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Uncanny X-Men (1963)
Giant-Size X-Men: Tribute to Wein & Cockrum #1
CELEBRATING THE CLASSIC'S 45TH ANNIVERSARY! Forty-five years ago, a comic book came out that would change the face of Marvel Comics forever. Writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum revamped the X-Men completely, replacing the bulk of the teen heroes with a completely new international cast! The legendary one-shot took comic fans by storm and set the series off in a new direction, setting the stage for the legendary X-scribe Chris Claremont to make them the most popular heroes in the Marvel Universe! Now, 37 of Marvel's top artists come together to re-create this epic story, each re-drawing one pulse-pounding page in tribute to this Marvel masterpiece!
44 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 1975
50 people are currently reading
541 people want to read
About the author
Len Wein
1,587 books154 followersLen Wein was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men (including the co-creation of Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus). Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen.
Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.
Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
March 21, 2018
A second air to the X-Men!
This is a re-print of the now iconic “Giant-Size X-Men” #1 from the line of “Marvel True Believers”.
Creative Team:
Writer: Len Wein
Illustrator: Dave Cockrum
WHATEVER HAPPENED WITH THE X-MEN?
Nowadays, having the X-Men and all its “X”-related titles as one of the strongest lines in Marvel Comics (and in the years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe, certainly the X-Men were without discussion the strongest ones), you could hardly believe that they would lack of being of interest for comic book readers, back at the beginning of the 70s.
Stan Lee (that you may heard about him sometime) created along Jack Kirby (another one that you may heard too) the X-Men and while their original run lasted only 19 issues (1963-1965), they introduce dan absurd amount of staple elements in the series like Magneto, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, The Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, the Sentinels, Bolivar Trask and the Juggernaut, along with obviously the Professor X and the five original students: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman and Angel.
After its first run, other creative teams took the title (1965-1970) and they had the introduction of two new X-Men, Havok (Cyclops’s brother) and Lorna Dane (eventually Polaris), and even Beast “graduated” from the X-Men for some solo run and with the Avengers.
However, astonishing (pun intended) that it may sound nowdays, the X-Men weren’t selling good at the end of the 60’s, and while the title remained being published after its #66 issues, they were re-printing old stories from #67 until #93 (1975) that honestly it was uncanny (other pun intended) to conceive that if the title wasn’t selling good with original stories, that Marvel kept it on the market for almost 5 years with re-printings.
And therefore, for 5 years, nothing new was heard about the X-Men.
It was until 1975 when the creative team of Len Wein & Dave Cockram did their now iconic Giant-Size X-Men #1, introducing a whole bunch of new characters along with some previously introduced mutants to form one heck of new politically-correct X-Men team featuring characters of several nationalities and ethnics (including certain character named Wolverine that you may heard sometime)…
…and the bet paid off!
The X-Men title was alive and kickin’ butts again, baby!
Professor X recruits from around the world a new team of mutants to be lead by Cyclops (the only survivor of the last mission) for returning to the last place where the original X-Men were known to be, and facing a giant-size (the last pun intended, promise!) mysterious menace with vast powers beyond imagination.
This is a re-print of the now iconic “Giant-Size X-Men” #1 from the line of “Marvel True Believers”.
Creative Team:
Writer: Len Wein
Illustrator: Dave Cockrum
WHATEVER HAPPENED WITH THE X-MEN?
Nowadays, having the X-Men and all its “X”-related titles as one of the strongest lines in Marvel Comics (and in the years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe, certainly the X-Men were without discussion the strongest ones), you could hardly believe that they would lack of being of interest for comic book readers, back at the beginning of the 70s.
Stan Lee (that you may heard about him sometime) created along Jack Kirby (another one that you may heard too) the X-Men and while their original run lasted only 19 issues (1963-1965), they introduce dan absurd amount of staple elements in the series like Magneto, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, The Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, the Sentinels, Bolivar Trask and the Juggernaut, along with obviously the Professor X and the five original students: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman and Angel.
After its first run, other creative teams took the title (1965-1970) and they had the introduction of two new X-Men, Havok (Cyclops’s brother) and Lorna Dane (eventually Polaris), and even Beast “graduated” from the X-Men for some solo run and with the Avengers.
However, astonishing (pun intended) that it may sound nowdays, the X-Men weren’t selling good at the end of the 60’s, and while the title remained being published after its #66 issues, they were re-printing old stories from #67 until #93 (1975) that honestly it was uncanny (other pun intended) to conceive that if the title wasn’t selling good with original stories, that Marvel kept it on the market for almost 5 years with re-printings.
