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Marvel Masterworks #61
Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men, Vol. 6
1969: The X-Men, Marvel's poorest selling title, flagging in sales and on the verge of cancellation, was in dire need of a shot in the arm. A new direction. A new vision. Enter Roy Thomas and Neal Adams for one of the most amazing evolutions in Marvel history! These two titanic talents threw caution to the wind with sensational stories that brought the X-Men in synch with the thriving youth culture of the late 1960s. Adams' lavish and dynamic visuals merged with Thomas' challenging and contemporary stories to create a comic book series that throbbed with the pulse of the times like none other. Prepare yourself for the introduction of mutant mainstay Havok, the vampiric villain Sauron, the Mutates, and X-Man-to-be Sunfire! Not to mention, the Living Pharaoh, a classic team-up with Ka-Zar in the Savage Land, as well as the return of Magneto and Professor X! Unquestionably a high-water mark of the 1960s X-Men, this massive volume, loaded with extras, caps off the original team X-Men Masterworks! Collecting X-MEN #54-66.
274 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2011
22 people are currently reading
174 people want to read
About the author
Roy Thomas
4,478 books271 followersRoy 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
June 16, 2021
I grew up with Claremont's X-men. He may not have created them but he definetely wrote some of the most reknown runs of the series. Maybe it’s verbose, maybe it’s dated but it’s History for the mutants.
So, I wanted to go further back and read the very first adventures of my favorite group of supes. Gee, what a drag! No wonder the title ran on reprints after 5 years. It was boring, poorly written from beginning to end, overdone and more often than not ridiculous. With poor art most of the time to boot.
The duo Neal Adams/Tom Palmer comes in this 6th volume and upgrades the art to very good level but it’s just not enough to make up for the plain dumbness of the scripts (the sudden apparition of Scott’s brother out of the blue being one exemple among others).
Could you cite one memorable run from this period?
...
That’s what I thought.
What does it leave us with? Magneto, a heinous pompous fool far from the much more complicated character that’ll come later. The sentinels, which again will be used with much greater effect later on. A collection of C-list characters like Blob, Havok or Polaris. And, if something good must absolutely come out of this mess, the basic idea of mutants fighting for humanity despite the hatred and sheer racism they suffer. Again, better later.
So, my two cents: either you get a huge bargain deal like I did (got them for like less than a buck apiece if I recollect correctly) and endure the stuff for 60+ issues or you skip them and directly go to the 70’s revival that’ll get the mutants to new heights.
So, I wanted to go further back and read the very first adventures of my favorite group of supes. Gee, what a drag! No wonder the title ran on reprints after 5 years. It was boring, poorly written from beginning to end, overdone and more often than not ridiculous. With poor art most of the time to boot.
The duo Neal Adams/Tom Palmer comes in this 6th volume and upgrades the art to very good level but it’s just not enough to make up for the plain dumbness of the scripts (the sudden apparition of Scott’s brother out of the blue being one exemple among others).
Could you cite one memorable run from this period?
...
That’s what I thought.
What does it leave us with? Magneto, a heinous pompous fool far from the much more complicated character that’ll come later. The sentinels, which again will be used with much greater effect later on. A collection of C-list characters like Blob, Havok or Polaris. And, if something good must absolutely come out of this mess, the basic idea of mutants fighting for humanity despite the hatred and sheer racism they suffer. Again, better later.
So, my two cents: either you get a huge bargain deal like I did (got them for like less than a buck apiece if I recollect correctly) and endure the stuff for 60+ issues or you skip them and directly go to the 70’s revival that’ll get the mutants to new heights.
March 5, 2019
Picked up this digital collection mainly for the Neal Adams art (plus it only cost about $5 at the time). Great issues with the Sentinels, Magneto, and first appearance of Sauron. Plus it contained the last 12 issues of the original run on the X-Men. Stories that I first read way back in the late 60's and early 70's. Really loved the Neal Adam stories. This was only the 2nd appearance of the Sentinels, and to me, the best. When I think of the Sentinels (even after these years) this is the version that always flashes in my mind.
