Published: May, 1964
Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Paul Reinman
Letters: Sam Rosen
For my entire adult life, my household has always contained cats. Most of the time it’s been two, and sometimes three, but at one point, for a very short time, I actually had four cats. And during that time I learned the amazing truth about mathematics and cats: four cats is SO MUCH MORE than three cats. It’s not just three plus one equals four. No, it’s three plus one equals mayhem!! Cat mischief multiplies exponentially, once you get past two or three cats.
I mention this only to introduce my observations about these last few X-Men stories. When I started reading comics, most of the time it was one superhero battling one villain. The exception has always been the Fantastic Four, and the fact that there are four of them is what makes them so exceptional in my mind. But then, a short time later, several individual heroes banded together to form the Avengers, and now THIS has become one of my favorite titles.
ALL TOGETHER NOW!
When I started reading X-Men, I thought they were okay, but not great, like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. But now, I’m ready to step that up a notch. I think these stories now appeal to me so much more because this group of superheroes is now facing a group of super-villains. Six superheroes plus five super-villains does not equal eleven—it equals unqualified fun!
There’s so much going on in these stories, with absolutely no chance to get bored. The wild array of personalities guarantees new drama and delight at the turn of every page. Yeah, yeah, the battles are much more intense now, but that’s only half of it. If we keep going in this direction, the soap opera possibilities are going to fly right off the chart!
I sense this is only the beginning of my growing esteem for the X-Men title. But let’s start at the beginning, with a few observations I’ve made while reading this particular story.
GOOD GUYS
The X-Men suit up to help the “Hopper” track star, who is facing the wrath of an angry human crowd. It’s commendable that the X-Men want to help a fellow mutant, but if they’d taken a moment 
to think it through, they would realize the Hopper could easily hop over and escape the crowd, on his own. This guy doesn’t need their help.
Surely they’re all smart enough to realize that, but something else may be going on here, on a subconscious level. Though devastated by their beloved leader’s incapacitation, in their heart of hearts, these young X-Men know this will be an easy mission without the Professor’s help. And so they allow themselves to get all riled up, shouting, “We’ve got to help him!” and “Let’s MOVE!” Professor X approves their plan, and they rush off in a flurry of mutant pride and solidarity.
Our adolescent superheroes end up getting a lot more than they bargained for, yet they still pull it off. But I wonder if they would have been so enthusiastic if they’d known from the start they were heading out to battle not merely a crowd of disgruntled humans, but Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!
No matter what the X-Men must have thought, it’s clear Professor X never doubted his young charges. At no point was he without his great brain power, so he knew from the start what they were heading into. Still, he let them go. I wonder if that was a scary moment for him. It could have turned out a lot worse. But thankfully, when Dad lets go of the handlebars, Junior’s biking…without training wheels!
Wait, I take that back. There were training wheels. Professor X observed everything, mentally, from a distance, and could have stepped in at any moment to assist. But no assistance was needed. His X-Men are growing up, right before his inner eye!
PARENTS
So, while Professor X can be proud of his kids, it seems there’s one kid who maybe shouldn’t be so proud of her parents. As soon as the group returns from Santo Marco (X-Men #4), the doorbell rings, and it’s Jean’s parents, popping in for a visit. Quick! Everyone! Out of those “costumes”! Pick up a book and act like you’re an ordinary student! Oh hi, Mom, hi, Dad. Yeah, our teacher’s out of town, I’m just hanging around here with all my MALE classmates in this big old house…no adult supervision…
And what do Jean’s parents say? “What fine, clean-cut youngsters!” No concern at all that their sixteen-year-old daughter is the only girl among this group of teenage boys. They’re “fine” and “clean-cut,” so they must be okay. After all, “Washington D.C.” recommended the school, so it’s all got to be on the up-and-up, right?
Jean’s parents strike me as a bit…shall we say…gullible? Not only because of everything mentioned above, but when Jean’s mother admires Scott’s special sunglasses, he pulls away suddenly, claiming he has “a slight eye infection.” Admirably quick thinking for the understatement of the year! And Hank thinks quickly too, explaining away the empty Danger Room as “This is our gym! We’re getting new equipment next week!” I’ll bet if Mr. and Mrs. Grey happened to glance at Angel’s wings and he told them he was trying out for a part in the Broadway production of The Birdman of Alcatraz, they would have bought it.
