Thread by @cracksh0t

All right--you asked for me to read every issue of Uncanny X-Men, one issue per day, and I am gonna deliver. Kicking it off with issue one. #JDWUXM

I do think it's funny it was advertised as being like FF. I don't think of FF and X-Men as being similar at all, but it was the same creative team. I guess I will see how similar it felt back then. #JDWUXM

ALSO--I don't remember there being stories about Angel flying around with a bazooka, but we should definitely do that more often? #JDWUXM

One thing at annoys me about this cover is that it's the first time we ever see Magneto, and he's already overpowered. He's able to stop Cyclops' eyebeams... with magnetism? I kind of hate that. I want him to be simpler. He is magneto, he should mostly control metal. #JDWUXM

Though in their defense, they do bill him as the earth's most powerful super villain so yeah, he's powerful. I imagine Magneto fans are torn on that blurb--it rightfully bills him as THE MOST POWERFUL in his first mention ever! But it also explicitly calls him a villain. #JDWUXM

Oh man, if I say this much about just the cover, this is going to take forever. I am going to try not to tweet this much. #JDWUXM

Cyclops, kicking off his very first appearance by kissing the professors butt. WHAT A TEACHER'S PET!

Also, Iceman referring to his "frosting power" which I just think is hilarious.
#JDWUXM

OK, finished! It was a fun enough start--it definitely feels like a VERY different book than the one we ended up all falling for, though. You can feel that they are just winging it, a lot of the bits and pieces are not in place where they will end up. #JDWUXM

That IS like FF, in that FF #1 was not what the book ended up being like. Oh, and on the FF front, I feel like Stan wrote Beast 100% just the Thing except not made of rock or ugly yet. Didn't feel very Beast at all yet. #JDWUXM

Cyclops ONLY called Slim, in this issue, unless I missed a stray Scott in there. They introduce him to Jean as Slim, and she immediately calls him Slim. We use that SO rarely now, and it was what they called him ALL the time. #JDWUXM

Speaking of Jean's arrival, the boys are all immediately letches. Though in the previous panel, Xavier did preface her arrival by saying how she was good looking. Nice work, 1960s. Interestingly, Iceman not interested in a girl arriving. #JDWUXM

Magneto does not use "dust writing" nearly enough anymore. #JDWUXM

AAAAAND, here is the most embarrassing panel in the issue--Magneto names his people Homo Superior while his own word balloon covers him up completely. This gets me every time I see it. #JDWUXM

So much of this issue is obsessed with precise timing. The major theme of Professor X's training in this issue is getting his students to do things in the EXACT time frame he states. #JDWUXM

I guess, knowing what we know now, that he is currently working on an incredibly elaborate plan with Moira to shape the entire world for the benefit of mutantkind, his obsession with timing and getting his students to do exactly what he says makes sense. #JDWUXM

I love this bit--the X-Men hear about an emergency, have to change out of three piece suits which they fold and hang up, then get into a Rolls Royce and drive to the airport. They are lucky Magneto was still in the same STATE as Cape Citadel by the time they arrived. #JDWUXM

Also, Xavier's admonition to them is "Review your powers!" So, they are riding in a Rolls Royce just... thinking about their abilities? Angel just... thinking about flying methods? Beast imagining acrobatics? Cyclops thinking about blast techniques? #JDWUXM

Again, overall, this was fun. I look forward to seeing how it changes over the years, because it's definitely not there yet. #JDWUXM

PS--I might only do this on work days. We will see. #JDWUXM

All right! Time for issue #2 of X-Men! And the X-Men go from Magneto in issue #1, their greatest foe right off the bat... to The Vanisher, an also-ran villain with a TERRIBLE costume. Seriously, why is he dressed as a pink cobra? #JDWUXM

It was a much more innocent time for Earth-616, a time when people's MINDS WERE BLOWN by a teleporter. It was weird to read now when we have seem 20,000 stories about teleporters, so things we take 100% in stride are treated as big reveals. #JDWUXM

There's a sequence where Vanisher literally tells some cops he is going to rob a bank, they jokingly watch him go do it, the guards GIVE HIM THE MONEY, saying like "We can stop him at any time, this nutball!"... but they can't because he VANISHES!!! It was pretty ridic. #JDWUXM

Meanwhile, "hated and feared" isn't a thing yet. #JDWUXM

It's funny actually, because while people seem to love the X-Men just because they are heroes and they just love super heroes... the baddies very much talk about humans with disdain, saying mutants are superior and humans should serve them, etc. #JDWUXM

So while I don't think the thing that became the central metaphor of the X-Men for decades is in place yet, you can definitely see the seeds in there. #JDWUXM

A very Stan thing--in the issue where he introduces a character with teleportation powers, he calls Jean's telekinesis teleportation. #JDWUXM

More normal folks liking the X-Men, but I mainly grabbed this because of Iceman turning work gloves into ice cubes? I think this is the real root of mutants being hated, Iceman pranking the working man constantly. #JDWUXM

Never let it be said that Professor X hid the fact that he was a creep/jerk. #JDWUXM

What I love about this moment is that Vanisher demands his ransom "tax free". If he had not done that, they would have given him the ten mill and then hit him for tax evasion... but now he is totally in the clear, other than the treason and blackmail. #JDWUXM

Issue two of X-Men, and the solution to the plot is Professor X completely screwing with Vanisher's mind. Issue 2. Second story ever. Professor X rewrite's the villain's personality. And no one has ANY problem with this. #JDWUXM

I enjoyed this issue, but in a really campy way. Vanisher was ludicrous and I was ahead of the story at every step because it was written before we became savy to all the concepts it contains... but that itself was a fun experience. #JDWUXM

And the characters are gaining a teaspoon of personality per issue, so now Warren has a name if not much else. Beast is a smidge less Ben Grimm but still not himself. But yeah--I am feeling good about this, so far. #JDWUXM

OK--Issue #3! The characters are starting to come together in this one, while the plots are remaining super silly, this one introducing the Blob.

