Featuring: X-Men
Release: October 5, 1965
Cover: December 1965
12 cents
Writer: Smilin’ Stan Lee
Designer: Jolly Jack Kirby
Penciller: Jovial Jay Gavin
Inker: Darlin’ Dick Ayers
Letterer: Adorable Artie Simek
20 pages
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We can only guard the human race by becoming its master! Humans are too weak, too foolish to govern themselves! Henceforth, we shall rule!!
We pick up with Trask a prisoner of the Sentinels he created to hunt mutants, with the X-Men laying futile siege to the Sentinels’ underground layer.
For a long while, the tagline had been “The most unusual teen-agers of all time!”. They’ve changed it, deemphasizing the youthful nature of the team, now referring to them as “the most unusual fighting team of all time!” This recalls the original tagline, “the strangest super-heroes of all time!” The regular tagline about teen-agers first appeared in issue 3.
The Beast is confused about Xavier’s capabilities, unsure where his confidence comes from.
Marvel Girl refers to herself as “hardly a damsel in distress”. A nice bit of anti-sexism by Stan Lee, better known for the opposite.
“Have you forgotten why I’m called Marvel Girl?”
X-Men end up prisoners of the Sentinels.
We learn the secret of Master Mold, an uber-Sentinel that can create other Sentinels. (Or perhaps only Trask can create other Sentinels; the comic is confusing on this point.) The mystery of the Sentinel that collapsed last issue remains unresolved.
Trask uses Pyscho-probe to reveal Beast’s secrets. Trask immediately realizes he was wrong about mutants. And this gives us a chance to meet Hank’s parents and learn his origin.
His father had been an atomic scientist. His odd physique made him a target of bullying. His strength and agility led his classmates to fear and hate him.
In college, he is briefly a football star until his secret is uncovered and people turn against him.
It’s then that Xavier shows up to recruit him, offering a chance to use his unique gifts to help humanity. The “recruiting scene” will inspire many such scenes to come for the X-Men over the decades.
The Sentinels threaten to destroy a city unless Trask helps them build a Sentinel army to control the world.
We’ll pick up here next time.
Rating: ★★★½, 63/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: X-Men vol. 2.
Characters:
- Angel/Warren Worthington III
- Beast/Henry “Hank” McCoy
- Cyclops/Scott “Cyke” Summers
- Professor X/Charles Xavier
- Marvel Girl/Jean Grey
- Iceman/Bobby Drake
- Bolivar Trask
- Sentinels
- Master Mold
- B
- A
- L
- T
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 6
- 17
- Mr. McCoy
- Mrs. McCoy
Story notes:
- Marvel Girl levitates herself out of danger.
- Iceman executes Plan “G”– Build an ice glider.
- Visor lifts so Cyclops can fire. Saw similar panel sequence last issue.
- Sentinels capture Beast and Iceman, so Master Mold can study them.
- Trask created the Master Mold, who had the ability to make more Sentinels.
- Sentinels programmed to guard the human race; they can do that best by being the masters.
- Professor X can strike a Sentinel’s brain with a bolt of pure mental energy, but cannot control them.
- Sentinel not programmed to deal with new arrivals–limitations of programming.
- Origin of Beast: Beast as child picked on because of anthropoid physique; bullies saw him leap to avoid car; now feared and hated him. He later won scholarship to college. Good at football because of agility; got too enthusiastic and kicked off shoes. Fans labelled him a “Beast”. Professor X offers to train Beast to be a benefactor for humankind.
- Xavier’s astral image composed of electrified thought waves, vulnerable to Master Mold’s micro-electric blasts.
| Previous | #402 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| X-Men #14 | Reading order | X-Men #16 |
| X-Men #14 | X-Men | X-Men #16 |
