Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 1

Rating:
Summary: Not the first in the X-Men series, but still a good read
Review: Note: the previous reviewer's comments apply to ''Marvel Masterworks: X-Men, Vol. 1''. This volume collects ''Giant-Size X-Men #1'' plus X-Men #94-100 from 1975-76, written by Chris Claremont and penciled by Dave Cockrum. It introduces a new set of X-Men, including Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Banshee, though Cyclops, Jean Grey, and of course Professor Xavier are also featured, and all the old X-Men appear.

I am not an X-Men X-pert or a comics connoisseur, so I'll just give my impressions. I found the plots a bit more sophisticated than the early issues, but only a bit (a madman is threatening to launch the entire US nuclear ICBM arsenal, and the Avengers ''can't handle it right now''?) Several stories are carried over across multiple issues, giving them more time to develop, and there are hints of an overarching plot. Some of the characters show signs of -- well, perhaps not depth, but conflicting motivations at least. Cyclops in particular appears to be evolving into an anti-hero.

The writing is generally pretty lame -- the supposedly humorous banter leaves me cold, and the editorial comments are tiresome, though there is an amusing inside reference in #98 where ''Stan'' (Lee) and ''Jack'' (Kirby) appear for a couple of panels, commenting on the current story. And there is an occasional high point -- Scottish housekeeper Moira MacTaggart: ''Well, if sonic blasts'll do nae guid, let's see how yon kelpie fares ... against close-range machine-gun fire!''

The art is decent; there is somewhat more realism, especially regarding military hardware (the Air Force fighters are recognizably F-15's, for instance). The colors are as usual pretty garish -- I mean, if you were building a bunch of mutant-killing robots, what colors would you paint them? Ok, blue is not bad, but magenta? The layout occasionally departs from strictly rectangular frames, as in the awesome 2-page spread in the beginning of #97 depicting an alien space battle.

On the whole, I'd say this is solid entertainment, well worth the price. There are many references to earlier events, so if you're new to the series, you may want to start with the other ''X-Men Vol. 1'' and work your way up. Also, be warned -- the last story in the book ends on a cliffhanger, so you'll have to get ''Uncanny X-Men Vol. 2'' as well to find out what happens!


Rating:
Summary: Lee and Kirby introduce Marvels Merry Mutants, the X-Men
Review: When you go back and read the first ten issues of "The Uncanny X-Men," which are collected in this first volume of the Marvel Masterworks series devoted to Marvel's Merry Mutants, there are two things that stand out. The first are the various initial elements that were quickly jettisoned, such as Professor X having feelings for Jean Grey and Iceman looking like a walking snowman with boots. The second is that unlike most Marvel superhero titles this one had the advantage of coming up with the greatest villain in the very first issue. It took a while for Spider-Man to tangle with Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin while the Fantastic Four had to wait a while to meet up with Doctor Doom, but the X-Men got Magneto in issue #1.

These first ten issues are all scripted by Stan Lee with Jack Kirby drawing the first eight before doing just the layouts for Alex Toth and Werner Roth. The X-Men were clearly presented to be in the style of Fantastic Four (it says so in a little circle on the cover of issue #1) but with the teenage mutants attending the exclusive private school in New York's Westchester county there is also a touch of Spider-Man. The key defining element, of course, is the concept of genetic mutation, which in the atomic age became the explanation for Professor X (Charles Xavier), Cyclops (Scott Summer) with his power beams, the winged Angel (Warren Worthington III), the strong but agile Beast (Hank McCoy), the frozen Popsicle Iceman (Bobby Drake), and the telekinetic Marvel Girl (Jean Grey). Instead of the random acts of being bitten by a radioactive spider or being exposed to cosmic rays or gamma rays, mutant genes produced not only the original roster of the X-Men but the vast majority of their villains from these first ten issues:

#1 "X-Men" introduces us to the group and their first public mission against Magneto, who claims a military base in the name of homo superior, the first battle in the war between the mutants and the humans; #2 "No One Can Stop the Vanisher" has a villain who causes problems just by disappearing, which is something of a let down after Magneto (but one of the problems with a group of superheroes is coming up with a group of super villains to fight each week or a single villain who can actually take on the whole group); #3 "Beware of the Blob" introduces one of the less inspiring mutants (and once again has Professor X saving the day by himself); #4 "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" brings back Magneto with Mastermind, the Toad, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch as the ultimate counterpart to the X-Men; #5 "Trapped: One X-Man" continues the battle the two groups, which ends the training period for our teenage heroes. However, the battle with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants continues for the next couple of issues as Lee and Kirby continue to develop a main element of the comic with the good mutants versus the bad mutants.

#6 "Sub-Mariner Joins the Evil Mutants" pretty much gives it away with the title; #7 "The Return of the Blob" has the X-Men graduating in time for the Blob to join Magneto's group; #8 "The Uncanny Threat of Unus the Untouchable" introduces a mutant who cannot be touched (which sounds like a good power at the time); #9 "Enter, the Avengers" provides the obligatory crossover between Marvel titles, with the Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man, and Wasp version of the Avengers taking on the X-Men; and #10 "The Coming of Ka-Zar" introduces Marvel's version of Tarzan and his faithful saber-tooth tiger companion, Zabu, as the X-Men travel to the prehistoric land beneath the frozen wastes of Antarctica.

