Your Friend Ryan J

Game Designer, Amateur Podcaster, Devoted Husband, Buffalo Wing Enthusiast, TREMORS Apologist, Pro Wrestling Fan, Star Wars Aficionado, and a "Fellow of Infinite Buffoonery..."

[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]

 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

[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 17 (1964) Art by: Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers and Sam Rosen

The X-Men 18 (1965) Art by: Werner Roth, Dick Ayers and Sam Rosen

I love how the first issue was like “Who could be the hidden menace stalking the X-Men?!?”  And it’s Magneto!!! What a surprise!

Apparently he just jumped through a portal to get back to Earth from wherever the Stranger took him?  Shrug.

Read this one a while ago, don’t remember a ton about it.   

[yourfriendryanj]

The X-Men 14 (1965) Art by: Jack Kirby, Wally Wood and Sam Rosen

The X-Men 15 & 16 (1965) Art by: Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers and Sam Rosen

I was under the impression that the Sentinels didn’t show up until the All-New All-Different era.  I associate them so heavily with the 90′s series.  They look pretty goofy here, and the fact that Bolivar Trask is an anthropologist who apparently built living AI in his spare time?  Ridiculous!

A 3-issue series in the era of thought balloons and every so much dialogue is too much here.  

[yourfriendryanj]

The X-Men 12 (1965) Art by: Jack Kirby, Frank Giacoia and Sam Rosen

The X-Men 13 (1965) Art by: Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott and Sam Rosen

NOW WE’RE TALKING!  I love Juggernaut!  I love when he’s a bad guy, I love when he’s a good guy, and he’s one character I’m excited to track through this journey.  The way they hold back revealing what he looks like for most of the first issue is so good!  And the fact that the X-Men just plant mortars and grenades in their front lawn to stop him.

So far he’s been the most believable threat to the team and I’m excited to see more of him!

[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 10 (1965) Art by: Jack Kirby, Chic Stone, Sam Rosen and Art Simek

Ka-Zar!  Pronounced Kay-Zer, apparently?  This is character I see in a lot of random Marvel stuff (Marvel Snap, The Ultimates), but don’t know much about him.  I guess the Savage Land is in Antarctica in the 60s?  I don’t know that I ever thought about where it existed.

[yourfriendryanj]

X-Men 9 (1964) Art by: Jack Kirby, Chic Stone and Sam Rosen

SUPER HERO BATTLE ROYALE!  Of course the Avengers show up and Thor just starts fighting everyone.  Also, it takes like every Avenger to convince this one motorist to get out of there because things might be dangerous.  That’s the kind of stake we were looking at in 1964.

Also, apparently this Lucifer character put Professor X in a wheelchair? Not the story I heard.  Also he might be an alien?  And his powers are very vague?  I’ve never heard of this guy, but he’s not a very interesting concept.

[yourfriendryanj]

X-Men 8 (1964) Art by: Jack Kirby, Chic Stone and Sam Rosen

Has there ever been a person named Unus?  And did this go out before anyone had a chance to say “That looks like Anus?”

I feel like this is such a 60′s power that will be really examined and made interesting in the future.  Technically he’s not super strong or anything, you just can’t touch him (MCHammer.gif).  Weird bag guy, but much better than Vanisher.

[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]

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]

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 3 (1963) Art by: Jack Kirby, Sol Brodsky and Sam Rosen

I love the Blob!  I love fat characters that are also invulnerable and strong.  I like that this group of teenagers originally went to recruit this cigar chomping 30-40 year old?  Not sure if that age is accurate, but that’s the vibe he gives.  Also, they kinda draw him like a brick house, not like a tub of lard.  I dug this one.

Professor X saves the day by erasing Blob’s memory, but they pretty much say at the end “Yeah, that’s not gonna work for long...”

[yourfriendryanj]

X-Men 2 (1963) Art by: Jack Kirby and Paul Reinman

They hit the ball out of the park with Magneto in issue 1.  Then they follow it up with this very strange costume in issue 2.  Can’t wait for the Gay Agenda to take over the mutants so we can get some designer looks on these guys!

Vanisher’s whole thing is he’s basically a mob boss.  He hires goons to help him.  He steals government secrets and blackmails the President for like 10 million dollars.  He also constantly announces right before he disappears, yet everyone is shocked when it happens almost every time.  I’m into the 20s on these issues and I don’t think he’s come back yet.  What a dork.

[yourfriendryanj]

The X-Men 1 (1963)  Art by: Jack Kirby and Sol Brodsky

Presenting: THE X-MEN PROJECT

In which I make the huge mistake of attempting to read the bulk of Marvel’s Mutant content from the beginning!  Primarily following this list, I’ll be reading them chronologically by release, not by narrative.  I’ll also be posting covers and giving general thoughts

Right now, I’m enjoy the art more than anything, and the retro nostalgic value of the story telling.  The actual plot is very plodding, and I’m skimming these stories more than anything.  Also, all the X-Men are horny for Jean, Beast refers to hear as “Female,” and no one mopes more than Cyclops.

It’s neat seeing where they came from.  For the first few issues everyone seemed very “Yay!  Mutants!” before they started hating and fearing them.  Also, Beast was originally written as a dumb jock and they just changed it in like issue three.  Also, Magneto apparently also has some mind powers?  Comics are weird.