And therefore, for 5 years, nothing new was heard about the X-Men.
It was until 1975 when the creative team of Len Wein & Dave Cockram did their now iconic Giant-Size X-Men #1, introducing a whole bunch of new characters along with some previously introduced mutants to form one heck of new politically-correct X-Men team featuring characters of several nationalities and ethnics (including certain character named Wolverine that you may heard sometime)…
…and the bet paid off!
The X-Men title was alive and kickin’ butts again, baby!
Professor X recruits from around the world a new team of mutants to be lead by Cyclops (the only survivor of the last mission) for returning to the last place where the original X-Men were known to be, and facing a giant-size (the last pun intended, promise!) mysterious menace with vast powers beyond imagination.
June 3, 2025
I feel like Len Wein isn't celebrated enough for Giant Size X-men.
It's very weird, like the comic is celebrated but not its creators!
I just read an article inside a Marvel comic that didn't mention the creators at all.
Yes it ushered a new era, but why don't you tell us the tale of how the idea came to be for a change?!
It's very weird, like the comic is celebrated but not its creators!
I just read an article inside a Marvel comic that didn't mention the creators at all.
Yes it ushered a new era, but why don't you tell us the tale of how the idea came to be for a change?!
July 1, 2016
Around the 1970's, Marvel stopped publishing new X-Men stories after issue #66 and instead spent time reprinting past issues. It's almost comparable to Doctor Who being gone in television in the UK since 1996 and only came back around 2005.
Luckily, it only took five years before Marvel decided to publish a new story. Hence the sixty-eight paged Giant-Size X-Men #1 which was written by Len Wein and illustrated by Dave Cockrum who also served as its co-author. This was an important release because not only did it mark the return of the strangest super-heroes of all in comics for some fresh material, it was also the same issue that served as a link between the old team composed of the core four members since its debut in the sixties: Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel (minus Beast who left some time during the run) plus recruits, Havok and Lorna Dane, and that of the new ones as featured in the cover.
Afterwards, publications for The Uncanny X-Men run resumed again with issue #94 which, of course, also finally began the sixteen-year career of one Chris Claremont, who was fated to define and turn the X-Men as one of the most formidable and widely successful Marvel titles to ever been in print. That was only possible because this contributing piece written by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum opened the doors for that, since they had wanted Claremont on the writing board themselves and therefore helped with the transition. It's inarguable that without the launch of Giant-Size X-Men #1, we may never have gotten to Claremont's X-Men which is a literary cruelty of the highest order, in my opinion.
This issue also aimed to explain as to why the X-Men were absent in the last five years which turned out to be because they were abducted and stashed away in the island Krakoa during a mission to find another mutant. Only Cyclops was able to survive the ordeal and return to the Xavier School to recover and heal. Meanwhile, Professor X began recruiting across different parts of the world. For someone strictly wheelchair-bound, I have no idea how he is able to go about traveling, but hey, an excusable technicality. It was a montage of scenes, anyway. Perhaps the professor had some help around who never got to appear in the pages themselves. So in this issue, we get the appearances of Thunderbird (a new character at this point) and Sunfire which are two mutant characters I never really cared for, so I'm going to purposefully skip them and talk about the four other ones I have varying degrees of affection for.
First, we have Kurt Wagner, the teleporter otherwise known as Nightcrawler. He was being chased around by an angry mob who are trying to kill him when Professor X put a stop to it. He then made a promise to help Kurt figure out some things about his lineage and ability, but all Kurt wants to be at this point is to be normal which was perfectly understandable but the professor was quick to challenge his concept of normalcy. Intrigued and probably with nowhere else to go or anyone else willing to take him in, Kurt agrees to come with him.
Next we have Wolverine who already made his first appearance in The Incredible Hulk #181, and therefore a recognizable interesting character for the readers. In this issue, it was shown that he had been working for the Canadian government when Professor X wheels in the office to recruit him, making a pretty convincing argument as far as Wolverine is concerned. One of the bureaucrats tried to stop him but not one to nurse any fondness for authority figures, Wolverine latches out and threatens him not to get in the way.
Professor X makes a stop to meet up with Banshee who cheerily went along for the ride without much coaxing. Professor X gets to Kenya, East Africa to encounter a self-fashioned goddess, Ororo Munroe who at first thought that the wheelchair-bound bald man was offering a ridiculous proposition, seeing as she didn't feel like leaving the comfortable lifestyle she has grown accustomed to. However, Charles Xavier knows exactly what to say and says things so poetically that Ororo was eventually swayed.
