When Are The X-Men?

Uncannay X-Men 210, I KISS YOU.

2: X-Men #200 (I looked it up): "The Trial of Magneto." I'd been reading the X-Men for awhile -- I know I'd read the X-Men in Asgard thing with the New Mutants and Dani becoming a Valkyrie and stuff, and I think I first put together what had happened with Jean Grey and the Phoenix because of rehashes when Scott got involved with Maddy Pryor. But this is the first thing that stands out at me -- this is the issue when Prof X asks Magneto to take over the Xavier School for him, inciting gasps of shock amongst us all, or at least me and my jr high buddies.

I guess Secret Wars must have happened around the same time, and what struck me there was the way the X-Men were kind of a separate faction from the heroes, and Magneto was definitely removed from the rest of the supervillains. In retrospect, I realize this is mostly emblematic of Marvel's ambivalent handling of the "mutant hysteria" material, especially with regards to the feelings of other superheroes on the matter (the X-books, especially in the 90s, would have worked better in their own continuity, one without a Spider-Man or a Captain America) -- at the time, though, it felt more like the X-Men weren't quite good guys, and Magneto wasn't quite a bad guy, and I liked that.

1. Secret Wars, British reprint series thereof. The X-Men were the only characters I'd not heard of, which made them mysterious and cool, and also you never saw X-Men comics on the newstand and a guy at school told me their issues were hard to get hold of. In terms of the characters the one I liked best was Rogue - I liked her costume (that naff shiny foldover bodysuit) and the stripe in her hair and also the fact that she seemed very minor and never said much, whereas the others gave up their secrets pretty quickly. Also there was some reference to her being the newest, which was a point of identification for a new fan.

2. The first actual issue of X-Men I bought was "The Trial Of Magneto", which was pretty much when Comag DID start getting the book into UK newsagents. I bought it from WH Smiths in Guildford. The first visit Mum allowed me to buy four comics, so I carefully selected the four team books with the most characters I didn't already know!

This is exactly the way I'd buy comics. One time when I was sick and we were on vacation, my mother offered to buy comics for me to read at the hotel room, so I picked out Blue Devil and the Sectaurs series (I think it was a toy tie-in?), because I'd never heard of either.

That's actually how I grocery shop now, I think.

Then I started ordering comics monthly, and I think the first month of that (same shop) was when I got X-Men 200. I was taken for a McDonalds after and I can still remember the taste of the milkshake I had while I read an issue of Mighty Thor, I was just incredibly happy.

But not as great as the creeepy bald man who made Spiderman forget everything with his brain! Which was absolutely brilliant. He was my favourite apart from Nightcrawler (who had the advantage of clearly defined powers and A TAIL) even though nobody liked him and he had malevolent plans which he wouldn't tell Captain America about.

Not to mention Alpha Flight! I don't have much time for Byrne these days, but Alpha Flight remains pure kiddie crack. I was only small, is it any wonder it warped my fragile mind for all time?

I was very gratified to read that J Byrne thinks it is total rub.

Whoever invents a reader that not only allows you to grab free comics but allows you to read them as though you are six and have never heard of the principal characters will become incredibly rich.

(Plus Puck being short because of absorbing demonic energy.)

Vic has inadvertantly reminded me: My FIRST exposure to the X-Men, definitely before the comics and possibly before the cartoons, was through a set of playing cards that had pictures of Marvel characters on them. Just regular cards, but I had no idea who most of them were, and was immediately fascinated by the Silver Surfer, Dr Strange, Ghost Rider, and Nightcrawler -- the ones who (aside from the Hulk, who I knew) looked the least like the others.

Alpha Flight: Most socially relevant team EVAH.

And who says crossovers don't work?

Earliest X memories, probably Secret Wars, or maybe some early cartoon show. I used to get Marvel stickers when I was very young, but most of these just got stuck on doors...Hercules was on the skirting board behind an arm chair for years.

Anyway, Colossus was the character I liked best, closely followed by Night Crawler.

I got this issue to read whilst I was waiting with my mum to be seen by the dentist about my braces.