Oh--and notice that the cover credits the creators as a selling point! #JDWUXM

Opening splash is a weird Cyclops image as he is practicing without his visor...and also his blasts are not red. I assume that's a mistake, but there it is. On the bright side, he is officially Scott Summers in this one, with no mention of Slim. #JDWUXM

I am happy to say that Beast finally came together as a character in this one, becoming the Hank we know and love.

Yes, "and love"--Beast is great. #JDWUXM

Now the O5 are established as their starting characters--Cyclops the serious hard-worker, Beast the brainy fun-lover, Iceman the clowning youngster, Angel the egotistical playboy, and Jean... well, sadly back then, "the girl they all loved" counted as a character. #JDWUXM

And yeah, I do mean ALL loved. The creepiness begins this issue. I want to give it the benefit of the doubt and imagine it's a fatherly love, but... it doesn't read that way in that thought balloon. #JDWUXM

Speaking of Beast, here's a bit of continuity I think has never come back. Anyone remember another reference?
#JDWUXM

So... Blob is working as a carnival freak. If you can make him move, you get a hundred bucks... but his power means no one can ever make him move. Even getting shot can't move or even hurt him. #JDWUXM

The X-Men invite him to the mansion and teach him he is a mutant, invite him to join the team... which he rejects and runs off into the techno-sewers of Westchester. #JDWUXM

Then is gets weird. Blob uses the knowledge that he is a mutant to... take over the carnival? And then, for some reason... make the entire carnival attack the X-Men? #JDWUXM

I honestly don't understand Blob's motivation in this at all. Taking over the carnival... ok, sure, that is traditional greediness. He doesn't want to be the underling anymore, he wants to be the boss! …of some random carnival. But still, that can make sense. #JDWUXM

But I have NO idea why he wants to attack the X-Men. Because they had the audacity to invite him to join them? The Carnival destroying the X-Men doesn't gain them anything whatsoever. #JDWUXM

Best I can come up with is that since the X-Men are famous (and beloved?) then beating them would be like a PR move? "The carnival that defeated the X-Men!" #JDWUXM

But that is also "The carnival that broke into a private school and beat up teenagers for no reason!" So I feel like it might not work out the way he thinks. #JDWUXM

Anyway, it's all really just an excuse for the X-Men to fight a bunch of silly carnival/circus acts, like when Cyclops blasts and elephant. #JDWUXM

For one panel they forgot Blob had hair. Or maybe his wig fell off? Unclear. #JDWUXM

And how is it resolved? AGAIN, Professor X wipes the bad guy's mind--not just Blob this time, but the entire Carnival worth of people need to forget the X-Men's real identities. #JDWUXM

So yeah, that's two issues in a row where the X-Men lose and have to be rescued by the professor, and where the final resolution is messing with people's minds. This is pretty much the foundation of the franchise--if we can't punch people right, we reprogram them. #JDWUXM

Issue #4! The return of Magneto, and the introduction of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants! I think it's strange we never fixed the colors on this cover--first time Scarlet Witch is ever seen, and she's green. #JDWUXM

Of course, then the question would be whether to fix Quicksilver as well, who is colored green in this issue, but shifts to powder blue later in his career. I would say yeah, fix it. #JDWUXM

Magneto is a trickier question--it would not be hard to fix his Helmet color, but he's also missing big costume elements. Oh well. #JDWUXM

The timeline troubles begin! Four issues into the series and it's a year since the X-Men formed. I am ASSUMING he means since Jean joined, not since the first of them joined... but he's not clear so who knows. #JDWUXM

Regardless, in the shifting Marvel time, he now bought this cake for their one-week anniversary. In a few years it will be celebrating the end of their very eventful first day. #JDWUXM

The brotherhood's base is the first of Magneto's islands. Some sites on the internet think this is the same Island M with the giant Cthulhu statues...but that does not seem right to me. #JDWUXM

This issue also highlights the problem with travel in this series. Magneto steals a military ship and takes it back to this island. While he does, Angel flies by and sees it as it sails, and then lands at the mansion and tells the professor what he saw. #JDWUXM

So Angel saw this ship in Westchester? So is the island near New York? The next thing Magneto does is take this ship to Santa Marco, in South America, so... they really gloss over travel time. It's like the Game of Thrones TV show in here. #JDWUXM

(And yeah, I edit Marauders, where they sail from the Pacific to London and we don't even show a panel of travel time, what do you expect, get off my back) #JDWUXM

Bobby appears to have filled a vase with... well, I want to say Ice Cream? Like maybe a shake with a mountain of unblended ice cream on top? #JDWUXM

The first on panel meeting of Charles and Erik! Though he was not Erik yet. There is definitely no hint at their long history... and also, telepathy is going through Magneto's helmet, so I guess he has not developed that yet. #JDWUXM

Gotta love this attack plan. "Here's the vague shape of the building, and then these lines represent different trajectories we will all take towards it." "Oh, wow--thank you for drawing it out, that helps a lot." #JDWUXM

Cyclops's blasts rolling a few guards. Another image we don't see nearly enough. #JDWUXM

I don't care what the dialog says, this is a panel of Iceman seeing Cyclops is down and taking the opportunity to try to smother the life out of him. #JDWUXM

I definitely do not think the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants named themselves ironically. The first thing they do is overthrow a government. They are unapologetically evil, other than Pietro and Wanda who are emotionally blackmailed into being there. #JDWUXM

It is weird though that there are two non-mutants in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, though, isn't it? #JDWUXM

:P Kidding. #JDWUXM

And that's about all I have to say about that issue. It was ok--it introduced some new stuff and was just generally fine. Nothing amazing but not bad. #JDWUXM

Issue #5! End of my first week of this #JDWUXM thread... and it's probably the weakest issue of the series so far, despite the fact that the characters and concepts are finally all basically there. Basically.

