Has anyone ever read Silver Age X-Men?

[theboychild]

There is a great trade that collects the Neil Adams run that is worth getting. It collects the end of the original X-men issues (issues 53-65 I think). It is out of print, but you might find it used. It is called X-Men Visionaries: Neil Adams.

Also, the third part of the Epic Collection of Silver Age X-Men (46-66) with Neal Adams is coming out on November:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1302912755

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[Mike]

What are your thoughts about it? Which Silver Age Marvel titles are a good read?

Read the whole run.
I liked the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby issues quite a bit.
The later stuff by Roy Thomas/Neal Adams is great.
Some of the other stuff in between while not great is a fun read.

Other Silver Age runs that I have enjoyed:
The Fantastic Four
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Avengers
Daredevil
Iron Man

[DrNewGod]

IMO, all the seeds of greatness were there, the concept was solid, but the execution was lacking early on. They were an attempt to replicate the FF without the glitz, until Adams came along.

However, they had flashes of brilliance along the way. The Sentinels story. The Nefaria story. The running battles with Magneto's brotherhood. There's good stuff there.

[Alan2099]

The running battles with Magneto's brotherhood. There's good stuff there.

I think they really overused Magneto in the very early issues. Although it was interesting in the early issues watching them try to figure out what worked and what didn't, or even what everybody's powers where.

Cyclops wasn't even "Scott Summers" when it started. He was Slim Summers. Even Xavier called him that, which is just something you don't see happening now.

It was also interesting seeing how NOT hated and feared they were early on and how they actually had social lives and hung out outside the school grounds more often.

[Arsenal]

Never heard good things about them so I read X-Men season 1 than skipped to giant sized X-men

[Michael Watkins]

Magneto was extremely underdeveloped. but it was worth reading to see the original 5 X-Men interact. they really were a family.

[gurkle]

It was an interesting and unusual choice to introduce Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch as "villains" who weren't evil and were clearly going to come over to the heroes' side eventually. It's one of those things that gave early Marvel the feeling of being a place where the status quo could actually change a bit more than other superhero comics.

But having two villain characters who weren't even villains just added to the problem of the book having a really weak rogues' gallery.

[responsarbre]

It was an interesting and unusual choice to introduce Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch as "villains" who weren't evil and were clearly going to come over to the heroes' side eventually. It's one of those things that gave early Marvel the feeling of being a place where the status quo could actually change a bit more than other superhero comics.

But having two villain characters who weren't even villains just added to the problem of the book having a really weak rogues' gallery.

That's something that always interested me about Silver Age Marvel. It's somewhat of a joke now that being a villain or a hero is like a revolving door at Marvel, and that all the interesting villains eventually turn good. But it was built into the DNA of their stories since the beginning. There's a whole stretch on early Tales of Suspense where Crimson Dynamo, Black Widow, and Hawkeye are all introduced right next to each other, and they all get really sympathetic portrayals and end up reforming their ways sooner or later.

[KurtW95]

Way better than anything from the past couple of years and the past 20 years at large.

[Triniking1234]

Read the whole run.
I liked the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby issues quite a bit.
The later stuff by Roy Thomas/Neal Adams is great.
Some of the other stuff in between while not great is a fun read.

Other Silver Age runs that I have enjoyed:
The Fantastic Four
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Avengers
Daredevil
Iron Man

I might give Iron Man a try but old school Avengers sucks booty until Vision joins.

[gurkle]

That's something that always interested me about Silver Age Marvel. It's somewhat of a joke now that being a villain or a hero is like a revolving door at Marvel, and that all the interesting villains eventually turn good. But it was built into the DNA of their stories since the beginning. There's a whole stretch on early Tales of Suspense where Crimson Dynamo, Black Widow, and Hawkeye are all introduced right next to each other, and they all get really sympathetic portrayals and end up reforming their ways sooner or later.

I wonder if Stan Lee decided that introducing characters as villains was a way to test them out as potential heroes. He didn't have a lot of books to try them out in, and he built so much of the Marvel line around hero vs. hero fights, that the perfect tryout for a new hero was fighting an established hero. Instead of trying to introduce a speedster and an archer in their own features, which would probably have failed and used weak villains, he and his artists introduced them in existing series with established characters to fight.

There's a joke about this in Superior Foes of Spider-Man where a character decided to become a villain because so many Avengers started out attacking the heroes - Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Wonder Man, Vision - and he decided that the best way to become an Avenger is to fight them to show what you can do, and then get invited to team up with them.

[DrNewGod]

It was also interesting seeing how NOT hated and feared they were early on and how they actually had social lives and hung out outside the school grounds more often.

The hanging out was possible because they maintained secret identities, but that "hated/feared" thing was really uneven until Adams came on board. Sometimes everybody loved them, and sometimes their mere presence was enough to trigger a fearful riot.

[Jokerz79]

As many said keeping in mind the Silver Age IMO issues 1-17 go from good to really good, 18-49 are ok, 50-66 are really good to great.

[ed2962]

I think they really overused Magneto in the very early issues. Although it was interesting in the early issues watching them try to figure out what worked and what didn't, or even what everybody's powers where.

Cyclops wasn't even "Scott Summers" when it started. He was Slim Summers. Even Xavier called him that, which is just something you don't see happening now.

It was also interesting seeing how NOT hated and feared they were early on and how they actually had social lives and hung out outside the school grounds more often.

Right. The book wasn't what a lot of people assume it must have been. Those themes didn't really solidify until the 80's.

[ed2962]

double post...because Mimic