Just Doodling - The Uncanny X-Men

I'm not personally a fan of X-Men comics, but I won't deny their cultural impact and legacy in comics.

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Comics Corner: The X-Men 27

Title: The X-Men

Issue Number: 27

Release Date: December 1966

Highlights

• Puppet Master creates a puppet of Professor Xavier in hopes of taking control of him and the professor instantly denigrates it with a psychic shield
• Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch make their first appearance in The X-Men since issue 4
• Professor Xavier asks Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to join the team, they decline because they are full fledged Avengers
• As Beast and Iceman change into their X-Men garb to stop a robber, they emerge to find Spider-Man has already taken care of the problem for them
• Spider-Man meets the X-Men (Beast and Iceman) for the first time
• Beast asks Spider-Man to join the team, but he declines
• Mimic is invited to join the X-Men team
• Jean Grey provides the X-Men with redesigned costumes
• Cyclops steps down as leader of the team and the position is given to Mimic by Professor Xavier
• Puppet Master creates a puppet of Mimic to control him and Mimic seemingly defeats them all
• However, they intentionally held back so that Professor Xavier could discover who had tried to control his mind and who was currently controlling Mimic's

Low Points

• Puppet Master goes a very round about way of trying to defeat the X-Men

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: Giant Size X-Men 1

Title: Giant Size X-Men

Issue Number: 1

Release Date: May 1975

Highlights

• Featuring (in order of appearance) the new team; Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Banshee, Storm, Sunfire, Colossus and Thunderbird
• Additional appearances by the old team; Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Angel, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Lorna Dane and Havok
• The new team, lead by Cyclops, is sent to Krakoa on a search mission for the old team
• The island of Krakoa is alive, and feeds on mutants
• Cyclops escapes Krakoa after the first battle which saw the original team's disappearance, but it turns out was set free intentionally by the island because it knew he would come back with more mutants
• When working together, the X-Men's powers compliment each other to seemingly provide a solution to every situation
• Decent read for my first "official" introduction to X-Men comics, but can't say as I see myself as a long term fan - I mainly read it for the introduction to the characters due to Spider-Man crossing over into their book(s)

Low Points

• Both the old and new X-Men teams bicker a lot with each other, often taking low blows - How are they a team when they don't seem to like each other?

Oddities

• Thunderbird doesn't want anything to do with Xavier's offer to join...Until he's called a coward. Then he's all in, no further questions asked. "What's the matter McFly? Chicken?"
• One of the X-Men refers to Sunfire as, "The Jap" - WHOA!
• Thunderbird calls Storm, "The Chick" and Colossus, "The Russkie". What is going on with this team and their disrespect for each other?

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Mutant X (Toy Biz)

Mutant X
Toy Biz
1999

Fans of "X" books can't seem to get enough of the numerous iterations of them, and Marvel Comics is more than happy to oblige. One such answer for more was the 1998 to 2001 Mutant X written by Howard Mackie and inked by Andrew Pepoy.

The series involved a story with lead character, Havok, who had been transported to a parallel dimension - The Mutant X Universe. Taking the place of an alternate Havok, he leads a team known as The Six, who are altered version of his companions from Earth-616. I won't spoil any of the plot specific elements beyond that for those of you looking to read the series.

Toy Biz produced a small, fan favorite, set of figures based on the books. While it was well received by Marvel Comic figure collectors, it was sadly never intended to be anything more than a niche series with no life beyond the initial four figures. This was common during this particular era of Toy Biz Marvel related lines. Just a little taste before the company was on to other things.

Bloodstorm*The Goblin Queen

The thing I like most about this particular set of figures is the unique cardbacks. Not only does each one feature fantastic art of the character inside, but it's not your traditional "rectangle" style. The cut to the card follows the character's body, making for a really nice look, but a fragile one at that. I really like when toy companies put that little added extra effort into their packaging.

Havok*The Fallen

The figures aren't too common on secondary markets. However, at the same time, they're by no means "valuable". I've seen them sell for as much as twenty-five bucks a piece, but typically the more common selling price point is around seven dollars. Out of all of them, Bloodstorm and Havok appear to be the most common, but again, they're still few and far between to be found.
 
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(The Uncanny X-Men) X-Force (Toy Biz)

X-Force
Toy Biz
1992-1996


The original concept for the comic book series was conceived by artist Rob Liefeld during his years with Marvel Comics. The team made their first appearance in New Mutants number 100, and since then have gone on to be as popular as most of the "X" titles produced by Marvel. The team has featured iconic heroes such as Cable, Deadpool, Domino, and even Wolverine - Just to mention a few. Oddly enough - The title is one of the very few at the helm of Liefeld's that actually got less popular when he left the series (most have gotten more popular).

With the numerous mutants at their disposal, and a strong license already well utilized, Toy Biz developed the below series to coincide with their highly popular Marvel based toys. X-Force began as a sub series of Toy Biz's The Uncanny X-Men (later shortened to just X-Men) series, but encompassed so many waves of figures that collectors began treating it like its own series.  In its five year run, almost fifty action figures were produced, making it one of the most largest sub series to any toy line to date.

SERIES 1

Cable*Deadpool*Forearm

G.W. Bridge*Gideon

SERIES 1

Kane (Blue Holster)*Kane (Red Holster)*Shatterstar

Stryfe*Warpath

SERIES 2

Cable (2nd Edition)*Cable (3rd Edition)

Cannonball (Pink Jacket)*Cannonball (Purple Jacket)

SERIES 2

Grizzly*Kane

Krule

SERIES 3

Cable (4th Edition)*Mojo

Pyro*Quark

SERIES 3

Rictor*Shatterstar (2nd Edition)

Sunspot

SERIES 4

Black Tom*Cable (5th Edition)

Commcast*Killspree

SERIES 4

Slayback*Warpath (2nd Edition)

X-Treme

SERIES 5

Avalanche*Black Tom*Cable (Urban Assault)*Commando

Exodus*Mojo

SERIES 6

Cable (Cyborg)*Caliban

Deadpool*Domino

SERIES 6

Genesis*Nimrod

The Blob

SERIES 7

Cable (Arctic Armor)*Cable (Stealth)

Killspree II*Shatterstar III

Join us next time when we take a look at Marvel's Famous Couples!

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