STORY: "X-Men" (23 pages)  The X-Men make their debut when they prevent Magneto from capturing the Cape Citadel missile base.

What you need to know:
As if you really need to be told, it's the first appearance of the original X-Men - Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman and the original Marvel Girl, together with their mentor Professor X.  The characters don't really seem fully formed - the powers are there, but aside from Iceman in the "youngster" role, they don't really develop their personality quirks until a couple of issues in.  Cyclops is a bit officious at one point, but that's about it.

The X-Men are already formed when the story opens, although Marvel Girl only joins at the beginning of the issue.  We don't get an explanation of how the team was formed until the "Origins of the X-Men" back-up strip, which ran from issue #38 to #56.

Jean Grey officially joins the team and becomes the original Marvel Girl.  The story is clearly written on the basis that this is the first time she's come to the Mansion, hence all of the exposition she helpfully soaks up.  All of this was swept aside by 1981's Bizarre Adventures #27.  That issue has a Phoenix story by Chris Claremont which contains the first account of Jean Grey's origin (she was left out of "Origins of the X-Men", presumably because was already saw her join in this issue).  In Claremont's version, Xavier met Jean years before this point and had been helping her with her powers for some time.  He also suppressed her telepathy in order to help her cope.  Later stories suggest that they spent some time adventuring together, most of which hasn't been depicted (though there are snippets of it in the Classic X-Men back-up strips).  Anyway, all of that means that for continuity purposes, this story has to be read as if Jean and Xavier are putting on a show for the benefit of the other X-Men.

Xavier gives a broad outline of the X-Men's mission which pretty much establishes the core concept.  Mutants are people born with superpowers.  He thinks he might be the first.  (Later stories establish that he's wrong, but he never claims it as fact here, so there's no contradiction.)  Ordinary humans don't trust mutants, so he's running the school in secret.  Other mutants believe they should be the real rulers of Earth.  They are "evil mutants."  The X-Men exist to stop them.

We see the Mansion for the first time, and it's identified as being in Westchester County, New York.  The town was later named as Scarsdale in issue #99, and subsequently revised to Salem Center on thematic grounds.

Xavier is training the X-Men to "receive his thoughts."  Soon, he says, he won't need to speak at all!  Obviously, that idea goes out the window fairly quickly.  Lee and Kirby quickly settle down to the idea that Xavier can speak to you telepathically, whether you've had any training or not.

Iceman looks like a snowman in the early days.  That lasts until issue #8, when he's given the more familiar ice design.

Cyclops' real name is given as "Slim Summers."  The nickname didn't last very long.  Kirby also gives him a truly hideous pair of checked trousers.

Xavier says that his parents worked on the first A-bomb project.  A recurring Silver Age theme was that radiation was, basically, magic and could do all sorts of incredible yet slightly scary things.  These days everyone knows that it just gives you nasty diseases, so the modern equivalent is genetic engineering.  The idea of Xavier's father (if not his mother) working on dodgy experiments stuck around, although references to the A-bomb faded away fairly quickly.

Xavier attributes his paralysis to "a childhood accident."  That's quickly forgotten about, and issue #9 substitutes the canonical explanation: he was injured in a battle with a supervillain called Lucifer.

We establish that the Angel straps his wings down under his clothes.  It has to be said that this calls for considerable suspension of disbelief, given that they're enormous, but the explanation stuck for decades.

This is Magneto's public debut (although later stories establish that he's been using the codename for some time, since his Nazi-hunting days, and he's had the costume for a while as well).  His plan in this issue is, apparently, simply to make a show of strength.  We don't get into his philosophy in any depth for some considerable time to come (and the all-important Holocaust survivor stuff doesn't come along for 20 years or so).

The term "homo superior" is used for the first time, in a soliloquy by Magneto.

At the end of the issue, one of the army officers describes the X-Men as "Uncanny."  Presumably that was the inspiration for the later title change to Uncanny X-Men.

Cape Citadel had appeared before.  It was the launch site for John Jameson's rocket in Amazing Spider-Man vol 1 #1.

In case you're wondering, Marvel didn't start crediting colourists until the early 1970s.  The identities of Silver Age colourists have been lost to the mists of time.

X-Men was a bimonthly title at first.  It became monthly starting with issue #14.

A more innocent time:
Things were different back in the Silver Age.  Let's be honest, there's no way you'd get away with some of these stories today.  Besides, despite the impression you might get from listening to some people, things were much more relaxed back then.  Stories were often a bit silly.  Continuity was a tad loose.  Stan Lee often couldn't even remember the names of his own characters.  And, of course, a lot of it's very, very dated indeed.  Depending on your point of view, all of this either condemns the Silver Age to a vaguely intriguing historical relic, or it's part of the charm.  So this section will flag up some of the most endearingly dated (or just plain silly) bits of the Silver Age stories.

