Marvel Comics published the first issue of X-Men in 1963. The team, which consisted of Cyclops (Scott Summers), Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), Iceman (Bobby Drake), Angel (Warren Worthington III) and the Beast (Hank McCoy), was led by professor Charles Xavier, and fought the evil Magneto in the first issue. They all were so-called mutants, humans who were born with a special ability. This special ability usually was dormant until the person reached puberty, then the gift (or curse) would become visible.
Unfortunately for Xavier and his team, the comic got cancelled at issue 66 because not enough copies were sold each month. Instead, Marvel Comics started reprinting the X-Men's adventures in issue 67. While the X-Men comicbook was reprinting stories, the X-Men occasionally showed up in other comics.
That was until 1975, when Giant-Size X-Men #1 was published. The issue was written by Len Wein, with pencils by Dave Cockrum, and showed that the original team of X-Men was captured by the Living Island Of Krakoa. The island summoned Professor Xavier to form a new team of mutants, so it could feed its hunger. The new team consisted of Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), Banshee (Sean Cassidy), Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida), Wolverine (Logan), Storm (Ororo Munroe), Thunderbird (John Proudstar) and Colossus (Piotr Rasputin). They succeeded in rescuing the original X-Men. Giant-Size X-Men lasted only one issue, but it set the stage for new stories.
Chris Claremont restarted the X-Men comic with issue 94, which was the beginning of his 16 year run as writer. Over the years, he made the X-Men go through a lot of line-up changes. Some mutants joined, others left, even a few died. Claremont was responsible for classic stories like the Dark Phoenix saga, Days Of Future Past, the Brood saga, and many others.
With issue 114, the title officially changed to Uncanny X-Men. Uncanny X-Men would have quite a few spin-offs. The first one would be the New Mutants, which would later be turned into X-Force It had a different team of X-Men, not lead by Xavier. After a while, the two titles were still not enough to satisfy the readers, so a third title, X-Factor was launched. The X-Factor team consisted of the original team of X-Men: Cyclops, Beast, Angel, Iceman and Jean Grey.
Over the years, lots of X-Men titles have come and gone. Wolverine and Cable still have their own comic, but Gambit and Bishop apparently didn't sell well enough so their titles were cancelled. In 1991, X-Men was started by Claremont and Jim Lee. This was the second title to feature the team that was known as the X-Men, since Uncanny X-Men was also still published every month. Unfortunately, both Claremont and Lee would leave the title after only a few issues.
The X-Men still remain the most popular comics every month, and it's still Marvel's biggest moneymaker. Currently there are about 10 X-Men comics published each month, of which 6 are ongoing series.
It's obvious that X-Men is the ultimate minority victory in a literary realm. A child, considerably more impressionable than an adult, is much more likely to read a comic than a novel, and therefore I would say that this is exactly what the world needed. A work of literature, aimed at children, celebrating the necessity of diversity and rights of minorities.
The series even manages to rope people in, no matter their race, gender, etc. It began with six white men and one white woman in the first issue - something, which, while not ideal (although it did have the Handicapped Xavier), is almost necessary to get the majority hooked. As time went on, characters were introduced into the Marvel universe from all walks of life. From the African Storm to the Japanese Sunfire to the Gay Northstar to the countless other characters from other countries, other cultures, and even other planets. The dynamic value of this technique is astounding - it liberates minds not only from current hatred for minorities but even from future issues in the case that we find other life out there.
Let's not even go into why Magneto is Hitler. Figure that one out for yourself.
So you may be wondering why I say that it has homosexual themes. Personally, being a homosexual, these themes are particularly apparent to me. Firstly, as mentioned above, these mutant powers manifest themselves around puberty. That's something not usually associated with race but quite common with homosexuality - even though it may be determined around the age of five by some studies, it isn't usually until the individual becomes aware of sex that their homosexuality becomes readily apparent to them.
Second, there was a disease released (by Mr. Sinister, I believe) called the Legacy Virus. This disease was a particularly touching part of X-Men. It was an invisible threat, and it claimed the life of Ilyanna, a beloved character not only for her own self but also because of her strong bond with her brother, Colossus (Piotr, Peter). This disease began by infecting mutants, but within a short period of time, it spread to humans, and the mutants were blamed. This disease's infection pattern almost perfectly parallels that of AIDS. The symmetry is beautiful, and terrifying. In a way, the issue that was devoted to Ilyanna's death was devoted to what it was like for someone to die of AIDS, and I remember weeping when I read it, at a time when I barely even cared about anyone in such a way that could lead me to tears.
Thirdly, the most common theme of the X-Men is that mutants are humans too. I remember watching the cartoon as a child, and seeing Beast make the classic speech, "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" Then again, this is just another example of how it refers to minorities, not homosexuals, but it's quite obvious that Beast is just a big ol' bear. ;)
I appreciate very much that this series was written, and I can honestly say that no other single source has influenced me as much as this great symbolic masterpiece has. The most beautiful thing about this is that it has created a fictional minority. It is a minority that has yet to be tainted by the biases of the readers. The work is therefore able to exploit this tabula rasa and create the positive attitude for the minority in the reader, and hopefully extend that positive attitude to other pre-existing minorities such as non-white races, the handicapped, and the homosexuals...
The X-Men are Marvel's premiere mutant super hero team and one of the publisher's most popular titles. The themes within the X-Men storylines touch on adult issues like bigotry, heroism, and sacrifice without ever forgetting that their core audience wants to see people in spandex with amazing powers battle for the fate of the world. The X-Men have spawned a whole line of X-titles featuring members of the team or teams spawned from or related to the X-Men mythos.
The Basics
The X-Men are ultimately a group of mutants. Mutants in the Marvel Universe represent humanity's next step on the evolutionary ladder homo superior. Mutants possess a special x-factor which in most cases manifests itself upon the mutant reaching puberty. The result is extraordinary abilites or physical manifestations which give them unusual powers.
The X-Men were founded and led by Professor Charles Xavier. Xavier organized the X-Men for two reasons. First, he gathered young mutants to train them in the use of their powers in hopes of allowing them to achieve the maximum benifit from their abilities, while instilling in them the responsibility that those powers come with. Second, Xavier gathered the team to help defend against those mutants who would use their abilities to do evil as well as to fight for his dream of a peaceful co-existence between mutants and humans.
Though they have been based at other locations, the home of the X-Men is Xavier's ancestral home in Westchester, New York on Graymalkin Lane. Originally called Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, the mansion houses sleeping quarters, infirmary, and training facilities (including the famous Danger Room), as well as state of the art laboratories and science equipment, including Xavier's mutant detecting computer Cerebro.
A Brief History of the X-Men
To try and detail all of the events of X-Men over the past thirty years would be an overwhelming task. What follows is some of the highlights of the team's adventures over the years, touching on the major story lines
Members:
The following is a listing of all of the members of the X-Men and a brief description of their powers:
