Reading through X-Men 1-66

[ElectricStrider1]

Cool Dylan and Monkees song lyrics.
The intro of Candy Southern and Warren conceding Jean to Scott.
Juggy is back, baby!

[ElectricStrider1]

Cool Badfinger reference.
Mr. Thomas is one hep cat.
Juggy clobbers the X-Men. . .again!

[ElectricStrider1]

Midway point!
33 issues to go!
I enjoyed the Jean/Scott mission AND the guest-appearance of Doc Strange.
I am starting to see why it might have lagged behind other Marvel offerings in sales.
Nevertheless, a solid read.

[KurtW95]

The Stan Lee and Roy Thomas runs of the early Silver Age don't get enough praise. Really fun stories that I think a lot of people ought to read to better understand the history of the characters. People search Wikipedia to learn about the characters but don't get to really know the foundation. Which I would argue is far more important than the comics of the last twenty years. And even the parts of these books that may appear to have aged poorly are still far more fun to read than any of the current line's books. And I would argue that the art was also better.

[yogaflame]

I'm also amused by how completely unimportant the guy that crushed Xavier's legs turned out to be in the whole mythos.

Lucifer and Factor 3/the space squid from Sirius are actually more important/used more often than Magneto and the Brotherhood in the overall original run. Aliens, fantasy tropes, hard sci-fi, almost a 'everything and a kitchen sink' of themes in this run, which did 'monster of the week' one and dones more often than not.

[yogaflame]

Don't forget, "camel jockeys."
On the other other hand, forget it, given your anger with the original text.
LOL
Yes, thank goodness Claremont took over the writing.

Oh I remembered it. Yeah, the less said the better though. This original run is overlooked and largely forgotten for a good reason. Thank Lord Claremont indeed!

[KurtW95]

Lucifer and Factor 3/the space squid from Sirius are actually more important/used more often than Magneto and the Brotherhood in the overall original run. Aliens, fantasy tropes, hard sci-fi, almost a 'everything and a kitchen sink' of themes in this run, which did 'monster of the week' one and dones more often than not.

It did used to be more or less a kitchen sink franchise. Which I don't think was bad.

[KurtW95]

To go further into detail, I think the characters had a core mission to be heroes. Which was understood. But recently, all of the deconstructionism in fiction has destroyed them as characters. The moment they let the hatred phase them completely,, the team lost who they are. Because true heroes do what right no matter how it feels. Which allowed them to do a whole lot more when they were trying to make peace with people had misplaced sentiments in a landscape where hating mutants was accepted. Giving up and living on a dumb island to act like jerks changes the attitude and takes away so many great stories that could be written like those from this era that the tread is going through. I'm sorry. But whenever I come face to face with the older stories, I get ticked because I realize what we've lost which used to be so much fun and pure enjoyment.

[ElectricStrider1]

The Stan Lee and Roy Thomas runs of the early Silver Age don't get enough praise. Really fun stories that I think a lot of people ought to read to better understand the history of the characters. People search Wikipedia to learn about the characters but don't get to really know the foundation. Which I would argue is far more important than the comics of the last twenty years. And even the parts of these books that may appear to have aged poorly are still far more fun to read than any of the current line's books. And I would argue that the art was also better.

I agree, brother!

[ElectricStrider1]

Oh I remembered it. Yeah, the less said the better though. This original run is overlooked and largely forgotten for a good reason. Thank Lord Claremont indeed!

There is a ton of good stuff in the original run.
I am enjoying it very much.
The occasional politically incorrect dialogue is an interesting reflection of the time period.

[ElectricStrider1]

I actually enjoyed this issue with its primary emphasis on Jean, Warren, and Bobby and Scott and Hank playing a supporting role.
I especially enjoyed the fill-in art by Dan Adkins.
He added a certain maturity to the group and even made the Mole-Man look somewhat human.
His diamond giant looked metallic, though.
LOL
NOTE: On page 7, panels 3&5, Jean and Bobby mistakenly call Warren, "Scott."
Stan was probably arguing with Ditko or Kirby while editing that page.
LOL

[Demoslider]

The Stan Lee and Roy Thomas runs of the early Silver Age don't get enough praise. Really fun stories that I think a lot of people ought to read to better understand the history of the characters. People search Wikipedia to learn about the characters but don't get to really know the foundation. Which I would argue is far more important than the comics of the last twenty years. And even the parts of these books that may appear to have aged poorly are still far more fun to read than any of the current line's books. And I would argue that the art was also better.

I just finished the first 10 issues and agreeing they are a lot of fun and essential to building a foundation for storylines in the decades to come. You even see how much a creep Xavier is in issue 3 when he is privately lusting after Jean. They dropped that for a long time until Onslaught.

[ElectricStrider1]

Sipdey guest-stars!
There is the usual misunderstanding, fight, and reconcile cycle.
Roth's Spidey is somewhat Kirbyesque.

[ElectricStrider1]

This issue sucked.
The X-Men are trying to get to Europe but have no money, so they apply for welfare assistance.
Jean, Scott, and Warren then try to get hired at a construction site, while Hank and Bobby put on a show in the park.
You would think Xavier would have an emergency cash stash should the team need funds.
Easily, Thomas's worst story yet.
Ross Andru's art was downright lousy.
Terrible issue!
On to the next issue with more crappy Andru art.
NOTE: According to the inflation calculator, $1500 in 1967 to fly to Europe would cost 13K today. Seems a bit steep even for first class, which I'm sure Warren insisted they travel.

[PolarIceFire]

What'd Warren get cut-off from his trust fund, lol?