Previous Posts: Introduction | Chapter 1: Lee/Kirby Era Part 1 | Chapter 2: Lee/Kirby Era Part 2 | Chapter 3: The Roy Thomas Era (1966-1968) | Chapter 4: The End of the Silver Age (1968-1970) | Chapter 5: Origins and Flashbacks Part 1 | Chapter 6: Silver Age Flashbacks Part 2 | Chapter 7: X-Men: First Class Vol 1 | Chapter 8: X-Men: First Class Vol 2 Part 1 | Chapter 9: X-Men: First Class Vol 2 Part 2 | Chapter 10: The Hidden Years | Chapter 11: X-Men on Hiatus (1970-75) | Chapter 12: The Champions Part 1 (1975-76) | Chapter 13: The Champions Part 2 (1977-78) | Chapter 14: The College Years (1978-83) | Chapter 15: The New Defenders Part 1 (1983-84) | Chapter 16: The New Defenders Part 2 (1984-85) | Chapter 17: The End of the New Defenders (1985-86) | Chapter 18: X-Factor Part 1 (1986) | Chapter 19: X-Factor – Mutant Massacre (1987) | Chapter 20: X-Factor – Fall of the Mutants (1987) | Chapter 21: X-Factor: Inferno Prologue

Having established the basic concept, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (along with a handful of guest writers and artists) spend the next year expanding on the X-Men’s backgrounds and considering the consequences of mutants in the wider world.

 

X-Men #11 (May 1965)
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Jack Kirby

The X-Men fight the alien Stranger and the Brotherhood are disbanded.

Not a lot of clues in this one, but deep readers might get a kick out of this panel below, where Bobby erects a giant cylinder for Beast and Cyclops to jump on and ride.

A bizarre concept to bolt onto the X-Men, the only real connection the Stranger has to the mutant concept is that he’s powerful and Magneto wants to use him. In the end, the Stranger decides to take Magneto and Toad to keep in a sort of zoo in his home planet and he turns Mastermind into stone. X-Men: First Class eventually reveals that that X-Men kept the stone Mastermind in the mansion and used it as a hat rack (no explanation was ever given for how he was returned to human form, so presumably the transformation just wore off after a while). Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are finally free of the Brotherhood and join the Avengers in Avengers #16.

I’m only including the above panels because Beast’s hypnotic jumping is hilariously stupid. Not only because it’s hypnotic jumping, but because he’s doing it so the cops don’t see Xavier, who has hypnotic powers.

 

X-Men #12-13 (July, September 1965)
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencilers: Jack Kirby and Alex Toth

The X-Men fight the Juggernaut and we learn the origin of Professor X.

Not a lot to see here, but Iceman does really love wrestling with the other boys.

At the end of the story, all the boys are in the infirmary, and Jean is their put-upon nurse. Iceman is hitting on her again, but Jean just ignores it. Maybe she’s started to piece together that it’s an act. That would be entirely consistent with Bendis’ story.

Stray thought: Juggernaut is older than Xavier, but he’s never written or drawn as such. Also, the fact that Xavier left his brother alive at the bottom of a cave for years is a plot element that went unremarked upon for decades until Chuck Austen of all people brought it up in Juggernaut’s rehabilitation arc in Uncanny X-Men.

 

Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965)
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Jack Kirby

The X-Men attend the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, along with the rest of the Marvel Universe, and are there when all the villains in the MU attack. The X-Men end up fighting Mole Man and his Moloids, Black Knight, Mandarin, Electro, Beetle, Unicorn, and others. Iceman doesn’t do anything particularly notable in this issue.

Marvels #2 (1994) places this story happens between the pages of X-Men #14. This story is also slightly expanded on in Marvel Heroes and Legends #1 (1996), but I haven’t read it and it’s not on Marvel Unlimited.

 

 

X-Men #14-16 (November 1965 – January 1966)
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencilers: Jack Kirby and Jay Gavin (Werner Roth)

In the first story to take anti-mutant bigotry head-on, the X-Men battle the mutant-hunting Sentinels. It’s the best story of the era by far.

Xavier gives the X-Men a vacation, and they all head off into the city. But first, Bobby lovingly helps Warren get dressed in a scene that also helpfully spells out the subtext of the mutant phenomenon.

Bobby and Angel are both terrified about their parents finding out that they’re mutants, but Bobby also worries that by not coming out they’ll never really know him. The action in this scene is so intimate that I honestly struggle to imagine how this scene could possibly be read as anything other than two gay boys talking about their struggles with their sexuality. Bobby’s line, “If you ask me, nobody would care even if they found out about us!” reads oddly if he’s only talking about being mutants, given that the first time he used his powers in public, an actual lynch mob tried to execute him (as we’ll see when we get to his origin story).

Also, we’ll later find out that Bobby’s parents did know about his powers, but Xavier made them forget — we never did get a scene where he ‘came out’ as a superhero to them. The next time we see them in the 1984 Iceman miniseries they already know. Angel’s story about military school is just ignored when we get to his actual origin.

Later, he can’t help but comment on Warren’s looks as he takes Jean on a date. And, uh, what exactly is Hank implying about Angel’s feet?

 

 

Xavier spells out the themes in a televised debate with anthropologist Bolivar Trask, pointing out that parents may not know that their own children are mutants, which Angel and Iceman were just making clear.

Bobby and Hank end up back at their favorite café, now given the name Coffee A-Go-Go. Poor Zelda notes that she hasn’t seen Bobby in months but does confirm they’ve been on a date already. Note Bobby’s response when she asks where he’s been: “Beating the girls away with clubs, as usual!” Yessir, no girls for Iceman. She seems interested in a second date, but tells Bobby off when he has to leave for X-Men stuff. Bobby’s certainly in no rush to schedule it.

Minor continuity point: Bobby says he and Hank both come from the city – we’ll later learn that Hank is from Dundee, Illinois and Bobby is from a town on Long Island.

Later, when scaling a cliff to get into the Sentinels’ base, Iceman remarks that he’d make a “dandy” fireman.

While trying to escape from the Sentinels’ heavy gravity prison, Iceman gushes that Cyclops calls him a man for the first time. It is indeed a nice bit of praise from one of the straight boys who have thus far routinely dismissed him as a juvenile. (Somewhat undercut by the fact that Cyclops first called him a “boy”… who edits this?)

Why on earth is Beast carrying Iceman with his butt?

This story is slightly expanded on in Marvels #2 (1994).

 

 

 

 

 

X-Men #17-18 (February-March 1966)
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencilers: Jack Kirby and Jay Gavin (Werner Roth)

As Iceman recuperates from his injuries last issue, the X-Men attempt to rescue Angel’s parents from Magneto, but they in turn need to be rescued by Iceman.

In the opening splash, Iceman seems fine, having his pulse taken by an army doctor, who can somehow measure it through his ice form. The doctor says his pulse is “impossible” – perhaps it’s racing because he’s surrounded by all these young soldiers. Anyway, soon Iceman is faint and is taken under the care of a Dr. John Thomas. Stan Lee can’t have just picked that name randomly.

Dr. Thomas tries an experimental sulfa drug administered by a laser-induced hypodermic needle to wake Iceman from his coma. When he comes to, he sneaks out to save the X-Men.

Magneto’s plan was to use Warren’s parents’ DNA to create an army of artificial mutants. As we’ll see, a great number of Magneto’s plans through the silver age involve creating artificial mutants that will serve him as slaves, rather than, for example, leading the existing mutants of the world. But then, silver age Magneto is a lunatic who beats and degrades his followers, so he’s probably having trouble recruiting.

Jack Kirby leaves the book entirely in Jay Gavin’s hands with issue #18.

 

X-Men #19 (April 1966)
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Jay Gavin (Werner Roth)

The X-Men fight the Mimic, a guy who has acquired the power to copy the powers of any mutant around him.

Let’s get this out of the way first: Per his 2012 status quo, Mimic was at least lightly implied to be in a gay relationship with Weapon Omega. It’s unlikely we’ll ever get closure on that story since Mimic’s next appearance was the Extermination miniseries in which he died (although not for the first time!), and Weapon Omega hasn’t been seen again. There’s at least a little supporting evidence in the silver age, given Mimic’s daddy issues and aggressive overcompensation. So, this issue may be notable as the first time Iceman meets another gay man (albeit a closeted one, and since Iceman’s return from the 21^st century).

Xavier tells the X-Men to go on a vacation, which prompts Hank and Bobby to head into the city, where Bobby’s girlfriend Zelda has set up a double date with her friend Vera, who’ll be Beast’s girlfriend for the rest of this run.

From this point forward, Hank and Bobby are established as a bit of a dynamic duo, constantly going off to the city together, and going on double dates with Zelda and Vera. And yet, as we’ll see, neither ever consummates their relationship with their supposed girlfriends. Well, Batman and Robin had code-approved girlfriends in the silver age, too.

Bobby is really laying on his straight horndog schtick thick as they wait for Zelda to arrive. “Zelda’s not here yet! We might as well case the other chicks!” Barf. But note that he doesn’t actually do it.

It turns out Vera’s been harassed by Calvin Rankin, who won’t take no for an answer and is upset to see her on a date with Beast. He gets into a fight with Beast and Iceman and discovers they’re mutants. Vera does eventually get into a relationship with Calvin during the hiatus years.

Later we get a passing thought bubble of Iceman admiring Cyclops’ manliness. “When I hear that tone in Cyke’s Voice, I wouldn’t wanna be his enemy if I was as strong as a hundred Mimics!” I mean, if Xavier didn’t know Bobby was gay before….

The X-Men resolve the fight by getting Mimic to use a device his father built that he believes will amplify his powers, but actually removes them. All the deception and the lengths the characters go to remove Calvin’s powers have icky implications if you consider what powers are a metaphor for in this series.

Mimic flashes back to this story and his other Silver Age appearances in Marvel Comics Presents #59.

Minor continuity point: In this issue, Mimic keeps being colored with a bright pink face. I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be an element of his powers, or supposed to indicate that he’s angry, but it doesn’t come back.

And that’s the end of the first creative era of X-Men. So, not that his intention matters, but did Stan Lee intend for Iceman to be gay? Well, the BBC asked him about it shortly after Iceman came out, and Stan Lee was very surprised — he wasn’t reading the comics anymore because his eyesight had deteriorated. He says in the interview, “I didn’t really have any gay characters, or if they were gay, I didn’t play up the fact.” Honestly, it seems from these first two chapters that both points are debatable. He certainly didn’t object to it.

Next week, we’ll take a look at the first Roy Thomas run.

Where to find these issues: Everything in this post is available on Marvel Unlimited. The X-Men issues are collected in X-Men Epic Collection Vol 1 – Children of the Atom.