Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men, Vol. 3

Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men #3

by Roy Thomas, Werner Roth (Artist), Jay Gavin (Artist)

Collects X-Men (1963) #22-31. Witness the first appearance of X-Men mainstay Banshee and read the rare stories when a sixth mutant member, the Mimic, joined Professor X's squad. Also featured are the beginnings of the long-ranging Factor Three saga, and the classic battle between Mimic and the Super-Adaptoid.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Science Fiction

220 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Roy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.

Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roy Thomas took over scripting duties and Werner Roth drew most of the stories in this volume which includes the return of Mimic and the introduction of Banshee, but rather pedestrian stories and villains like The Locust, El Tigre, Kukulcan, Ogre, and Merlin sort of hamper this set.
The Highlight in this volume, to me, would be the X-men's battle with the Super Adaptoid in issue #29 showing Cal Rankin/Mimic's heroism and him not just always being the obnoxious jerk during his short tenure on the team.

[Evan Leach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection contains issues 22-31 from the original run. The original team consisted of Cyclops, Angel, The Beast, Iceman, and Marvel Girl (Jean Grey). Professor X and his giant mutant brain are on hand to lead the team. I mentioned in my reviews of the first two X-Men Marvel Masterworks that those early issues can be awfully cheesy, and that remains true for issues 22-31 as well…



Yeah. There are a lot of silly costumes and a lot more silly dialogue in this book. These issues were published from 1966-67, and the standards & expectations of the medium were different than they are today. Some people will find this level of cheese delightful, while others will find it overwhemingly obnoxious. Personally I kind of enjoyed it in a nostalgic sort of way, but I had to limit myself to one issue at a time to avoid severe eye-rolling.

The first X-Men Marvel Masterworks is interesting as it contains the original issues that started it all. The second introduces the Juggernaut and the Sentinels for the first time, so it too represents some X-Men history. This one? Not so much. The X-Men are mostly battling a random bunch of 3rd rate villains that I had never heard of, and this collection doesn’t really introduce anything of importance. That said, now that the creators have 21 issues under their belts I do think the overall quality of the writing and artwork is higher than in the first two Marvel Masterwork collections. I mostly enjoyed these issues, even if I didn’t recognize any of the weirdos the team was facing (and I certainly enjoyed them as a youngster, which was the intended audience for these early issues). 3 stars.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cyclops is still whiny as heck

[Wolverinefactor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Complete slog

It feels like no real advances happen for the overall plot. Just some teases of a secret organization. There’s a lot of returning villains and/or villains from other comics and it honestly does nothing for me. Also, the complete verbal diarrhea on every page is mentally draining.

[Trevor · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a weak volume. Under the creative team of Roy Thomas and Werner Roth, the X-Men fight a series of forgettable villains (most of whom aren't even mutants) while Scott Summers and Jean Grey's non-existent relationship becomes increasingly melodramatic and frustrating.

[Jedi Sunni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually rate a x-men book this low but it started out as a hot read with some unusual characters. It quickly got boring and repetitive. I usually dont start a book and not finish so I did the noble thing and finished this book. It an above average book which some may deem worth reading.

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Roy Thomas officially takes over writing duty in this collection. I wish that meant a welcome change from Stan Lee's tortured prose but Thomas was a student of Lee, and continued the stilted dialogue and familiar storytelling techniques that Lee used in his tenure. He does give each X-Men a little bit more of their own voice than Lee, as not every character speaks like Beast from the 90s Animated Series anymore but it's still a slog to get through.

The biggest disappointment is that while Thomas has the equivalent craft of Lee, his choice of villains is less inspired. There are several villains in this collection from Suspense and Strange Tales but none that you'll remember if you aren't a staunch silver age Marvel comics fan. Apart from Banshee, you really don't see any of these villains popping up again in post-Roy Thomas X-continuity. They just aren't memorable.

Mimic does return and joins the X-Men in this volume. His power of leeching off of other mutants was interesting, and made him a fantastic character in Judd Winick's Exiles, Vol. 1: Down the Rabbit Hole, he's pretty milquetoast here. Though, he's at least better and more relatable in this collection than he was in Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men, Vol. 2.