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June 3, 20213 stars
January 9, 2022
With X-Men #56, Neal Adams takes over as penciler, with Roy Thomas returning as writer, and the comic immediately becomes ten times better. His art is incredible, with modern-seeming layouts and details. Due to the Marvel Method in which the scripts are written after the panels are drawn, the storytelling also improves.
X-Men was better than it had ever been and then – as is so often the case – it got cancelled, with #66 being its last issue until Len Wein and Chris Claremont revive it five years later.
As frustrating as it is to see a comic end just as it hits its stride, retrospectively X-Men's cancellation was undoubtedly a good thing. Without it, we'd likely have never seen Chris Claremont's take on the series or been introduced to X-Men such as Wolverine, Storm, or Nightcrawler. Perhaps it would have stayed with one permanent cast like the Fantastic Four, and that would have been a huge loss.
X-Men was better than it had ever been and then – as is so often the case – it got cancelled, with #66 being its last issue until Len Wein and Chris Claremont revive it five years later.
As frustrating as it is to see a comic end just as it hits its stride, retrospectively X-Men's cancellation was undoubtedly a good thing. Without it, we'd likely have never seen Chris Claremont's take on the series or been introduced to X-Men such as Wolverine, Storm, or Nightcrawler. Perhaps it would have stayed with one permanent cast like the Fantastic Four, and that would have been a huge loss.
February 11, 2016
After reading some origin stories and then skipping ahead to the early Claremont issues, I was a bit confused as to how Havok and Lorna Dane came to be in the team. I then noticed that this was apparently explained during the Roy Thomas/Neal Adams run, which was also mentioned in the ‘1001 Comics You Must Read…’ book. So I tracked down Marvel Masterworks Vol. 6 at the library as it collects X-Men #54-66.
The volume begins with a couple of issues (#54-55) that introduce Cyclops’ brother Alex (soon to be christened Havok). The second of these also introduces new writer Roy Thomas, but illustrator Neal Adams is yet to appear on the scene. These stories aren’t bad - they definitely have less omniscient and intrusive narration than the Claremont issues that come later. The art is pretty un-noteworthy - fairly flat, with backgrounds that often consist of a solid colour. The Heck issue (#54) uses a few unusual panel shapes, but mostly these issues have straightforward grid-conforming layouts. The backup stories featuring Angel are entertaining enough.
With #56 enters Neal Adams and there is a marked improvement from the very first page. Adams’ figures are beautifully posed and the characters are consistently rendered. His backgrounds are detailed, and there is a dramatic sense of perspective. The panels have oblique borders that the character occasionally transcends. Everything about the art in these early issues is just excellent, and I almost gave it 4 stars just for this, but the writing just isn’t great and sadly the art declines throughout the volume.
#56 finishes off the Living Pharaoh storyline, which has dragged on by this point. #57-59 is a battle with the Sentinels that has a cool ending but, like most of the book, the plot is not very economical and there are too many fight scenes. There is a fairly sexist Miss Marvel backup story thrown in too. None of this matters too much because the art is excellent. #60-61 see the X-Men fight Sauron. The pterodactyl-man’s monstrous appearance (with some panels evocative of Wrightson) and the tragic ending gives it more of a horror-comic vibe. #62-63 see X-Men travel to the Savage Land and fight Magneto and some weird villains, but it is not very satisfying, and I feel that Adams’ is starting to get a bit lazier.
So with #64 Adams has a break and Don Heck returns to art duties, but now he has borrowed some ideas from Adams, with a lot of great detail on the characters and some fluid layouts during one flashback sequence. I quite liked the villain, Sunfire, who has some believable motivations and source of mutant powers.
With #65 Adams returns for one more issue, but Thomas has been temporarily replaced by Dennis O’Neill (who would soon after team up with Adams again for notable run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow). Adams is a shadow of his former self, now using the square panels and flat backgrounds of his predecessors. The story (X-Men! In space!) and villains are pretty dumb too. It’s pretty disappointing as the volume is fairly readable up to this point.