They made all the same coloring mistakes on the cover as last issue! Hey @TomBrevoort Is there a reason we don't fix these things? They are so clearly mistakes, and I get there being a historical record... but come on. The fact that Scarlet Witch is green is just silly. #JDWUXM

Iceman doesn't feel like taking his keys out, so he has Cyclops BLAST THROUGH THE LOCK. That's like smashing your dishes instead of washing them. Did you not know you were going to have to get back into the mansion some day, Bobby? How did you not plan for this? #JDWUXM

I love this--did you guys know that mutants sleep totally differently than we humans do? Well, it's true, yet here is Professor Xavier, sleeping like some sort of normal Homo Sapiens. #JDWUXM

Likewise, here's Jean talking about how her Sapiens parents could never understand her new Superior lifestyle. #JDWUXM

Oh wow--I didn't realize Asteroid M was established this far back! Which is sort of funny--it was only LAST ISSUE that they established Magneto having his own island and he has already upgraded. #JDWUXM

So the X-Men see a new mutant winning a track meet on TV (it's Toad with a very convincing rubber mask on to lure the X-Men out) and I was thinking how funny it was that they still have black and white TVs when this was made... #JDWUXM

...But then when we get to where the track meet took place, it seems that's just the way the world looks there. :P #JDWUXM

I also think it's funny that the crowd actually witnesses someone do something amazing in person with their own eyes and says it's a fake. I get the people who saw it on TV saying that... but the people right there? How could he fake a huge jump like that? #JDWUXM

Oh cool--Kirby draws this fight very specifically happening at Grand Central Station. The Main Concourse hall in Grand Central might be my favorite place in New York City. #JDWUXM

Magneto interrogating Angel to find out where Professor X is, when the answer is... at his house, the family home where he very publicly runs a school. Obviously at this point, Magneto and Xavier were not yet old friends or that would be the first place he would look. #JDWUXM

That or, I suppose, Magneto is yet another person Xavier casually wiped the mind of. #JDWUXM

Wanda thought Magneto was going to take over the world, proving once and for all that his species was superior to the entire human race, without killing anyone. Maybe "Evil" meant something different in the 60s? #JDWUXM

And honestly, the rest of the plot of this issue was pretty weak and full of a lot of kind of eye-rolly stuff, but not in a fun enough way to nitpick. Suffice it to say, the X-Men go up to Asteroid M, save Angel, and then get home safe. #JDWUXM

Oh, and Professor X is a freaking jerk. #JDWUXM

Week two of #JDWUXM and I am back with issue #6, even though I am actually taking the day off work. And, what's this? We're now officially in a shared universe as there is the Sub-Mariner! Also interesting that Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch get cover billing, more on that later.

Even the omniscient narrator says mutants are superior to humans. But in the 60s, even superior mutants assume the woman will be filling in for the cook on their day off. Do you think the cook knows they are mutants, or do they hide it around them? #JDWUXM

Iceman, that is not how ice cream works. Honestly, can you imagine eating that? Pie with a big wad of ice on it? A freezerburn pie? Yuck. #JDWUXM

Magneto has read the script and therefor knows that the X-Men just, on a whim because the papers have mentioned him a lot, decided to look for the Sub-Mariner. #JDWUXM

So they just straight up say Magneto has the mental power of astral projection. His brain is almost as powerful as Professor X, so he has the same power. #JDWUXM

Also, I love that back then, they would mental project and have to walk their mental selves around. They hadn't thought of flying yet. Or of having their mental selves completely naked, as happens later. #JDWUXM

Magneto is back on his island, which now has a giant magnet on it. Which... is weird, right? That's the one thing you would think Magneto's island would NOT need, a thing to do magnetism. #JDWUXM

NAMOR: Oh, I never thought that I might be a mutant before!
ATLANTEAN: We were all thinking it. All the time. Like, we completely accepted it as 100% true already.
#JDWUXM

And his mutant power is his foot-wings, right? That's how it breaks down, the powers are all connected to his little flappy feet? #JDWUXM

Wanda is so distracted by ogling Namor's "slim yet muscular" physique, she accidentally hexes him. At this point, her power is literally to point at things and they screw up. #JDWUXM

Even Toad is getting in on making fun of flappy feet. #JDWUXM

Magneto uses his giant magnet to make a wooden boat explode. Magnets, how do they work? #JDWUXM

Here's Magneto, thinking about how his powers work. #JDWUXM

So, here's the thing about the series so far... it's ok, but it's not great, and I think the main reason is that the X-Men's problems are all superficial super-problems. They have no internal struggles. #JDWUXM

I admit that it's been a while since I read early Spider-Man, but I remember Peter Parker always struggling emotionally. The X-Men's struggles so far are all whether they can successfully punch/kick the bad guy enough to stop them, and that's it. #JDWUXM

The villains and guest stars are the ones who learn things and have the closest thing to a character arc. Namor in this issue goes out into the world with an idea that fails and changes his mind--he is the most dynamic character in the issue. #JDWUXM

Meanwhile, I mentioned Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch getting cover billing, and that makes sense because they are the only characters with a dilemma. They are struggling with their situation. They have the "I cannot, I must" of this book, not the X-Men. #JDWUXM