You have to get to "Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men, Volume 2" to get to the Juggernaut and the Sentinels, but with Magneto and the expanding roster of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants you have the key dynamic that dominated the first four years of the comic book, before it got really exotic with artists Jim Steranko and Neal Adams just as the series was going down the tubes. "The Uncanny X-Men" was not as good as "The Fantastic Four" in this period, but it was my second favorite title after Spider-Man, which reflects my sense of affinity with teenage characters at that point in my life and not the true quality of the comics I was reading. There was just something about a group that had to be together because of the fears the world had about mutants that made this one resonate.

Besides, with Magneto trying to turn the table on the homo sapiens, the X-Men always had a certain nobility because they did not act like they were superior to us ordinary mortals. With these color reprints of the first ten issues of "The Uncanny X-Men" the historical value outstrips the narrative quality of the stories, but I happen to think history counts for something, even with comic book superheroes.

Rating:
Summary: Lee and Kirby introduce Marvels Merry Mutants, the X-Men
Review: When you go back and read the first ten issues of "The Uncanny X-Men," which are collected in this first volume of the Marvel Masterworks series devoted to Marvel's Merry Mutants, there are two things that stand out. The first are the various initial elements that were quickly jettisoned, such as Professor X having feelings for Jean Grey and Iceman looking like a walking snowman with boots. The second is that unlike most Marvel superhero titles this one had the advantage of coming up with the greatest villain in the very first issue. It took a while for Spider-Man to tangle with Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin while the Fantastic Four had to wait a while to meet up with Doctor Doom, but the X-Men got Magneto in issue #1.

These first ten issues are all scripted by Stan Lee with Jack Kirby drawing the first eight before doing just the layouts for Alex Toth and Werner Roth. The X-Men were clearly presented to be in the style of Fantastic Four (it says so in a little circle on the cover of issue #1) but with the teenage mutants attending the exclusive private school in New York's Westchester county there is also a touch of Spider-Man. The key defining element, of course, is the concept of genetic mutation, which in the atomic age became the explanation for Professor X (Charles Xavier), Cyclops (Scott Summer) with his power beams, the winged Angel (Warren Worthington III), the strong but agile Beast (Hank McCoy), the frozen Popsicle Iceman (Bobby Drake), and the telekinetic Marvel Girl (Jean Grey). Instead of the random acts of being bitten by a radioactive spider or being exposed to cosmic rays or gamma rays, mutant genes produced not only the original roster of the X-Men but the vast majority of their villains from these first ten issues:

#1 "X-Men" introduces us to the group and their first public mission against Magneto, who claims a military base in the name of homo superior, the first battle in the war between the mutants and the humans; #2 "No One Can Stop the Vanisher" has a villain who causes problems just by disappearing, which is something of a let down after Magneto (but one of the problems with a group of superheroes is coming up with a group of super villains to fight each week or a single villain who can actually take on the whole group); #3 "Beware of the Blob" introduces one of the less inspiring mutants (and once again has Professor X saving the day by himself); #4 "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" brings back Magneto with Mastermind, the Toad, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch as the ultimate counterpart to the X-Men; #5 "Trapped: One X-Man" continues the battle the two groups, which ends the training period for our teenage heroes. However, the battle with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants continues for the next couple of issues as Lee and Kirby continue to develop a main element of the comic with the good mutants versus the bad mutants.

#6 "Sub-Mariner Joins the Evil Mutants" pretty much gives it away with the title; #7 "The Return of the Blob" has the X-Men graduating in time for the Blob to join Magneto's group; #8 "The Uncanny Threat of Unus the Untouchable" introduces a mutant who cannot be touched (which sounds like a good power at the time); #9 "Enter, the Avengers" provides the obligatory crossover between Marvel titles, with the Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man, and Wasp version of the Avengers taking on the X-Men; and #10 "The Coming of Ka-Zar" introduces Marvel's version of Tarzan and his faithful saber-tooth tiger companion, Zabu, as the X-Men travel to the prehistoric land beneath the frozen wastes of Antarctica.

You have to get to "Marvel Masterworks: Uncanny X-Men, Volume 2" to get to the Juggernaut and the Sentinels, but with Magneto and the expanding roster of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants you have the key dynamic that dominated the first four years of the comic book, before it got really exotic with artists Jim Steranko and Neal Adams just as the series was going down the tubes. "The Uncanny X-Men" was not as good as "The Fantastic Four" in this period, but it was my second favorite title after Spider-Man, which reflects my sense of affinity with teenage characters at that point in my life and not the true quality of the comics I was reading. There was just something about a group that had to be together because of the fears the world had about mutants that made this one resonate.

Besides, with Magneto trying to turn the table on the homo sapiens, the X-Men always had a certain nobility because they did not act like they were superior to us ordinary mortals. With these color reprints of the first ten issues of "The Uncanny X-Men" the historical value outstrips the narrative quality of the stories, but I happen to think history counts for something, even with comic book superheroes.