Like the previous volume, this might be fun for fans of mid-20th century comics but I don't think modern readers will find much to get excited about here.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading silver age comics can be jarring when you are used to modern comics. These issues of the X-men are hyper dense in terms of the text per panel that make much of this collection drag even as a modern reader like me could also celebrate these early stories as the foundation of the decades long superhero soap opera it would build to. Roy Thomas is a solid writer and it is refreshing to see heroes sidelined for multiple issues with injuries rather than rely on healing factors or time jumps to get the full squad back to peak performance. For example, Cyclops injures Angel and he is basically out of action for the next four issues. What holds this collection back is Werner Roth's art. It just isn't very good. You would be tempted to blame it on the period he was working in but the one issue Roth isn't responsible for, Issue 30 "The Warlock Wakes" is innovative and interesting in a way the other nine issues in this collection never sniff at, Roth just doesn't seem to have the imagination or skill that the X-Men deserve and I have to wonder if the series had had better artists at the helm if the X-Men would have taken off long before Chris Clairmont got his hands on them.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collects X-Men #22-31, basically the issues published in 1966. It includes the first issue of X-Men I ever bought, #27, when I was 8 - this could have been only the second Marvel comic I bought on purpose. I have read all of these before, but never in sequential order, and, while there are no hidden comic book classics in these issues, there is some plain and simple Marvel Silver Age enjoyment. This was the first superhero series Roy Thomas ever wrote (starting, I think two months before the first one in this book), and you can feel him growing more confident as each issue goes along. He throws in some new supporting characters, and teases sub-plots in the background. Werner Roth's art was, as always, workmanlike, but I really enjoyed seeing Jack Sparling fill in for him on #30 (which was the second and only other issue included here I owned as a kid). None of the villains in these issues are major, by any means - the Locust, the Ogre, El Tigre?!? - but I'm not complaining. This was pure nostalgia for me, and I think the next volume will be better before the one after that gets worse and then the series really hits its stride.

[Mark Noizumi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7 stars. The comic is progressively getting better. But there are still a lot of repetitive themes. Seems like the X-men always get a day off or a vacation when a new menace surfaces. And Scott and Jean's constant longing for each other in their thought bubbles is a little silly. And how many times can the Mimic loose his abilities? Also, the villains of the week are a little boring. Most seem to pop over from another comic like the Avengers. Since I'm reading these with my four-year old in small doses, they work just fine.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before they became huge with Claremont and Byrne (and Cockrum) the X-Men were Marvel’s minor superhero group. But I preferred them to the Fantastic Four and the Avengers even back then. When Roy Thomas started writing them he did not have much. For one thing not the world’s best artist with Werner Roth. No First Class villains except for Magneto. In here they battle El Tigre for example. But still. Okay, I admit had I not read these as a kid they would not mean that much to me.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Roy Thomas. But this is sadly not his best work. Taking over from Stan Lee, he has little pieces that help the Merry Mutants move forward, but at the end of the day, Thomas can't quite get beat. But there's enough good pieces and introductions (Banshee) that make it worthwhile.

This 60th anniversary read is picking up a little steam...

[Elliot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very middle of the road fare, with no interesting developments. With the exception of Banshee no interesting villains are used, all one-shot wonders.

[allison riera :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

/ my mom hates this cover, xD

[Cipryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Charles Tilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic

Classic cool love the xmen. Old school writing and dialogue are funny. It was good. I liked it a lot

[JW David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The X-Men #22-31.

[Rick Zinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of lesser villains in this run of issues, also the most fun reads in this run

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 for historical impact however Roy Thomas is so wordy! Add in the ham handed handling of the love between Scott and Jean and I'm struggling a bit. Can't wait for Steranko and Adams!

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

oh so THIS is where it got racist

[Nick Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cheesy. Fun.

[Christopher Rush · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roy Thomas starts off his tenure as writer of the X-Men by showing off his knowledge of Marvel history - this could have been a good thing, had he done something interesting with forgotten characters or former X-Men villains. However, he just sort of parades meaningless moments and characters who should have been forgotten and doesn't do anything spectacular with them. Yes, he does create the Banshee, but he makes him a confusingly-motivated ancient man and needs several tries before he can do something with him. A great deal of the issues in this collection feature a dead-end plot thread of Jean leaving the team to attend Metro College (enrolling during the summer, for no reason). It's a dead end because Jean usually finds the time to join them on their missions anyway. Despite initially feeling relief she is no longer a fighter, she apparently takes the time to sew new uniforms for everyone and rejoins them anyway. All supporting plot threads that could have been interesting, such as Ted Roberts, Jean's classmate who suspects the teens are the X-Men, are inexplicably dropped without any resolution. Thomas even brings the Mimic back as a teammate of the X-Men - at Xavier's request! - but this goes nowhere, despite some good character moments, since after a few issues Thomas has the Mimic lose his powers again. It's worth reading because it is classic X-Men, and Thomas does manage to get a few good character moments in there (he finally gets the Scott/Jean romance going after a while), but it's not the best storytelling done in the X-Universe. Like with many TPBs, I read the individual issues.

