#Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men

[vertigoartgore]

2008's Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men Vol.1 #1 cover by penciller John Cassaday and colorist Laura Martin.

R.I.P. John Cassaday (December 14, 1971 - September 9, 2024).

[evilhorse]

Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1

RIP John Cassaday

[yetanotherknitter]

there's something so special about giving a teenage girl room to be violent

[ffverr]

How to read X-Men?

For the dear X-Men fans that came in through 97 (or the movies) and are confused as to where to start the comics! Don't let the internet fool you, there is only one way and it is by starting with Giant size X-Men #1 (1975). No I am not kidding, it truly is the only right way to get the full story😭 (unless you want to go ALL THE WAY to 1963, I don't necessarily think it's that vital)

This is me trying to keep ppl from making the same mistake I did, starting with wheadon's astonishing X-Men ☠️

Here is a very useful pic of what to read next 💞 good luck!

This is to get ALL the context and major story arcs still referenced today. So I believe it to be vital for the other eras. (I don't know how you can fully understand jean and Scott's relationship today without having read inferno or dark phoenix for example)

Now, If you just wanna read for one specific character, that's a different story! Character specific reading guides that concentrate on the important issues across time exist! Look for those they're very useful <3

Guide made by: https://www.reddit.com/r/xmen/s/z1xNhqPXtv

https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/s/ChkpOJbXED

[kalinara]

Hello! New to the X-men fandom, drawn here by Scott Summers (I love your blog so much!) Two questions, if you don't mind:

1. What would you consider essential reads for Scott specifically? There are so many starting points it seems.

2. I did finish Whedon's run of Astonishing X-Men (at the recommendation of reddit) and was wondering if Scott (now?) doesn't need his ruby quartz glasses/visor? Sorry if that's a run-specific question!

Hello!

The first question is surprisingly difficult, only because Scott's such a staple throughout the entirety of the X-Men. So let me kind of give you a run down of your options.

--

The 60s comics are really fun, if you want to see where things began. It is very 60s though, and the style may not be to your taste. There's also some period sexism that's not great (though surprisingly less than I expected. Possibly because Jean's meant to be a fairly liberated teen, as opposed to older ladies like Sue Storm or Janet Van Dyne.)

The Claremont Era (Starting with Giant-Sized X-Men, which introduces staples like Storm and Wolverine) is probably what will be the most familiar to folks who became used to the X-Men from other sources, like the cartoons. The Animated Series and X-Men '97 adapt a lot of Claremont era stuff, so it'll be pretty familiar.

It's also soapy and dramatic, and Scott (and Jean) feature very heavily. You'll also meet Rachel. Rachel is fun.

X-Factor's first run is something I'd recommend only after you've gotten into the character more. It's actually really good, IMO, and an amazing deconstruction of how much of a trainwreck the poor guy actually is. It's not always a flattering portrayal though, which is part of what makes it interesting. (It is good though to read the Madelyne stuff for yourself eventually, summaries tend to ignore the aspects that make Scott's side of things a bit more understandable, if not sympathetic.) Baby Cable is here too.

The 90s X-Comics are pretty fun too, like the earlier Claremont era, this is likely what folk are familiar with if they remember the cartoons. Costumes, characters, and so on. Scott is one of a very large cast, but he tends to have some really good arcs here and there. The art takes getting used to it. This is where you'll start seeing adult Cable as a major character. And another AU Summers child, Nate Grey. He's complicated.

the 2000s-2011 era of Comics have a lot of upheaval and events. Scott is still an idealist, but he's been jaded by a lot of events (and will be jaded by more). You'll see him get darker here, but not evil. It's pretty sad though. SO MANY big events though, Scott pulls off a lot of wild shit.

In 2011-2016, we have two Scotts basically. Avengers vs. X-Men is a massively huge event that changes Scott's role for a long time. For our main Scott, the next few years are going to read a lot like whump fic. He's going to suffer, people are going to blame him (unfairly, imo!) for a lot of things, and he'll be treated like a monster at times. That said, there are people who do see the truth and end up even joining him.

But also around this time, through shenanigans (read: Hank McCoy), the timeline is disrupted and the 1960s era Original Five (specifically circa issue #8) are brought to the future. They have their own adventures in lines like All-New X-Men (v1. and v2.), X-Men Blue, and Scott specifically has a solo series early on and then joins up with Kamala Khan's Champions and it's darling.

Eventually older Scott "dies" (it happens in comics). Young Scott continues though. When Young Scott goes to the past again, older Scott comes back (unrelated reasons).

For 2019-2020, there's a short run by Matthew Rosenberg, starting at issue 11 or so. The original team of X-Men is presumed dead (really they're dealing with some multiversal nonsense. Possibly Nate Grey's fault), and a returned Scott starts gathering new X-Men. It's intense, angsty and kind of bleak. This isn't about saving the world anymore, just maybe going out doing what they should.

From 2020-2023, we get a massive, amazing change in direction called the Krakoa arc. Scott's not featured as prominently here (It's Xavier's show), but he's solid in any series that he appears (Adjectiveless X-Men will always have him somewhere. He's very prominent in Teen Cable's book too.) Krakoa is something very different than anything the X-Men series(es) have done before and it's definitely worth reading. Though for my own taste, I like the return to form that comes with...

Our current era is "From the Ashes" and it's not actually a bad place to jump on. Everyone's a little scattered and out of sorts since the fall of Krakoa, but Scott, being who he is, has already pulled his own book together for the kind of mutant-rescuing heroics that he is wont to do.

As to where to start? Honestly, I'd go with whatever seems the most fun to you. Eventually, I think, you'll find yourself branching out and it won't be nearly so confusing. (There are also wikis, podcasts, and annoying pedants like me who like explaining everything.). Fans will often have their favorite special books (Children of the Atom, for example, is probably my favorite version of the O5 origin. It came out in 2001 and has a truly horrifying Jack Winters), and we'll always leap on the opportunity to share those things.

-------------------------------------------

as for 2. I don't know if you read the Giant-Sized finale of Astonishing X-Men, but they do have a scene where Scott's eyes start glowing again and Emma places the visor on him. It's a nice, quietly somber scene.

In current X-continuity, Scott does still need the visor. The inability to control his blasts may have a psychological component but there's also physical brain damage. (In the Krakoa arc, there are mechanisms where he might have repaired said damage, but it actually does come up at some point, and he specifically chooses not to. I hope I can find that page again, because I feel like there's a lot of interesting potential meta in that choice.)

I don't think they ever really revisit why Emma (or Cassandra, possibly) had been able to neutralize Scott's blasts/restore temporary control over them, but I tend to go with the interpretation that a powerful enough telepath could force a bypass with his powers, but it's an incredibly traumatic, potentially damaging, and ultimately temporary solution. Hence, what we see.

For her part, Jean Grey (at least in the modern era) is able to psychically block his powers. And that's always fun. (And sometimes a little kinky!)