BAD GUYS
Any discussion of the bad guys has to begin with Magneto. Oh, Magneto! So powerful, and yet…so frustrated. Here’s a mutant that can wrap up his enemy in steel girders, and turn bullets around in mid-flight. What can possibly harm him? He deserves the respect he so readily heaps upon himself. (His covert satellite base is “Asteroid M.” Hmmm…would that “M,” perchance, stand for…MAGNETO??)
But for someone who has such awesome power and overwhelming ego, it’s sad that the best “team” he can assemble is so rag-tag. With their constant bickering, these mutants are more comical than evil. Surely the mighty Magneto can do better than this! Or, are there such slim pickin’s among the evil mutant community?
In the previous story, Quicksilver and sister Scarlet Witch had no problem expressing disgruntlement with Magneto’s mission statement of death and destruction to all non-mutants—kill them before they kill us. Here, Scarlet Witch exclaims in horror, “Magneto! You never told me that we would ever descend to MURDER!” Well, maybe Wanda was out polishing her nails last time, when Magneto rigged a NUCLEAR BOMB. In my book, that counts as murder. Yet, Scarlet Witch just now seems to be catching on.
Still, in this issue, when Magneto tries to kill the X-Men, Wanda’s conscience gets the best of her, and she hexes Magneto’s weapon before he can fire. Scott can clearly see that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are as out of place in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants as a pearl onion on a banana split, so he extends an invitation to come over to the sunny side of the street.
But the offer is refused. Clinging to their old-world values, Pietro and Wanda vow to honor their obligation to remain loyal to Magneto, in exchange for a previous act of kindness he showed them. Of course, Magneto would never do anything out of kindness. When he rescued Scarlet Witch from an angry mob, he was only thinking of how this act might benefit him. But I suspect it will only be a matter of time before the siblings work out some way to convince themselves their debt has been paid, and they switch sides.
Now, let’s spend a moment talking about Mastermind. Sigh… Mastermind. What a misnomer! Sure, he can conjure powerful illusions, but other than this, he’s pretty much worthless. For one thing, he gets drawn into petty arguments that take up way too many panels. For another, it’s more than hinted that Mastermind considers himself Magneto’s equal—and of course, Magneto’s having none of that.
But most disturbing of all…
Mastermind “walks past the mysterious complex of school buildings” that compose Professor Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youth and declares “It’s no use! The X-Men are too well hidden! No matter where I search, there is no trace of them.” So, it seems Mastermind is just swell at dishing out illusions, but hasn’t got the first clue how to uncover the simplest subterfuge of others.
Now, a moment with Toad. Oh, Toad…so disturbingly like an abused spouse, it’s uncomfortable to watch him. He’s obviously in love with Magneto, and Magneto treats him like crap. But I can almost understand why. Those aforementioned squabbles–Toad is always right in the middle of them. Toad is always ready to tattle on his evil mutant brothers. He has no redeeming qualities, and even his superpower (he can jump really high and really far) is not all that impressive. If even a fraction of Toad’s devotion to Magneto was replaced with an equal amount of brains, he might become a force to be reckoned with. Right now, he’s just comic relief.
I hope as time goes on, Magneto will find more spectacular villains to flesh out his team. Sure it’s fun that there are so many of them, but take note of my description: Fun. More fun than danger. I wouldn’t mind seeing the X-Men having to face a bit more actual danger, when battling a group of super-villains with the ominous moniker of The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!!
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
The X-Men title is still young, still finding its way. Can this only be the fifth issue? As I’ve mentioned before, my introduction to Marvel Comics was through the X-Men movie in 2000, and I’ve seen all the X-Men movies since then, so I know we have a long way to go before getting anywhere close to what a longtime Marvel fan thinks of as the X-Men. But I have as much confidence in the Marvel bullpen to bring this title up to snuff as Professor X has in his young students, way back here, in issue 5. Obviously, there are still a number of kinks to work out, but I expect I’ll be exponentially charmed and thrilled by future issues!