The missiles in Cape Citadel are "democracy's silent sentinels."  We're never expressly told that they're nuclear, but Magneto does describe one as "the mightiest rocket of all."  (Issue #300 contains a flashback showing a conversation between Moira and Xavier which makes clear that Cape Citadel was a nuclear base.)

Magnetism is magic and can do anything.  Magneto can trap soldiers in "a mighty shield of magnetic energy" by "simply narrowing my magnetic waves all around the lesser humans."  Later writers would at least try and justify this sort of thing by talking about iron in the blood and so forth, but in this story, he's effectively just a telekinetic.

Professor X has a jet that he can guide from the ground!  "By thought impulses!"

Irrational pseudoscience (1): Cyclops' optic beam can penetrate Magneto's force field because it's "a natural counterforce to batter the unnatural magnetic field!"  Er, why are Cyclops' powers any more natural than Magneto's...?

Irrational pseudoscience (2): Ice is attracted by speed.  "Just as the hunter missiles are attracted by heat, so are the Iceman's ice grenades attracted by the missiles' speed!"  Must have missed physics class that day...

Comments:
Ah, the Silver Age.  Let's be clear about a couple of things from the outset.

First of all, 1960s superhero comics aren't for everyone.  Yes, Lee and Kirby's work in the early sixties is a hugely important phase in the development of the genre, and it's all incredibly influential.  Nonetheless, it's also pretty rough and ready by modern standards, and it would be fair to say that a lot of Silver Age comics haven't aged particularly well.  Most fans find they can do quite happily without the Silver Age stories, and frankly, an awful lot of longtime X-Men fans act as if history started in 1975 when the book was revived and Chris Claremont took over.

Secondly, X-Men isn't one of the better Silver Age Marvel books.  If you're thinking of exploring the Silver Age, Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four are safer bets.

That said, these stories have an undeniable charm to them, aside from their historical interest.  They're something of an acquired taste, admittedly, but there's certainly no point trying to review early sixties material in the same way as modern stories.  If you're going to read this stuff at all, you've got to take a different approach.

All that being said, the story in this issue is almost entirely throwaway.  Magneto attacks a military base for no particularly clear reason, the X-Men fight him off.  And that's pretty much it.  Of course, it's really an exercise in introducing the characters - but one that reads a little strangely in retrospect, because the personalities were clearly still being developed, and key character traits don't really come along for a couple of issues.  Frankly, it's an issue more famous for its historical significance than for any particularly outstanding content.  It's not even one of the goofier Silver Age stories.

But then, it's X-Men #1, and forty plus years of the X-Men start here.  Historical significance takes it an awfully long way.  Whether it's any good is almost beside the point.  Any hardcore X-Men fan is going to read this issue at some point, if only because... well, it's X-Men #1.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X (Professor Charles Xavier; a mutant telepath; founder of the X-Men; first appearance; last in flashback in the Beast story in Marvel Comics Presents #88; appears between pages in flashback in issue #300)
Cyclops (Scott Summers; a mutant with an optic beam controlled by his visor and glasses; first appearance; last in flashback in the Beast story in Marvel Comics Presents #85; between panels 2 and 3 of page 8, he appears in flashback in X-Men: The Wedding Album; next in flashback in issue #308)
Iceman (Robert "Bobby" Drake; a mutant with ice powers; first appearance; last in flashback in the Beast story in Marvel Comics Presents #85)
The Angel (Warren Worthington III; a mutant with wings; first appearance; last in flashback in the Beast story in Marvel Comics Presents #85)
The Beast (Henry "Hank" McCoy; a mutant with enhanced strength and agility; first appearance; last in flashback in the Beast story in Marvel Comics Presents #88)
Marvel Girl I (Jean Grey; a mutant with telekinetic powers; her telepathy is suppressed at this point; first appearance; joins the X-Men; last in flashback in issue #322; between panels 2 and 3 of page 8, she appears in flashback in X-Men: The Wedding Album; between pages 15 and 16, she writes the fourth diary entry in X-Men: The Wedding Album; next in flashback in issue #308, then writes the fifth diary entry in X-Men: The Wedding Album)
All six teamed as the X-Men; first appearance of the team.

VILLAIN
Magneto (real name unrevealed, possibly "Magnus"; a mutant with magnetic powers; first appearance; last behind the scenes in flashback in issue #300; next in issue #4)

Last revised: 13 August 2004

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