Candy Southern, who also comes from old money and is a childhood friend.

Uncanny X-Men #35: Everyone Is An Ass to Spider-Man

This issue, we get a crossover with everyone's favorite webslinger, Spider-Man. The team is trying to use Cerebro to figure out where Factor Three is, and where they've taken Xavier. Instead they get a message from Banshee, who had found Factor Three's main base, but was attacked by a mechanical spider. He is captured before he can finish the message and all they get is "Beware the Spider".

Peter Parker is taking a motorcycle ride through the fresh air of Westchester County, when he stops for a break and notices a weird orb thing coming from the sky. He changes into his spidey suit, and is attacked by the orb, which has turned into a mechanical spider like the one that attacked Banshee. He defeats it

Apparently the mechanical spider set off Cerebro (cause machines made by mutants can set off Cerebro... cause that makes sense), so all the X-Men minus Jean go to investigate. They find Spider-Man. With the previous message... oh you can see where this is going. They fight. Finally they figure out he isn't the villain and not connected to Factor Three. Spidey, understandably, storms off.

While they were gone, Jean found out that Xavier had put a tracker on Banshee's headband, so now they can head right to him and to the Factor Three base!

X-tra Notes: I swear every time that two superheroes meet in a comic its like they have to duke it out. Maybe they should have just talked? Also, Banshee's face is still a bit weird, but not nearly as apelike as his last appearance.

Uncanny X-Men #34: Cobalt Robot vs Diamond Robot

Ted Roberts (brother of Cobalt Man) has contacted Jean because he probably suspects that she is Marvel Girl, as Ralphie (Cobalt Man) has been kidnapped by Tyrannus, an underground king dude fighting Mole Man. Ralphie had invented a Cobalt alloy that was super duper strong, and Tyrannus needed it to cover his big robot to fight Mole Man's big diamond robot. The X-Men go, intervene, rescue Ralphie, and use the River Lethe (which is apparently a real river in the underground world that just makes people forget who they are) to make the two forget themselves.

X-tra Notes: Not a terrible story, but not particularly special either, there is a few nice interactions at the beginning showing the team having frayed nerves with Xavier kidnapped. The dialogues is generally good though so overall: Forgettable but enjoyable read.

Uncanny X-Men #32-33: Perhaps Don't Keep Your Step-Brother In Your Basement

We return to find that the writer (Roy Thomas) didn't just have a one off good comic. He follows it up with a solid two-parter that brings back a prominent villain (Juggernaut), advances the story for the Factor Three, and even let's the characters enjoy their non-superhero side as well. All five of our main heroes are at the beatnik coffee shop (which I erroneously referred to as a bar in a previous post) to celebrate Bobby's 18th birthday (also as he is always referred to as the youngest, we now know they are all adults), and each of them are paired off. Bobby and Hank are with Zelda and Vera who they have constantly had to run out on dates with, Warren is with Candy Southern, and Scott and Jean are together though they still aren't together together (but pretty much everyone can see it but them). At the height of the party, a motorcycle gang attacks, and the X-Men defeat them all without having to show off their mutant powers. They say goodnight to their dates, and start to head back.

Unfortunately for them, Xavier was doing some experiments to expel the powers of the Crimson Bands of Cytorrak from the comatose Juggernaut, so he can reawaken him and work things out with his stepbrother... and of course he told none of the students that Juggernaut was in the mansion at all. Factor 3 interferes, messes up the experiment, Xavier is knocked unconscious, Juggernaut awakens with his full powers, plus Xavier's mindreading powers, and he ambushes the X-Men as they arrive home. He beats them up, gets contacted by Factor Three who wants him to join them, and leaves, thinking that he has won.

They find Xavier is badly injured but still alive. Jean uses a machine of Xavier's to discover that the Ancient One might know something about the Gem that gives Juggernaut his powers. They try to contact him and instead get Dr. Strange, who tells them what to do and Teleports Jean and Scott to Korea near the temple to go do it. The rest of the team move to delay Juggernaut as he is trying to get a plane to fly to Europe to meet up with Factor Three.

Jean and Scott manage to go inside the gem, defeat the guardian there, and then chant the incantation to give them the "Prototype Gem" and teleport them to Juggernaut who is about to defeat the rest of the team. He grabs the Gem thinking it will give him more power, but instead he is sucked into it to become the next guardian. Unfortunately, the team gets back to the school to discover that recruiting Juggernaut wasn't really what Factor Three were trying to do, instead they wanted Xavier incapacitated and the rest of the team away so that they could kidnap Prof X, and he is gone!

X-tra Notes: I kept trying to cut this description down, but I don't think I could do it well. It's just a good plot, and it has too many things happening to explain it all in a single paragraph. Again, I'm impressed with Thomas, and actually more than I was last time. We get a classic X-Villain (even though he isn't part of the big 2 categories), we get a villainous plot that is more complicated than "destroy thing", and we get to see our heroes as both their civilian and hero selves. Also, they actually got to finish a date without having to run off!