Next, we have sweet Peter Rasputin of Russia who demonstrates his mutant strength as he saves a girl from being ran over by a tractor. I thought it was interesting that of all the recruits, he was the only one shown to use his abilities to rescue someone and that alone has made him automatically endearing to me especially when he began to contemplate about what Professor X tells him next. This is a guy who genuinely wants to help people when he knows he has the tools to do it, and is only reluctant because he has loved ones to leave behind. His family is very supportive which made it easy for him to make his decision to join the professor and see what else he can offer the world.
So we throw in Thunderbird and Sunfire (who came off as an arrogant prick later on), and we get the new X-Men!
Cyclops later arrives to explain their mission which is to save the original X-Men from the island of Krakoa. The rest of the pages showed that these new members are not that eager to work with one another (cough, Sunfire, cough) but they generally try to form some kind of teamwork anyway as they navigated through the mysterious island where Marvel Girl, Havok, Lorna Dane, Angel and Iceman have been held captive. After finding out that the mutant the original team has been looking for turns out to be the island itself (and the fact that Krakoa has been feeding on their energies for some time now), the new guys decided to fight the wretched creature together with the help of the professor's telepathic aid. The battle was more difficult than they imagined and as soon as they made their escape, they realized that the plane can only carry a minimum amount of passengers.
Now the thirteen X-Men have to decide who is going to get left behind first.
And this is where the issue gets cut short. Now, I already know what is going to happen next since these events will be once again tackled upon in the House of M-aftermath story, Deadly Genesis which I'll be reading in May. There's a rather wicked secret about this, and boy, it's going to be a doozy one. I think I won't talk about that here and would instead discuss it on my review for Deadly Genesis. The revelation is a rather game-changer for certain characters. I'm getting excited just thinking about it now.
Overall, Giant-Size X-Men #1 is a worthy read not only because of posterity but also because it introduced four X-Men characters who will stick around and garner their own respective fanbase throughout the years. This issue also marks the beginning of the Claremont era.
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
Luckily, it only took five years before Marvel decided to publish a new story. Hence the sixty-eight paged Giant-Size X-Men #1 which was written by Len Wein and illustrated by Dave Cockrum who also served as its co-author. This was an important release because not only did it mark the return of the strangest super-heroes of all in comics for some fresh material, it was also the same issue that served as a link between the old team composed of the core four members since its debut in the sixties: Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel (minus Beast who left some time during the run) plus recruits, Havok and Lorna Dane, and that of the new ones as featured in the cover.
Afterwards, publications for The Uncanny X-Men run resumed again with issue #94 which, of course, also finally began the sixteen-year career of one Chris Claremont, who was fated to define and turn the X-Men as one of the most formidable and widely successful Marvel titles to ever been in print. That was only possible because this contributing piece written by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum opened the doors for that, since they had wanted Claremont on the writing board themselves and therefore helped with the transition. It's inarguable that without the launch of Giant-Size X-Men #1, we may never have gotten to Claremont's X-Men which is a literary cruelty of the highest order, in my opinion.
This issue also aimed to explain as to why the X-Men were absent in the last five years which turned out to be because they were abducted and stashed away in the island Krakoa during a mission to find another mutant. Only Cyclops was able to survive the ordeal and return to the Xavier School to recover and heal. Meanwhile, Professor X began recruiting across different parts of the world. For someone strictly wheelchair-bound, I have no idea how he is able to go about traveling, but hey, an excusable technicality. It was a montage of scenes, anyway. Perhaps the professor had some help around who never got to appear in the pages themselves. So in this issue, we get the appearances of Thunderbird (a new character at this point) and Sunfire which are two mutant characters I never really cared for, so I'm going to purposefully skip them and talk about the four other ones I have varying degrees of affection for.
First, we have Kurt Wagner, the teleporter otherwise known as Nightcrawler. He was being chased around by an angry mob who are trying to kill him when Professor X put a stop to it. He then made a promise to help Kurt figure out some things about his lineage and ability, but all Kurt wants to be at this point is to be normal which was perfectly understandable but the professor was quick to challenge his concept of normalcy. Intrigued and probably with nowhere else to go or anyone else willing to take him in, Kurt agrees to come with him.
