X-Men Diary: X-Men 1 Beginnings

X-Men Diary Beginnings

X-Men #1!!!!! So it begins, my first fresh take! Each issue from 1-212, read as if I had never read it before. And then a few thoughts.

Written by Stan Lee

Drawn by Jack Kirby

Inked by Paul Reinman

Lettered by S. Rosen

Random X-servations for Issue 1

First a few random observations:

• Good choice to switch names from Slim to Scott Summers!
• Warren was more serious than I expected.
• Beast seemed to be a mixture of The Thing's personality and the hairy appearance and womanizing of Monk Mayfair.
• And Professor X, I think he's too old for his parents to have been part of the first Atomic testing. Maybe it wasn't the bomb, maybe it was radiation.

X-Men Diary Wrap Up

As far as the story goes, it was a reasonable tale of beginnings. Not remarkable, but all the major characters were introduced including arch-enemy Magneto. There were only hints of later ideologies that would be developed surrounding prejudice and treating all people fairly.

Every story begins somewhere, including ours. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1) And just look at all that has happened since. I can't wait to see what will happen in issue 2.

X-Men Bound Volume

Here's a few bookkeeping notes: I'm reading from a collection of the first 212 X-Men comics put together by Scott Andrew Leva. I'm not sure who that is but there's a celebrated Hollywood stuntman and stunt coordinator by that name. The Hollywood Leva also was Spider-Man on ASM 262's photo cover.

One thing I LOVE about reading comics from a bound collection like this is to see the old ads from the day. Also, Bullpen notes and letter columns are a real treat. I'll show some of those ads and letter columns as I go, too.

To see my writings on Bound Comic Volumes, check out Bound Volume Comics: University Library Or Your Bookshelf -

GoCollect.