Chronological X-Men - Part 03 Review

Okay, part three of who knows how many it will end up being.

(The Uncanny)X-Men #7 The Return of the Blob-

Well the X-Men graduate which is a major thing on it’s own. It didn’t feel like they were ‘in school’ long, but that could be because when the series first came out it started as bi-monthly instead of being read over the course of three sittings. Magneto and The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants tries to recruit the Blob and it almost works but Magneto’s willingness to murder the Blob in an attempt to also kill the X-Men leaves the Blob not wanting to be apart of anything mutant related and he goes back to working at the circus/carnival. We get two introductions this time one in the form of a girl named Zelda who ends up dating Bobby in the future and this is the first time we see Cerebro, Charles’ mutant detection device. A few more major things happen here, Charles leaves on a quest and appoints Cyclops the leader of the X-Men, also Magneto’s willingness to murder even more people helps to deepen the growing rift between himself and Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

(The Uncanny)X-Men #8 The Uncanny Threat of … Unus, the Untouchable!-

Hank and Bobby save a boy who managed to climb to the top of a building only to have the crowd turn on them thinking they were only doing it to trick humanity into thinking they aren’t evil. Fed up with how he has been treated Beast quits the X-Men wanting nothing more to do with the quest for acceptance; he ends up using his mutant powers selfishly and becomes a pro-wrestler where he meets Unus the Untouchable who can repel anything that touches him. Magneto learns that Unus is a mutant and sends him on a trial mission, defeat an X-Man and he can join The Brotherhood. Hank builds a device that augments Unus’ powers which causes the X-Men to think Hank is working for Magneto also. Hank’s device increases Unus’ power so much that he can’t touch anything, he agrees to not work for Magneto and Hank reverses the devices powers and rejoins the X-Men. We get to see a little bit of what Charles is doing, he’s repelling down into some cave looking for a man called Lucifer.

(The Uncanny)X-Men #9 Enter, the Avengers-

 

Well this issue here has a whole lot of firsts: the first appearance of Lucifer, the first time the X-Men fight The Avengers, the first appearances of Captain America, Giant-Man, Iron-Man, Thor and Wasp; the first retcon and actually the second retcon too. In X-Men #1 Charles states that he was crippled in a childhood accident only now a mere 8 issues later it’s revealed that he was crippled in the middle of a heated battle with Lucifer. The second retcon isn’t that big of a deal actually it almost doesn’t even count considering Angel and Iron-Man meeting was sort of a ‘what if’ type story and doesn’t technically exist within the X-Men universe.

(The Uncanny)X-Men #10 The Coming of… Ka-Zar!-

 

This issue is a big on because it introduces Ka-Zar, and his pet Zabu as well as The Savage Land, which plays a larger role in the Universe as the years progress. Other than that, this issue wasn’t that big of a deal. The copy I read was riddled with mistakes, Jean is held prisoner with Angel but she calls him by Scott’s name was really the only mistake that took me out of the story, the others weren’t that big, just spelling errors so it’s not that bad – it just sticks out because of Ka-Zar’s speech pattern being the way it is you sort of expect more from the rest of the writing and characters.

(The Uncanny)X-Men #11 The Triumph of Magneto-

The X-Men and The Brotherhood battle over the fate of ‘the Stranger’ who everyone thinks he’s a mutant only it turns out he’s some space traveler who goes from planet to planet collecting ‘mutant species’ for study. I don’t know how I feel about this issue but it does serve some importance: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch officially leave the Brotherhood and head back to Europe, Mastermind is turned into stone by the Stranger, Magneto manages to defeat the X-Men but that’s not really a good thing because a result of the battle leads to the Stranger taking Magneto (and Toad) back with him into space.

(The Uncanny)X-Men #12 The Origin of Professor X!-

 

We meet the Juggernaut – Charles’ step-brother Cain Marko. Most of the story is told in flashbacks where we meet Dr. Kurt Marko and Sharon Xavier-Marko and a young Charles and Cain. We find out Kurt let Charles’ father die in an explosion so he could marry Sharon and gain her wealth and status. This is also the first issue where we see a version of Charles that can walk. The Juggernaut isn’t a mutant, he’s only magically augmented. There really isn’t much to say about this issue, it was good and I liked the use of flashbacks but I have a very hard time believing that Charles would be so afraid of his brother that he’d go to the lengths he does to try to stop him, yet he’s calm enough to essentially sit around and tell the X-Men a story.

(The Uncanny)X-Men #13 Where Walks the Juggernaut!-

The battle with Juggernaut contines and all of the X-Men, with the exception of Jean are severely injured in the battle. Charles reaches out with his mental powers for help and manages to contact The Teen Brigade (a bunch of kids listening to police scanners I guess,) Matt Murdock/Daredevil and the Human Torch. See this is why I counted Iceman meets Human Torch as cannon because Johnny has a richer history with the X-Men than Tony Stark does. Granted the meeting between Bobby and Johnny isn’t touched on here but you get the sense that it really did exist. I don’t know, I’m grasping at straws here mostly because I like Johnny a lot more than I do Tony so it’s harder to ignore.

(The Uncanny)X-Men #7 The Return of the Blob: B

(The Uncanny)X-Men #8 The Uncanny Threat of … Unus, the Untouchable!: B

(The Uncanny)X-Men #9 Enter, the Avengers: B-

(The Uncanny)X-Men #10 The Coming of… Ka-Zar!: C-

(The Uncanny)X-Men #11 The Triumph of Magneto: C+

(The Uncanny)X-Men #12 The Origin of Professor X!: A-

(The Uncanny)X-Men #13 Where Walks the Juggernaut!: A-