Next we have Wolverine who already made his first appearance in The Incredible Hulk #181, and therefore a recognizable interesting character for the readers. In this issue, it was shown that he had been working for the Canadian government when Professor X wheels in the office to recruit him, making a pretty convincing argument as far as Wolverine is concerned. One of the bureaucrats tried to stop him but not one to nurse any fondness for authority figures, Wolverine latches out and threatens him not to get in the way.
Professor X makes a stop to meet up with Banshee who cheerily went along for the ride without much coaxing. Professor X gets to Kenya, East Africa to encounter a self-fashioned goddess, Ororo Munroe who at first thought that the wheelchair-bound bald man was offering a ridiculous proposition, seeing as she didn't feel like leaving the comfortable lifestyle she has grown accustomed to. However, Charles Xavier knows exactly what to say and says things so poetically that Ororo was eventually swayed.
Next, we have sweet Peter Rasputin of Russia who demonstrates his mutant strength as he saves a girl from being ran over by a tractor. I thought it was interesting that of all the recruits, he was the only one shown to use his abilities to rescue someone and that alone has made him automatically endearing to me especially when he began to contemplate about what Professor X tells him next. This is a guy who genuinely wants to help people when he knows he has the tools to do it, and is only reluctant because he has loved ones to leave behind. His family is very supportive which made it easy for him to make his decision to join the professor and see what else he can offer the world.
So we throw in Thunderbird and Sunfire (who came off as an arrogant prick later on), and we get the new X-Men!
Cyclops later arrives to explain their mission which is to save the original X-Men from the island of Krakoa. The rest of the pages showed that these new members are not that eager to work with one another (cough, Sunfire, cough) but they generally try to form some kind of teamwork anyway as they navigated through the mysterious island where Marvel Girl, Havok, Lorna Dane, Angel and Iceman have been held captive. After finding out that the mutant the original team has been looking for turns out to be the island itself (and the fact that Krakoa has been feeding on their energies for some time now), the new guys decided to fight the wretched creature together with the help of the professor's telepathic aid. The battle was more difficult than they imagined and as soon as they made their escape, they realized that the plane can only carry a minimum amount of passengers.
Now the thirteen X-Men have to decide who is going to get left behind first.
And this is where the issue gets cut short. Now, I already know what is going to happen next since these events will be once again tackled upon in the House of M-aftermath story, Deadly Genesis which I'll be reading in May. There's a rather wicked secret about this, and boy, it's going to be a doozy one. I think I won't talk about that here and would instead discuss it on my review for Deadly Genesis. The revelation is a rather game-changer for certain characters. I'm getting excited just thinking about it now.
Overall, Giant-Size X-Men #1 is a worthy read not only because of posterity but also because it introduced four X-Men characters who will stick around and garner their own respective fanbase throughout the years. This issue also marks the beginning of the Claremont era.
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
July 14, 2021
The first X-relaunch, the birth of the modern X-Men, with the introduction of Krakoa and many of our favorite mutants, recommended for X-Men completists.
January 24, 2019
The beginning of a new age for the X-Men! I loved getting to see the new characters individually and then how they all worked together as a team. The way they were able to incorporate all of these characters was pretty awesome! What came from this issue is incredible and I can't wait to read for myself what came after this iconic issue!
May 21, 2014
If I have to choose one quintessential single issue X-Men story, this would be it. This book not only debuted the most popular line-up of the team but it also introduced the tropes that would be the staple of the X-Men books for years. Relaunched with new members a.k.a. "genesis", checked; Added former foes to the team, checked; Intra-team bickering, checked; Cyclops and Wolverine at odds, checked and teamwork action to win the day, checked.
I first read in black and white but Dave Cockrum's powerful linework didn't made miss the colors. Seeing it in color for the first made me realize how good Cockrum was in his prime.
This digital edition contains the original stories. The print version included reprints which bumped the page count to 68 pages.
If you consider yourself an X-Men fan you should have at least a reprint of this in your collection. This is the good stuff.
I first read in black and white but Dave Cockrum's powerful linework didn't made miss the colors. Seeing it in color for the first made me realize how good Cockrum was in his prime.
This digital edition contains the original stories. The print version included reprints which bumped the page count to 68 pages.
If you consider yourself an X-Men fan you should have at least a reprint of this in your collection. This is the good stuff.
October 12, 2020
A remake of Giant X-Men #1 that kickstarted the Second Genesis of X-Men, its the exact same script with each page illustrated by a different creative team, I like the idea of seeing classic material being remastered.