[nightmareinfloral]

Mercury- Where to Read?

Cessily Kincaid, also known as Mercury, is an Irish-American mutant whose entire body is composed of a non-toxic metallic substance. She can alter her shape according to her will and often uses it to create different weapons or “melt” into a liquid form. Below the cut is a list of Cessily’s appearances updated as of April 2024.

New Mutants (2003) 2, 7, 9-10, 13

New X-Men (2004) 2-6, 14

New X-Men: Hellions (2005) 1

New X-Men (2004) 15-19

New X-Men: Hellions (2005) 2-4

New X-Men: Academy X Yearbook Special (2005) 1

New X-Men (2004) 20-21

X-Men: The 198 Files (2006) 1

New X-Men (2004) 22

Astonishing X-Men (2004) 13

New X-Men (2004) 23-29

X-Men (1991) 190

Civil War Files (2006) 1

New X-Men (2004) 30-31

X-Men (1991) 192

New X-Men (2004) 32-39

X-Men: Endangered Species (2007) 1

World War Hulk: X-Men (2007) 1-2

New X-Men (2004) 40

X-Men (1991) 201

New X-Men (2004) 41

X-Men (1991) 202

World War Hulk: X-Men (2007) 3

X-Factor (2005) 23

New X-Men (2004) 42

X-Men: Messiah Complex (2007) 1

New X-Men (2004) 43

X-Factor (2005) 25

New X-Men (2004) 44

X-Men (1991) 205

Uncanny X-Men (1981) 493

X-Factor (2005) 26

New X-Men (2004) 45

X-Men (1991) 206

X-Factor (2005) 27

New X-Men (2004) 46

X-Men (1991) 207

X-Men: Divided We Stand (2008) 1-2

Secret Invasion: X-Men (2009) 1-2

X-Men: Manifest Destiny (2009) 2, 4

Marvel Digital Holiday Special (2009) 1

Secret Invasion: X-Men (2009) 4

X-Infernus (2008) 1-4

New Mutants (2009) 1

Runaways (2008) 10

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia (2009) 1

Uncanny X-Men (1981) 513

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus (2009) 1

X-Men: Legacy (2008) Annual 1, 228

Deadpool (2008) 16

Psylocke (2009) 1

Deadpool (2008) 17

Uncanny X-Men (1981) 517

Nation X (2009) 1

X-Men: Legacy (2008) 230

X-Force (2008) 22-23

X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back (2010) 1

Psylocke (2009) 4

Nation X (2009) 3

X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back (2010) 2-3

X-Men: Legacy (2008) 234

New Mutants (2009) 13

X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back (2010) 4

X-Men: Hellbound (2010) 2

X-Men (1997) 162

X-Men (2010) 5, 11

X-Men: Giant-Size (2011) 1

Uncanny X-Men (1981) 541-542

X-Men: Schism (2011) 5

X-Men: Regenesis (2011) 1

Wolverine and the X-Men (2011) 4

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega (2012) 1-3

X-Men: Legacy (2008) 261

Wolverine (2010) 305-306, 308

Wolverine and the X-Men (2011) 5, 15, 17

Uncanny Avengers (2012) 1

Wolverine and the X-Men (2011) 18, 21

All-New X-Men (2012) 10

Wolverine and the X-Men (2011) 29

Scarlet Spider (2012) 17

X-Men (2013) 1

Uncanny Avengers (2012) 11

Young Avengers (2013) 11

X-Men: Battle of the Atom (2013) 2

Young Avengers (2013) 12-13

X-Men (2013) 7-8

Young Avengers (2013) 14

X-Men (2013) 10-12

Nightcrawler (2014) 1, 3-4

X-Men: No More Humans (2014) 1

X-Men (2013) 16

Nightcrawler (2014) 5, 8

Storm (2014) 1, 10

Uncanny X-Men (2013) 600

Star-Lord (2016) 1

Generation X (2017) 8-9, 87

Uncanny X-Men (2018) 9-10

Age of X-Man: The Amazing Nightcrawler (2019) 2, 4-5

New Mutants (2019) 1

Fallen Angels (2019) 1

X-Force (2019) 9

X-Factor (2020) 5

Hellfire Gala Guide (2021) 1

Way of X (2021) 2

X-Force (2019) 20

Wolverine (2020) 13

Way of X (2021) 3

Marvel’s Voices: Pride (2021) 1

X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation (2021) 1

Free Comic Book Day 2022: Marvel’s Voices (2022) 1

Legion of X (2022) 1

Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic (2022) 1

Love Unlimited Infinity Comic (2022) 43

Marvel’s Voices: X-Men (2023) 1

[strangenewwords]

Giant Sized Astonishing X-Men # 1

Variant Cover for Astonishing X-Men #21 (2004)

[hondafuckingodyssey]

X-men comic recommendations

The other day I went on a rant about how nobody should attempt to read all of the x-men comics in order because if the x-men have no respect for the spacetime continuum, you shouldn't have to respect reading their shit in order.

So here's a list of comics series, some that I've read and some that are on my to read list. Mind the authors and the dates, Marvel likes to recycle titles so sometimes you'll accidentally pick up something that's a completely different story from ten years later.

If you're going to getting your comics from the library and different sources (cough archive.org cough), or skipping around to different eras, I recommend an app like Comic Geeks where you can track which issues you've read. As a bonus, you get a satisfying little dopamine hit every time you check off a comic you read.

The original silver age comics from 1963 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby These are fun, but they kind of suck. I believe X-men was one of their worst selling titles for many years. They are campy fun though, like that island has a giant acme magnet on on top of it, I wonder if that's Magneto's secret base, hmmm? I'm kind of working through these when I just have my phone because they're easier to read on a smaller screen than the new stuff with full page spreads.

Chris Claremont's classic X-men run, starting in 1975. This is the classic starting point I hear recommended again and again. You start with Giant Size x-men number 1, and then go to X-men issue 94. This is where all the classic x-men are introduced. You got your Dark Phoenix saga, and Days of Future Past, and a lot of the storylines that were used in the 90's animated series. Everybody should read some of these. But Chris Claremont was writing the X-men for FOURTEEN years. Do not attempt to read all of these before you move onto the modern stuff.

The Dark Phoenix saga, 1980 Chris Claremont, issues 129-138 Ok, I just finished these last night and they're so good that I want to make a special call out for them. I jumped ahead to read them and I'm so glad I didn't wait. I can't figure out how the movies sucked so bad when they had this source material to work with. We could have had an epic moon battle? If you don't read anything else from this era read these. Pro tip: get the epic version of like a prayer stuck in your head right before starting on issue 137. Really adds to the atmosphere.

X-men Season 1 by Dennis Hopeless, 2012 This is a graphic novel (so published altogether instead of in individual issues) retelling of the original silver age comics. It's mostly from Jean Grey's point of view. It's very fun.