Uncanny X-Men 208 - The X-men are fighting the Hellfire Club on the front cover. UK 40p!!! August 1986

The story is called:Retribution...Kitty is shouting "Wolverine--how could you?...What have you done?!?"...

The Black Queen looks foxy on page 5. I shall re-read it this evening!

The next issue I got after this was Uncanny 222, Wolverine vs Sabretooth.

Cyclops was on the cover, carrying Kitty Pryde. (Love that Paul Smith art!) It was the aftermath of the X-Men's big space adventure w/ The Brood (Alien-like - as in the movie franchise - race of aliens that would "infect" victims & turn them into Brood). I forget if it was Cyclops or Wolverine, but someone on the team was still infected (probably Kitty) & she was zonked. I think it was Cyclops, because I remember some struggle between him & Wolvie w/ you-know-who threatening to off Cyke w/ his pigstickers. Also vaguely remember a cool shot of the reveal, w/ Cyke's visor getting ripped off to reveal BROOD EYES! (I might be confusing this w/ other Brood Saga stuff, though.) (God, I love Paul Smith's artwork, though I didn't at the time - probably not flashy enough for my tastes.)

I also remember leaving the mall w/ my family late @ night, & the Zombies' "Time of the Season" playing in the car as we pulled out of the parking lot.

For a while, Holyoke was a comic mecca for me - the X-book was bought in a COMIC BOOK STORE, a then-unknown area of commerce to me. When I got my own paper route, I'd harass my mom to take trips up to Holyoke to buy new books. I prided myself on remembering the exit off I-91 that the mall was located off by concocting this kooky mnemonic (sic) device wherein I tied the exit number (15) to the issue of Avengers where Baron Zemo died. I'd type up these spreadsheets on a Smith-Corona where I'd painstakingly write down each back issue of each title I didn't have, & what I expected to pay for them (based on Overstreet's guide, of course). One year, she bought me the _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ mini from that place (excepting one issue, damn it). Aw, man, I'm getting all nostalgic & fuzzy now thinking about this stuff.

Anyway, back to the X-stuff @ hand - the next issue I bought was #170 (Storm vs. Calisto!), then nothing until #183 (the first Direct Sales issue of the X-books I bought!) (Colossus v. Juggernaut!), then I began buying X-Men regularly with #189, and continued to follow them up through #270. But I'm delving into stuff that should go on the other X-threads.

How - this would ideally be started by a googler who thought that the X-Men posted here, John Cena-style.

Where - Mansion vs Australia vs Savage Land vs european team FITE (shortest fite ever).

Dude, the Holyoke Mall DID rock, but I haven't been in nearly 10-15 years. The comic place in the mall was strange, though - all the back issues were behind this wall, and you'd have to ask the employees to fetch whatever issues you wanted. Sucked for them, though, as I was that kid that'd ask if they had, for instance, John Byrne's Avengers run, which would, of course, lead them to believe that they should go & FETCH those issues for me, when all I really wanted to know is if they were available. Tee hee hee. But, really, comic store owners should realize that 90% of the joy of back issue shopping is BROWSING, and having someone on a raised platform do your bidding blows chunks.

That mall was where I first learned about food courts, too.

I caused this huge scene there once when I was breaking in my Sears credit card and they wanted two forms of photo ID, one of them a driver's license -- when I told them I didn't drive and had a non-driver's ID, they wouldn't take it, and the manager went into this whole bizarre "you are required by law to have a driver's license even if you don't drive" spiel, and this went on for two hours because we'd taken the bus out there and there was no way I was gonna make a return trip. Bastard.

one of us couldn't draw legs so made the bottom half of the character a tornado spire - that should give an idea of the skill level

----wait, was his name Rob?

this might be my favourite thread ever.

I know this...

The best thing about Alpha Flight: insane body switching. Look, I'm a Sasquatch! No, I'm a robot now! Wait, now Jeffries is a robot and Snowbird is a sasquatch! What the hell am I?

(Plus Puck being short because of absorbing demonic energy.)

...is my favourite post ever.