Featuring: X-Men
Release: November 3, 1964
Cover: January 1965
12 cents
Savagely written by: Stan Lee
Supremely drawn by: Jack Kirby
Superbly inked by: Chic Stone
Stoically lettered by: S. Rosen
20 pages
| Previous | #295 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Avengers #12 | Reading order | Tales to Astonish #64 |
| X-Men #8 | X-Men | X-Men #10 |
The cover promises the return of Professor X. He left the team in issue 7, leaving Cyclops in charge. We haven’t seen him since, except for a brief appearance in issue 8 where he and Cyclops have a telepathic chat. Anyway, now it’s issue 9 and we get the long-awaited return of Professor X.
Also, the X-Men meet the Avengers!
Of course, they fight.
Angel can’t seem to lift Thor’s hammer.
The fight probably could have been avoided by Professor X explaining the situation telepathically. Which he does eventually.
Why not do it sooner? Well, I think Lee and Kirby wanted to see the superheroes fight, to be honest. I guess the excuse was he was too busy fighting Lucifer.
To bring the battle to a close, Thor shouts “Avengers assemble!” They often have a battle cry of some sort, usually at the battle’s beginning rather than end. Thor is likely the one to shout it. Usually it’s varied. But this is the second time Thor has used this particular phrase.
The Avengers agree to leave the situation in the care of the X-Men and go on their way. Too many cooks can spoil a broth.
The Avengers cause Cyclops to reflect that humanity is worth defending. While I’m sure it’s intended as a nice sentiment, there’s an edge to that. It suggests that Cyclops sees himself as separate from humanity, and that he is undecided how he feels about helping humans.
We meet Lucifer, a weird villain in that Lee was setting him up to be a big bad for the X-Men, another Magneto, basically. But unlike Magneto, he was forgotten.
They spent the last 2 issues setting up this one. Professor X had to leave on a mysterious mission in issue 7. In issue 8, we learn he is on the hunt for Lucifer. Now we learn Lucifer was responsible for crippling Xavier in their previous encounter years earlier.
While the X-Men/Avengers fight is cool, the best part of the issue is certainly Professor X’s wheelchair contraption. We glimpsed it last issue, but now get to see it in all its glory.
As we’ve discussed, early Marvel has a large number of characters with disabilities and is ready to show how capable they are. Professor X can’t use his legs, but can go spelunking in search of a super-villain to battle.
We see a new aspect of Professor X’s telepathic powers. He can direct them against complex machinery as well as human brains. That makes some sort of sense, I guess.
In the end, after disabling his bomb set to destroy the entire world, the X-Men let Lucifer go. I’d be dumbfounded if this weren’t a well-worn trope at this point. Dr. Strange always lets Mordo go to scheme again. Iron Man just left Mandarin after his first defeat. Professor X doesn’t usually do this– usually he messes with the villains’ minds or memories, often Clockwork Orange-style. That backfired with Blob, so maybe he’s thought better of the strategy.
The excuse is that they can’t kill him and can’t hold him. Then maybe call back the Avengers? Maybe they can help detain Lucifer. And for a man so against killing, Professor X was really quick to pull out a gun and just start shooting at Lucifer earlier.
The narrator claims only Xavier and Magneto can do this mental projection trick. False. All the sorcerers like Dr. Strange can do pretty similar stuff with astral projections. The Avengers and Namor have technology to do it. Magical Asgardians like Loki do it. The Watcher does it. Almost everybody can project a mental image of themselves, Narrator.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 54/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men vol. 1. You can also find this story in X-Men Epic Collection vol. 1: Children of the Atom. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Professor X
- Cyclops
- Iceman
- Marvel Girl
- Angel
- Beast
- Thor
- Iron Man
- Captain America
- Giant-Man
- Wasp
- Lucifer
Minor characters:
- Matilda (ship passenger)
- Samuel (ship passenger)
Story notes:
- X-Men in civilian guise aboard ship passing through North Atlantic.
- Cyclops uses a full intensity power blast on an iceberg to save ship… it weakens him, leaves his mouth dry.
- Professor X has tracked Lucifer to a cave inside a mountain in the Balkans.
- Lucifer was responsible for crippling Professor X.
- Thor’s hammer detected “evil impulses”, which led the Avengers to the Balkans.
- Giant thermal bomb tuned to Lucifer’s heartbeat. Will blow up world if he dies.
- Iron Man references FF#31.
- Thor shouts “Avengers assemble” for the second time. First seen in Avengers #10
- Thor is chairman this issue, about to be Cap’s turn.
- The bomb is aimed at Antarctica.
| Previous | #295 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Avengers #12 | Reading order | Tales to Astonish #64 |
| X-Men #8 | X-Men | X-Men #10 |