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No real spoilers here, but let’s just say that Marvel shares your enthusiasm for “good team vs. evil team” stories; you’ll see another team book go that route fairly soon (and IMO, much more successfully than this one). Enjoy!
Another team? I’m guessing that would be the Avengers? Who will be on the ‘evil team’? I’m hoping Loki is in the mix! He’s always good for a bit of mischief, and can be a real threat. Can’t wait to find out!
Chrissy,
One thing I greatly enjoy about reading your first time observations is how you notice stuff I never thought of before. In particular, the fact that Jean was sharing the school with four males and no supervision and her parent’s had no concerns.
As you’ll see, the X-Men will have a lot of ups and downs over time, but I suspect you’ll have plenty to enjoy for many issues to come.
Is it me, or does that pic of Mastermind remind you of Vincent Price?
Well, for me, now, as an adult, and as a parent, the head-in-the-clouds attitude of Jean’s parents jumped right out at me. It’s nice that they feel good about the special school recommended by Washington DC, but…c’mon! Washington DC is no reason to abandon our common sense now, is it?
And yes, on Vincent Price! If he was around today, he’d be an obvious casting choice for the next X-Men movie.
By the time I got down to the comments, I saw that Mr. Caputo had beaten me to the punch about not having given a second thought to Dr. and Mrs. Grey’s lack of concern over their teen-age daughter being unsupervised in a house with four teen-age boys (whom, the typical mother would assure her daughter, had “only one thing on their minds.”)
That never occurred to me, either, in reading that tale, and yes, as Mr. Caputo stated, that is a big joy in reading your reviews—that your fresh eyes pick out things that went completely by those of us who read those stories at the time.
The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants certainly were a contentious bunch. The varying motivations of its members (Wanda and Pietro, not truly evil, feel a debt of honour to Magneto; the Toad, knowing that on his own, he would be a loser, clings to Magneto for some sort of validation; and Mastermind—even then, when it was only there between the lines, as it were—was a sleaze) was another application of Stan Lee’s belief in emphasising characterisation over plot. The internal dissention added a dimension to the Evil Mutants that was lacking in, say, the Fatal Five (the villainous band that opposed the Legion of Super-Heroes, over at DC).
Jim Shooter gave the members of the Fatal Five interesting origins and physical traits, but only the barest hint of individual personalities. They were simply evil and that was that. It was thrilling to watch the Five combat the Legion, but when they were just standing around, making their schemes or whatever, they did little more than chortle wickedly and twirl their moustaches. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was far more interesting to view during its down time. The character dynamics between each other and of all of them with Magneto caused the readers to invest an emotional interest in the characters, in the same fashion that soap operas inveigled housewives to tune in every afternoon.
I would submit that there was nothing ragtag in the power level of the Evil Mutants: master of magnetism, super-human swiftness, the ability to affect probabilities, and the power to create realistic illusions. None of these are powers to sneeze at and, I would argue, were at a par with those possessed by the Fantastic Four.
The key difference is that the members of the F.F. believed in and trusted each other, while there was zero faith or trust among the Evil Mutants. Without trust in one’s partners, there can be no teamwork; thus, the F.F. worked as a team, while the Evil Mutants were five persons all working individually toward the same goal.
Which also explains why the neophyte X-Men kept beating Magneto’s crew so often. The X-Men worked as a team, while the Evil Mutants were just five folks with the same club membership.
The idea was that a motivation rooted in higher ideals was more important to victory than raw power or skill. Lee believed in this, or at least, he liked the concept of it. He would use it more obviously in a team membership to come—but that involves a huge spoiler so that’s all I’ll say, other than, you’ll know it when you see it.
I LOVE your point about teamwork being more important than the assortment of individual powers. As they say, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” We’re gearing up for college football season now, and while we know we have a lot of great players, the real question is how well are they going to be able to work together as a TEAM, as a “well-oiled machine.” Comics, sports, life—it’s all the same.
Commander, great points about Stan’s characterization being one if the key elements in these stories, as well as how important the team dynamic worked based on trust. And no need to be so formal, address me as Nick.