X-Men: The Hidden Years volume 1 (of 2)


By John Byrne, Tom Palmer, Joe Sinnott & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9048-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

During its initial 1960s run, X-Men was never one of young Marvel’s top titles, but it did secure a devout and dedicated following. Launching with moody, manic creative energy, dripping with Jack Kirby’s inspired heroic dynamism, the series comfortably transited into the slick, sleek illumination of Werner Roth, even as the blunt tension of alienated outsider-kids settled into a pastiche of college and school scenarios familiar to the students who were the series’ main audience.

The core team comprised tragic Scott Summers/Cyclops, ebullient Bobby Drake/Iceman, golden rich boy Warren Worthington/Angel and erudite, brutish genius Henry McCoy/Beast, in constant heart- and back- breaking training with Professor Charles Xavier. The wheelchair-bound (and even temporarily deceased) telepath was dedicated to brokering peace and fostering integration between the masses of humanity and emergent mutant race Homo Superior.

After a brief time trying to fit in the normal world, Jean Grey/Marvel Girl returned to the team, which was also occasionally supplemented by Scott’s brother Alex – a cosmic ray fuelled powerhouse codenamed Havok – and mysterious magnetic minx eventually dubbed Polaris, although she was usually referred to as Lorna Dane.

Nobody knew it at the time – and sales certainly didn’t reflect it – but with X-Men #56 superhero comics changed forever. A few years previously Neal Adams had stunned the comics-buying public with his horror anthology work and revolutionary superhero stylings on Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman. Now, on this relatively minor title – aided and abetted by writer Thomas in iconoclastic form and inker Tom Palmer producing some of the finest work of his career – the artist expanded the horizons of graphic narrative through boldly innovative, intensely paranoid dramas pitting mutants against an increasingly hostile world.

Subtly – and bravely – pitched at an older audience, the succession of gripping, addictively beautiful epics captivated and enchanted a small band of amazed readers – and completely escaped the attention of the greater mass of the buying public. Without those tales the modern X-phenomenon could not have existed, but back then they couldn’t save the series from cancellation. The cruellest phrase in comics is “ahead of its time…”

The series died despite every radical innovation devised by a succession of supremely talented creators. The last published original tale saw the mutants hunting The Hulk – or rather Bruce Banner – in an attempt to save Professor X from a coma induced by his psychic war against merciless, marauding extraterrestrials the Z’nox.

Adams ended his artistic tenure in grand style in that astounding alien invasion epic, but had moved on by the final outing (X-Men #66, cover-dated March 1970).

Although gone, the mutants were far from forgotten. Standard policy at that time to revive defunct characters was to pile on guest-shots and release reprints. Cover-dated December 1970, X-Men #67 saw them return, reliving early classics whilst a campaign of cameos carried them until the “All-New” team debuted in 1975.

One of the many kids utterly beguiled by the series’ transformation under Thomas & Adams was John Byrne. In 1999 he created a retroactive series in-filling untold events and exploits in the days between cancellation and the birth of the modern team. Pencilling in a passable blend of Adams and his own unique style, with Palmer triumphantly back on inks, Byrne took up where Thomas had left off, detailing untold secret adventures crafted with the advantage of 20-20 hindsight in respect to the decades of continuity that had since passed…

This first of two compilations collects X-Men: The Hidden Years #1-12 (originally published between December 1999- November 2000), and opens with a short teaser/prologue used to promote the series in other Marvel releases.

Featuring a younger, headstrong team far more fractious, aggressive and uncertain than ever seen in contemporary times, the uncanny action sees ‘Test to Destruction’ find the weary mutant heroes seemingly battling an ambush of old foes, only to discover that their peril is a cruel workplace assessment by their surprisingly militant and harsh “resurrected” tutor.