Uncanny X-Men #31: Xavier Ships Scott/Jean

Halfway through this one I had to flip back to the beginning to confirm this is the same writer. It was genuinely enjoyable. And weirdly enough, it didn't even have one of the types of villains I've been calling for. The villain was a knockoff Iron Man who had a personal issue with Tony Stark called Cobalt Man. Turns out the guy Jean has been hanging out with at Metro College's brother had built an Iron Man suit out of Cobalt... though if it runs for 2 hours it turns into a bomb. But let's back up a bit. Our story starts with our usual Danger Room episode, where we learn Angel is fully healed. And due to all the work they've been putting in, Xavier says it is time to take a break for a few days! Everyone makes plans to head out except Cyclops, who is moping and just going to stay at the school and help out Xavier. And then Xavier does something unexpected: He actually does something genuinely nice. He tells him no, no, we haven't returned those books to Jean that she borrowed from the Metro College Library back when we fought El Tigre. Go take those back for me. (On Scott's way out he even thinks about how he knows they have a thing for each other, and maybe this push would help). Anyway Angel admits he was planning to go that way anyway and offers to drive Scott to the school. They meet up and Jean is hanging out with her friend Ted and his brother Ralphie (who had just hit his head trying to pole vault). They all decide to check out Ralphie's lab, except for Warren, who goes out and decides to give up on Jean (another good development) and runs into his old friend he grew up with Candy Southern. Ralphie shows off his Cobalt Man suit to Ted and gets in it, except the combination of the Cobalt and apparently hitting his head turns him MANIACALLY OBSESSED with Tony Stark, so he attacks, Cyclops and Jean try to stop him but are trapped. Cobalt Man runs to Stark Industries to blow it up.

Our friends Beast and Iceman are hanging out with the girls they are dating, Vera and Zelda, at a beatnik bar which leads to an actual line that made me chuckle in response to a poetry recital:

Zelda: What a groovy poem! And it's in free verse!

Bobby: It hadda be! Nobody'd be nutty enough to pay'im for it!

Anyway, they get called away mid-date about the emergency (again, this happens to them a lot, poor guys), Warren runs off from the date he is currently having (and does much better at excusing himself), Cyclops and Jean extricate themselves and they all confront Cobalt Man on a bridge. They manage to beat him, Ralphie comes to his senses, and agrees that the Iron Man suit technology is too dangerous for just anyone to wield, the end.

X-tra Notes: Guys it was legitimately good. I don't understand. After about 10 issues in a row that topped out at mediocre, the writer perhaps caught his footing. I think the thing I like about this one is that it feels like it is about the characters, rather than just being "random things happen, superheroes confront thing". It has the later "soap" feel of later X-Men as well. Plus it had good character writing, Xavier actually acted like a helpful mentor, and a joke or two that actually landed. It could also be that I'm developing Stockholm Syndrome.

Uncanny X-Men #30: Warlock. No Not That Warlock. Or That One.

Ok, this has got to be the dumbest comic storyline they've pulled. And that says something because we aren't that far from the El Tigre incident. Our villain today is Warlock (not the later, cool, enjoyable Warlock of the New Mutants, this one is an ancient dude who thinks he was a mutant and has lived since ancient times and calls himself Merlin as well). His powers are pretty much just "whatever I want to do". He kidnaps Jean and Xavier. Jean cause he wants her to be his "Queen", so he takes control of her mind (ew), and Xavier because he wants to gloat in front of him. Angel manages to make it as well because he was close by when Jean was taken. Xavier is without his powers as Warlock is blocking them. We learn Warlock's plan is to use some device to turn the world back technology wise to the middle ages, then use the modern weapons he has equipped his gang with to rule the world. Also his gang are all dressed like knights. Because. Anyway, Xavier manages to wrestle enough of his powers free to pull the rest of the X-Men from the weird void Warlock had put them in. A bunch of different fighting happens, Jean breaks free of the control to save everyone, and then they win, putting him back to sleep like he was before.

X-tra Notes: Everything about this one was just bad. There is nothing good to say. It is the worst kind of monster of the week storytelling. No good character moments. Nothing witty. Just a throwaway story.

Uncanny X-Men #29: Asshole Saves The Day

The X-Men are trying to enjoy a bit of time off by skating on a pond. Scott is off by himself angsting about his eyes. Mimic is being an ass. You know, a normal day at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Unfortunately Cyclops blasts a bit of a mountain and alerts the thing lurking beneath: The Super Adaptoid (An Avengers villain, a robot made by AIM that can copy the abilities of others, it currently has the powers of Captain America, Hawkeye, Wasp, and one other Avenger that I'm forgetting). Anyway, we head back to the school where Mimic mouths off to Xavier one last time and finally the Prof decides "why the hell did I invite you here, get the hell out". Mimic leaves, then the Super Adaptoid attacks! It wants to turn them all into Super Adaptoids to follow him and rule the world. It beats everyone, but then Mimic comes back, was going to let it turn him into a super adaptoid until Cyclops tells him it would just make him a slave, then beats it by deducing that if it tries to copy him it will short circuit itself since his power is artificial, and burns out his own powers doing it. He's back to being a normal boy, but now he understands the Power of Friendship™.