January 20, 2015
I've read quite a few different ages of X-Men now and this one has a very special place in my heart. The issue which introduced some of the most famous, and my favourite mutants, and relaunched the series. The colouring is great - so vivid but more varied than earlier series. Definitely a favourite of mine.
May 21, 2021
I don't normally review single issue comics but this is one of the top 5 most pivotal comics off all time to me. With the introduction of the new X-Men Byrne and Claremont begin their incredible industry changing run. Incredible art and storytelling that pretty much set the tone for comics for the next few decades. Highly recommended
August 25, 2014
The X Men finally find their true form: an international team of misfits dedicated to world peace.
February 4, 2015
Good story but I was hoping for more background information on the new x-men (more on their origins, power, and more) maybe it will come in futures issues.
March 20, 2023
No matter how many times I read this ones, it's always such an adventure!
February 17, 2016
As my first official X-Men comic, I was very pleased with the story! I feel like it's a good taste of what X-Men comics are like and it wraps up rather nicely -- although I still want to know what happens next, which of course means moving on to Uncanny X-Men #94. That's not going to happen anytime soon since I can't afford to continue.
March 20, 2023
Great tribute and artwork from a dozen artists that recreate the classic story, paying tribute to 2 of the best back in the days.
Also loved the interviews from Wein's and Cockrum's wives about them!
Also loved the interviews from Wein's and Cockrum's wives about them!
August 10, 2020
This one truly is a classic. This one is a game changer in a way that few comic books get to be as it relaunched the failed X-Men franchise
January 2, 2018
We had a copy of this trade in our library and I saw it pass through and checked it out myself so that I could re-read the 7 collected issues from Giant-size X-men through X-men #99 and it was an enjoyable enough read minus Thunderbird's pretty much 24/7 pissed off attitude which grew rather old after a while.
The trade ends with issue #99 which is a rather klunky cliff-hanger issue to end on, but for the most part just about every issue of the X-men back in those times was a cliff-hanger anyway.
Oddly enough, Marvel just last month in December 2017 released a number of $1 one-shot comics reprinting a lot of the older Phoenix stories published by the company and one of the issues I did pick up was the reprinting of X-men #100 so I did get most of the story though #100 kind of leaves one hanging, but not as much as issue #99 did when it came out.
If it was possible it would have made more sense for this trade to be Giant-size X-men #1 - X-men #100 for a more complete read. This is why I give this particular edition a 4 star rating and not a 5 star one. These stories do introduce the "new X-men" to the Marvel Universe made up of a more global unit than the prior five who were all American. So that alone was a major reason to celebrate this huge change in this team book.
The trade ends with issue #99 which is a rather klunky cliff-hanger issue to end on, but for the most part just about every issue of the X-men back in those times was a cliff-hanger anyway.
Oddly enough, Marvel just last month in December 2017 released a number of $1 one-shot comics reprinting a lot of the older Phoenix stories published by the company and one of the issues I did pick up was the reprinting of X-men #100 so I did get most of the story though #100 kind of leaves one hanging, but not as much as issue #99 did when it came out.
If it was possible it would have made more sense for this trade to be Giant-size X-men #1 - X-men #100 for a more complete read. This is why I give this particular edition a 4 star rating and not a 5 star one. These stories do introduce the "new X-men" to the Marvel Universe made up of a more global unit than the prior five who were all American. So that alone was a major reason to celebrate this huge change in this team book.
August 1, 2017
Nightcrawler chased through a German village, Wolverine at a secret Canadian military base, Banshee watching a movie, Storm playing goddess in Africa, Sunfire relaxing at home in Japan, Colossus working the farm in Russia, Thunderbird chasing buffalo in Arizona, these are the heroes recruited by Professor X. The other X-men are missing and only Cyclops knows where they may be found. They travel to a mysterious island and face dangers before they find and rescue Angel, Polaris, Havok, Iceman, and Marvel Girl. The missing X-men were held captive by Krakoa the Living Island.
September 30, 2023
the best place to start reading x-men; and leading right into perhaps my favorite run in all of comic book history
January 11, 2025
Some backstory on myself before jumping into this: I have read various different Marvel comic issues in the past (during my childhood and adolescence), mostly just the odd comic here and there that I may have seen at a comic store or at the library. This is my first dive back in, and I started with this issue in particular due to my interest in the X-Men animated series and, more recently, X-Men 97 (which I adored), as well as from recommendations online regarding a good entry point for the X-Men comics. I love the characters within X-Men, I love the themes, the diversity, and I love the clear allegories to discrimination, oppression and marginalisation that have always been on display since it's inception. So, here I am.
