Featuring: X-Men
Release: May 4, 1965
Cover: July 1965
12 cents
Stupifying story by: Stan Lee
Spectacular layouts by: Jack Kirby
Slam-bang pencilling by: Alex Toth
Sensational inking by: Vince Colletta
The usual lettering by: Sam Rosen
Kibitzing by: the whole blamed bullpen!
20 pages
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|---|---|---|
| X-Men #11 | Reading order | X-Men #13 |
| X-Men #11 | X-Men | X-Men #13 |
Happy Labor Day. Thanks to all the workers, past and present, for all they have done to shape this nation by the fruits of their labors.
We just read X-Men #11. And by just, I mean over 2 weeks ago. Sorry, life stuff got in the way of my comic reading priorities. That issue ended with alarms warning the X-Men of what Xavier called the most deadly danger they had ever faced approaching. Seeming to ignore the fact that they’d just faced a godlike alien being.
I’ve left us hanging with that cliffhanger for 2 weeks now. But it’s better than kids in the 60s had it. They had to wait 2 months to meet this new menace, and then perhaps be disappointed to learn we don’t actually glimpse him until the very final panel.
Before we get to the story, we must ask questions about the credits: Why are there so many artists? And who is this Alex Toth? What’s this bullpen?
This is the second time Stan has referred to the “bullpen” in the credits, and the second time he has credited them with kibitzing.
The three-artist approach is a pattern we are going to see more of. Stan trusts the storytelling abilities of Kirby, but Kirby simply can’t draw as many pages as Stan wants him to draw. So Stan is bringing in more artists, tried and true names from decades past… but artists who are used to working with writers who would actually write the stories for them to then draw. So Alex Toth will basically draw the issue, but Kirby will lay it out, tell the story, show him where all the panels and figures go. And then Stan can add the dialogue at the end.
This essentially marks the end of Kirby’s X-Men work, last issue being his real final issue as artist. He will continue to lay out the stories for the next few issues until the new regular artist we’ll meet next issue is ready to do it himself.
Alex Toth is something of a legend himself, on par with the likes of Kirby. He’d been working in comics almost 20 years, though by this point he’s been involved less and less with comics to focus on a career in animation.
He did a couple romance/crime/western stories for Marvel back in the 1950s. This issue will be the only Marvel superhero work he ever does. It is not his finest work. I would track down his adaptations of the Disney Zorro TV series to see him at his best.
Here is a sampling of his previous comic work.
- All Star Comics 38, DC, 1948
- Green Lantern #30, DC, 1948
- All-American Western #103, DC, 1948
- Mystery in Space #1, DC, 1951
- Rex the Wonder Dog #1, DC, 1952
- Love Romances #49, Marvel, 1955
- Jon Fury strip, circa 1955
- Four Color #882, Dell, 1958
For Hanna-Barbera, he would go on to create Space Ghost, Birdman, and the Herculoids.
Alex Toth passed away 15 years ago at the age of 77.
In the gallery view above, the pictures are all pretty small, but you can view the underlying image to see them in detail. One thing to note is how clean Toth’s pencils are. There are never excessive detail lines. The art in this comic will look very different. Far more lines and shading everywhere. That’s likely the hand of Vince Colletta.
This is a weirdly structured comic, and the story doesn’t really make much sense. Kirby probably knows that. He wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted a high tension story, but he also wanted Professor X to tell the X-Men his life story, where he was born, what his lousy childhood was like, and how his parents were occupied and all before they had him, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap.
Note I’m referring to Kirby here instead of Toth or Lee because it’s Kirby’s layouts that presumably decided on this particular story structure.
To keep the tension ramped to the max, he has this framing sequence where Xavier keeps being melodramatic about the coming threat and saying he doesn’t have time to explain… and then has Xavier resume his nonchalant reminiscence about the happy golden days of yore.
At one point, Iceman even asks him to explain the villain’s power, a rather pertinent question. Xavier claims there’s no time to explain… before returning to his life story.
I’ll break the discussion up into these component parts. We’ll first see what we learn about Xavier’s origins, and then consider the urgent threat facing the X-Men.
Without further ado, the origin of Professor X!
We already knew his parents had worked on atomic research experiments before he was born, which is how we deduced Xavier cannot be that old. He must be under 30.
We now learn his father Brian Xavier had been killed in an atomic blast at Alamagordo. This would likely be around 1945. Judging from his depiction, Xavier seemed to be aged 8-13 at the time, putting his birth between 1932 and 1937. He can’t be too young as a professor, but nor can he be that old if atomic experiments affected his birth.
Brian Xavier’s partner, Dr. Kurt Marko, survived the experiment, but was injured. He was there to give comfort to the widowed Sharon Xavier, and would soon marry her, increasing his station with her wealth by doing so. Young Charles was very suspicious of him, and had remarkably good instincts for these things.
Dr. Marko’s son was Cain Marko. He had no powers as a child, but was evil. Are you able to detect any possible biblical references in an evil brother named Cain?
Since he had no powers when he was young, we know he’s not a mutant, as we’ve come to understand the word.
When Sharon Marko nee Xavier died, presumably of heartbreak, Charles was now alone with the step-father and step-brother he hated.
Charles had suspected Marko was responsible for his father’s death. There was some truth in this. Xavier’s death was truly and accident, but Marko had made no attempt to save him, because he was too afraid. This cowardice was his shame.