X-tra Notes: Oh thank god Mimic is gone. I'm not against interteam conflict, but it needs to be a situation where one side isn't so clearly in the wrong. Mimic is just constantly an ass. Also the whole reveal at the end where he comes back cause he was going to beat them up again only to then win and suddenly realize that they were all friends is just... man. No, you were just a giant ass. One good deed doesn't make you suddenly friends.

Uncanny X-Men #28: That's Just What Irish People Look Like

This time, we get the introduction of Factor Three, a supervillain group that is set to play as a major backdrop villain for a little while... and is also so forgettable that even though I've read these before I forgot about them entirely. We also get the introduction to a now famous X-Men character: Banshee! Though in this one he is a villain working for Factor Three. He and the Ogre are attempting to kidnap Professor X, also Banshee is BROKEN powerful in this introduction. Putting everyone in an area to sleep with noise, flying, breaking steel. It's like in an RPG where the boss that joins you is super powerful and then you get them and they are no more powerful than you. Anyway, they make two attempts to kidnap Xavier, the X-Men thwart them, Banshee gets captured, but then they find out he had a headband on that was forcing him to obey Ogre. Ogre escapes, but Banshee is ok.

X-tra Notes: This one is fine. It isn't terrible but it isn't good. Banshee being introduced is cool though. But Oh My God his original design is horrendous. I've generally been avoiding putting images in the short posts, but this one deserves it:

Why does he look like he has visited from the Planet of the Apes???? Also, Mimic is still a terribly annoying character.

Uncanny X-Men #27: Sure Asshole, You Can Lead Us

Technically this comic is started in media res, but I'm going to summarize in chronological order. With Angel hurt, and immediately apologizing to Cyclops saying he was just delirious and that injuring him was clearly an accident (yep, that was really how they resolved it), Xavier decides he needs to bolster the strength of the X-Men in anticipation of some unknown power that he suspects is coming, and of course doesn't bother to communicate with the team, because of course not. He tries a few different people (Wanda/Quicksilver/Human Torch) but none are available. Then when picking up Jean from college, they run into the Mimic, who due to an accident in the college lab, has regained his powers and memory. So he decides he's going to join the X-Men. And because Cyclops wants to step down as team leader after accidentally blasting Angel, Xavier decides, why not just give it to Mimic? Anyway. Puppet Master returns, attempting to take over Xavier, failing, and then taking over Mimic instead. The X-Men pretend to lose to Mimic, they hunt down Puppet Master, fight a robot, beat it, Puppet Master is about to use Mimic to beat the X-Men, but an injured Angel jumps in takes the puppet, and breaks Mimic free.

X-tra Notes: This one is better than the last few Uncanny X-Men comics. Probably cause I'm a sucker for continuity, and this one draws on multiple things, from the FF comic I recently read (which as stated should have been back about a year or two in reading order), to Cal Rankin returning as the Mimic. That said, Mimic joining the team after just being a giant asshat is weird. Also Mimic being the new field leader makes zero sense.

Fantastic Four #28: Guys, Maybe You Should Question Xavier Sometimes

Chronology Note: This one should have been placed quite a bit earlier. It clearly isn't in the right spot here, as Angel isn't injured, It released between X-Men #5 and #6 in April of 1964. It definitely goes after Strange Tales #120, as it mentions Human Torch meeting Iceman, so it probably should have been right after Strange Tales #120. Anyway, the person who made the chronological order I'm following put it here, so I guess this is where it will go.

In this issue of Fantastic Four, they team up with the X-Men... well eventually. The FF villains Thinker and Puppet Master work together to try to defeat the FF by using the X-Men. Thinker has "deduced" what the X-Men's secret leader must look like (Yeaaaah, I don't care how smart you are that doesn't work), so that Puppet Master can make a puppet to manipulate Xavier. Xavier commands the X-Men to attack the FF and refuses to elaborate, and the X-Men just... go do that. Idk, man, I'd need more explanation than "cause I said so" but I guess I'm just a young'n with no respect for authority. X-Men win, kidnap Sue (of course they kidnap Sue) and lure the FF to another location. They then win the fight there due to Thinkers traps, the true villains reveal themselves, Puppet Master uses Xavier's powers to try to incapacitate the X-Men, Beast resists, breaks the puppet, and the FF and X-Men team up to fight a big robot that Thinker had stolen from Mister Fantastic while the supervillain pair escape. They win when Xavier psybolts the robot. Which of course makes sense, cause back then Xavier's powers could do whatever they needed (even though he directly had problems with robots in previous comics). Apologies all around and everyone is friends. Reed speculates that the mysterious leader of the X-Men must be super powerful.