It's a little surprising since Spider-Man so captured the teen angst, I am surprised this book didn't even really bother trying to tap into that. They are all just good natured school kids. Iceman's pranks are the biggest internal struggle of the team. #JDWUXM

Anyway, I look forward to the book growing into itself. Here's an autographed picture of Scott Summers, who blew his secret identity by signing it that way. #JDWUXM

Issue #7, which is kind of an eh issue. We give X-Men a lot of credit for having their biggest villain in place with issue 1... but it gets a bit repetitive when they fight the Brotherhood every issue. #JDWUXM

So, the book was apparently bi-monthly (or so?) back then, so issue 6 came out 1 year after issue 1... and the X-Men officially graduate from the school. Which... is already playing wonky with the ages, right? #JDWUXM

Beast is said to be older than the others, Iceman younger, and yet they all graduate at the same time? Is Beast graduating high school at 20 and Iceman at 16? Doesn't that sound like the opposite of what would happen with them, given their characters? #JDWUXM

If we say Beast is 18 to keep him at the NORMAL age to graduate, then the other 4 X-Men all are graduating high school early? I feel like this says more about Xavier's priorities than the idea that they actually earned it. #JDWUXM

And before you say they are just graduating as super heroes, not high schoolers, nope--they specifically address that they have all completed a "normal prep school curriculum". #JDWUXM

When Xavier makes Scott the new leader of the X-Men, we get our first appearance of Cerebro! It's "sole purpose" is to aid in detecting new mutant brain waves... for now. ;) #JDWUXM

Gotta tell you, I do NOT understand how Cerebro works back then. There's a little panel listing all known hostile mutants, and the Blob alarm goes off. But, uh... Magneto and the others have all been doing lots of thinking and even hatching evil plots. #JDWUXM

So, why didn't their alarms go off? When Blob's goes off, Cyclops says it means Blob must have gotten his memory back... so was it just running like pre-programmed scans for Blob thinking about X-Men? #JDWUXM

And if so... what are the pre-programmed thoughts Magneto would need to think in order to set his alarm off that he hasn't apparently thought this issue? Very weird... especially since it's "sole purpose" is to find new mutants, and then that is not at all what it does. #JDWUXM

Scott, the new leader of the X-Men, feels like he needs to literally fall into the role of Professor X, sitting at X's desk in his office all day and monitoring Cerebro instead of going out with his teammates for fun. Which... #JDWUXM

… gets even weirder when you think about the age thing again. AT BEST he is 18 years old here, and more likely he is 17. #JDWUXM

Magneto enjoying walking around a carnival because no one reacts to his costume. Or, you know... you could take off you costume, you goofball. #JDWUXM

At first I was aggravated that this ignored Blob's whole deal--that nothing can move him, and yet Magneto just does it easily. But... now I see they are playing his power as not being able to take him off the ground, which Magneto threw WITH him here. #JDWUXM

Indeed, later we see this in action again as Jean tries to move him--he is "stuck" to the ground he stands on. Which...is a weird interpretation of his power, to me. #JDWUXM

Magneto is just able to contact the X-Men, somehow. I feel like this was a thing he was very much NOT able to do in previous issues. Did they slip him a card in previous issues "If you need to contact us, just use this in the future." #JDWUXM

Blob recognizes the X-Men's helicopter, which we have never seen before. #JDWUXM

"The best defense is a good offense," thought Magneto, as he made a SHIELD OF TORPEDOES. #JDWUXM

Once again, the villain gets to be the character with the most emotional range in the issue, with Blob getting this kind of sad moment at the end of the issue. #JDWUXM

That said, as much as I joked about it, making Cyclops the leader does at least start to give him a burden to bear. All the things I goofed on about the ages are symptoms of retooling a book that wasn't working. #JDWUXM

And one more thing to goof on... Professor X left Scott in charge of the X-Men, based out of a mansion... and didn't leave him any financial means to deal with things? What about property tax? How was he going to refuel that helicopter? Heck, how will they EAT? #JDWUXM

Issue #8! This is a big issue for a number of reasons, as things start to gel into the forms we know. The plot is ok, too, if a little dependent on friends just not saying the one sentence that settles everything. #JDWUXM

Again, here's teenaged Scott Summers believing that being leader means he is not just in charge but needs to be completely separate from the others in every way. I get why you all think he's old--he seems like he's 30 here already. But no, this is him at 17-18. #JDWUXM

Did you know it was CYCLOPS' idea for Iceman to stop being fluffy? Apparently so. This issue he shifts from being Snowconeman to being Iceman. #JDWUXM

Here also is the start of the romance between Scott and Jean! Not including every boy near Jean slobbering in previous issues. Here we get them both actively thinking about how they feel about one another. #JDWUXM

Also, they very specifically say they have graduated from the "school", and yet Cyclops still needs to give them the afternoon off before they can take some time for themselves. Again, he keeps things so formal. #JDWUXM

This is a big one--this is, as far as I can tell, the introduction of the idea that humans hate mutants just for being mutants! Beast saves a little kid's life, and the crowd immediately turns on him. Big feet are really gross. #JDWUXM

The seed was sewn before this--it definitely struck me as odd how casually the first 7 issue kept dropping how superior mutants were to humans. But this is where the humans finally turn on them. #JDWUXM

And here is the OTHER reason this is a big issue... this is the issue during which the Original 5 X-Men get snatched through time to the future! This is the issue Brian Bendis chose as the point he would grab them from to bring them into All-New X-Men #1 back in 2012. #JDWUXM

