Did Jean Grey Have An Extra Power? Seriously?

Texts considered today: The X-Men 1-6 (1963-4)

Before someone clamors forth to declare that the comic in question is The Uncanny X-Men, I'll admit that even I had to pause and check the comics out again to make sure. As I thought I'd remembered, it's not until the series took off in the seventies that the "Uncanny" was added (and then not even to the front page - at least, not as far as a cursory examination of the covers revealed).

Anyhow, with such geekiness aside, it's time to consider what sorts of things are presented to the reader in these comics.

First off, it's painfully obvious that these are very pre-"Women's Lib" stories. Jean Grey/Marvel Girl is given a lot of attention when she first arrives at Westchester - so much so that's it's kind of a relief to know that she'll end up with Scott Summers /Cyclops eventually. Other than the fact that Bobby Drake/Iceman is pretty much the bratty little brother of the team at this point, the reader's presented with a wealthy playboy Warren Worthington III/Angel and a not-so-verbose-and-brilliant Hank McCoy/Beast trying to catch her eye.

There's even the one panel where Charles Xavier/Professor X smolders with an inappropriate lust for his only female student (the last panel on the fourth page of issue #3) - wrong not only because he's in a position of authority but also because it was used to help Rob Liefeld disasterously reboot Captain America. [That's a personal aside, I suppose.] Anyhow, it seems clear that Jean Grey temporarily had some sort of power to make the male characters around her behave most inappropriately. (I'm sure there's a fanfic somewhere where someone comments that "it looks like he was poured into that uniform!" - the opposite of what Iceman exclaims (while Jean Grey thinks that the designer could give Dior a run for his money) - but I'm really not looking for links for that.)

Second, there's a fair bit of military-industrial complex detail added to many of these stories. Magneto, after all, first tries to make his mark in issue #1 by humilating humankind's efforts to launch "the mightiest rocket of all" and forces it to fall into the sea. A red-hatted NASA official notes that "every phase of the launching was A-okay! There can only be one explanation... the bird was tampered with!" (The Daily Globe newspaper on the next page notes that "Sixth Top Secret Lauch Fails At Sea! Phantom Saboteur Strikes Again!", which seems to indicate that the American military also needed to work on its counterintelligence or public relations at this time, not just the issue of rocketry.) In issue #4, Magneto steals an "old ex-convoy freighter with the cannons on the deck" - surprisingly chintzy for a guy who was trashing rockets just a few issues before - but by issue #5, Magneto's already a space power with his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants set up in an asteroid with magnetically powered capsules.

The Vanisher, on the other hand, aspired to the theft and ransom of defense plans from "inside the mighty Pentagon building" in the second issue. (Fun with exposition: "Let's review those continental defense plans again, Hendershoot!" "Yes sir, General! We can't be too careful of our procedures!" I'll admit that this is excellent economy in storytelling, but it still makes me laugh. Hendershoot, on the other hand, is a great name that should be used more often - like Rowsdower.) Luckily, Professor X has a contact in the Department of Special Affairs at the FBI who puts a McDonnell XV-1 Convertiplane at the X-Men's disposal to ferry them down to Washington. They fail at first, and the Vanisher demands ten million dollars, tax-free or else he`ll turn the plans over to the communists (would supervillains behind the Iron Curtain have paid the tax?).

Third, science gets name-dropped whenever necessary (like Galileo dropped the orange). When Mr. and Mrs. Grey visit the Mansion, she mentions that she was "so impressed to learn that some of your courses are classified top secret by the government," and he speculates that "perhaps they're teaching a special secret science course! Oh, well, I suppose we'll find out some day!" [Oh, the foreshadowing! And the use of exclamation points!] It's an easy explanation for these minor characters to use, and certainly as valid a reason as any for the government to be involved in the education of minors. It will be interesting to see how this government-mutant relationship will change in the comics, though there's already some hint of anti-X-Men public feeling in other issues - though only because they initially failed to thwart the Vanisher and hide their identities. Given the fact that only Marvel Girl appears to have a family in these issues it's somewhat odd that they worry about their alter egos, but I suppose that these crazy teenagers wanted to have some privacy.

One has to wonder what sort of sense of time - or the nature of mutation which informed Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's work here - but they do have Professor X note in the first issue that he "was born of parents who had worked on the first A-bomb project! Like yourselves, I am a mutant - possibly the first such mutant!" Now, this is a fine timeline for the current movie incarnation of the X-Men, but this either means that there was a super-secret early atomic bomb project in the 1920s (since Professor X has to have a fair number of years on his charges), that the Professor was changed by the radiation around him during youth and is instead an altered human, or else that he's incredibly young and his feelings for Jean Grey are much less skeezy. (Or that Stan Lee set up a future retcon from the get-go.) Regardless, this gave Professor X a sterling science background and provided Marvel with the key genesis story for the mutants.

As for the other issues - issue #3 introduces the Blob and features his attempted invasion of the school with the rest of the circus. [Seriously.] Issue #6 was the third in a row with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and featured the attempt by both sides to recruit Namor, the Sub-Mariner to their teams. Professor X is scientifically-minded enough to allow that Namor may be the first mutant, but neither side is terribly successful. It's odd to see how the early Magneto is presented, though: I don't think I saw him fly much, his bloodthirstiness seems to be a work in progress, he is somehow able to project his essence in a somewhat telepathic manner, and he actually relies on devices and weapons. The devices make some sense - those that amplify his power, anyhow - but the weapons are just odd. (And he thinks that they'll impress Namor, too, which is just funny.)

Also, letters pages aren't introduced until the fifth issue. So far, there's been little of note in them (a couple asking about origin stories, someone asking that Iceman be renamed Kid Kold, a few who've learned how to write in the lofty prose of Stan Lee) but it will be interesting to see how they evolve - and when critical letters will arrive. (The closest so far is the complaint that the covers are cluttered with "sayings such as, '...a book-length classic of the incredible! ...never have you read a tale like this! ...'" which drew the reply "Never have we read a letter like yours, Kathie! Surprise followed spectacular surprise! Can we help it if we're cornballs?")

So far, there's been a reasonable amount of noteworthy content - albeit not necessarily all intended for final use in the dissertation. I'm intrigued to see where this all ends up, but it's been so long since I last read new comics that I've grown accustomed to the fast-forward rate at which I could re-read the titles of my youth. (And, other than Fantastic Four #21-40, I've never read much of the Stan Lee-penned style of comics. That's part of the legacy of art-heavy comics of the 1990s, I suppose.)

A note on the source: I've been able to find the "40 Years of the X-Men" DVD-ROM by GIT Corp. (The link to the website has been erratic; here's an example of it on ebay.) It's pretty good so far, though it doesn't feature early-'90s edition of X-Men that Jim Lee started.)