X-tra Notes: I actually liked this one more than the recent X-Comics I've read. It feels less like a throwaway and because it is an FF comic, I don't mind that the villains aren't your standard X-Villains. Overall the plotting is pretty decent, though it is silly that all the X-Men are just cool with attacking an established superteam just cause Xavier tells them to.

Uncanny X-Men #25-26: Buying Villains From Wish

Our enemy is El Tigre. Who is El Tigre? Just some random generically "Mexico/Central/South American" villain whose entire thing is finding ancient artifacts to sell for money. He finds half of an amulet that gives him superpowers, and draws him to the other half that is in a NYC museum. X-Men fight him, he escapes with the other half that also turns him into a god (Kukulkan, a Mayan god that was of course badly adapted into this story). They then research the amulet with the help of some books that Jean borrows from the Metro College library, and they head off to generic Central/South American country and win through cutting off his power source. Oh, there is also a subplot of Cyclops is going to confess his love to Jean finally, but then he accidentally hits Angel with an optic blast and injures him badly, and Angel accuses him of doing it because they were in competition for Jean before passing the fuck out from the injuries. We'll see how that revolves soon.

X-tra Notes: Guys. We need some mutant enemies. Or some of those "world that hates and fears them" enemies. This has been 8 issues in a row where the villains were just generic things that any superhero would fight. I get it. This is early X-Men. This is kind of before they really solidified what X-Men means. And truth be told, they were just trying to write something exciting every week. And yes, I know even at the height of X-Men, the eras I really LIKE they fight a lot of other stuff, but even during those eras the "evil" mutants and bigoted humans were always there in the backdrop. But this just lacks all the magic. God please let there be a good "X-Men-y" villain soon.

How Far Is It From Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to Metro College?

Ok, time for a little break for me to go into a bit of a deeper dive into something so incredibly stupid and unnecessary, but I took the time to figure this out myself, so now I have to inflict it on all of you. How far is it from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to Metro College?

Uncanny X-Men #24: Loco For Locusts

When we left off last time, Jean had just announced she was going to have to leave forever. This is because her parents decided that since she had graduated, it was weird that she never left the school, and that she should probably go to college. She is enrolling at Metro College. Scott and Warren drop her off at her new school (with much angst), and go on their way. On to our villain! A dude who has named himself the Locust has decided to make big bugs to eat crops and terrorize upstate NY. The X-Men go out to stop the Locust, he escapes. Coincidentally, Jean, while eating with a fellow student at Metro, sees a bunch of students making fun of an ex-professor named August Hopper who had crazy ideas about bugs. Wonder if this is related. Jean comes back for the weekend, and tells Xavier about Hopper. They discover he wants to make big bugs to prove that they could happen so he could save the world with his pesticides. Xavier uses his new legs to try to pretend to be a hermit to tell him the evils of his ways. It doesn't really work. They then save him from his own bugs, he throws away his machines and turns himself in.

X-tra Notes: Xavier acting like a wise old hermit from another age to try to convince him to stop is so bizarre and disconnected from anything. I feel like he just wanted to use his mechanolegs.

Uncanny X-Men #22-23: We Have Henchmen At Home

Once again, Xavier tries to let the X-Men take a break for a couple of weeks, and once again, something goes wrong. Honestly just feel bad for them at this point. In this two parter, the gang goes against Count Nefaria and a collection of supervillain henchman. Nefaria has a plan: Surround Washington, DC with an impenetrable dome then threaten to suck all the oxygen out of the air if he doesn't get $100 million! And he's going to have the X-Men do it. In the first comic he lures them individually to central park using illusions of themselves and has his henchmen capture them. Then he threatens to kill the whole city if they don't make the exchange and claim credit. Xavier has them follow along, they get the money, fight the military, the henchmen betray Nefaria, but the X-Men beat them all. Jean delivers the money to Nefaria, but then a mysterious man walks in and destroys the machine making the bubble. Nefaria escapes, but without the money cause the mysterious man replaced it with an illusion. Also, he called the coast guard to catch him. The mysterious man turns out to be Xavier using some special mechanical braces he had been working on to allow him to walk (LOOK OUT JEAN, HE'S OUT OF THE WHEELCHAIR!). But maybe Jean's safe cause she also states at the end that she got a letter and now she has to leave the X-Men forever...

X-tra Notes: Man I have never seen such an obscure collection of d-grade supervillain henchmen. I had literally only heard of one of them and that was cause he was in the She-Hulk show put in the therapy group of "obscure villains no on has heard of". Seriously: Unicorn, Eel, Plantman, Porcupine, and Scarecrow. I didn't even know Marvel HAD a Scarecrow. Nefaria really needs to stop shopping in the bargain bin.

Uncanny X-Men #20-21: Maybe You Should Have Just Shot Him?

The return of Lucifer, and man, am I glad this is the last we see of him in X-Men (at least if memory serves me right, I think he does appear in some other comics, but never as an X-Villain again). In the first comic he uses a machine to give suggestions to Unus and Blob to dress up as X-Men and commit some crimes. Of course the public believes that it is the X-Men because you know, mutants bad and all. Xavier then manages to figure out it is all the work of Lucifer but gets psychically paralyzed by a machine of Lucifers before he can do anything. He psychically communicates with Jean, and he decides to explain how he encountered Lucifer in the past and injured his legs and how Lucifer is actually a SPACE ALIEN (yes. I know). Anyway they invade his base where he is putting together Dominus, a machine that can enslave entire planets controlled by robots. The X-Men get captured, then escape, then Xavier does his usual "I HAVE NO TIME TO EXPLAIN" to say don't damage the machine that will enslave everyone. Warren decides to ignore it cause it could be a trick, Cyclops stops him, and then we find out when the robots attack them and miss, hitting Dominus, that the machine destroys anything that attacks it. All the robots get destroyed, the machine is useless, and then Lucifer's alien overlord sends him to a dimension where time and space do not exist as a punishment. The end.

X-tra Notes: You know this could have all been avoided if Xavier hadn't just let him walk away last time. Also, this was the hardest two comics to get through so far. I put my tablet down so many times trying to get through them. I am so glad the idea of "This space alien I randomly met in the past is my true arch-nemesis" thing got abandoned for Xavier.

Uncanny X-Men #19: By Your Powers Combined, I Am Asshole

We get a new villain this time, the Mimic. This is a decent standalone story. While taking a break from their studies/training, various X-Men in civilian personalities run into Calvin Rankin, a man that, due to some weird science accident stuff, can mimic the abilities of others. This applies to knowledge, skills, and even mutant powers. He figures out who the X-Men are since he acquired the powers when near them, follows them back to their base, says he wants to join them, then throws on a ridiculous costume to fight them, because he is a massive jerk. He kidnaps Jean and lures them to a mine where there was a machine his father had made before he died that was buried. He assumed it was to make his powers permanent so his acquired shit wouldn't fade. Xavier realized it actually just removed his powers altogether so let him use it on himself. The X-Men win.

X-tra Notes: Where exactly did he get the special sunglasses to hold in the optic blasts? (I suppose technically it may be that he doesn't need them and they are just normal sunglasses, as it has been stated that Cyclops's problem is entirely psychosomatic, but at the time that wasn't the case).

Uncanny X-Men #17-18: Calling Daddy On Magneto

We follow up a really good story with the Sentinels with one that is honestly... really not that great. Magneto has returned! It explains how he escaped the Stranger, but honestly, who cares that much? And he has decided he is a strong independent super-villain who don't need no henchman. As the X-Men recover from their wounds, Magneto ambushes them one by one as they return to the mansion. He then puts them all in a gondola off a balloon to go up and up until they can no longer breath because, sure why not. Except Iceman who was still in a coma at the hospital while completely iced up. Also Angel's parents show up at the mansion and then Magneto uses Magnet Magic to hypnotize them into going to bed, and builds a machine to build ready to order mutant slaves from their dna as they have a mutant son. Sure, I guess that makes sense? Anyway, Iceman gets there, stops the machine, battles Magneto one on one while everyone else escapes the gondola and just as Magneto gloats that he can beat them all, The Stranger arrives, having been told of Magneto's escape by Xavier's mind powers. Then Magneto freaks out and takes off.

X-tra Notes: Seriously just didn't feel this one. It just felt too silly after such a good storyline with the Sentinels. The whole instantaneously building a machine to make mutant slaves from nothing, Magneto putting them in a silly death trap. The fact that there was only 2 storylines between "Magneto is gone forever" and "Wow, there's Magneto again". Just meh.

Uncanny X-Men #14-16: Who Could Have Predicted That AI Would Have Consequences?

This storyline is one I think really starts to make X-Men feel like X-Men. The introduction of the Sentinels and Master Mold. Before this the whole "a world that fears and hates them" was very background. They pretty much were just fighting other mutants. Introducing the Sentinels brings in that third major faction that has always been the hallmark of the franchise: All the bigoted humans. Anyway. Boliver Trask tells people that Mutants Bad and newspapers eat it up. Xavier decides to debate him on live television, and Trask pretty much says "it doesn't matter if you beat me in the debate, I have THESE" and pulls out Sentinels. Except immediately the Sentinels decide that humans are incapable of governing themselves and to protect them from the mutant menace they need to rule over them. A bunch of stuff happens. Heroes captured, Xavier saving the day with a Helicopter with a crystal hanging off of it, but in the end to stop the Sentinels from conquering everything Trask sacrifices himself to destroy Master Mold and end the threat.

X-tra Notes: The original Sentinels are much shorter than the ones everyone remembers (mostly from the cartoon). Also they are... hilariously dumb in selective ways. "Oh there are more enemies in the base, I don't have orders for what to do. Come with me so I can find my leader to ask him what to do!" Also, can't say I can completely argue with the "humans are too incompetent to rule themselves" assessment to be honest.

