Featuring: X-Men
Release: January 4, 1966
Cover: March 1966
12 cents
A fair story by: Stan Lee
Adequate art by: Jay Gavin
Tolerable inking by: Dick Ayers
The world’s greatest lettering by: Artie Simek (Marvel’s birthday boy of the month)
20 pages
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| X-Men #17 | Reading order | Amazing Spider-Man #35 |
| X-Men #17 | X-Men | X-Men #19 |
The final X-Man– the youngest– and weakest of them all! He dares to challenge me!!!
The joke in the credits is a reversal. Usually, Artie is the punchline. Here, everyone else is.
Art Simek was born January 1916. He turned 50 the month this comic was released. He would unfortunately pass away too young at age 59.
The birthday note gives us a bit of insight into production. Stan knew when this comic would be released to give the birthday wish. The comic is cover-dated March 1966, and was likely prepared a few months prior to January 1966, but Stan knew it would go on sale in January.
As Lee brings in more and more new (to Marvel not the industry) artists, we see a similar pattern. At first he doesn’t trust their storytelling abilities, though he trusts their draftsmanship. So Kirby does layouts for the comic, and the artist fills in the art. That has happened with Werner Roth for the last several issues. Kirby laid out the story. Roth filled in the art. Now Stan is ready to give Roth a proper go, laying out the story himself. Stan is still the credited writer, so it’s at least plausible he’s giving Roth guidance on what the story is about.
Roth had the setup. Magneto had defeated the X-Men and put them unconscious in a balloon headed to space, where they would suffocate and die. Why not just kill them? This inefficient deathtrap is a villain cliché, but not all that common a one in these stories. It was common in the cliffhangers for serial films of the 1940s, including the superhero films. And it will be very common for the cliffhanger endings of a TV series which debuts this month.
Only Iceman remains free, but in critical care in the hospital, where Dr. Thomas is testing a new sulfa drug, Iceman’s only hope.
Magneto has captured Angel’s parents. That they gave birth to a mutant makes their genes of interest to him, and he plans to use their genes to clone an army of mutant slaves.
Just how did Magneto escape from the Stranger? Magneto was free to roam Stranger’s planet, as the planet was the prison, but Magneto was able to use his powers to make an old spaceship functional and return to Earth with it.
Toad attempts to join Magneto, but Magneto kicks him out of the craft, stranding him on Stranger’s planet. Remember this scene, for Toad will one day get his comeuppance.
Now it’s Iceman, the youngest X-Man, alone against Magneto. He stands no chance, but he buys the X-Men enough time to free themselves.
Professor X summons the Stranger to deal with Magneto. You would think Professor X would be opposed to the idea of an intergalactic zoo for mutants, but I guess he makes an exception for Magneto.
I think this page makes an example of where Roth is not the storyteller that Kirby is. Kirby’s comics all read pretty well just by looking at the art. But this page relies heavily on the dialogue to tell you what is happening. Looking to the art, we see Professor X pointing while Magneto looks at him. We don’t see Magneto’s face, so we don’t get his reaction to what the Professor is pointing at. And we don’t see him again. We do see two streaks of light two panels later, which dialogue tells us is Magneto’s magna-car (which we never saw) and the Stranger in pursuit. The art makes none of this at all clear.
And since it’s page 19 of 20, it wouldn’t surprise me if Roth just realized he was running out of room and needed Magneto dealt with, the clones dealt with, and Warren’s parents seen to before space ran out.
Of course, for the entirety of Roth’s career prior to this, it was the writer’s job to tell him the story, not the other way around
Speaking of Xavier’s questionable ethics, it’s a mind-wipe for the Worthingtons, to pretend this is all just a normal school.
It’s January 1966. I like to take a quick peek at the newsstand every month to see what Brand Echh publishers are up to. But this month I’d first like to look to television. A character from the Distinguished Competition gets a new television series this month which would prove popular, and help make the lead character a universally recognized icon of pop culture.
Now for the comics. Batman gets a reprint of his 1950s 3-D comic and a Batman record with accompanying comic. In addition to the four monthly titles he normally appears in. Perhaps of note, Batman battles the Riddler in both his monthly comic and the premiere of the TV series.
- 3-D Batman #1
- Batman #1 (Record comic)
- Batman #179
- Detective Comics #349
- Justice League of America #43
- World’s Finest Comics #156
Elsewhere in comicdom…
- Herbie #16 (ACG)
- Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica #123 (Archie)
- Career Girl Romances #33 (Charlton)
- Thunderbolt #51 (Charlton)
- Get Smart #1 (Dell)
- Hogan’s Heroes #1 (Dell)
- Flipper #1 (Gold Key)
- Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #306 (Gold Key)
- Wendy the Good Little Witch #35 (Harvey)
- Weird #2 (MF Enterprises)
- Tippy Teen #3 (Tower)
- Blazing Combat #3 (Warren)
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 56/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: X-Men vol. 2.
Characters:
- Professor X
- Angel
- Marvel Girl
- Cyclops
- Beast
- Magneto
- Mr. Worthington
- Mrs. Worthington
- Dr. Thomas
- Toad
- Stranger
Story notes:
- X-Men in balloon headed to space.
- Magneto lifts entire mansion. He almost crushes it but decides to use it as a headquarters.
- Magneto will no longer work with others, and will conquer the world by himself.
- Magneto destroys Cerebro.
- Magneto can hypnotize people with magnetic attraction.
- Dr. Thomas uses laser-induced hypodermic to apply new sulfa drug.
- They think Iceman is delirious, but he can mentally sense the X-Men’s peril.
- Professor X’s powerful counter ego strains the distorter; he mentally wakens Beast and Marvel Girl, who are merely dazed.
- Knowing they gave birth to a mutant, Magneto analyzes the Worthingtons’ body cells to duplicate them and create additional mutants. His goal is an army of mutant slaves.
- Sulfa drug helps, but Iceman is weak. Professor X mentally guides him.
- Jean able to stop gondola from rising, but can’t force it down.
- Professor X scans Magneto’s memory.
- Flashback to Stranger’s prison planet with Magneto and Toad.
- Magneto describes his time on Stranger’s planet as “months”.
- Magneto kicks Toad out of ship and abandons him on Stranger’s world.
- Magneto almost succeeded in creating his slave army.
- Cyclops creates leak in Gondola to allow them to fall while Jean slows their fall.
- Professor X sends his thoughts out to the infinite to contact the Stranger.
- Magneto escapes in Magna-Car with Stranger in pursuit.
- Process stopped before first mutant emerges.
- Worthingtons remember nothing about what happened. They all have dinner.
| Previous | #470 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| X-Men #17 | Reading order | Amazing Spider-Man #35 |
| X-Men #17 | X-Men | X-Men #19 |
