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General InformationTitle: Essential Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1Credited to: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and friends Original Publication Date: These issues were originally published from 1963-1966. This is the second printing of this collection, and it shipped to comic stores on September 5, 2002. ISBN: 0-7851-0991-9 Cover Price: $14.95US, $23.95Can Buy from: Amazon.com or Amazon.ca PremiseCharles Xavier recruits five mutant teenagers to help him protect humanity from evil mutants. Issues Collected
This collects the first 24 issues of The Uncanny X-Men. (The
collection called Essential X-Men Vol. 1 starts after Chris
Claremont restarted the team in Giant Sized X-Men 1, resuming the
monthly title with The Uncanny X-Men 94. The stories
contained are as follows: High PointThere were some repeated off-duty comments that I found very amusing. Between Hank and Bobby at the Beatnik poetry sessions, and every male X-Man (including Professor X!) mentally declaring his love for Jean Grey, there was enough to keep me entertained when they weren't in battle. Low PointThe complete lack of motivations on the parts of most villains. Take the Blob, for example. He's been living as a carnival freak for his entire life. The X-Men show up, explain to him that he's a mutant, help him discover his powers, and offer him a different life. Rather than just say no and leave, he decides to fight and defeat them before starting a crime spree. Where's the logic? The good news is that the last villain in the bunch, the Locust, actually had a unique and somewhat plausible motivation. I'll choose to believe that's a trend that continued in later issues until it's proven otherwise. The ScoresThe powers for some of the X-Men may be original, but the premise seemed to me like some managers decided that the Fantastic Four team book sold well, and that the Spider-Man books about a teen hero sold well, so they should combine the two and release a comic about a team of teen heroes. Iceman seems very much like a character quickly designed to be the "opposite" of the Human Torch, which didn't really work. (The first few issues even had "In the spectacular Fantastic Four style" written on the covers.) Still, Lee and Kirby deserve credit for the mutant angle, as it provides a nice way to set up persecution metaphors while simultaneously giving them an easy explanation for the monthly villain's abilities. I give it 4 out of 6. The artwork was the same quality we've gotten used to in these Essential books collecting stories from the mid-1960s. (I should mention that the cover art was produced for this volume, and it's much worse than the artwork inside. I wouldn't have used that cover, myself.) The artwork is crisp, and clear (with the exception of reproduction problems in two or three of the later issues.) I give it 4 out of 6. The stories told here are often repetitive and derivative. Issues 4-7 were all independant stories where the same villains show up, recruit a new member, and fight the X-Men, lose, and forget about the new member. After that first rough year (six issues,) there were improvements. The next introduction of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants split the team up, and new villains started to come through. I give it 4 out of 6 because of the significant improvements toward the end. The characterization is excellent. The different characters, heroes and villains alike, can be distinguished by conversation alone. The heroes are believable and well developed, although some of the villains are very one-dimensional. (Quiksilver and the Scarlet Witch are the major exceptions to that.) I give it 5 out of 6. The emotional response generated here was strongest in cases that seemed to be contradicted by later issues. For a few examples, Magneto seems to have some telepathic powers, Jean doesn't have telepathic abilities, Toad doesn't spray any of that fluid from his mouth that he can use in later issues, and the Angel is mobbed by adoring female fans. There was little tension in the situations here, but that's mainly because I know these characters live on (with the occassional detour) for a few hundred more issues, at least. I give it 3 out of 6. The flow was often hampered by wordy battles. Hank McCoy, although verily deficient in the pulchritude department, can be unerringly depended upon to deliver astoundingly verbose, if rarely rebarbative, preponderance of verbiage. (Yeah, I had help with some of that vocabulary, but I think you get the point.) This is often a problem with Stan Lee's stuff, and the Roy Thomas issues tend to be worse. I give it 2 out of 6. Overall, this is a worthwhile collection for fans of the X-Men. It's nice to see all the origins and back story for the heroes and villains that are still around today. If you're not already familiar with the X-Men, though, I'd say that you might want to look at the volumes collecting Claremont's work instead. Two of the best known X-Men storylines ("the Dark Phoenix Saga," referenced heavily in last season's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and "Days of Future Past," which first introduced the daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey) are in Essential X-Men Vol. 2 for example. This volume is only worth 3 out of 6 overall. In total, Essential Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 receives 25 out of 42. Additional Notes And CommentsThe next comic review should be Essential Spider-Man Vol. 4, which collects issues 69-89, as well as annuals 4 and 5.
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