Continuity completists should note this mini-saga occurs between panels of X-Men: The Hidden Years #1, which launched a month later and – whilst recapping all those 1960s classics – dictated that the team revisit ‘Once More the Savage Land’’. This they do without Iceman, who had hot-headedly quit over Xavier’s callous tests and patronising attitude. If he was honest, though, the fact Alex was monopolising Drake’s dream girl Lorna didn’t help…

The team’s voyage south is to confirm the death of archenemy Magneto, but the disgruntled disenchanted heroes quickly fall foul of the steadfast principle dictating that somehow no modern vehicle reaches the primordial preserve without crashing. Narrowly surviving disaster, Angel, Beast and Cyclops are ministering to comatose Jean when they are ambushed by savages, and upon awakening learn Marvel Girl is dead and has been despatched to the Land of the Dead…

The shock is somewhat ameliorated in #2’s ‘The Ghost and the Darkness’ when erudite scholar Henry McCoy deduces exactly what that means here, before saving despondent Scott from suicide-by-T-Rex, and leading his chums in search of her.

Meanwhile in America, Bobby learns of the mission’s failure and that Xavier has sent X-novices Alex and Lorna after them, even as a continent away, Angel’s ultra-wealthy girlfriend Candace Southern buys herself into the crisis…

In a hidden city of freaks at the bottom of the world, the apparent corpse of Marvel Girl has been harvested by eerie priests of an exploitative cult able to raise the dead and rejuvenate the aged and decrepit. The Keepers of the Way have been exploiting the outer tribes’ practice of abandoning their old and sick for centuries, covertly building a monumental forced-labour camp of grateful slaves in an artificially extended underclass. Now, however, that dark paradise and the unstable radioactive volcano it’s built on is nearing its end.

Moreover – as quietly recovering Marvel Girl overhears – the secret rulers have recently started taking survival advice from what appears to be the ghost of Magneto…

Breaking into the citadel, the male X-Men dispel one ancient myth when Cyclops is killed and spontaneously resurrects without the actions of Keepers, leading to the exposure of another factor sustaining the priest-caste’s autonomy…

With enemies all around, Warren is separated from his teammates in ‘On Wings of Angels’ meeting another avian outcast even as Alex and Lorna beat the odds and land mostly in one piece. Even greater fortune blesses them when jungle wonders Ka-Zar and his sabretooth Zabu spot them and take charge of the rescue mission…

In the Keeper city, as Jean is overcome by Magneto, the truth of its imminent explosive doom is uncovered by her fellow X-Men. Angel and mute ally Avia reunite with the other guys in the hangar of a truly unique survival vehicle designed by the Keepers, just as the kingdom is engulfed in boiling lava. Their rush to escape latterly extends to and includes a fully alive master of magnetism in #4’s ‘Escape to Oblivion’

As the reunited mutants are carried every way the wind blows, Iceman has made his own way to the Savage Land and Candy Southern breaks into the X-Mansion for a ferocious confrontation with Professor X. Unaware that Ka-Zar, Alex and Lorna are still trekking through the green hell of the Savage Land, the X-Men and Magneto’s mob of mutant minions are helpless ‘Riders of the Storm’, with the escape vehicle disintegrating around them. When the maelstrom intensifies and the fragmenting vessel is blown thousands of miles adrift, McCoy falls overboard…

Some of that aforementioned hindsight then manifests in issue #6 as ‘Behold a Goddess Rising…!’ reveals how The Beast’s plummet to earth lands him in rural Kenya at the feet of a young weather goddess called Ororo

As Professor X and Candy come to an “arrangement” in Westchester County, on the outskirts of the dinosaur-infested Savage Land, Iceman – battered, bruised and briefly amnesiac – is saved from Pteranodons by energy-leach Karl Lykos. In Africa, McCoy is in earnest conference with the weather-warper. She had created a storm to serve her followers, but somehow the event was usurped by some mystery force, expanding to lethal, continent-spanning dimensions.