I am not sure what it was that was the tipping point for Brian about why this is the issue in particular, but I think the fact that things have really started to take shape now is likely the root of it. And we wouldn't have wanted Snowcone Iceman. #JDWUXM

Plus, the fact that this is a moment of strife for them is big--their non-hero scenes up to now have almost entirely been goofs. LAST ISSUE, Beast showed his feet in a beatnik coffee bar and they tried to form a cult around him. #JDWUXM

Honestly, it always struck me as odd that we pulled them from an issue where they had already graduated from the school and Professor X's guidance... but having done a close read now, I don't think any of the previous issue would have been better. #JDWUXM

So really, to get the full story, I should now read all of All-New X-Men up through Extermination. #JDWUXM

Obviously, I am not going to do that. :P But, we can all go forward from here knowing that all those stories happened between the pages of this issue, and now these kids have a bunch more experience locked away psychically in their brain, waiting to be restored. #JDWUXM

Meanwhile, Professor X is away, and just casually lets readers know he is ON THE TRAIL OF LUCIFER.

I know that isn't what it sounds like... but I cannot help but laugh thinking about people seeing that for the first time and being like... WHAT?!? #JDWUXM

So Beast quits the X-Men and does what all super-powered people do when they don't want to be super-heroes... he becomes a wrestler. But, TWIST, he ends up wrestling against ANOTHER super-powered mutant gone wrestler! #JDWUXM

Have we done a story yet where the wrestling leagues recognize that they keep having super-powered folks coming in and basically cheating and setting up safeguards against it? #JDWUXM

Although that does make me think about a league having a "no mutant powers" rule which would immediately be challenged as discrimination. We MUST have done a story like that, right? #JDWUXM

The X-Men have another helicopter, after Magneto tore theirs apart magnetically last issue. #JDWUXM

Also, I just noticed that Cyclops told them about Cerebro already when Professor X specifically told him it was a secret only for him. #JDWUXM

So, the Evil Mutants are in this issue a lot less--only Mastermind shows up, who tells Unus he needs to beat the X-Men as his ticket into the team. A little harsh considering none of them have ever beaten the X-Men really. #JDWUXM

He fights the X-Men, who cannot stop him, until finally they fly him to the top of a building and leave him there. Like, REALLY just leave him there, they literally go home to think about how to fight him again. #JDWUXM

Unus feels very strongly about smoking. #JDWUXM

Like I said, the main hook of the plot relies on Beast not saying one sentence to the rest of the team, which makes them think he is a bad guy for half the issue. That's a bit frustrating. But it was still a fun issue. #JDWUXM

And here's a signed picture from Beast, also spoiling his secret identity, something he was specifically very concerned with hiding in this issue. :P #JDWUXM

Issue #9! Guest-starring The Avengers! It's the Original AvX! But, I got some bad news for you--it's not a very good issue. #JDWUXM

Cyclops is winded from using the full force of his blasts to destroy an iceberg that would have sunk the ship the X-Men are taking to get to Europe. I mostly grabbed this for the extreme melodrama of Jean's thoughts. #JDWUXM

Check out this panel of the "youth known as Cyclops"! Good thing Stan made a point of calling him a youth, he looks 40 years old here. This is an 18 year old kid, at oldest. #JDWUXM

So, apparently, Xavier mentally contacted Cyclops and said they needed to come to Europe... and the X-Men got on a boat. We have seen them own multiple aircraft in the last 8 issues. I guess it was not THAT urgent yet? #JDWUXM

Lucifer sends a mini-sandstorm to fight Xavier. #JDWUXM

The biggest problem with this issue is Lucifer. Saying he sucks would be generous--there isn't enough to him to suck. He is a generic bad guy who they don't even give motivation to. He just... is bad, has a history with Xavier, and has a giant bomb. #JDWUXM

I've said before that the character work in this series tends to lean a bit more towards the villains than the heroes... well, not this issue, which just means there isn't much great going on here. #JDWUXM

I mean, look--if you want, you can just assume the easy lamest villain goals for Lucifer: he has a bomb and he's gonna ransom Earth for money/power. Sure. But I didn't even get that from it--if it was in here, I missed it. #JDWUXM

Another reference to Magneto having mental powers. #JDWUXM

Check out the pulse pounding sequence where Jean almost steps in a hole, THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TIME TO SIDESTEP, but she uses her powers to save the day. This is a pretty ridiculous bit. #JDWUXM

So the Avengers show up (because of Thor's Hammer Sense tingling?) and distrust leads to a fight. It really is just like AvX! #JDWUXM

During AvX, we could have done a 10 page VS story all about Wasp putting Jean's hair in front of her eyes. Missed opportunities. #JDWUXM

Xavier's invasive mind powers win the day again--this time basically turning Lucifer's mind off while keeping his heart going, so the bomb does not detonate. #JDWUXM

Now this is NOT what happened in AvX--the Avengers just decide to let the X-Men handle X-Men Business. If they had kept that attitude... well, I am not sure what would have happened, but not the AvX series we did. #JDWUXM

That said, I actually find it pretty ludicrous that the Avengers take this attitude here. #JDWUXM

Professor X seeming explains the situation to Thor, which means the Avengers are saying "Yeah--there is a bomb set to detonate a continent and kill countless millions... but it's an X problem. You teenagers got this. BYEEEEEE." #JDWUXM

X-fan like to hate on the Avengers, saying that they don't care about the problems mutants face. I like to respond by saying "You're right, that's messed up--from now on, I will have the Avengers show up in the X-books to solve all the X-Men's problems." :P #JDWUXM

So, anyway, the Avengers apparently recognize this is an issue of X-Men, so they just go home. #JDWUXM

