Enter....the X-Men!

Uncanny X-Men #1 - By Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

"And, now, prepare yourself for one of the most exciting reading experiences of your life! For you are about to enter the fascinating, unpredicatable world of...THE X-MEN!"

Yep, that's what it says right at the bottom of page one.

That's a lot to live up to on your first page. Stan Lee must have been really confident in this book. I guess he had a point. I mean, here I am 40+ years later writing about it. The comic stands are COVERED in X-Men books every month, we've had four major motion pictures (so far), several cartoon series and even novels that go back some 30 years when the first one was published.

Everything starts pretty much as you'd imagine it with the introduction of the main characters. Professor Xavier calls his students to class and each one gets to demonstrate their powers. Beast, Angel, Iceman and Cyclops each take a turn practicing with their abilities and eventually it all ends up in a big session of "rough-housing." Oh, boys will be boys! What makes this scene particularly amusing is that Xavier apparently calls the team to order in his study, but the room quickly grows to enormous size as gymnastic rings, flaming geysers and obstacles the size of trucks show up. Jack Kirby's lack of backgrounds in the panels keeps viewers from knowing exactly where they are or what the scale of this place really is. Good for a chuckle or two, though!

Next, we're introduced to Xavier's newest student, Jean Grey, whom he immediately sticks with the name of "Marvel Girl." The new student provides Stan Lee the opportunity to get all the backstory out. Xavier explains how the students all have "extra abilities" beyond those of normal humans, so he's calling them "X-Men" to denote the X-tra abilities NOT after himself as is often popular belief. Xavier goes on to explain that the purpose of his school and his team is to educate mutants in the use of their abilities and teach them to work with humanity for the greater good. Furthermore, they are to stand against any "evil mutants" who would use those extra abilities to enslave humanity.

The scene also gives readers a glimpse at the sexism of the times - the boys all seem to act like members of the Rat Pack and use some suave lines to sway the emotions of the attractive Jean Grey. In their suits, sweater vests and penny loafers, the characters look more like Dean Martin and Sammy Davis then any teenager of the early '60s. I think if Lee could have worked in a cigarette and glass of scotch he would have! Beast's advances eventually lead him to getting tossed through the air and onto the couch by Jean's powers (which she mistakenly refers to as "teleportation" here. Hey, it's her first day at school, guess we should cut her some slack - she gets it right later - "telekinesis.")

Xavier also mentions that he uses his power in conjunction with a "Master Control Panel" to control other devices. I never knew anything about this facet of the character, but he remotely controls a Rolls Royce and a jet plane in this issue. I suppose that was one way to get characters who can't drive - and certainly would be a stretch for them to pilot a plane at this point - to far-flung comic book locales. Not a bad solution in these early issues.

Next, we are finally introduced to the first "evil mutant" in Magneto - or "The Miraculous Magneto" as he likes to refer to himself. Magneto's been busy taking control of rockets and dumping them into the ocean as part of his ultimate plan to take over a military base. We don't really ever find out why he NEEDS a military base, but I guess if you plan on recruiting more evil mutants to your cause you need a place for them to stay! My favorite part of this whole sequence is the amount of time Magneto spends talking to himself. He spends so much time talking to himself he's completely sterotypical - I loved it! You can't be an evil super-villain without evil soliloquies.

After seeing a news report about the rockets crashing, the X-Men show up and use their powers as a team to defeat Magneto in less then 15 minutes. Magneto delays the team with a magnetic force field just long enough to escape. Glad for the X-Men's assistance, the military commander promises their name will be revered in his command. So far, the X-Men's mission is a success!

Characterization is very broad in this issue and the popularity of the Fantastic Four is used as the basis for these characters as well. Beast and Iceman are almost clones of the Thing and Human Torch - they're really cut from the same cloth. Burly strong guy and guy who controls an element (fire vs. ice). They have the same comic relationship and dialogue. There's no sign of Hank McCoy's brilliance here. The Angel and Cyclops (called "Slim" here) are virtually the same character and are the "responsible"ones ala Reed Richards. Even Jean Grey shows the spunkiness of Sue Storm. I look forward to future issues where these characters begin to develop on their own.

Cyclops is the only one with a unique power and the manner in which he controls it is tricky and requires a high-degree of control. You don't get the idea that this power is a detriment yet, but his "laser eyes" are very cool. The Angel's wings are shown bound under his clothes at one point, illustrating the difficulty he has fitting in with "normal humans." You can see here the difficulties ahead for these characters. Its subtle, but present even here.

This may not have been one of Stan Lee's best stories or Jack Kirby's best art (I really found it lacking here), but it had charm. Overall, a fun read! A nice set-up for what can happen in the future. Had I read this in 1963, I'd have wanted to be back for the next issue.

Note: This issue was reprinted in May, 1994 as X-Men: The Early Years #1. Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz.

Up Next: Uncanny X-Men #2