Having landed but separated but safely, Jean searches for her teammates, unaware Scott is helpless before the culprit, another mutant who has learned to predate on other Homo Superior…

When the other X-Men – past and future – converge on monstrous Deluge, they are easily overcome whilst back in the Savage Land, Ka-Zar, Alex and Lorna aid the survivors of the resurrection volcano, whilst hundred of miles distant, under that now-diminishing storm in the South Atlantic, the trawler “Sigurd Jarlson” pulls a couple of winged freaks out of its nets…

‘Power Play’ in #7 finds the defeated Kenyan contingent rally, escape certain death and apply all their wits, strength and a venerable old tactic to defeat Deluge, whilst under Antarctica, Lykos and Drake bond with the hero utterly oblivious to who Lykos is and what he did to Iceman when they first met. At sea, Angel and Avia learn that their saviours plan to sell them to a unique freak show just as the main X-team reach home in time to be pressured into another manic mission.

With additional inking by Joe Sinnott, #8 reveals a ‘Shadow on the Stars’ as the Fantastic Four of that era (Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, Human Torch and Inhuman princess Crystal) accompany Xavier and the X-Men after the Z’Nox. Although his epic psionic endeavours saved Earth from the marauding space parasites, it only served to unleash them upon other civilisations and now the Professor and Reed Richards intend to rectify that callous dereliction of duty. However, as the star trek unfolds something ancient, cosmic and fiery waits in anticipation for Jean Grey…

And in the Savage Land, the last remnants of the scattered X-Men reunite when Ka-Zar leads Alex and Lorna to Iceman… and Lykos…

X-Men: The Hidden Years #9 anticipates calamities and tragedies to come as ‘Dark Destiny’ finds Marvel Girl test-driven by the Phoenix Force, before being driven off, leading to a spectacular final confrontation with the Z’Nox.

Back on Earth, another plot thread is attached as in suburban Illinois, a little girl discovers a new trick she can play with her dolls…

As Xavier and McCoy investigate a potential New Mutant and learn that ‘Home is Where the Hurt is…’. the remaining team hunt for missing Warren and walk into a trap laid by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Mastermind, Unus the Untouchable, The Blob and evil Professor X analogue Kreuger).

Happily, in ‘Destroy All Mutants’, Candy provides a very human X-factor to tip the scales, but nothing can help the Illinois embassage as little Ashley Martin is corrupted by her power and loses control of the Sentinel she’s “befriended”, forcing Xavier into a pragmatic but cruel sanction…

In the Savage Land, the illusory period of peace ends for the heroes when Magneto and his Mutates attack, sparking the return of Bobby’s memories and triggering the transformation of repentant Lykos into rapacious monster Sauron. ‘And Death Alone Shall Know My Name’ wraps up the first year of untold tales as the scattered mutants reunite to rescue Iceman, Havoc and Lorna, bombastically battling Magneto’s minions and closing with a cameo by Sub-Mariner that segues neatly into the classic saga told decades ago in Fantastic Four #101-104 (That’s not included here. You’ll need another collection for that slice of magnificence.).

Closing this fan-friendly compilation is a cover and variant gallery sans text for all art lovers.

Fast and furious, but ridiculously convoluted, this is a huge thrill for anyone drenched in X-lore and superbly illustrated in prime Fights ‘n’ Tights mode, but I fear might be a stretch for casual readers or newcomers to the many worlds of X.
© 2017 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

X-Men Epic Collection volume 8: I, Magneto (1981-1982)


By Chris Claremont, Jo Duffy, Bob Layton, Dace Cockrum, Michael Golden, Brent Anderson, Paul Smith, Jim Sherman, Bob McLeod, John Buscema, George Pérez & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-2952-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

In 1963, The X-Men #1 introduced Scott (Cyclops) Summers, Jean (Marvel Girl) Grey, Bobby (Iceman) Drake, Warren (Angel) Worthington III and Hank (The Beast) McCoy: unique students of Professor Charles Xavier. Their teacher was a wheelchair-bound telepath dedicated to brokering peace and integration between the masses of humanity and the emergent off-shoot race of mutants dubbed Homo superior; considered by many who knew him as a living saint.