Uncanny X-Men #12-13: Hold On, We Have To Build Traps So I Can Monologue

As the first 2 part comic story X-Men has done, I'm just going to smoosh these together. This is the introduction of Juggernaut, Xavier's stepbrother turned superpowered menace through... weird magic gem. The X-Men set up a ton of traps and barriers, and Xavier decides it is time to tell his entire life story when it comes to his stepbrother Cain. Wouldn't it be better to just you know, figure out how to stop him rather than explain who he is? The first comic ends with the backstory explained, then the second comic has them fighting for the entire comic as nothing stops... The Juggernaut. Throughout the fight they loosen his helmet and then with the arrival of the Human Torch, called by Xavier, they distract him long enough for Angel to get there and pull his helmet off, allowing Xavier to do the mental whammy. The comic ends with them all injured, and again one of the boys (Hank this time), hitting on Jean who managed to avoid being injured.

X-tra Notes: Why does Juggernaut set off the mutant detector when he... isn't a mutant? Also, there is a clear reason that Jean isn't injured. Xavier is weird about never putting her in harms way, while he'll pretty much put any of the boys in front of a howitzer. Just look at her training in the danger room in each comic, she does things like thread needles with her mind and put a piece of wood through different shaped holes. While everyone else is dodging death traps. It's bad to feel like "having basic concern towards her safety and not putting her in direct danger unnecessarily" comes off as sexist when it is probably how a teacher should treat ALL their students... but yeah.

Uncanny X-Men #11: People are Strange

This one is so out of left field. Super powerful dude shows up calling himself the Stranger. Cerebro can't even read what he is. Magneto finds him first. And he is stupid powerful. X-Men and Brotherhood fight. Magneto and Toad escape with the Stranger. Wanda and Quicksilver FINALLY decide to fuck off from the Brotherhood. X-Men catch up with Stranger and it turns out he was a space alien interested in mutations so he just... kidnaps Magneto and Toad and fucks off from Earth saying they will never return. Oh and at the end suddenly Cerebro goes absolutely batshit.

X-tra Notes: Just. What. The. Fuck.

Uncanny X-Men #10: Vacationing in Warm Sunny Antarctica

The first trip to the Savage Land! This is really kind of a throwaway story. They see Kazar on a news story, Xavier says he isn't a mutant, but they want to investigate anyway and Xavier is like "sure OK, why not". They end up in the Savage Land, fight some swamp dudes, Jean and Angel get captured, and Angel has to talk her through it cause she is panicking (of course she is the one written to panic). Kazar and the others team up and save them, the end.

X-tra Notes: Have you noticed I always say Jean and not Marvel Girl? It is because Marvel Girl is a dumbass code name.

Uncanny X-Men #9: Lucifer, No, Not that Lucifer

The return of Professor X, as we finally find out why he decided he needed to fuck off with no explanation. He was tracking the guy who put him in a wheelchair... an idiot with a dumbass helmet called "Lucifer". He calls the X-Men to help him, Lucifer captures Xavier and has a giant bomb that will destroy the entirety of Antarctica. But oh no Lucifer has attached the bomb to his heart rate so Xavier can't kill him (He did bring a handgun to try to shoot him). And oh no, the Avengers are here too and we can't just EXPLAIN the problem, we have to fight them off so they don't hurt Lucifer. Finally Xavier knocks him unconscious with his mental powers, and tells Thor what happened. The fight stops and instead of helping the Avengers just decide to... Go home? This will be the beginning of a long relationship of friendship and trust between the X-Men and Avengers, and they will never, ever fight ever again. Anyway, Xavier keeps Lucifer unconscious while he guides Cyclops to shoot the fuse of the bomb with his eyebeams. Crisis averted! And then they just let Lucifer go because... they don't want to hurt a human? Xavier, you brought a gun to shoot him, he almost murdered a large portion of the human race what the hell!

X-tra Notes: I really dislike Lucifer as a villain. He has always been dumb and his hat is dumb. I appreciate that later variations of X-Men have made Xavier's leg injuries the fault of Magneto and bringing Xavier's personal nemesis into the forefront rather than... Lucifer (it is even worse later when Lucifer's background is revealed later).

Uncanny X-Men #8: Can't Touch This

Beast decides he is fed up with being an X-Man cause a mob attacked him for being a mutant after he saved a kid. He goes to leave and becomes a wrestler. He meets the villain Unus the Untouchable. Who is... Untouchable. Basically if he doesn't want you to touch him, you can't. Anyway, Unus is trying to join the Brotherhood, so the X-Men attack him and fail. Beast is building a machine though because he can't stop himself from being an X-Man. It is a machine that enhances Unus's power. The rest of the X-Men misunderstand because he is comically inept in explaining the plan. He runs away while being attacked, shoots Unus with the ray, and now Unus can't touch anything. Not even food. Beast tells him "ok, promise you will never turn evil and I'll fix you, but remember I can always turn you back that way!". Everyone forgives Beast, yay team.

