For the past two weeks, I’ve
been proclaiming the best X-Men stories of the ‘60s and ‘70s.
I stopped at ten- five from each decade. But, as always, I thought
of more than ten stories that were worth mentioning. So, here
they are- the honorable mentions from the first two decades of the title
and the team.
Unus the Untouchable, X-Men
#8, 1964: I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed Silver Age stories
with Unus the Untouchable, considering he was never brought back as
a villain for the Bronze Age team. There are a couple of reasons
I like this done-in-one story. For one thing, the X-Men have recently
graduated from high school and this is one of their first adventures
without the constant presence of Professor X. I don’t dislike
the Professor but it’s apparent that the X-Men can only mature so
much with their mentor around. For another thing, the X-Men defeat
this villain with brains- even without Professor X. The Beast’s
solution to the problem is ingenuous- actually increasing Unus’ powers
so that he can’t function. As Captain Comics mentioned in one
of his comics, it’s great fun to see Unus chase his ham sandwich around
as his powers repel everything. Plus, the Beast’s solution causes
some fun team conflict as the rest of the team thinks that they’ve
been betrayed. I also like Unus’ second big appearance in issue
20, when he and Blob team up, impersonate the X-Men and rob a bank.
Unfortunately, that’s only the introductory incident while the rest
of that issue focuses on the much less interesting Lucifer.
The Stranger, X-Men #11,
1965: This issue shocked me when I first read it. It
was just so different in style and tone from the previous issues.
It starts with that captivating cover and continues inside. You’d
almost think that it was written by a different creative team.
But, nope, it’s by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the same two guys who
worked on the first ten issues. Up to this point, Lee and Kirby
had the X-Men face off against their fellow mutants. They varied
things up a little with guest-appearances by Sub-Mariner and Ka-Zar
but otherwise they followed the formula fairly well. Then, in
this issue, they introduce an outer space creature of immeasurable power.
It’s an incredible change of pace. It really catches you off-guard
as a reader. And yet it works. In fact, it works wonderfully.
As for the earth-based adventure, Magneto has been a thorn in the side
of the X-Men since their first issue. They’ve usually been able
to thwart his plans and hold him at bay. Not this time.
It seems like Magneto is finally going to triumph, until his allies
turn against him and the mysterious Stranger intervenes. This
is also the issue in which Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, who had
felt obligated to work for Magneto because he had saved them in the
past, finally go their own way. It’s a pretty momentous occasion
for two of Magneto’s henchmen to quit on him. Yet it’s very
consistent with the earlier depictions of the two characters.
Plus, Lee and Kirby add a bit of complexity by showing that Toad, despite
the way that he’s beaten and berated by Magneto, remains loyal to
his boss.
The Sentinels, X-Men #14-16,
1966: This is the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby epic that introduced the
Sentinels. To be honest, I prefer the later epics by Thomas/Adams
and Claremont/Cockrum which is why both of those stories made the initial
list and this one didn’t. Yet this story still deserves a lot
of credit for setting the stage. After all, it is the introduction
of some of the X-Men’s most memorable, most consistent and most visually
arresting foes. But, more than that, this trilogy introduces one
of the major themes in X-Men lore. Up to this point, they’ve
mostly been fighting other mutants. This story is the first one
to really focus on the idea that some humans have deep prejudices against
mutants. That idea is one of the great strengths of this series.
Because of it, X-Men stories have been able to comment on civil rights
issues in the ‘60s and gay rights issues in the ‘90s. The
themes of bigotry are some of the strongest themes in X-Men history,
even showing up in the movie trilogy. And it all started here
as Stan and Jack surmised that regular people might not take to kindly
to a sub-species that seemed likely to replace them.
Krakatoa, Giant-Size X-Men
#1, 1975: This story deserves to be mentioned for historical purposes
alone. This is the introduction of the all-new X-Men, the first
appearance of Colossus, Nightcrawler and Storm and the restart of the
team after a five-year absence. Plus, it’s a half-way decent
story. Len Wein does a good job of introducing each of the characters
in turn. You get a clear idea of who they are and what setting
they come from. And there’s a clear reason for getting the team
together. The old one has been lost on a mission and Professor
X needs a new team to rescue them. Finally, there’s a great
conclusion as the island Krakotoa is revealed to be the creature Krakotoa
and the entire island-creature is thrown up into the air. Yet,
while it’s a half-way decent story, it’s not an all-the-way decent
story. The middle part of the plot is a little by-the-numbers
and outside of the introductions, there aren’t a lot of character
moments worth remembering. Even so, as the story that brought
the X-Men back to comics and launched the Bronze Age of comics (according
to some), it’s definitely worth mentioning.
Doomsmith/Warhunt,
Uncanny X-Men 94-95, 1975: This is another story that deserves to
be mentioned more for historical purposes. Not that it’s a bad
story. Count Nefaria takes over a military base in the Rocky Mountains.
The X-Men infiltrate the base to take him down. They have to work
their way through a few minions before they can get to the bad guy.
Naturally, the minions slow the heroes down enough that the big bad
guy is able to escape. That’s the point at which this story
takes a real turn from the typical superhero fare. The heroes
chase after the escaping bad guy and two of them, Banshee and Thunderbird
are actually able to catch up. But it’s one thing to catch up to somebody’s
escape jet. It’s another thing to actually bring the jet down.
Thunderbird, however, won’t give up. He bangs on the jet trying
to put an end to Nefaria’s escape. It doesn’t work.
Instead of stopping Nefaria, Thunderbird is killed and the X-Men are
dealt a stunning blow in only their second mission. The early
death of a team member would eventually become a cliché, especially
in X-Men spin-offs. Yet here, long before the many imitations
that would come along later, the death of Thunderbird is still stunning,
surprising and tragic.
Magneto, Uncanny X-Men 104,
1977: This is another short story sandwiched in between two larger
arcs. The Magneto issue follows a longer story about the X-Men
in Cassidy Keep in Ireland and precedes the great adventure with the
Starjammers and the Imperial Guard. Yet even though this story
isn’t as long as those other two, it’s no less memorable.
This is the first fight between Magneto and the all-new, all-different
X-Men. And the all-new X-Men get their hats handed to them.
They are soundly defeated. Even today, this story seems unusual.
So often a new team of heroes is given a foe from another team or an
earlier run and the new team of heroes beats the old villain handily,
thereby demonstrating how capable these new heroes really are.
Well, not this time. Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum bring back
the biggest foe from the earlier X-Men run and they let him run roughshod
over the X-Men. He especially trounces Wolverine, who thinks he’s
the best there is at what he does only to learn that a metal skeleton
isn’t of much use against the master of magnetism. It’s just
such a great story. The new heroes aren’t given a pat on the
back and told how great they are. They’re told that they’re
raw and they still have a lot to learn. That humbling experience
makes you as the reader empathize with the heroes. Instead of
resenting them, you get behind them. You cheer them on to succeed
in spite of their failures. And you feel closer to them as you
watch them grow into their roles as heroes. Plus, when they finally
beat Magneto- which won’t happen the second time they fight him, either-
it makes the victory mean that much more.
And that’s it: six more stories from the ‘60s and ‘70s worth mentioning. Thanks for reading. I hope you had as much fun reading and reminiscing as I did writing and remembering.
The End.
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