After eight years of eccentrically amazing adventures, the mutant misfits almost disappeared at the beginning of 1970 during another periodic downturn in superhero comics sales. Just as in the 1940s, mystery men faded away whilst traditional genres – especially supernatural yarns – dominated entertainment fields. The title returned at year’s end as a reprint vehicle, and the missing mutants became perennial guest-stars and bit-players throughout the Marvel Universe. The Beast was suitably refashioned as a monster fit for the global uptick in scary stories…

Everything changed again in 1975 when Len Wein & Dave Cockrum revived and reordered the Mutant mystique via a brand-new team in Giant Size X-Men #1. Old foes-turned-friends Banshee and Sunfire joined one-shot Hulk hunter Wolverine and original creations Kurt Wagner (a demonic German teleporter codenamed Nightcrawler), African weather “goddess” Ororo Monroe – AKA Storm, Russian farmboy Peter Rasputin (who transformed into a living steel Colossus) and bitter, disillusioned Apache superman John Proudstar who was cajoled into joining the makeshift squad as Thunderbird.

The revision was an instant hit, with Wein’s editorial assistant Chris Claremont assuming the writer’s role from the second story onwards. The Uncanny X-Men reclaimed their comic book with #94, which soon became the company’s most popular – and highest quality – title.

After Thunderbird became the team’s first fatality, the survivors slowly bonded, becoming an unparalleled fighting unit under the brusquely draconian supervision of Cyclops. Cockrum was succeeded by John Byrne and as the team roster changed, the series scaled even greater heights, culminating in the landmark Dark Phoenix storyline which saw the death of arguably the book’s most beloved, imaginative and powerful character.

In the aftermath, team leader Cyclops left but the epic cosmic saga also seemed to fracture the groundbreaking working relationship of Claremont & Byrne. Within months they went their separate ways: Claremont staying with mutants whilst Byrne went on to establish his own reputation as a writer with series such as Alpha Flight, Incredible Hulk and especially his revolutionary reimagining of The Fantastic Four

This comprehensive compilation is an ideal jumping-on point, perfect for newbies, neophytes and old lags nervous over re-reading these splendid yarns on fragile, extremely valuable newsprint paper. It celebrates a changing of the guard as the mutants consolidated their unstoppable march to market dominance through high-quality storytelling Seen here are issues #144-153 of the (latterly re-renamed “Uncanny”) X-Men; X-Men Annual #5, Avengers Annual #10 and material from Bizarre Adventures #27 and Marvel Fanfare #1-4, spanning April 1981-September 1982.

Scripted by Claremont and illustrated by Brent Anderson & Joseph Rubenstein the drama resumes with X-Men #144 as ‘Even in Death…’ finds heartbroken wanderer Scott Summers (who quit after the death of Jean Grey) fetching up in coastal village Shark Bay before joining the crew of a fishing boat.

Trouble is never far from Cyclops, however, and when captain Aletys Forester introduces him to her dad, Scott must draw upon all his inner reserves – and instinctive assistance of macabre swamp guardian Man-Thing – to repel crushing, soul-consuming psychic assaults from pernicious demon D’spayre, who has made the region his personal torture garden…

Cockrum returned to the team he co-created in #145, joining Claremont & Rubinstein in an extended clash of cultures as ‘Kidnapped!’ sees the X-Men targeted by Doctor Doom, thanks to the machinations of deranged assassin Arcade.

With Storm, Colossus, Angel, Wolverine and Nightcrawler invading the Diabolical Dictator’s castle, a substitute-squad consisting of Iceman, Polaris, Banshee and Havoc are despatched to the killer-for-hire’s mechanised ‘Murderworld!’ to rescue family and friends of the heroes, all previously kidnapped by Arcade. In the interim, Doom has defeated the invading X-Men of his castle, but his cruel act of entrapping claustrophobe Ororo has backfired, triggering a ‘Rogue Storm!’ that could erase the USA from the globe…