Children of the Atom, 1999 by Joe Casey, 6 issues Sort of a prequel, explains how Charles Xavier recruited a bunch of teenagers. This looks good, but it started out with mutants being lynched, and with the way I always compare being a mutant to being queer, and the election and project 2025 looming, I decided this one was too much for me right now.

X-men First Class, 2006 by Jeff Parker, 8 issues I read the first four of these and they were cute. Bobby is writing home to his parents about his time in school, Scott and Jean go to the beach. Lots of fun character stuff. Originally 8 issues but it looks like they immediately did another run of issues the next year.

New X-men, 2001 by Grant Morrison his run starts with issue 114 This is a great place to jump in if Deadpool & Wolverine got you interested in x-men comics, because it's got Cassandra Nova in it. She's doing her weird finger thing! Supposedly this is one of best places to jump into modern x-men. I've read about 6 of them, so far so good.

Astonishing X-men, 2004 by Joss Whedon This is supposed to be the best x-men run ever. It continues directly from Grant Morrison's run. I'm saving it for next time I have a mental breakdown a rainy day.

All-New X-men, 2013 by Brian Michael Bendis This is what I'm reading the most of right now. Cyclops is being an asshole, and Beast decides the best way to solve this problem is to go back in time and bring the original teenage x-men from '60s back with him to confront him. This works particularly well as a jumping in point because they keep explaining backstory through the kids finding out all the ridiculous things that have happened. Like, poor Jean asking how she died, and they're is like, um which time?

[xmencovered]

The Complete John Cassaday Astonishing X-Men Run Cover Set / Astonishing X-Men 001 - 024, Giant Size Astonishing X-Men 001 / Published: 2004 - 2008 / Artist: John Cassaday

[tidemoonchild]

Why am I doing this to myself? 😭 I really decided to start reading the marvel comics... While I wish I could read everything that ever came out, I know this won't be possible... So yeah idk where I start and what I'll be reading. For now I want to concentrate on The X-Men and Avengers especially Beast, Nightcrawler, Hulk, Captain America, Black Widow and The Winter Soldier. I also want to know more about Krakoa

Soooo if anyone has any recommendations on what to definitely read. Think this would make it much easier for me...

Stuff that is already on my list are:

House of X & Powers of X

Dark Phoenix Saga

House of M

Days of Future Past

Age of Apocalypse

Astonishing X-Men

New X-Men

Giant-Size X-Men

Wolverine & The X-Men

Avengers vs X-Men

Secret Wars

Infinity Saga

Secret Invasion

[loisinherlane]

someone asked me about scott's brain damage, but i was indisposed at the time and unable to reply (before forgetting) SO: as everyone knows, scott's mutant power are concussive beam blasts which he cannot turn off. to this end, he has to wear red quartz glasses at all times, unless his eyes are closed (so he is able to sleep without glasses on).

briefly, to summarize scott's backstory (also as documented below): scott is the elder son of christopher and katherine summers. they took their two children on a plane ride, only for an "accident," leading to the parents sending both children out with the single intact parachute. (mr. sinister states that scott lessened the impact with his blasts.) scott takes the brunt force of the impact either way to protect his little brother alex. scott ends up in the hospital for a year, during which time alex is adopted. initially, scott seems to recover well, but when his mutation fully presents, he can't control it.

(X-Factor (1986) #39)

mr. sinister states that the damage was actually from him, but I think it's clear that Scott also suffers from brain damage from the fall. It's a combination of these factors that really renders him unable to control his powers fully.

likewise, emma frost attributes scott's lack of control primarily to the psychological trauma of losing his parents' and brother. the brain is complex, and i could believe a telepath could turn "off" the neurological pathways leading to a mutation.

(Astonishing X-Men (2004) #14)

scott acts throughout this arc without his powers, but he also indicates that this will not be permanent.

(Astonishing X-Men (2004) #24)

(Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men)

even here, scott seems to indicate that while emma's psychic "help" did allow him to briefly control his powers, it's not something he can maintain for long periods of time. so that to me says he has more of a physiological trauma compounded by psychological trauma which hinders him from training to control his powers.

either way, scott is disabled, specifically in that he cannot control his mutation the way it was meant to be controlled! as such, he relies on aids. notably, these aids (the glasses) also stop him from being able to see colors! scott needs them, but they do impact his vision.

[corhore]

I was thinking about getting into X-men. While I know asking where to start something with cape comics is like asking someone to explain the first time a recipe you want to try was used, I'll ask you anyway.

Where do I start with X-men?

Alright.

If you want a easy introduction thats a bit more modern then thats gonna be Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon. Now I know what your thinking "Whedon? eugh" and yeah I get it, but hear me out his X-Men legit fuckin rocks hard. The art and characters all work off eachother so damn well and if you don't come out of this loving Cyclops then idunno what to tell ya.

Morrison's New X-Men is also a good start, but it might be a bit too weird and cerebral for some. Its also the beginning of Emma's fleshing out and solidifies her as a X-Men mainstay albeit a flawed one.

For a true "i want to go down the fuckin rabbit hole baby" experience then that'll be Chris Claremont's run starting with Giant Size X-Men all the way to X-Men (1991) #3. All or most of the X-Men shit you hear started with him. He's hands down the most prolific X writer and its no contest. He's the best Storm writer writing her best stuff, wolverine, Inferno, God loves man kills, Mutant Massacre, Dark Pheonix, Days of future past ect. He also wrote stints on New Mutants, Excalibur, X-Factor and several minis.

Now his run has been collecting all over the place and its pretty tough getting all his stuff, but my tip is to not worry about it. Just find any of his shit and read it.

Now as for Krakoa. I'd say thats another almost good place to start. House of X-Powers of X is legit a great book and Jonathan's stint on X-Men is very unique and breath of fresh air for the ip after years of shit/mediocrity.

However. He left the ip somewhat suddenly without really finishing his ideas so now X-Men is sorta in this weird place where Marvel is still trying to continue his ideas and themes with mixed results. Though Immortal X-Men, X-Men red and Exterminators all rule hard.

So yeah there ya go.

[popculturebuffet]

500th Article Special: House of Claremont Part 1: A Wein Start (Giant Size X-Men#1): A Rope of Sand

Welcome to my 500th article extravaganza you happy people! Yes folks it's been a long road: three years, countless reviews of Duck Based Media, regular coverage of Ducktales, Owl House and Amphibia. I've had high points with successes like my Scott Pilgrim Retrospective, my coverage of the season 1 and 2 arcs of ducktales, an annual best of episode list, my three cabs retrospective, covering all 12 issues of watchmen, two seasons of thomas the tank engine and three seasons of venture bros among MANY more things i'm probably forgetting. I've also had projects that stalled: I still haven't finished life and times of scrooge mcduck and will probably have to start all over again with New X-Men at some point. I've had schedule slippage, delays and what have you.