Cain causes an explosion in the house. In a redeeming moment, Dr. Marko sacrifices himself to save his two sons. He also reveals that he knows about Charles’ powers. Charles himself had not deduced the source of his good instincts.
We now learn the answer to the question we’d all been asking: why is Xavier bald? Mental powers? Atomic radiation? Maybe. I guess it’s not that clear; he just suggests it’s related to his mutation. We just learn he lost his hair young and was fully bald by high school. While this seems an odd touch, it allows for a visual cue to recognize Xavier at many different ages of his life.
Cain’s wreckless driving led to an auto accident that nearly killed them both. Only Xavier’s mental powers saved them. This accident could easily have been how he lost the use of his legs, but it’s not. He walked away fine. His legs were injured years later in battle with Lucifer.
I’ll note the coloring in the digital reprint is rather crazy. They have these exaggerated pink faces to show someone is angry. That’s an artifact of the digital version. The original has nothing like that, and nor does my reprint in Marvel Masterworks.
Later, both Marko and Xavier would fight in the Korean War. Since the active conflict ended in 1953, Xavier must have been born no later than 1935. Also notice he started college before going to war, though perhaps his studies were soon interrupted.
In attempting to desert during the war, Cain Marko stumbled onto the Lost Temple of Cyttorak.
This is interesting because we know Cyttorak from the Dr. Strange stories. So far, Dr. Strange has been the most isolated of the heroes, encountering Thor twice and Peter Parker once, but generally doing his own thing. Even the Sgt. Fury stories have had more points of connection to the larger universe.
Let’s review what we know. In Strange Tales #124, Dr. Strange once invoked the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. This just seems like the type of thing he says though. Invocations that seem to be mostly syllables. There had already been an interesting twist though when we met Dormammu. It wasn’t just a word Strange would say, but an actual being, suggesting all the funny words Strange would chant referred to beings: ancient sorcerers or gods or demons.
In the following issue, the Ancient One was imprisoned in the “Crimson Circle of Cyttorak”. The following issue, Dormammu traps his servants in the “Crimson Bands of Cyttorak”. Perhaps “Circle” was just another way of saying “Bands”. In Strange Tales #128, the Crimson Bands are again an invocation, this time by the Demon.
Now we learn that Cyttorak had been a mysterious deity of black magic who had long ago been driven from our world, but who had left behind the “Curse of the Juggernaut”.
In his temple is a ruby, which reads: “Whosoever touches this gem shall possess the power of the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak! Henceforth, you who read these words shall become… forevermore… a human Juggernaut!!” (Can’t help but notice the similarity in wording to the inscription on Thor’s hammer.)
Cain Marko touches the gem, then is buried in a cave-in, apparently then trapped for many years.
The power of Cyttorak allows Marko to track down Xavier anywhere, even the one place he would never suspect: Xavier’s own house, where they both lived for a while as kids.
We are told: “Nothing can stop a Juggernaut!”
That’s the backstory. Now, the Cyttorak-empowered Marko has come. Instead of preparing his students with practical information, Xavier told them the story above. He did have them spend 5 minutes setting traps around the mansion, traps which don’t slow Marko down. Marko also possesses a mystical mental defense, which makes Xavier’s powers ineffectual against him.
Cyclops had been the first to learn of Cerebro. Now the rest of the X-Men learn of it. They did see a very similar mutant-detecting device last issue, which is how they learned of the Stranger. Cerebro is supposed to detect mutant menaces. But Stranger was an alien. And Marko has been mystically transformed.
We don’t see the transformed Marko until the final panel.
Another artifact of the digital recoloring is that Juggernaut seems to be wearing pants. In the original, his legs were skin-colored, suggesting he just had the short shorts and boots.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 54/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men vol. 2. You can also find this story in X-Men Epic Collection vol. 1: Children of the Atom. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Iceman/Bobby Drake
- Angel
- Beast/Hank McCoy
- Marvel Girl/Jean Grey
- Cyclops
- Professor X/Charles Xavier
- Brian Xavier
- Dr. Kurt Marko
- Sharon Marko nee Xavier
- Cain Marko/Juggernaut
Story notes:
- Cerebro had been a secret to all X-Men but Cyclops; now the rest of the X-Men learn of it.
- X-Men fortify mansion; ice wall, trench, traps.
- Atomic blast in Alamagordo New Mexico killed Xavier’s father, Brian Xavier.
- Xavier sensed secrets as a boy.
- Cain claims it was no accident Brian Xavier died, but Xavier’s death was accident; Marko just didn’t try to save him out of cowardice.
- Cain causes explosion in father’s lab at Xavier’s house. Marko dies saving both boys, reveals he knows of Xavier’s power. Even Xavier didn’t know.
- Xavier affirms his powers a result of radiation parents exposed to at nuclear research center before he was born.
- Xavier began to lose hair as a teenager; fully bald by high school, an effect of his mutation.
- Xavier excelled as student and quarterback/track star because of ESP power.
- Cain jealous of Xavier.
- Cain driving Xavier to college like a madman, accidentally over cliff; Xavier’s power helped save Cain. Xavier survived by creating a mental shield.
- Xavier and Cain fought in Korean War together.
- Ruby in Temple of Cyttorak transforms Cain Marko into the Juggernaut.
| Previous | #330 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| X-Men #11 | Reading order | X-Men #13 |
| X-Men #11 | X-Men | X-Men #13 |