X-tra Notes: Cyclops talks to Xavier over mental stuff. Xavier is in like a tank wheelchair exploring caverns going after "some great danger". Of course he doesn't tell Cyclops what it is. Also, one of the first times we get the idea that Beast is not just like, "knows big words" smart, but that he is actually comic book genius smart. It's also the first time we really get the feeling of "that hate and fear us" about the public at large (I suppose also in #5 with Toad, but also they thought he was cheating at sports, and if there is one thing I know about Americans, is that we all hate people who cheat at sports).

Uncanny X-Men #7: Cyclops Stares at Lights and Doesn't Get to Play

Xavier assigns Cyclops to lead the X-Men (good thing he is still in a wheelchair, or he might have started immediately making moves on Jean (see Uncanny X-Men #3)), and goes off to deal with some mysterious danger that he of course doesn't bother to tell any of the others about. Magneto finds out about the Blob, he goes to recruit him, Blob resists, Magneto knocks him into something and he hits his head and remembers the X-Men are his enemy (because that is how amnesia works, right?). I'm guessing he didn't remember WHERE the X-Men lived cause instead of attacking them at home, Magneto lures them out with the Blob and they all attack. Magneto being Magneto ends up throwing a bunch of torpedos at them even though the Blob is still in there. They all hide behind the Blob who is unharmed. He goes "holy fuck I'm tired of this shit" and goes back to the circus.

X-tra Notes: Introduction of Cerebro... which is called two different names in the comic. Also, BROODING Cyclops as he can't go out cause he has to sit at the desk and wait in case the machine lights up (surely Xavier could have... idk, made a remote alert for it).

Uncanny X-Men #6: Magneto is Cool With Prostitution

Xavier and Magneto each independently decide that Namor is a mutant based on... well pretty much nothing tbh. They each go out mentally to find him (Wait, why can Magneto do this exactly? This was in the days of comic superpowers just being able to do "whatever" tbh, but yeah). Magneto gets him to an Island, Namor refuses to listen to anything he says cause "I'M ROYALTY BITCH", and then Magneto decides the way to convince him is to throw Wanda at him... nah that isn't problematic at all. Anyway, X-Men arrive, it turns into a three way fight because Magneto can't stand anyone being "better" than him, and eventually Namor just leaves.

X-tra Notes: Man the little wings on the ankles thing is super goofy. Also, did anyone else pronounce it like a submarine rather than like mariner until they heard it said out loud?

Strange Tales #120: Pirates Attack Hudson River Ferry

Another crossover. This time Iceman and Human Torch. A fun crossover based on their powers and also their personalities tbh. Human Torch reads about Iceman in the paper and is annoyed that anyone is getting attention other than him. He heads out on a date on a river boat thing. Iceman is annoyed about how all the other X-Men have more game than him, so decides to go on a river boat thing to scope out women. The boat is attacked by some dude named Captain Barracuda and his squad of pirates. Iceman and Human Torch team up to save the day.

X-tra Notes: Iceman, you have no reason to be jealous of the other X-Men's game. All of them are bad at this.

Uncanny X-Men #5: Magneto... In... Spaaaaaace!

Magneto lures the X-Men out in the dumbest way possible: a rubber mask on Toad so he can pretend to be a mutant track and field star, who the X-Men try to rescue from a mob. They sniff it out, but it is too late, Magneto captures Angel and takes him to their base Asteroid M (My man you can build a space station on a whim, do you really need to also rule humans to make mutants safe?). As they torture him, the X-Men follow Toad back to a magnetic ship, get to Asteroid M, save Angel, blow up a lot of the place... and again we have the "Wanda and Quicksilver aren't REALLY evil, Wanda just has a stupid concept of owing Magneto for not letting her get burned at the stake" for a bit. Oh also, surprise ending: Xavier had his powers the whole time! It was all a test. A very dangerous test in which one of his students was kidnapped by a terrorist organization and tortured and he lifted no finger to try to help. Wow, what a good teacher!

X-tra Notes: This is an ongoing thing with Xavier, in which he fails to tell people critical information, or hides information on purpose for dumb as fuck reasons.

Uncanny X-Men #4: Quicksilver Isn't Down With Mass Murder

Magneto is back, and this time he has help. The introduction of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. This version is Toad, Mastermind, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch. Toad is a toady, Mastermind has the same energy as Starscream, but is also really creepy towards Scarlet Witch. Quicksilver's entire personality is "Keep Wanda safe, and maybe don't mass murder". Lots of infighting. They take over a country using illusions of an army . X-Men go to fight them, shenanigans, they win but a bomb injures Xavier and he loses his powers. Quicksilver disables a nuke before it goes off, to save the country because he isn't comically evil, just protecting Wanda who seems to be incapable of accepting that just because Magneto saved her from a mob, doesn't mean that she has to obey him.

X-tra Notes: At the time, Magneto didn't have his more modern interpretation of being a Holocaust survivor, but in retrospect, his illusory Army looking like Nazis REALLY should have tipped him off on him becoming the thing he hates.