But i'm proud of how far i've come: I have three patreons, multiple commissioned reviews a month, and 500 articles under my belt. After years and years of wanting to review stuff I finally am, I have a loyal fanbase who loves what I do, good fans who turned into good friends, and i'm STILL going. I'm still doing this three years later. I thought by now the bottom would fall out but here I am. So before I get into the festivities anymore i'd just like to say: Thank you all. Thank you for reading, thank you for staying, thank you for following. Wether you just read one or two reviews or read every damn one, thank you. Thank you all. And special thanks to Kev for bankrolling about half my salary, Emma for doing most of the other, and Brotoman for being a new yet loyal patreon who helped me revive a project I couldn't be happier is going at top speed. Thank you all. I love you guys.

So for my 500th spectacular I wanted to do something that both fit the history of the blog but was still something neat to do, especially since this also doubles as my annual birthday review. For those new to the tradition: I start a new project based on something dear to my heart, my very soul. Something that is a very real part of me. And the choice this time was easy: If there's one thing i've talked about on the blog every chance I get, one thing that is a true part of me and I geek out about at every chance, if there's one thing I had only scratched the surface of it was the Uncanny, Amazing, Astonishing, Classic, Extraordinary, Immortal, New, Blue, Gold, Red, Black , Green and X-Treme X-Men. There's no one franchise in comics that has kept my attention, created so many characters I love, and given me this much joy.

The question though was what to cover: The X-Men are a MASSIVE franchise and there are tons upon tons of runs I want to cover at some point: New Mutants Original Run, Every Run of X-Factor (Particularly the three runs by Peter David and one by Leah Williams), New Mutants excellent 2010's run by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Cable's Solo Series, Uncanny X-Force, X-Statix, Iceman's solo after coming out, Cullen Bunn's trilogy of stellar work on the franchise.. the list goes on quite a while.

But what I settled on was something that's both obvious and daunting: A run on the merry mutants that set the tone for everything, and changed their world forever. That took a decent but forgettable Fantastic Four knockoff with a lot of potential and made it one of the greatest comics of all time. As you can tell by the title , we're talking about Chris Claremont's run on Uncanny X-Men… though before we can get into it in full next time we're starting with what kicked it off.. a book ironically NOT by Chris Claremont but which would set up the characters and themes he'd follow since. A book that's a tad awkward, somewhat dated, but still big, fun and has an island that walks like a man. We're talking Len Wein and David Cockrums Giant Sized X-Men #1 Under the Cut.

HIstory of X: To understand why this run and it's start, sorta but we'll get to that, with Giant Sized X-Men #1 was such a big deal you have to understand the state the X-Men were in when Giant SIzed X-Men #1 was published.

See the X-Men of the 60's came about because Stan's editor wanted more books dammit since Stan and his oftentimes creative Partner Jack Kirby were a lisecnes to print money. And given Stan had at this point created Spider-Man, Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Ant Man, the Wasp, the Avengers, and brought back Namor and Captain America, he wasnt' exactly wrong. So while he created yet another solo hero in Daredevil, again not exactly wrong, he needed another team book too. Problem was you could only have a hero fall into a radioactive vat of cream of wheat so many times before it got boring. Stan The Man needed a new way to create new heroes and villians.

And that folks is how we got mutants: "Er their just born with it! Yeah people with power exists! That's the ticket! Excelesior!"

That said as hilariously simple and need based as the solution was.. it was still brilliant. A one size fit all solution for when a writer didn't have time for a villains power. An easy out: you can still give them a backstory and such if you fancy, but this way if you didn't have a reason for the villains power in mind, just make them a mutant. It came up quite a bit till decimation for a reason after all: it was just easy to make them when anyone could be one if they weren't introduced as a human already. Was it a cheap narrative device? yes. Was it one that others would use brilliantly in a myriad of ways? Hell yeah. He also decided to make a teen team, with the original 5 x-men, now enshrined in most continuities as the OG's before whatever modern team pops up, consisting of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast (Pre-hairy), and Angel lead by Professer Xavier, fighting the dreaded Magneto. A lot of the basic stuff from the school to a lot of the most iconic x-men are there from the start.. but the basic element of protecting a world that hates and fear them took a second and even then it wasn't fully crystalized.

And that was kinda the problem: while stan and later roy thomas intital run wasn't lacking for great ideas, iconic foes the Sentinels and Juggernaut were Stan's idea, it kinda feel more often int0 being just another superhero book: For starter stan's teens, from what i've raed of classic x-men (which I also intend to cover), was very

Especially compared to Spidey which has some of this, but still felt a bit closer to earth. The idea of a superhero school was brilliant.. but the problem was at this poitn it was a prep school with pretty stock , if still deeply loveable teen characters; Brooding troubled hunk Scott, richie rich Warren, female sterotype because Stan Lee's talents didn't includ ewriting women Jean, jokester baby of the bunch bobby and erudite badass jock hank. Okay not all typical, even before he got all beasty, Hank was still a standout. They weren't terrible character, there's a reason they've endured since and this run brings all of them back for guest spots or in the case of Scott, Jean and Warren brings them back as full members at various points, eventually cumilating in the spinoff X-Factor. The seeds of who they are, Scott's brooding workaholic nature, Warren's rich joviality, Jean's warm caring nature, Bobby being fun personified and hank being the best before his long slow dark decsent into being a macvilian jackass, it's all there and stan and later roy thomas deserves credit for it.

The Lee and later Thomas era wasn't bad.. but it just wasn't anything new for the silver age. The foes were mostly just "bwahahahah i'm evil" types, including shockingly Magneto. Even I forget he started as trying to conquer the worlds for mutants not because of deep seated trauma but because that's what super villians did. There wasn't the complexity the franchise would gain with the iteration i'm talking about here. We got the first hints of that with Denny O Neils breif but fondly remembered run that brought in Havok and Polaris, Scott's brother who sure is there and Magneto's daughter who sure is awesome, but ultimately it just wasn't a huge standout from Stan's other team books. It's more worth checking out for what Lein Wein and directly after him Chris Claremont made of it, and what Denny O Neil before them did, than as some big silver age gem. So it's no shock that with feedback on O'Neils run reaching them too late to keep him from giong back to dc that the X-Men eventually got the boot. they remaind in reprints because back then it wasn't as easy to get those and the book still had a cult fanbase, but the x-men for all intensive purposes were dead. The team wasn't gone: Hank got his own solo adventures that made him a real beast before joining the avengers and the X-Men showed up every so oftne as guests.. but the strangest heroes of all were on the backburner. Thankfully as luck would have it the X-Men had a key ally in their corner; Roy Thomas, marvel legend, creator of my boy the Vision, and former X-Men Writer. He had grown attached to the team and wanted them to come back, and kept pitching. Eventually he got his chance when President of Marvel Al Landau, wanting to break into foreign markets with thier reprints more, suggested an international team of heroes. And since the X-Men were doing nothing and needed a fresh shot in the arm anyway, Roy gladly volunteered.