[Kelly Lynn Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The emotional characterization in this volume picks up quite a bit. But I was really annoyed that they call each other by their real names in battles all the time! After making a huge deal about their secret identities in multiple issues. There are other oversights like this that bring down the quality of the book, but if you can ignore it, it's not a huge deal. Some of the villains are ridiculous, like the Maggia (the porcupine guy, I mean come on), but some of them I really enjoyed like the Locust/Dr. Hopper. Banshee is introduced in this volume, and he's a pretty cool character. The story lines with the Mimic are also interesting. Scott and Warren's struggle over Jean is stupid and annoying from a feminist standpoint, but it was written in the 60s for a male audience -- not really an excuse, but it's a product of its time. And it's not like Jean doesn't have any agency. She just doesn't get as much "screen" time as the boys. The story with Merlin where she gets brainwashed was kinda dumb and annoying, though. Ugh. I'm really not sure what the point of her "leaving" the X-Men is, either. She's still there, and she still fights with them all the time. So, in conclusion, there's some decent stuff, but also some really lame stuff. It's an uneven volume.

[Inkling · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories are ok. It depends what you're after. There's not much character development happening, but that's to be expected of early comic-book issues. The problem, in my opinion, is that, since it is focusing on action each and every time, the stories seem to always be set in the same pattern - easily spotted every time.

What's a bit annoying, and the other fans of the series have noticed it as well, is the fact that, Roy Thomas, the writer, is such a huge fan of the Marvel universe, that he can't help crisscrossing characters and story-lines. There's issues where the X-Men meet the Avengers, or fight against villains that other Marvel heroes have fought before. It's a nice spin, it's refreshing at first, but it can get quite tiresome at times and you begin to miss the old villains such as Magneto.

I'd say, read this book if you want to get an idea on the dynamic between the initial founding members of the X-men team. It might give you a clue as to how things were for them in the beginning and how they'd cope when it was just: Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), Ice Man, Beast, Angel, Cyclops and Professor X.

[Kami · Rating 4 out of 5]

- This one wasn't as fun as the previous 2, but I still enjoyed it.

- Jean should just hook up with Warren!!!!! Why is she wasting her time dreaming of Scott? Scott is so dramatic and emotionally unstable. Warren is good looking, has money, and is more forward about how he feels.

- Jean and Cyclops are just getting annoying. I'm tired of the "Oh, I can't tell her how I feel!" crap!

- I like the new costume change, especially Marvel Girl's.

- It was fun to see a few cameos in this volume. Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Spiderman make an appearance.

- The last issue was probably my favorite. The action was good, and the villain was more fun.

- The villains in these issues were kind of dumb. I want Juggernaut and Magneto back. These 2nd class villains are pathetic!

[J.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

By story arc
-Nefaria/Maggia - Lame villains, good plot. 3 stars
-Locust - Again, a decent plot, but the villain's costume was too corny: 2.5 stars
-Magic pendant - Extra star for the key plot point of Cyclops accidentally clipping Angel: 2 stars
-Mimic stuff - 3 stars
-Banshee - 4 stars
-Warlock - 2 stars
-Cobalt Man - 2 stars

[Edward Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Count Nefaria makes his first X-Men appearance, becoming a pretty important character when the series relaunched in 1975. Still, other than the first appearance of Banshee, this is pretty mediocre stuff, possibly because of Roy Thomas coming on as a new wirter and not being able to immediately find his feet.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

More classic X-Men. I liked Roy Thomas's issues more than Stan Lee's but as with Volumes 1 and 2, these are neat to see how the team has evolved but I wouldn't recommend them to those looking to get into the series.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like the ComicCraft cover compared to the standard, but this is the one I own.

[Etienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Certainly the best X-Men volume until now. Lot of actions, cool news characters, story is a lot less repetitive than it was. It set the bar really high for the next one!!