Issue #148 opens with Scott and Aletys shipwrecked on a recently reemergent island holding the remnants of a lost civilisation, but the main event is a trip to Manhattan for 13-year-old X-Man Kitty Pryde, accompanied by Storm, Spider-Woman Jessica Drew and Dazzler Alison Blair. That’s lucky, since nomadic mutant empath Caliban calamitously attempts to abduct the child in ‘Cry, Mutant!’ by Claremont, Cockrum & Rubinstein…

A major menace resurfaces in #149 to threaten the shipwrecked couple, but the active X-Men are too busy to notice, dealing with resurrected demi-god Garokk and an erupting volcano in ‘And the Dead Shall Bury the Living!’ before all the varied plots converge in #150 (October 1981). Before that, though, there’s a crucial diversion that will affect and reshape the X-Men for years to come.

Crafted by Claremont, Michael Golden & Armando Gil, ‘By Friends… Betrayed!’  comes from Avengers Annual #10: seemingly closing the superhero career of Carol Danvers AKA Ms. Marvel. Powerless and stripped of her memories, Danvers is rescued from drowning by Spider-Woman, even as mutant shapeshifter Mystique launches an attack on the World’s Mightiest Superheroes to free her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from jail.

It’s revealed that Danvers’ mind and abilities have been permanently stolen by a power-leaching teenager dubbed Rogue and in the aftermath of the assembled heroes defeating Mystique, the Avengers learn a horrific truth: how they had inadvertently surrendered their comrade Carol into the grip of a manipulative villain acting as the perfect husband…

Returning to the X-Men, the anniversary issue delivers extended epic ‘I, Magneto’ seeing the merciless, malevolent master of magnetism threaten all humanity. with Xavier’s team helpless to stop him… until a critical moment triggers an emotional crisis and awakening of the tortured villain’s long-suppressed humanity…

Claremont, Anderson & Bob McLeod then craft riotous intergalactic wonderment in X-Men Annual #5’s ‘Ou, La La…Badoon!’ When the Fantastic Four help an alien fugitive stranded in Manhattan they are in turn targeted by unsavoury, invisible lizard-men. Only Susan Richards escapes, fighting her way to Westchester to enlist the aid of the X-Men: combat veterans well acquainted with battling aliens.

The rescue mission starts with a stopover in the extradimensional realm of Arkon the Magnificent where the Badoon have already triumphed and where, amid much mayhem, the liberators overthrow the invaders and provide salvation for three worlds…

Chronologically adrift but sacrificed to a cohesive reading order, the contents of Marvel Fanfare #1-4 follow. Published between March and September 1982, the astounding saga was an elite yarn designed to launch a prestige format showcase of Marvel characters and talent. The new title featured slick paper stock, superior printing (all standard today) and a rolling brief to promote innovation and bold new directions.

Under Al Milgrom’s editorial guidance, numerous notable tales from exceptional creators were published, but cynical me – and not just me – soon noticed that many of those creators were ones who had problems with periodical publishing and couldn’t make fixed deadlines…

These day’s that’s nothing to shout over: comics come out when they do and editors have no real power to decree otherwise, but in the 1980s it was big deal, because printers booked a project for a pre-specified date, and charged punitive fees if publishers didn’t get product in on time. That’s why inventory tales were created: fill-ins that sat in a drawer until a writer blew it or an artist had his work eaten by the dog. Sometimes the US Mail simply lost completed stuff in transit…

Scripted by Claremont, and also including Milgrom’s humorous ‘Editor-Al’ intro pages, Savage Land was collected in 1987 and again in 2002: uniting Spider-Man, Ka-Zar and a grab bag of X-Men in a spectacular return to that primordial paradise: an antediluvian repository beneath the South Pole where fantastic civilisations and dinosaurs fretfully co-exist.

Illustrated and coloured by Golden, it begins with a ‘Fast Descent into Hell!’ when distraught Tanya Anderssen tries to find her missing lover, last seen in that lost world. Disturbingly, the missing man is Karl Lykos, a troubled soul addicted to feeding on mutants and likely to become ghastly humanoid pteranosaur Sauron. Tanya’s only hope of saving him was via Warren Worthington III – publicly infamous as former/occasional X-Man The Angel.

The billionaire’s reluctant expedition to the Savage Land ultimately includes an embedded news team from the Daily Bugle, including photographer/trouble magnet Peter Parker, who quickly stumbles across a band of native evil mutants planning to conquer the outer world by creating mutant hybrids from human victims – like Spider-Man

Second chapter ‘To Sacrifice my Soul…’ has Spidey and local hero Ka-Zar, the Jungle Lord, join forces to crush the mutation plot, inadvertently unleashing Sauron on the sub-polar world.

Golden’s stylish easy grace gave way to the slick, accomplished method of Dave Cockrum, & Bob McLeod for ‘Into the Land of Death…’ as X-Men Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Storm join Angel to thwart the diabolical dinosaur man and his malign mutant allies, before legend-in-training Paul Smith – assisted by inker Terry Austin – stepped in to finish the epic in grand style and climactic action in ‘Lost Souls!’

We then pop back to November 1981 for X-Men #151 wherein Jim Sherman, McLeod & Rubinstein welcome back Cyclops and wave Kitty goodbye in ‘X-Men Minus One!’

Due to the manipulations of White Queen Emma Frost, the teenager’s parents withdraw their daughter from Xavier’s school to enrol her in the Massachusetts Academy which covertly operates as the Hellfire Club’s training camp for young recruits. However, the sinister scheme is even deeper than the X-Men fear, as telepath Frost switches bodies with Storm to further her plan to eradicate the mutant heroes.

What nobody seems to realise is that although Frost has gained Ororo’s weather powers, her victim now has her appearance, loyal henchmen and psionic powers. Despite the deployment of terrifying robotic Sentinels, the plot spectacularly fails in closing instalment ‘The Hellfire Gambit’, illustrated by McLeod & Rubinstein…

Cockrum was back for #153, adding layers of whimsy to the usual angst and melodrama as ‘Kitty’s Fairy Tale’ sees the X-Mansion under reconstruction and the teen back where she belongs. As repairs continue, she tells bedtime stories to Colossus’ baby sister Illyana: using her teammates as inspiration, she spins a beguiling yarn of fantastic space pirates…

The action closes with the contents of monochrome “mature-reader” magazine Bizarre Adventures #27 (July 1981) sharing untold tales under the umbrella heading of ‘Secret Lives of the X-Men’

Preceded by editorial ‘Listen, I Knew the X-Men When…’ and ‘X-Men Data Log’ pages by illustrated by Cockrum, these are offbeat solo tales of our idiosyncratic stars, opening with Phoenix in ‘The Brides of Attuma’ by Claremont, John Buscema & Klaus Janson. Here the dear departed mutant’s sister Sara Grey recalls a past moment when they were abducted by an undersea barbarian and even then Jean proved to be more than any mortal could handle…

That’s followed by Iceman vignette ‘Winter Carnival’ by Mary Jo Duffy, Pérez & Alfredo Alcala, wherein Bobby Drake is embroiled in a college heist with potentially catastrophic consequences, before ‘Show me the way to go home…’ (Bob Layton, Duffy, Cockrum & Ricardo Villamonte) pits Nightcrawler against villainous teleporter the Vanisher in a light-hearted trans-dimensional romp involving warrior women, threats to the very nature of reality and gratuitous (male) nudity…

Extras include original art pages by Cockrum, Rubinstein, Anderson & McLeod; Cockrum’s cover to fanzine The X-Men Chronicles; Byrne & Austin’s cover for the X-men parody issue of Crazy (#82, January 1982) and John Buscema’s 1987 Savage Land collection.

For many fans these tales comprise a definitive high point for the X-Men. Rightly ranking amongst the greatest stories Marvel ever published, they remain supremely satisfying, groundbreaking and painfully intoxicating: an invaluable grounding in contemporary fights ‘n’ tights fiction no fan or casual reader can afford to ignore.
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