He originally leaned into the global aspect, pitching the idea of the x-men traveling around the world in a floating base, rescuing new mutants and generally being global. Which honestly does sound badass and if it hasn't been recycled yet it needs to be. It didn't end up going ahead as this for whatever reason, possibly because Thomas Himself , being an editor and busy as heck, coudln't do the book himself.

He did put it in good hands though with at the time Hulk writer Lein Wein and former Legion of Super-Heroes artist David Cockrum. And for those just joining us i'm a massive Legion of Super Heroes fan so finding out years later as I got into them that they both shared an artist at one point was a feeling so awesome i'ts hard to describe. Both also brought a character along for the ride: For Wein he was currently working on Hulk, and when asked by editorial to create a Canadian superhero, ended up creating the best at what he does, Wolverine.. and what he did in his debut was fight the Hulk himself, AND live and also fight a Wendigo because every sundae needs a cherry. So he was in.

Cockrum brought in an awesome character he'd designed for a Legion spinoff. But with him leaving DC because they wouldn't let him have some original art, which given Cockrum went on to help create their competitors most popular book of the 1980s, was moronic even by executive jackassery standards, he brought Nightcrawler with him and he eventually shifted from a sardonic ghoulish alien to the friendly chap with the demonic face we know and love.

The result of this powerful partnership was one of the most important comics in marvel history.

My history with the comic is probably baffling to any younger readers: See I had the comic on CD-Rom

In the 90's marvel did a bunch of these: it's how I became a lifelong fan of the hobgoblin by seeing his first appearance and got my first taste of legendary writer, artist and ego John Byrne's Fantastic Four run. Which is also on my to do list along with the runs of Mark Waid, Jonathan Hickman, and Matt Fraction's run with Scott Lang. I inherited these Discs from my brother and in the early 2000's somewhere, I popped em in and throughly enjoyed myself.

While a Wizard Magazine focused on X-Men's greatest moments and X2 made me an X-Men fan for life, this issue is what cemented it. I feel it shaped a lot of my opinons on the house of x as I got more and more into it. And with some nice sound effects, data files and other nice widgets it was a great way to dive right in, to the point I later bought the first two masterworks for the uncanny era simply because it had this issue.

It's opening is a big reason. It's one of my faviorite scenes in all of comic books, one of the best character introductions i've seen period, and introduces one of my favorite characters all in one go. We open in a sleepy remote village in gemany where a bloodthirsty mob, the kind you might see in a Universal or Hammer monster film, is out for the blood… yet in a clever reversal of this old cliche, it's the target of their bloodlust that's our viewpoint character.

It sets up Kurt perfectly: He's a perfectly normal, charming guy who simply dosen't want to live his life being pointed and laughed at for being different. It's a fair and honest thing anyone in said "Freak Show" should be able to have. It's not.. phrased the best, mid 70's and all. But instead of being welcomed by this small town, by society, he's shunned simply for looking different. They see him as a monster and try to burn him simply because he looks different. It's prejudiced boiled down to it's core: people hating something because it's different, and instead of trying to approach it with an open mind, instead bring out a closed fist. And when they try to burn him out, he decides if their going to think he's a monster than so be it and goes down fighting as they end up overwhelming and restraining him ready to stake him

I'll admit the villagers are heavy handed: It's a literal angry mob complete with a wooden steak, clearly having the wrong issue as Dracula's guest appearance isn't for another couple of years. It'd only be less subtle if the dialogue read

Yet it works: Sure people aren't going to be forming a mob to go stake a trans, nonbinary, queer, or POC person, but they'll do everything in their power to make that persons life harder simply because they don't agree they should exist and can't accept it. Prejudice sadly will probably never go away because there will always be hatred, ignorance, religious dogma and white supremacist nutballs. They just say the loud part quite.. unless your Kanye West. There are still assholes commiting violent hate crimes and others trying ot massage those hate crimes on television or the internet because they just can't be happy unless people they don't like for reasons of prejudice and hate are miserable. Kurt just wanted what we all want, to be treated like a person and he nearly died for it Thankfully it was just nearly as we get a nice moment of Charles Xavier demonstrating just how scarily powerful he is: with one thought he paralizes every one of the mob in motion and has a nice long conversation with Kurt afterwords. He'd heard Kurt had come to learn.. and well he happens to have a school for mutants that coudl use someone like him. Their conversation after Xavier makes the option is one of my faviorite exchanges in X-Men:

It gets to the core of the franchise: You don't have to be normal.. just be a whole you.. and that will be fine. And that's all Charles wants: not for his students to perfectly blend in, but to be who they should be, to be their best, and to fight for a world where they can be without being feared and hated. And with that Kurt goes with him. All Kurt wants to be is treated like any othe rperson and for the first time someone does, while showing Kurt he dosen't have to be normal: just a whole Kurt Wagner.

Next up is the best at what he does.. and what he does is stare longingly at a photo of Jean Grey. But since he hasn't met her yet, he's made due being an oprative for the Canadian Goverment as Weapon X. Yes it's

Turns out Charles Xavier knows people so he easily got a meeting to speak with Wolverine. While I like Kurt's the most out of all the intros wolvie's is still great, with him just kinda swaggering in there, and being fine with listening to Charles offer for a new job. It also sells him as a badass long before he'd earn the title: Charles mentions his debut fighting hulk and how he sought out Wolverine specially because he needs someone that strong and skilled. It dosen't take much either: Charles offers him a job as a free agent, and being able to escape government red tape sounds fine just fine so he takes it and agrees to quit. His boss mr. soldier.. guy here… dosen't take it especially well so Wolverine has to deal with it with all the grace and tact he's famous for

He'll regret those words as this guy will take that as "Challenge Accepted", but we'll get to that another day.

We get our shortets recuritment yet with Banshee, which only takes two panels but it's understandable: The rest of the cast are either brand new, or in the case of Wolverine relatively new. Banshee however had been a recurring character for a bit, a former criminal brainwashed by the evil mutant empire known as Factor Three.. which naturally was acftually run by an alien wanting world domination because comic books. This.. wont' be the last time an alien was largely responsible for the X-Men's woes for a while, but we'll get to that next time.

Since the Professor asked nicely and it's an opportunity to turn things around, Banshee's happy to help. He also gets a slight redesign having looked a tad inhuman.. which was apparnetly the idea as creator Roy Thomas apparently intended for him to be a "GIANT LEPRECHAUN".

Yeah.. I have no real joke here. Roy Thomas wanted the only major irish character in marvel comics at the time.. to be a LITERAL LEPRECHAUN. Thankfully Len Wein hard noed out of that and had Cocrum make hi mlook like you know.. a person. Banshee also adds something as being a bit older: not as old as charles, but still older and experinced enough to be an extra mentor to the group.

So next we go to Kenya to meet storm and well… you just kinda have to see this part for yourself.