This issue has somewhat of a legendary history to it. It was the first issue in five years to actually contain a new X-Men story, and it is now considered the starting point for what ultimately revitalised the X-Men franchise with the now legendary Chris Claremont run that followed this. Needless to say that I was very excited to jump in and see how this all started.
To begin with, I absolutely loved the art and the colour usage. There were so many unique and visually-appealing panels, and I loved the use of blanket colours to backgrounds and characters at times in order to convey certain emotions within those panels. I also loved how rough and brushed certain panels looked, especially ones involving Storm and the weather. Overall, just a beautiful comic to take in.
I won't get into the plot for spoiler reasons, but it was serviceable. There was some good writing here, that connected me to the characters and to what was going on, however, don't go into this expecting anything too deep. For the most part, it felt to me almost like a character showcase for the new team more than anything (which is handled well). And while I can appreciate the sheer diversity of the new team, especially considering the time period in which this originally released (1975), I have to point out the potentially problematic character stereotypes on display. Thunderbird, in particular, might be the worst offender here. He is defined almost entirely through his heritage, and not much else. I understand this is a product of its time, but it still feels worth mentioning.
If I were to hand this issue to the average person on the street, I'm not sure the overall response to it would be anything of a necessarily groundbreaking nature, per-se, however, I have to give props to everything this does right, along with what this started off for the franchise. All in all, I will say that I very much enjoyed this issue and I am certainly excited to read on with Uncanny X-Men.
My review score for this is: 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)
This issue has somewhat of a legendary history to it. It was the first issue in five years to actually contain a new X-Men story, and it is now considered the starting point for what ultimately revitalised the X-Men franchise with the now legendary Chris Claremont run that followed this. Needless to say that I was very excited to jump in and see how this all started.
To begin with, I absolutely loved the art and the colour usage. There were so many unique and visually-appealing panels, and I loved the use of blanket colours to backgrounds and characters at times in order to convey certain emotions within those panels. I also loved how rough and brushed certain panels looked, especially ones involving Storm and the weather. Overall, just a beautiful comic to take in.
I won't get into the plot for spoiler reasons, but it was serviceable. There was some good writing here, that connected me to the characters and to what was going on, however, don't go into this expecting anything too deep. For the most part, it felt to me almost like a character showcase for the new team more than anything (which is handled well). And while I can appreciate the sheer diversity of the new team, especially considering the time period in which this originally released (1975), I have to point out the potentially problematic character stereotypes on display. Thunderbird, in particular, might be the worst offender here. He is defined almost entirely through his heritage, and not much else. I understand this is a product of its time, but it still feels worth mentioning.
If I were to hand this issue to the average person on the street, I'm not sure the overall response to it would be anything of a necessarily groundbreaking nature, per-se, however, I have to give props to everything this does right, along with what this started off for the franchise. All in all, I will say that I very much enjoyed this issue and I am certainly excited to read on with Uncanny X-Men.
My review score for this is: 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)
August 8, 2019
Thanks to these facsimile editions, I was finally able to read the coveted, widely talked about, Giant-Sized X-men #1. Yes of course it has some of that dated story telling style but I really dug this adventure. It’s cool to see some of the characters that I read about now make their first appearances. If you’re a big X-men fan like me, I def recommend getting this.
September 7, 2024
Decided I'm counting comic books this year because I have free will and I can do whatever I want. This is an awesome starting point for reading the X-Men comics. Best character (guess who) joins the team here love him forever.
July 9, 2023
Great introduction!
December 11, 2023
3.5/5.0
June 2, 2024
Good introduction to the revival of X-men - sets up the new characters pretty well and the introduction of Krakoa is cool.
Read
August 8, 2024they don’t get to choose their names????
June 9, 2025
Here's to me starting my X-men journey through the comics 🥰
Read
June 25, 2025my first x-men comic i would love to read more these characters are cool!
November 16, 2025
oh to be nerd in 1975 and reading this for the first time……
December 11, 2025
it was really fun diving into the run that arguably revived the x-men for marvel !! so many introductions to some of the series most famous characters. a fun, short read to breeze through, though i do feel it's a little outdated. i also found the narration to be a bit much at times. still worth the read if you want to get into x-men imo
December 16, 2018
Return of the hiatus with an incredible story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews