#thexmenproject

[yourfriendryanj]

X-Men 7 (1964) Art by: Jack Kirby, Chic Stone and Art Simek

Oh, look!  The Blob is Back! And The Evil Mutants are trying to recruit him.  Magneto walking around the carnival and not being noticed is pretty funny.  I like that Blob is back in the mix and is just flat out a villain by the end.

[yourfriendryanj]

The X-Men 4 & 5 (1964) Art by: Jack Kirby, Paul Reinman and Art Simek

The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants appears!  But here they’re just called The Evil Mutants, so you know where they stand.  Scarlet Witch’s powers are basically just she points at things and shit falls over or breaks.  I like how Quicksilver looks in Quick Mode.  Toad just jumps around and Mastermind looks like a Hammer Horror character?  I have no idea why Scarlet Witch is green on the second cover.

From the beginning they say Wanda and Pietro are guilted into serving Magneto after he saved her from an angry mob.  I honestly don’t remember the plot much on this one, but mostly just enjoyed the fight scenes with so many enemies against the X-Men.  This may be the series where Xavier weirdly admits to being in love with Jean in a thought bubble.  They seem to have dropped this thread, but I think they pick it up much later, definitely in the Ultimate X-Men run.

[yourfriendryanj]

X-Men 11 (1965) Art by: Jack Kirby, Chic Stone and Sam Rosen

The Stranger!  Apparently an Elder of The Universe, like the Collector or the Beyonder.  Never seen this guy before, but basically just seems like an old man who can grow?  A the end he steals Toad and Magneto and takes them to outer space and everyone just seems kind of cool with that.  When Magneto reappears, no one asks too many questions.

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch finally break off from the Evil Mutants, but go their own way instead of joining the X-Men, presumably to be Avengers.  Weirdly I just looked that up and apparently they join the Avengers in a 1963 issue?  Huh...

[yourfriendryanj]

The X-Men 24 (1966) Art by: Werner Roth, Dick Ayers and Sam Rosen

This is the Locust.  He makes giant bugs.  I love him

[yourfriendryanj]

X-Men 6 (1964) Art by: Jack Kirby, Chic Stone and Art Simek

The Sub-Mariner joins the Evil Mutants! Magneto briefly convinces Namor to fight for him while he’s having a temper tantrum and has left Atlantis.  First indication that Namor is a mutant, something that I remember coming up in the Utopia series and AvX.  Very cool to see it so early.

“Also featuring: Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch!”  Well, eat shit, Toad & Mastermind, I guess...

Also, I like Jeans new mask

[yourfriendryanj]

X-Men 19 1966 Art by: Werner Roth, Dick Ayers and Sam Rosen

Mimic is another character I was excited to check out.  One of my first big comic collecting series was EXILES, in which an alternat version of Mimic was a hero.  I really liked this character and what they did with him.  He’s got a werido design I love in this.  I also like that he just picked up other people’s abilities when he was close.

Also, weird how often they bend over backwards to make X-Men early enemies NOT be mutants.

[yourfriendryanj]

 The X-Men 22 & 23 (1966) Art by: Werner Roth, Dick Ayers and Sam Rosen

Love the old throwback villains in this one.  Not sure how Marvel got away with a villain named Scarecrow who used Fear Gas, but...

Every single one of these characters could shoot a beam or gas.  Porcupine shot gas out of his quills.  Unicorn had a ray on his head.  Strange...

OH, also Professor X has a giant robot named Colosso and creates a belt that helps him walk...

But, the weirder the throwback character, the better.  That’s my motto.

[yourfriendryanj]

X-Men 21 & 22 (1966) Art by: Werner Roth, Dick Ayers and Sam Rosen

Missing the Jack Kirby covers lately.  Lucifer is back and we learn the surprising story of how he crippled Professor X...HE DROPED A ROCK ON HIM!!!

Also, there’s some robots and boy this was boring. Still waiting for Lucifer to become an interesting villain, which may never happen