Then Professor X uses his mental powers to map a bomb? #JDWUXM

And then, probably the dumbest part of the issue, the X-Men just LET LUCIFER GO ON HIS WAY. They dismantle the bomb he was going to use to DESTROY A CONTINENT, then just say "On your way, scamp!" #JDWUXM

Maybe this is why the Avengers don't trust the X-Men to deal with stuff after this? #JDWUXM

Seriously... I get them saying they have pledged not to hurt any human being*, but... they are just being dumb. AT LEAST REPROGRAM HIS MIND, XAVIER, you do that readily enough before now! This is honestly ludicrous. #JDWUXM

*Also, he is not a human being, right? #JDWUXM

Not a great issue, across the board. #JDWUXM

At least Jean is smart enough not to blow her secret ID by signing this picture... but what is up with that slogan? Either they are super impressed by her picking up a couple knick knacks... or they are talking about her Marvelous figure? #JDWUXM

Marvel is actually closed today for the holiday weekend... but what the heck? Here's X-Men #10. It's a pretty slight issue so it shouldn't take too long to review. #JDWUXM

First off, I have to admit I did not know Ka-Zar was an X-character? I didn't realize his first appearance was in X-Men. I would have guessed he was a 50s character they'd brought back, honestly. ALSO--it's pretty great that they put a pronunciation guide here. #JDWUXM

I also have to admit that I apparently have been pronouncing his name wrong. I WAS saying the stress on the KAY part, but I thought the second syllable was "zar" not "sar". Not remotely the worst mispronunciation of him I've heard, though. #JDWUXM

Actually, since X-Men #1-10 have now featured Magneto, Namor, and Ka-Zar, they are ripe for all sorts of potato/potahto conversations about MagNEHto, Nah-mor the Submarine-er, and Kuh-ZAR. #JDWUXM

AHA! So, while the X-Men did "graduate", it turns out they graduated from high school but are still studying at the school. It was really a shift from prep school to college. And honestly? College is kind of what the X-Men is all about. We can discuss that in the future. #JDWUXM

More black and white TV footage, something I always forget about. On the Marvel sliding time scale, this is now a pixelated video on Yahoo news. #JDWUXM

So, as beast says here, the Savage Land--the tropical oasis in Antartica--is portrayed as being UNDER the ice and snow. I never got that before, either...mostly because that makes no sense. Is there no sky there? It looks like there is. #JDWUXM

Was Kirby ahead of his time putting giant carnivorous birds in the dinosaur realm? Or does it just raise the question of how the others lost their feathers? #JDWUXM

Now that I say that, I think we need to do a Devil Dinosaur reboot where he has feathers. #JDWUXM

I love this multiple arrow launcher because it's the kind of thing the kid in you sees and says "YEAH!!! That rules! Why isn't that a thing?" and then thinking about it for a second you realize it's because it's really not super practical at all. But Kirby ran with it. #JDWUXM

The Super-Hero Misunderstanding Fight between the X-Men and Ka-Zar happens because BEAST WANTS TO FONDLE HIS BICEPS. #JDWUXM

With this caption, Angel becomes rich. Interesting seeing the details of the characters dribble out. #JDWUXM

And that's about that. It was fine, nothing special. Ka-Zar didn't make a huge impression in his first appearance. The Savage Land is more interesting, but even that was just kind of a goof. #JDWUXM

Even the "mission" in this issue was a goof--the X-Men were like "maybe this guy is a mutant!" and the professor is like "He's not." and then they are like "But... uh... can we go to Antarctica anyway?" And he's like "Go ahead you kooky kids!" So... the end. #JDWUXM

Another week, another issue--issue #11--and unfortunately, another clunker. They are really struggling with this whole X-Men thing. Honestly, I can't see it going anywhere. #JDWUXM

That cover is a weird one... not great. First off, it doesn't do a great job of selling The Stranger walking on air. He just looks like a drawing that doesn't fit with the rest of the cover. When I first saw it, I thought he was big but stepping on people? #JDWUXM

Also, I just noticed that he doesn't look ANYTHING like how he looks inside the issue. Like... he has white hair. That's about it. He has a mustache, but not the same awful one from inside the comic. #JDWUXM

In addition, while I do appreciate the idea of putting the cover text on a billboard... in practice, it does not work here. It's so small it looks almost incidental, and there is a huge amount of dead space that it could have been filling. #JDWUXM

I mean, look, that's a nice looking building, but... if you're gonna have cover text, you should see it. #JDWUXM

Here's your moment of nonsense technology: Xavier using a "radar image beam" to detect a new mutant. What was it pointed at? What triggered it? #JDWUXM

It should have just been Cerebro, right? Like, him working on a new bit for Cerebro to convert the mental information of Cerebro into visual? Though... The Stranger is not a mutant. But again, that just makes me ask what Xavier is targeting here and why? #JDWUXM

Check out how ugly The Stranger is, as this very hip old lady hits him with some gum-flapping about him forking over the green stuff. #JDWUXM

Apparently, back then, Cyclops couldn't actually stop his eye-beams by closing his eyes, not completely. Eyes closed AND with his hand over them, a beam STILL gets out. #JDWUXM

Mastermind is converted into SOLID MATTER!

Did "matter" have a different meaning back then? Because to me it pretty much means "stuff".

"Mastermind has been turned into STUFF!"

Isn't everyone made of matter? I guess him being all solid rather than part liquid is bad. #JDWUXM

This is a bit of a let down--all those issues of building up how unhappy Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are working for Magneto, and then one day they just go "Ok, we're stopping" and that's it. No confrontation, no explosion, just out with a whimper. #JDWUXM

But Quicksilver does cap it off with being a total jerk to his sister when the X-Men ask them to join the team. #JDWUXM

So the plot of this issue is everyone thinks The Stranger is a mutant and they race to get him on their side first. Magneto "wins" except he is a complete arrogant ass (as usual) and the Stranger covers him with an "anti-magnetic membrane". #JDWUXM

(You don't need to google that, it's not a thing. #JDWUXM)

And then the Stranger reveals he is a space alien looking to abduct some mutants, so he takes Magneto and Toad... NEVER TO RETURN. And Magneto is gone forever. Even the X-Men feel like it's a bit of an anticlimax. #JDWUXM

I don't know about Xavier, but I know I am second guessing the idea of Scott as leader if he is ready to disband the X-Men just because Magneto was taken away to be probed. #JDWUXM

This was a really weird issue. I get that the series has never really gelled...but I am surprised that they are throwing away the one thing they SEEMED to be confident in, the X-Men vs. Magneto making mutants pick sides stuff. #JDWUXM

And, I don't know, maybe Magneto will be back next issue and it was a ruse. Obviously, he comes back in general, I just don't know when. But by pulling the trigger on Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch it definitely feels like they were binning the Brotherhood plot. #JDWUXM

I guess we will see tomorrow morning. #JDWUXM

Issue #12! This issue definitely shakes things up, and I like that. It was a good read, especially after a couple of clunkers. Juggernaut may be almost indescribable, but Professor X is gonna spend the entire issue attempting to do just that anyway. #JDWUXM

We start the issue with Cerebro going crazy! So crazy, everyone rushes in, and Cyclops has to pretend that he didn't tell the entire team about it while Professor X was gone. #JDWUXM

And yeah, Cerebro is going crazy over the threat of the Juggernaut, who is very much NOT a mutant. We are about to hear his origin, and there is nothing mutant about it. Cerebro's functionality in the old days continues to be a mystery. #JDWUXM

The structure of this issue is Professor X telling the story of himself and his step brother with pauses for them to see Juggernaut tearing through their defenses... and then back to his story. It read pretty funny--"Yes, he's coming, unstoppable--so as I was saying..." #JDWUXM

Apparently, Professor X's father worked on the nuclear program and died in a nuclear text blast. Back then, nuclear power was a huge part of mutants, it was generally thought of as the "why" of mutantkind, which I think we've left behind pretty entirely. #JDWUXM

Juggernaut's father was another scientist who immediately started putting the moves on Mrs. X at her husband's funeral, and who might have saved Brian Xavier if he hadn't been looking out for himself. #JDWUXM

This issue made me realize how little I know about Xavier's life before the X-Men. I am kind of interested, though. A mini could be fun. Maybe someday. #JDWUXM

OH WAIT, I wonder what decade his childhood would take place in, now! Let's see... the Trinity nuclear test was in 1945, so just under 20 years before the first issue of X-Men. At this point in Marvel Time, the first issue of X-Men would be set, like... 2002? #JDWUXM

So that would put Xavier's father's death in the mid-80s. He and I are actually not that far apart in age, depending on how old he looks in that funeral there. #JDWUXM

Cain Marko and Xavier's relationship begins. Cain is a cookie cutter bully in this. That said, it's easy to imagine what a terrible childhood turned him into this, given his father. #JDWUXM

Again, here's Xavier saying his mutation was probably caused by radiation. At this point, if he was born at the end of the 70s, I assume he would be saying it was caused by... I don't know... Disco? #JDWUXM

Classic panel. Look at how weird young Xavier looks with those eyebrows. #JDWUXM

Xavier is such a tool. With his telepathy, he could apparently be good at anything and everything, but it's just BORING being so good at things. #JDWUXM

More Cain as an over-the-top bully. At this point, he is super jealous of Xavier because he is so lauded all the time. And of course, he doesn't know Xavier cheated to win all those sports. #JDWUXM

Oh-- @TomBrevoort mentioned this last week, a Lee/Kirby misunderstanding over whether this story was the cause of his paralysis or Lucifer was. Although... wait, there is a scene after this in the Korean War where Xavier is still walking? So I don't know. #JDWUXM

Actually, from a certain point of view, it's a weird sketch where Xavier, in a wheelchair, tells a story that keeps having these huge moments of him getting injured and them going "Oh, is that how you ended up in the wheelchair?" And he keeps saying no. #JDWUXM

I think there are 3 moments in his story this issue that easily could have been the moment--the explosion that kills Dr. Marko, this car crash, and the temple falling on him during the war. #JDWUXM

The X-Men set up some elaborate booby traps. #JDWUXM

Juggernaut's origin blatantly ripping off Thor comics.

Wait. What's with the weird addition of "you who read these words"? Is it possession of the gem or reading the inscription that makes you the Juggernaut?
#JDWUXM

Oh Ho! We only get to see the Juggernaut straight on as the last panel of the issue, and it's our first To Be Continued plot of the series! We-he-hell, I guess I really cannot wait to come back tomorrow, then! #JDWUXM

All right--here's issue #13, let's get the second half of the tale of the Juggernaut! This time with no flashbacks, but with some random cameos. #JDWUXM

So, to kick things off, we find out that Juggernaut has been digging out from that mountain since the Korean war. Which ended in 1953. So... it took him at least TWELVE YEARS to dig out from that rockslide. This dude has patience. #JDWUXM

Also, he apparently exudes waves of force? He pushes things away from him just by standing there. That is something I don't remember seeing before, I think in later appearances they just keep him as simply unstoppable. #JDWUXM

Ah--and here's the information that his helmet stops psychic attacks! So that is in place from the first for him, unlike Magneto. But his is done with magic, something we've certain never said magneto's is based on. #JDWUXM

