X-Men (first series) #13
September 1965

Home | Indexes | Silver Age | Back | Next


 
 

STORY: "Where Walks the Juggernaut" (20 pages)  The X-Men and the Human Torch join forces to defeat the Juggernaut.

What you need to know:
Big fight scene.  Juggernaut is beaten and handed over to the authorities, establishing the classic "how to beat the Juggernaut" technique: rip off his helmet, and get a telepath to zap him.

For some reason, Xavier just hands Juggernaut over to the police, claiming that he'll be easily contained without his helmet.  Er, no he won't.  Presumably Stan Lee saw the power as being primarily in the costume, rather than having the helmet as just a telepathy-blocking device (which is what it eventually turned into).

Daredevil has a one-panel cameo in this issue (among various characters reacting to Xavier's thoughts being transmitted over Manhattan).  Oddly enough, he doesn't turn up again for over 300 issues, despite being one of the flagship Marvel characters.

Werner Roth debuts as finishing penciller.  In due course he goes on to pencil the book altogether.  Up through issue #22, Roth used the pseudonym "Jay Gavin."  At this point it wasn't uncommon for freelancers to use pseudonyms when working for Marvel, in order to avoid burning bridges with other, more established publishers.  

A more innocent time:
Issues #13 and #14 have a "Marvel Pop Art Productions" logo on the cover.  They changed the name of the company for a few months before realising that everyone thought it was really stupid.

The story ends with Hank, Bobby, Warren and Scott recovering from their injuries - and Jean playing nurse.

Comments:
Like I say, big fight scene.  The problem with these things is to find a way of keeping the Juggernaut strong while having him lose, and the story just about pulls that off.  The X-Men beat him with a plan that only works thanks to a passing guest star, so they can't claim to have beaten him alone.  The poor old Juggernaut goes on to become a bit of a joke in future years through overuse - how many times can you lose every single fight and still credibly claim to be unstoppable? - but in this story, the gimmick works.  To be fair, they didn't exactly overuse him during the Silver Age either.  He only turns up on two more occasions during the Silver Age run (issues #32-33 and #46).

The art is considerably improved with Werner Roth and Joe Sinnott working over Kirby's breakdowns.  The plot's a bit ropey, to put it mildly - if Xavier needs an entire issue to built up his strength with a Mento-Helmet before fighting the Juggernaut, might it not have been a good idea to do that last issue instead of blathering on about his childhood?  But it's just an excuse for a big fight issue, and it works pretty well on that level.


FEATURE CHARACTERS
Professor X, Cyclops, the Angel, the Beast, Cyclops, Iceman
and Marvel Girl I (all next in X-Men Forever #3, then all but Angel and Iceman in flashback in Thunderbolts vol 1 #55, then all in Fantastic Four Annual #3, then in Marvel Heroes & Legends #1, then again in Fantastic Four Annual #3)

GUEST STAR
The Human Torch II
(between Fantastic Four vol 1 #43 and Fantastic Four Annual #3)

VILLAIN
The Juggernaut
(next in X-Men Forever #3)

GUEST APPEARANCES
Daredevil
(between Daredevil vol 1 #9 and Fantastic Four Annual #3)
The Teen Brigade (last in the Thor story in Journey Into Mystery #116; next in the Hulk story in Tales to Astonish #97)

back | next


Copyright 2004 Paul O'Brien.  This web site is a work of critical comment and review. All characters and publications referred to, and artwork reproduced, are ™ and © their respective owners.
 

X-MEN
(first series) #13
Marvel Comics
September 1965
$0.12 US

Cover by Jack Kirby (penciller) and Frank Giacoia (inker)

"Where Walks the Juggernaut"
Co-plotter, scripter,
editor: Stan Lee
Co-plotter, breakdown pencils: Jack Kirby
Finished pencils: "Jay Gavin" [Werner Roth]
Inker: Joe Sinnott
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Colourist: not credited