Monday, February 27, 2006

Uncanny X-Periment # 2: The Early Adventures

Alrighty, here we are. The first 18 issues of Uncanny X-Men, along with Fantastic Four Wedding Special, Avengers # 16 and Fantastic Four # 34.

First of all, I should point out something about reading this books. These are Silver Age comics, 'course. For those that don't know, if you ever see satires about comics, they're usually based on the comics from this time period. Meaning . . . useless dialogue (characters describing what they're doing while they're doing it), characters talking to themselves excessively (as "The Incredibles" put it, monologing), and way-out-there blurbs ("You've never seen a villian like this before - and you never will!").

However, despite all these, there is a great story with broad characterization underneath the shaky surface of these comics. You have to look deeper than what you're given, but it's there.

(Note: That being said, I've found I had to mentally replace words. "Communist" was mentally replaced by "terrorists." The "Korean War" was mentally replaced by the "Vietnam War." Also, there are minor continunity flubs when read after "X-Men: Children of the Atom," but nothing too severe)

Basically, the X-Men have been formed. After barely defeating Magneto at Cape Citadel, the X-Men take on the Vanisher and then the Blob. In the aftermath of those two villians, Magneto and the X-Men bunt heads again, this time with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in tow. This goes on for a while with adventures ranging from Magneto conquering a small country to Angel being captured to the attempted recruitment of Namor, Blob, and Unus the Untouchable into the Brotherhood.

The X-Men then encounter Ka-Zar and the Savage Land; face down Luicfer (no, not that one - an alien, I guess); battle and then team-up with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four; and then it's right back to Magneto. This time, Magneto is trying to recruit an alien being known as the Stranger. The Stranger (though later revealed to be an alien) attacks Magneto and takes him and Toad to his homeworld for study of Mutants. As soon as the X-Men reel back from that attack, they are confronted by a menance from Professor X's past: the Juggernaut. Teaming up with the Human Torch, they end the threat of Xavier's step-brother, only to be thrown into combat with the Mutant-hunting Sentinels! One heckuva struggle later, the Sentinals are taken down -- only for the Magneto to come back (AGAIN!) and manages to take down all the X-Men until Iceman, who holds off ol' Mags until the others come back and hand him his ass and getting the Stranger to clean after himself.

That's a whole lot of stuff, dudes! A whole lot! For the most part, it's pretty good - except for issues 2 and 3. I mean, come on, the Vanisher warning people before he's going to rob them just so he can rub it in their faces that he could? The Blob leading an army of Carnies against the X-Men? Ugh.

But the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants storyarc is great! It's really where the X-Men begin to develop as their own characters. It also allows the reader a good look at the villians of the X-Men: Magneto, brutal and harsh despot; Mastermind, the scoundrel; Toad, the lackey; and Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, the twin Mutants torn between doing the right thing and repaying Magneto for saving their lives.

Ka-Zar and Lucifer's stories are kinda blah. The meetings between the Fantastic Four and the Avengers are pretty neat, adding layers to the early Marvel Universe.

The Stranger/Juggernaut/Sentinels/Magneto storyarc is pretty cool, too. The X-Men have matured and developed enough by this time to handle this line of enemies.

And I think that's the part of the heart of these first 18 issues. The characters, with each passing issue, grow more developed and refined. Their personalities become more promenient with every time we see them. Their interactions are surprisingly realistic, except Scott and Jean's soap-opera thought ballons about their secret feelings for each other. Those were a bit too corny.

There's also some nice subtle development with everyone's powers. The X-Men started in X-Men # 1 with little to no training with their powers. By the time we reach issue 18, we have seen the development of their training. Jean had trouble moving a lot of things in the first issue. By the time issue 18 ends, she's levitating, she's tossing stuff, stunning people, picking locks, you name it!

The struggle between the X-Men's crusade and Magneto's is very much the heart of these first issues. It eventually moves onto the struggle between humanity and Mutants (being a subplot that gets touched on here and there and then exploded during the Sentinels arc), but Xavier and Magneto are both at the center of these first issues. It's interesting, too, seeing as how this is years before they've been established as good friends turned enemies before Cape Citadel.

There were two basic reasons why I chose to do these first 18 like this. The first being that while it's been establishing in canon that X-Men # 39 is one year mark for the team being together, this initial run feels has a strong "Year One" feel and the confrontation with Magneto and Iceman brings a sort of conclusion to the stories that were told from the first issue to the 18th as it displays the full development of the X-Men's progress. The second reason I chose this run is because the 18th was Jack Kirby's last issue and the 19th was Stan Lee's, so it made the most sense to me.

As a whole, the X-Men stand firmly at the beginning of what will be a long careers as super-heroes and Mutant crusaders. The conflicts and tests they were put through, as well as their interaction with each other in these first issues lay out the foundation for MANY stories to come.

~W~

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