Yeah… maybe having your first major black character in a franchise, and marvel's first major black woman character be a mock goddess for a bunch of stereotypically dressed villagers who want to slaugther animals in her name and has to have it told by a white man that she needs to go into the real world might be just a touch horribly offensive. LIke there's still some good stuff to pick out of this mess: the drawings of Storm ussing her powers are beautiful and Charles does give out a great classic Charles Xavier speech to convince her to join the team…

While him saying she has a responsiblity just for being a mutant is oh such bullshit, she doesn't have to put on spandex and save the world because she has power charles, but he's not wrong that actually living in the world, even if some hate and fear her, is better than living a lie as a god, knmowing people instea dof having the mworship her. Also yeah.. she's topless this entire scene. It's far from the last time storm gets naked but here it just adds to the immense discomfort of the scene. Some great stuff in here but man oh man is it uncomfortably racist. Not the worst i've seen.. but i've seen some pretty deep lows so that's far from a compliment. Next up is Sunfire who has a neat as hell costume.. but is an arrogant racist prick. While he once fought the x-men only because his evil uncle tricked him into it, he still hates the US and only agrees to help out of arrogance. I used to love Shiro.. but honestly it was mostly the costume. Behind it.. he's just an arrogant racist prick, who while having some good damn reason to resent the west (his mom died during hiroshima), it still dosen't fully excuse him being a racist prick. His past is sad.. but it dosen't mean he should take it out on othe rpeople or be a jingoist dickhead. And the Dickhead part has nothing to do with his past, he's just.. ike this.

Next up we get another iconic intro to a character, and thankfully without any overt racisim this time. It's Soviet Russia and on a collective farm, Pitor Rasputin gladly works hard to help bring in the harvest when a young child, later revealed to be his sister Illyana who will become a major supporting character in this book and a main cast member in another later, as well as a longtime x-man herself, from a tractor.

It sets up Peter perfectly: He sees a child in trouble, dashes to save her without any hestiation, and when he ineveitbly has to destroy the tractor.. .worries about how his neighbors will possibly pay for a new one. It shows him for what he is: A Kind empahtetic paragon of good not unlike superman.

What makes this noticable as this was at the height of the cold war: tensions were flaring and woudl only get worse.. yet Wein and Cockrum still portrayed peter as a kind decent man doing his best. That just because a countries goverment and military might be pure evil.. dosen't mean every single person there is evil too. This is especailly enlighted as previously marvel had a bad habit of having COmmunists as one note villians.. instead here one is a hero and an honest one at that who loves his homeland and is a genuine patriot, he just so happens to also be a kindhearted young man. He is conflicted though when Xavier offers after the incident: He has great power.. but shoudln't it go to the state? Charles, once again expertly, aruges it belongs to the world.. and while Peter's heart wants him to stay with his beloved family and community.. his concisence tells him the offer is the right call and thus Colossus is born.

So it's back to racisim as we get John Proudstar. Whoboy. John Proudstar. John is an angry young man who hates living on the reservation.. and while a indgenous person with anger towards the community is an intresting angle and one actual indgenious writers have done great things with, this.. is a clueless white guy who has him take down a buffallo to make him look extra Apache and tell Charles..t his

I mean he's again not wrong.. and Charles response.. is to use racist sterotypes to basically bait him into joining. Like Pitor, Ororo and Kurt all got well reasoned arguments… he just gets "Well I guess your a pussy then huh John?" My god. The Storm stuff is bad but this. this is somehow worse. I'm really glad when John came back after several decades that an indeginous persons writer, Nyla Rose, wrote his one shot because jesus christ he was done dirty.

Anyways we're onto act 2 as the various new X-Men have assembled in Charles Foyer, complete with spiffy new uniforms courtsey of Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic Aka Jimmy the Reach. He says they'll meet him some day and true to his word some of them sure, do.

It also makes Storm's and colosus outfits, iconic as they are at ad creepier knowing a middle aged man dressed them this way.. which granted is also what happened in real life but it's a bit diffrent when ti's an actual character saying "Yes you sexy young people dress in next to nothing for me, your new commander> I promise it's all about moveablity.. and showing off them legs. "

Jokes abotu Charles being a dirty old man aside, the costumes are X-Cellent for the most part. And I only say the most part because Thunderbird looks like they stacked every native American sterotype they could on top of one another. I've seen worse, but it's very telling when coming back he only wore this trainwreck for one issue before getting a kickass new outfit.

The rest though.. the rest are fucking awesome. There's a reason that 90% of Colosus, Wolverine and Nightcrawlers outfits are based on this, and that all but one of storm's iconic looks has that cape, as well as Banshee just.. wearing that outfit until very recently and Sunfire usually doing the same.

Starting with Nightcrawler because he's my boy, and because his outfit is the only one out of this group that dosen't cahnge over claremont's run with the character. And it's easy to see why: The red pointy vest, white gloves and boots and heavy black jus tlooks damn cool and fits his showy, carny nature. The only thing that's ever changed is getting rid of the shoulder pads and I question.. why.

Speaking of shoulder's hey goons , thugs and bosses let's talk about Colosus. His outfit is skimpy when you see pitor without his metal form.. but it makes sense with it. The cool serated look (with writers making sure his muscles showed), NEEDS to be shown off and the red and yellow just perfectly fit peter's heroic and often hammy when mid combat nature. He has blue coverings for his legs here but those won't last long.

Storm's outfit is pretty good. It shows some skin, but it fits Ororo not really having any taboo about being naked, kind of how Starfire later would be a lot of the same way, and her strong, confident nature. The black and yellow will forever be her colors and the cool has heck headband and badass, neatly styled cape just complete the style. It's regal yet modern, even by today's standards.

Wolverine's is a classic and there's damn good reason the only thing Chris changed later was removing the shoulder pads, and changing the color to brown. I like both versions and both colors, so i'm fine either way, but the OG outfit, well the remodled og outfit, is still an utter flassic: the cool mask, awesome claws and bright blues and yellows truly help him stand out.

Banshee's outfit is awesome, mostly for one reason: while the cetner of it, the greens and yellows really work well together, it's the fucking black and yellow spiral cape that truly makes his costume an all timer. It's just hwat makes banshee banshee and ther'es a reason his daughter wears it and he does no matter the verison. Even when brainwashed or an angel of death, he still has some varation of it. Finally we have SUnfire. HIs costume is goofy, very sterotypically japanese..a nd yet awesome. The weird fish mask is just a banger and those eyes are just so freaking cool, and having a japanese flag perfeclty fits Japans #1 hero and someone whose a japanese nationalist.

Charles prepares to explain, simply having been waiting on someone else who was there first hand: Scott Motherfucking Summers, one of my faviorit x-men, THE leader of the team only equaled by storm in terms of record and iconography leading, and certified badass. A sfor the the details…

As for why he uses Cerebro to .. somehow take us back to what happened: The X-Men got a ping from Cerebro that a massive, powerful mutant had been awkaned on the islnad of Krakoa in the south Pacific. So that means…

It's no bub, sugar, boz moh, fraulien, mein gott, or juggernaught bitch that's for sure and it ain't very nice. It is however charmingly goofy.

Like this was just Cyclops catchphrase while the x-men were gone or something Scott tried to make a thing and none of his friends had the heart to tell him it wasn't working.

As I said, Hank is with the avengers now, something that comes up and Scott seems totally not at all bitter about it.

Dude he's busy fighting gods and WITH gods. Move on. Find another best friend whose super intellgent and has feet hands. I mean.. it'll be hard that's a narrow classification but you can check the want ads. Those are still a thing in 1975.

Things don't go well on the island as not only is it massive, making FINDING the mutant an issue, but they soon get attached and Scott only remembers some breif flashes of horros when he wakes up in the Blackbird, no memory of what happened, the controls locked to leave and his eyes suddenly normal. He tries his best to go back, to save his fellow x-men.. but resigns himself. it's who scott is: he won't give up until there's no other way and will press on through. Sadly the only GOOD part of this, that he can finally look someone in the eye without cool shades or a visor without slamming them into a table, doesn't last as soon his eyebeams are back and even STRONGER. And it's here I'm going to start a little counting gag for later

God Hates Scott Summers Count: 1 Trust me, we'll need this.

So that's the mission: Take this untested new team to Krakoa, save the x-men and defeat whoever took them down. Sunfire naturally nopes out. Which begs the question why he came at all. He could likely tell the x-men were out simply because Charles asked for his help and was alone, and if he didn't then the room full of strangers probably shoudl've clued him in. He comes back of course, but only after Thundebrird gets pissy with Storm for daring to not.. you know like that one of the first muatnt's she's met decided fuck these innocent people needing rescue who have saved an ungreatful world countless times. (also you should fuck off) He of course returns .. and is a racist ass to nightcrawler calling him misfit and getting angry later when he's paried iwth the guy, which Kurt snarks at him for.

Kurt: 83, Sunfire: -2 So once they approach Cyclops decides to have them split up gang to find the x-men: th eaformentioned team of nightcrawler and the human tire fire, wolverine and banshee, thunderbird and cyke himself and storm and colossus. Colossus tries to make a superhero landing but ororr catches him with a "you fool you cannot fly" not getting he can land. This does actually have a nice payoff in the story after this so props to Wein for thinking ahead as while he didn't write the story he did plot it. This does lead to one of the issue sproblem: there is a LOT of arguging and in the case of Thunderbird and Sunfire i'ts insufferable. And it really is sad that two of the only POC members of the group.. are insufferable egotistical assholes. I get the missiong sucks, it is kinda stupid, but I also get why it is: while it is depserate to grab whoever and put them on a missiong together, the x-men have no time for it, did apparently try to contact the avengers nad ff but both were busy: forming this new team.. is a last ditch effort. So the fact neither can show one ounce of empathy rankles me. It makes it hard to enjoy the campy, fun action when you have two guys who won't shut up about how much this blows every other page.

Thankfully we do get that campy action as each team encounters some gloriously weird shit and get to show off: Cyclops and THunderbirds fight some living vines, Storm and Colossus fight some rocks tha ttarget them, Nightcrawler and sunfire fight some birbs, with Storm and Wolvie and Banshee get the best of it

Killin Crabs, Their Krakoan! Kill em fast, pain explosion. Seriously I love me a good giant crab and you add in Wolverinme slicin em up and banshee voicesploding them and you have my fandom for life.

Our heroes all converge at a weird temple, and decide on the bst, most stealthy method to break in

With their kool aid manning done they find the OG X-Men and help get them unhooked from some weird vines entalging them all. Angel is less than Greatful

This bit.. has always bothered me and come off as face punchingly dickish. Yes I get it, Angel dosen't want Scott or these new strangers to get eaten. That's fine.. but how the fuck could Scott have possibly done anything else? Yes he likely smelled a trap even if not the distincitnly weird KIND of trap this was, but the love of his life, two of his best friends, his brother and his brothers girlfriend were all trapped here. How would he ever even consider for one second NOT coming back to save you all? To risk everything, to fight with EVERYTHING he has to save the people he loves most in the world? What kind of man would he be if he didn't and what kind of man are you, Warren, to be mad at him for trying.

As for what had them.. well that my friends is the most delightful twist. See i've talked abotu Krakoa.. so if you've followed my work you likely know what's coming.. but it is in the most glorious comic booky way possible. Ladies and gentleman I present…

Yes folks the All New All Diffrent X-Men's first foe.. is a fucking living island. It'd be retconned that h'es an ancient being and what not, but for now he's simply a gaint atomic mutant that's a living fucknig island that looks awesome, wants to eat our heroes, and WALKS LIKE A MAN. I have ALWAYS loved Krakoa, from the look to the gloriously goofy "island tha twalks like a man" moniker, to the fact the very ground xaviers was on was once a clone of him, an idea that was only topped when in 2019 they straight up MOVED to our boy, made them into a nation, and he becmae best friends with fellow boy Doug Ramsey. So. Fucking. Awesome.

Also just if your curious as to how this guy still eats now mutankind and him are cool and live on him… he still feeds off their energy. It's just instead of kidnapping them iwth conflulted super villian plans, he straight up asks for some of their energy as part of mutankinds lease, and with millions of mutants on krakoa… they don't even feel the tiny bit he takes. With millions of peopl ehe dosen't have to drain them to death, they willingly give it for giving them homes (seriously he amkes theM) food (that too) and a homeland.

Anyways back int he present.. or rathe rthe past, the x-men get a badass page fighting him

Only for Xavier to yell at scott that their efforts are meanless. I'm going to go ahead and not only add to this count God Hates Scott Summers: 3 For both this and the angel thing, but also start up this count Xavier is a Jerk: 3

2 for his treatment of thunderbird in diffrent ways (the name calling then the outfit thign) and 1 for yelling at Scott for doing the bes the could when he coudln't possibly know the plan. Xavier does have a good plan thoguH: have Storm and Polaris combine their powers to create a giant rainstortm and a magetic wave of force and stuff. Cyclops and Havok combine powers and use it to propel krakoa into the air.. and thanks to the magnet stuff, it seperate sthe island from the earths gravity FLINGING IT INTO SPACE

I'm conflicted on this finale. On the one hand.. it fucking rocks. I mean Scott launched an island into space. How he got back I truly don't know, and I don't care. it's coming. Weird shit happens a lot. Maybe he regrew. We don't know Krakoa the Island That Walks Like a Man's life. Leave Krakoa The Island that Walks LIke a Man Alone. But it really dosen't involve the new team all that much: Lorna does most of the heavy lifting, and only Storm really contributes. The rest of the action is Done by vetran x-men. For an issue spotlighting this new bold era.. it feels weird tha tthe resoultion is all up to the old guard. Maybe it was to give them a last hurrah but it still feels weird. At any rate our heroes survive, find the jet, and are vicotrious and happy. But their left with one little problem

And we'll find out next time. For now though Giant Sized X-Men has shown some flaws with aged, but is still a stellar start for this era. The characters mostly get great introductions, the art is crisp and awesome , and the new characters are intresting and engaging. There are some uncomfortable flecks of racisim strewn about, Thunderbird and Storm's origins paticuarlly are painful to read, and the last half is n't nearly as snappy as the first, with it mostly being the formula of "X-men veruss something on krakoa" for a few pages, then the finale not using the new characters hardly at all. Still the awesomeness of these x-men and them fighting a giant island cannot be overstated and the cheesy goodness helps paper over the weaker parts. Wein would not be there for it though> Whlie he plotted the next issue, as it was planned to just keep going with Giant Sized the issue ended up being a massive success.. so massive in fact, that they brought back the monthly instead. And since he could only handle one monthly book, hulk, Wein passed it over to a fresh face in the office,a young chap who had kept barging into meetins planning this who practically begged to get the roll. A man who would DEFINE the x-men and write them for the next 17 years: One Chris Claremont, whose run we properly start next time. Until then thanks for reading all this time, thanks for being here, and just.. thank you. Thank you all . Next Time: We wittle the roster down to 6 x-men as five leave and one dies. Then our All New All diffrent x-men deal with betryal, giant robots and space for the first time as the series first major overarching plot kicks up.. and the Sentinels return just in time for a late christmas.

[kiragecko]

Do you have any X-Men comic recs? I liked the movies and love the animated series, but I’ve got no idea where to start with the comics.

This is a VERY hard question. It really really depends on what ELSE you like.

Do you like teenage characters? The original Generation X comics are weird and wonderful. (Warning for it getting weird enough that it can be hard to follow sometimes.)

Do you like relational drama and angst and people being really really awesome? Claremont's X-Men from the 70s and 80s (starting with Giant Size X-Men) is the best the X-Men have ever been and probably will ever be. This is my usual suggestion. (Warning for older art, which is sometimes hard to follow for people new to comics. Probably don't get the black and white reprints. Also, SO many words.)

Do you like banter and really good jokes balanced with drama and action? Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men is beautiful and as new-reader friendly as the X-Men get. (Warning - the X-Men are not new-reader friendly. Confusion is inevitable. Also, Joss Whedon does do his Joss Whedon things.)

Is it the dynamics of the 90s animated series that you especially like? Read fanfic ... but probably from fanfic dot net? Only the movie fans seem to have moved to AO3. There are really good 90s comics, but they are immediately followed by unreadable nonsense, often in the same arc. Very difficult to rec.

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If you want to give me more information about what you like, I have many individual arcs and series I'd love to recommend. Maybe I could rec S.W.O.R.D., or Excalibur, Cable & Deadpool, or New X-Men! They're all great, but not for everyone. What's your stance on absurdist humour? Violence? Really bad art? What level of realism do you like?

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Finally, you can also go listen to the podcast Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men. It will walk you through all the comics, starting from the beginning, and help you get a good idea about what you might like. (This is my other main suggestion. They are very very good.)

[night-gay]

Into the Anthill pt 6 - An Early Retirement

Hank had always been the kind of man who put his personal life aside to focus on his work as a scientist and as a superhero, but there were moments when even he couldn’t ignore the more important things. When Janet was nearly killed by a stray bullet during an Avengers mission he knew he needed to quit to focus on her. His life as Giant-Man got in the way of the peace he was after though, so he ended up quitting that too.

It may have only lasted for about a year, but everyone deserves a break now and then.

🐜🐜🐜

X-Men vol 1 #9

Professor X had a psychic battle with a villain who keyed their own heartbeat to a thermal bomb. The Avengers showed up to save the day, but without the full story they’d have done more harm than good. The X-Men stalled them until the situation had been resolved.

Avengers vol 1 #11-14

Iron Man vanished after Tony Starks’s apparent death, so Hank suggested granting him a temporary leave of absence. Meanwhile, Kang created a robot duplicate of Spider-Man to infiltrate the Avengers and take them down one-by-one. The real Spidey put a stop to it.

Hank warned the Avengers that his ants detected trouble underground, but they refused to trust his methods so Hank went in alone and wound up captured. Turns out Mole Man and Red Ghost were building a machine to overtake the surface world. The rest of the team saved him and apologized for belittling his methods.

Count Nefaria trapped the Avengers in his castle in New Jersey so that he could use holograms to incriminate them. Nefaria’s scheme inevitably failed, but the issue ended with Rick Jones carrying Jan’s seemingly lifeless body, apparently felled by a stray bullet during the fight. It had punctured her left lung; doctors gave her 48 hours at most to live. Thor flew to Europe and back to bring a doctor that specialized in lung surgeries, but he turned out to be an alien disguised as the doctor and died immediately. The real doctor was with the rest of the aliens at the south pole, helping them hide from their enemies out of good will. The doctor returned with the Avengers and saved Janet’s life. Notably, Uatu was watching.

Tales to Astonish vol 1 #65-67

While Jan redesigned Hank’s costume he worked on a helmet piece that would allow him to change the size of his targets.

Madam Macabre, a woman with the power to change the size of plastic toys exclusively, tried and failed to take Hank’s tech. He defeated her by growing more than 20 feet, proving that his upper limits are improving.

An alien called "The Supreme One" used a laser to steal Hank's shrinking ability. He then beat Hank and tried to steal his growth as well, but a member of his species called him away from Earth just in time. Hank’s ability to shrink was  restored at the end of this battle, but he couldn’t do it without blacking out from the mental strain.

Avengers vol 1 #15-16

The Masters of Evil returned with Melter and Black Knight back on the roster. Cap and Rick went to Brazil to murder Zemo (which they did) and the rest fought in an alternate dimension to avoid civilian casualties. Thor was then called back to Asgard, leaving only Hank, Jan, and Tony behind. Despite 2 of the 5 Avengers members being absent they took a vote and decided to all take a leave of absence. When Captain America returned, he found that his allies has hired Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch as replacement members.

Tales to Astonish vol 1 #68-69

This two-issue story is Hank’s last adventure in the pages of Tales to Astonish before his part of the book was given to Namor. The Human Top returned to kill Giant-Man, first by crashing a plane into him and then by trapping him in a freezing pit. Hank promised to retire from the superhero life after Jan was nearly killed again.

Tales to Astonish vol 1 #77-78

Hank, now engaged to Janet, was working with the US Government on a drill experiment at sea. Namor arrived to stop them only to be brainwashed by the Puppet Master. Jan joked that they were fools to ever retire and pursued Namor as he headed for land while Hank stayed behind with the scientists. Jan’s part in this story continued in Avengers #26.

Minor/Cameo appearances from this period:

Fantastic Four vol 1 #3

Avengers vol 1 #22

Journey into Mystery vol 1 #116

Avengers vol 1 #26

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Giant Sized Astonishing X-Men # 1