Hey.
I was now reading some "classic", pre-Claremont X-Men. And I am in a mood for sharing it with you, since it's awesome.
I will be starting with a classic, Stan Lee/Jack Kirby story, and then I will jump lots of issues to the story with the two Steranko issues, and then to the amazing Neal Adams/Roy Thomas run.
I might not finish it all since I might fall asleep in the process.
But first, let's start with (Uncanny) X-Men 14. Among us - stalk the Sentinels!
They just dont make covers like they used to.
>>84356676
Unfortunately, I only found 2 versions of #14 online
One is scanned from something that looks like the original, but has blurry and just-barely-readable text, and one is digital, probably from comixology.
I don't like digital versions of silver age stuff, since it has "unnatural" colors and it distracts me, always. So I am posting the blurry version. Sorry about that.
Anyway, X-Men are back from fight with Juggernaut, last issue.
>>84356744
For comparison (only one I will post), this is the page from the digital version.
The colors are just too bright. My opinion.
>>84356744
>>84356835
Even when the stories were not that good, "x-men as a menace" was present in the comics from very early.
Claremont then took it and made it an analogy to other minorities of course. But it is still present there
>>84356887
>>84356919
one of the more terrible things in the book was the "romance" between Cyclops and Marvel Girl
They had it in the thought bubbles, but never actually spoke about it like human beings.
Silver age stuff
>>84356792
Newsprint looks so much nicer and is way more durable then the thin paper smudgy ink crap of modern books. I wish wed go back to using it and drop the cost of books.
>>84356972
>>84356999
>>84357031
>I am an anthropologist
>I also build giant sentient robots
>>84357067
The beatnik coffee where Iceman and Beast date the two girls is a running theme in the early issues
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>>84357301
>>84357316
As you probably know, Jean only had telekinesis back then.
>>84357355
Next few issues I have only scanned from a reprint (seems like Marvel Masterworks to me). Unfortunately.
But at least you can actually read the letters I guess
>>84357402
Back into action!
>>84357417
>>84357431
>>84357447
>>84357459
>>84357474
|Well fuck, a glass cube.
>>84357498
>>84357524
>>84357540
Back in those day, Xavier powers also worked on artificial intelligence. And actually electronics in general. (And, in reverse, Magneto had some limited psychic powers.)
>>84357570
>>84357583
>>84357595
>>84357613
This is a pretty awkward way to cram in some origin story
But at least it's not long
>>84357641
Action again!
>>84357662
>>84357669
>>84357686
>>84357699
>>84357708
>>84357718
>>84357732
#16
>>84357792
Still Lee/Kirby combo
>>84357816
>>84357832
>>84357845
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>>84357887
That's pretty random
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>>84357915
>>84357928
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>>84357948
Can it happen? Can our X-Men be defeated?
Of course not, they have the power of magic pink stone!
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>>84357982
>>84358000
>>84358021
>>84358036
>>84358055
>>84358066
And that's the end of the first story I will post tonight.
The shadow, if you are interested, is actuallyMagneto, who was supposed to be on another planet I think, kidnapped by an evil alien. But he got better.
Now we jump a few issues and years later, to...
>>84358099
...issue 49.
Who dares defy - the DEMI-MEN?
>>84358126
Is anyone still here?
It will really only get better from now on.
>>84358143
if anyone bumps this I will continue. I don't want to post just for myself :/
>>84358303
Sorry Anon, but not only is Silver Age X-Men a chore to begin with, most of us got that merit badge with X-Anon.
>>84358303
bump
>>84358352
>>84358377
Hey, great
Yeah, most of Silver Age X-Men is trash. But it gets better.
Well now, #49.
(meta-)context of the story: the book didn't sell well. They felt they had to do something, so they killed Charles Xavier in a terrible Obelisk story (he got better) and they broke the team. They intended to have each issue to be intended for just some part of the team.
But then they made a story of them together again.
>>84358480
>>84358497
>>84358508
Well... it takes a while to get better. But it does!
>>84358521
>>84358534
>>84358550
Oh. Not only is Xavier "dead", Magneto is also "dead", from an earlier Avengers story.
>>84358574
>>84358585
>>84358596
>>84358606
>>84358627
Oh, on the last page, you can see Jean already having some psychic powers
It was taught to her by Xavier before he "died". (Later it was retconned that she had them all the time, just dormant.)
>>84358664
>>84358688
>>84358701
>>84358708
And this is the famous #50 cover. By Steranko, who is also drawing the next two issues. Awesomely so.
He also created the X-Men logo for this issue. From 2006 SDCC panel with him:
>Steranko had turned Nick Fury into a popular character who warranted his own series, then moved onto Captain America, before was asked to draw “X-Men” because the book had been late.
>“At first, I didn’t want to work on the X-Men because of all the five-sided panels. I couldn’t relate to the characters, I didn’t know how to make it work, so I asked to work incognito on the book. But I signed my name to my first three covers. And that logo they had was awful. Logos were trademarked, but they let me redesign it, just to get rid of that awful logo. I never got paid for it.”
>“That logo’s still being used today on the books,” said Spurlock. “If Jim got paid a royalty for everytime they used it…”
>>84358770
And the book gets instantly better with his art
>>84358786
First part of 2-page spread
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>>84358879
based Steranko
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>>84358928
Who knew.
>>84358941
>>84358955
>>84358967
Magneto of Silver Age did not have the Auschwitz background, yet. He was basically pure evil.
>>84358988
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>>84359155
And now, a conclusion, that is, unfortunately, just too silly.
>>84359186
Steranko is off the book again, it's being done by Don Heck, and it's a step down.
They still use his logo though
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>>84359441
The promised "Cyclops - wanted dead or alive" story doesn't come the next issue.
The next issue - 53 - is an one-off filler story with Blastaar and X-Men, and it ends it Blastaar electrocuting himself - because not even intergalactic conquerors can step in liquid and touch electricity.
It's not terrible, but since 54 is where the next multi-issue story starts, I will cut right next to it.
>>84359519
>>84359546
First time Alex appears
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>>84359784
Still not the Neal Adams issues... but almost
>>84359819
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>>84360151
ok, and now here we go. The last string of greatness before the cancellation - Neal Adams/Roy Thomas X-Men
I love this run
>>84360223
>>84360239
The art is just so not 60s
>>84360443
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>>84360480
those layouts
those pencils
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>>84360539
aaaa
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>>84360632
dayum
>>84360652
THE SENTINELS
LIVE
>>84360689
this is only second time Sentinels appeared, after the first story I posted
And what an appearance!
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yisss
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>>84361086
It was established in past X-Men issues that Angel used to have a solo career as a super-hero, even when it wasn't covered in any extra book
>>84361114
>>84361138
This is the part of the story that confuses me.
Why the hell would Trask help equip Havoc and give him a costume? To what purpose?
But it's a Roy Thomas story after all, things must move quickly...
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>>84361340
Awkward
>>84356676
Hey OP just a heads up that X-Anon already storytimed the whole run in May or so so you might not have much of an audience.
>>84361381
We got Unfunnies and Trouble storytimed once per month, why not something good
But I really need to sleep now. So I will continue tomorrow I guess. Sorry
>>84357816
Was this a common design or was Apocalypse's first appearance a reference to this?
>>84361370
The judge's true purpose? The Sentinels must 'destroy' all mutants in the area, then Larry Trask dies to? Real old testament stuff. I like seeing this work again, Adam's great art and wordy as Thomas can be, his dialog was better than most at the time