OK, so...Cyclops blasts a hole to drop Juggie in... but they are in the mansion, so... I guess this part of the mansion has no foundation, it's just a thin floor over dirt? And I don't think they were in the basement, either. #JDWUXM

Then we get Juggernaut playing a game of Digdug. I just think it's really funny looking seeing that cutaway view. #JDWUXM

A cameo from the TEEN BRIGADE. Gang, this is a group of teenaged CB Radio enthusiasts who were instrumental in the foundation of the Avengers, but who got ROBBED OF THEIR LEGACY by Marvel Studios when they made the films. #JDWUXM

Given Marvel Time, this story is set around... 2002? 2003? Which... damn, I was gonna say they had a Facebook group, but that is before Facebook. I guess they just had a bulletin board on teenbrigade.net? #JDWUXM

Their cameo is because Professor X is, like... letting off extraneous brainwaves in the direction of New York City? And they hear them, as does Matt Murdock... but they are all busy so they don't join the actual plot. Not that CB radios would help much against Juggie. #JDWUXM

The brainwaves get through to Johnny Storm... who for some reason Xavier has decided is essential to stopping Juggernaut! Why? All will be explained! #JDWUXM

Beast using the Danger Room against Juggernaut is a good bit, even if it doesn't actually work in any significant way. #JDWUXM

If this is the first interaction between the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, I can sort of understand why the FF doesn't trust them a ton. #JDWUXM

Professor X has his plan pay out, which essentially amounts to a bunch of irrelevant hoopla to distract Juggernaut, and then Angel takes off his helmet. So wait... why did he need the Torch? #JDWUXM

He did NOT need the Torch. When he reveals his "plan" he doesn't even mention Torch at all. All the stuff with the Torch doing fire stuff, it could have been ANYTHING. The nature of it did not matter at all. #JDWUXM

Honestly, looking at it, it kind of seems like the main reason to do it was to put someone who was not one of the X-Men at risk? So Jean wouldn't get punched in the head by Juggernaut? So Torch drew that short stick by catching X's brainwave and being manipulable. #JDWUXM

Also, want to note that in this issue, Cain Marko's face looks a lot less like some sort of troll. So that's nice for him. #JDWUXM

Aaaaaaaaand, Professor X wipes the Human Torch's memory. Are we SURE the X-Men are meant to be good guys? #JDWUXM

Oh, and as Johnny flies home... is this the first mention of the X-Men being based in Westchester? I think it might be? #JDWUXM

ALL RIGHT! Now we're talking--this is a good one! Issue #14, the first appearance of the Sentinels, who burst onto the scene on this cover doing some sort of dance. #JDWUXM

From page one, we get a little recalibration--the X-Men didn't really have a problem talking about how superior they were before, but given the things in this issue, it's probably good to make them a little more humble. #JDWUXM

Their first vacation in years! Not counting taking a boat to Europe a couple issues ago. But he really means letting them go home... which also seems weird, since their homes are like 40 minutes away by train? They really never get to go back? #JDWUXM

And here we have it, the start of really pushing the idea of hatred and bigotry towards mutants. Mr. Trask kicks things off by having a press conference to tell people that Mutants are a horrible insidious threat. #JDWUXM

And the press runs with it! Is this the issue where the prep school heroes become the X-Men we know and love? Kinda. #JDWUXM

Huh, I don't think I knew Warren went to Military school. I wonder how he got OUT of that? #JDWUXM

Guess this is before they established the school being Xavier's family home. #JDWUXM

The Daily Globe puts their headlines on the back page. #JDWUXM

OK, guys... can you imagine a reputable newspaper doing an artist's rendering of a dystopia as part of their front (back?) page article? This seems like a World Weekly News move at best. #JDWUXM

I cannot stop imagining this. "The New York Times Editorial Board Endorses Joe Biden--we cannot afford another 4 years of Trump. Here is an artist's interpretation of what America after 8 years of Trump would look like." #JDWUXM

And there is the first Sentinel in the comic, showing us what he would do if, hypothetically, Professor Xavier were a mutant. #JDWUXM

The Sentinels immediately turn on Trask, and Xavier attributes that to Trask being an anthropologist rather than a robotics expert... wait, seriously? You buy an anthropologist making a fully functional AI robot, but KEEPING IT IN LINE is out of his expertise? #JDWUXM

I wonder what Bernard the Poet's TikTok is like? #JDWUXM

I am not sure how old I was when I realized there was nothing holding Iceman's ice slides up, but it was way back, and I cannot unsee it. They cannot be. #JDWUXM

It's kind of cute that to show us how amazingly advanced and unbeatable Sentinels are, we see the X-Men being super impressed by one dodging two things at once. #JDWUXM

Um, the Sentinel they were fighting... died of a broken heart like Padme, I guess? We get no explanation on this this issue, hopefully it's not forgotten about next issue. #JDWUXM

All right--here is the first instance of a Sentinel detecting a mutant, but it's unclear if they actually have mutant detection or if his "computo-meter" is just calculating that a guy with wings is probably a mutant. I am guessing the latter. #JDWUXM

HEY, first time Jean flies! #JDWUXM

Aaaaaand, well, it's not the best cliffhanger, but it was a good issue and I want to know what happens, so I forgive it. And hey, they finally went monthly! Congrats, guys. #JDWUXM

Seriously... the idea that Trask is an ANTHROPOLOGIST who made that secret hidden techno-base, an army of robots, fully functional autonomous AI capable of rebellion... it's amazing and ridiculous. I am trying to think who the modern equivalent would be and I can't even. #JDWUXM