Tales of Suspense #49: Radioactive Assotopes

Crossover comic! Angel gets exposed to radiation that makes him a giant asshole, and he gets into a fight with the team and leaves to join the evil mutants. They call the Avengers to stop him (bruh why would you not deal with this in house????) and Iron-man responds. Iron-man figures things out and pretend sacrifices himself so Angel will snap out of it and save him. Yay, the end.

X-tra Notes: My god the only thing I can think of through reading this is that Tony's eyes should never be visible in the Iron Man suit. it is genuinely upsetting. 

Uncanny X-Men #3: Fat Circus Man Beats Up Superheroes

The X-Men take on the Blob. This one cracks me up. Early X-Formula, they are doing something that demonstrates their power, boom, suddenly something they must handle. A new mutant has been detected! They go out to find the mutant and find Blob at a circus. They invite him back to the X-Mansion to get him to join. Surprise: He's a giant asshole and says no. But then Xavier tells them all to capture him to erase his memory of the X-Men. Guys. This is straight up villainy. You could have talked to him anywhere else. No harm no foul. He escapes and then takes charge of the circus to attack the mansion (crazy that all these dudes were just up for attacking a superhero team). Anyway, big fight ensues. In the end after the team holds them off, Xavier use some tech gizmo to power up his thoughts and erase all their memories of why they are there, and also who the X-Men are. He even erases Blob's memory of being a mutant.

X-tra Notes: This comic is the first to REALLY lean into personalities. Iceman has always been the childish one, but Cyclops first starts his "Woe is me, my eyes are a danger to everyone", Beast gets into his "I'm a big beast but also a big Brain", Angel gets his "I'm a harasser of women" and Jean Grey gets to be a girl. Also, Xavier gets to add to his "my god this man shouldn't be in charge of a high school" list of problematic behaviors by thinking about how he can't confess his love to Jean Grey because of being the leader of the X-Men and being in a Wheelchair... I would think it was because she was you know, a minor and you are like, in your 30s and her teacher, but go off I guess.

Uncanny X-Men #2: Actually Teleportation

The X-Men take on the Vanisher. I regularly forget this villain exists. Same early x-formula. Danger Room sessions, boom problem: Vanisher, who can teleport (the instantaneous travel type, not the moving things with your mind type), threatens to steal the US's defense plan. Our heroes try to stop him, get laughed out of the building, and then Prof X comes with them in the end and pretty much just erases Vanisher's mind to win. Again, Prof X is kind of an asshole. Especially because the first thing he makes him forget is how to teleport... he didn't need to erase his entire memory of who the hell he was.

X-tra Notes: Xavier has connections with the government. At this point the public likes the X-Men, but when Vanisher makes a fool of them, the fickle public immediately starts calling them dogshit.

Uncanny X-Men #1: Introducing Girl

The start of the standard formula. Prof X running them through the Danger Room to introduce our four heroes (soon to be 5), suddenly A MUTANT IS CAUSING A PROBLEM, mission, Prof X congratulates them all on a job well done. This one gets the introduction of Jean Grey in the middle of it as well, and boy... let's just say it was a different time. 3 of our 4 heroes (Cyclops, Beast, Angel) fall all over themselves trying to hit on her in very awkwardly aggressive ways that... are not very charming. Iceman instead decides to chill out and let them make fools of themselves. Our first villain is the X-Men's most famous, Magneto! Here he is much more cartoon villain than the more interesting and nuanced character we will one day get, but he does the job. Take over a US missile base, terrorize people, X-Men show up beat him down. Also, man, kind of fucked up that Prof X would send out Jean on the first day she shows up for class when she didn't even know what the school was FOR before she got there. Also kind of fucked up that Prof X just gives her a code name without even getting any input. Prof X is kind of an asshat, though I think we are supposed to see him as a wise mentor figure at this point in time.

X-tra Notes: They keep calling Jean's power Teleportation instead of Telekinesis. It just bugs me, even though I know technically it is correct nomenclature until fiction made it mean something else in our minds.

Ah, The 60s

First of all, before I start: oh let me tell you about 60s comic writing. I would call it overly verbose and well, too on the nose. I like it for what it is, but I will tell you that nothing takes longer than reading a comic where all the characters narrate every single thing they are doing in detail. Additionally, there is definitely a set "formula" during this era of X-Men. This isn't a bad thing for what it was meant to be, something that was read once a month/every two weeks, for kids, and not expected for most people to read every single one... that said, as an adult, reading now, and reading it all back to back to back... it can be a bit much. This beginning I know will be a hard part for me. But I suffer for my completionism. 

Reading Every X-Men Related Comic Ever Written

I've been meaning to do this for quite a while. I've actually done a large portion of it in the past (I got from the 60s to about 2010), but that was like 8 years ago, and I'll admit a large portion of it has worn off and I don't remember nearly as much of what I would like to. Basically, I'm going to read every comic that is X-Men related. From start to finish, going from the 60s to modern era. Why? Because I'm an idiot. Why am I making a blog for it? Because unlike last time, I want a written record of the adventure, and I think others might find it fun to follow along in the insane quest.