The final issue in this volume (#66) is mostly about the Hulk, and is kind of cute. The Hulk looks pretty stupid to me - like a green kid in a carnival mirror - but the artist here later worked on Hulk for 10 years so perhaps this is his definitive look?
I don’t know whether its because I’m aware of and intrigued by the Marvel-style of production and unconsciously looking out for these things but — it seems the writing doesn’t match the art particularly well. It’s like when you play that game with the TV sound down and pretend to do the voices of the characters, and sometimes you need to buy some time because you can’t think of what to say and you just fill the space with a description of what is happening, like “Now I will just step onto this plane”, “I am flying through space now”. etc etc. Well these issues are not that bad, but you perhaps get my point. The stories are definitely not told economically, nor with an acceptable level of sassy dialogue. A further criticism is that it’s sometimes not clear which text bubble to read next. I imagine this is all the result of doing the art first and text later.
The volume begins with a couple of issues (#54-55) that introduce Cyclops’ brother Alex (soon to be christened Havok). The second of these also introduces new writer Roy Thomas, but illustrator Neal Adams is yet to appear on the scene. These stories aren’t bad - they definitely have less omniscient and intrusive narration than the Claremont issues that come later. The art is pretty un-noteworthy - fairly flat, with backgrounds that often consist of a solid colour. The Heck issue (#54) uses a few unusual panel shapes, but mostly these issues have straightforward grid-conforming layouts. The backup stories featuring Angel are entertaining enough.
With #56 enters Neal Adams and there is a marked improvement from the very first page. Adams’ figures are beautifully posed and the characters are consistently rendered. His backgrounds are detailed, and there is a dramatic sense of perspective. The panels have oblique borders that the character occasionally transcends. Everything about the art in these early issues is just excellent, and I almost gave it 4 stars just for this, but the writing just isn’t great and sadly the art declines throughout the volume.
#56 finishes off the Living Pharaoh storyline, which has dragged on by this point. #57-59 is a battle with the Sentinels that has a cool ending but, like most of the book, the plot is not very economical and there are too many fight scenes. There is a fairly sexist Miss Marvel backup story thrown in too. None of this matters too much because the art is excellent. #60-61 see the X-Men fight Sauron. The pterodactyl-man’s monstrous appearance (with some panels evocative of Wrightson) and the tragic ending gives it more of a horror-comic vibe. #62-63 see X-Men travel to the Savage Land and fight Magneto and some weird villains, but it is not very satisfying, and I feel that Adams’ is starting to get a bit lazier.
So with #64 Adams has a break and Don Heck returns to art duties, but now he has borrowed some ideas from Adams, with a lot of great detail on the characters and some fluid layouts during one flashback sequence. I quite liked the villain, Sunfire, who has some believable motivations and source of mutant powers.
With #65 Adams returns for one more issue, but Thomas has been temporarily replaced by Dennis O’Neill (who would soon after team up with Adams again for notable run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow). Adams is a shadow of his former self, now using the square panels and flat backgrounds of his predecessors. The story (X-Men! In space!) and villains are pretty dumb too. It’s pretty disappointing as the volume is fairly readable up to this point.
The final issue in this volume (#66) is mostly about the Hulk, and is kind of cute. The Hulk looks pretty stupid to me - like a green kid in a carnival mirror - but the artist here later worked on Hulk for 10 years so perhaps this is his definitive look?
I don’t know whether its because I’m aware of and intrigued by the Marvel-style of production and unconsciously looking out for these things but — it seems the writing doesn’t match the art particularly well. It’s like when you play that game with the TV sound down and pretend to do the voices of the characters, and sometimes you need to buy some time because you can’t think of what to say and you just fill the space with a description of what is happening, like “Now I will just step onto this plane”, “I am flying through space now”. etc etc. Well these issues are not that bad, but you perhaps get my point. The stories are definitely not told economically, nor with an acceptable level of sassy dialogue. A further criticism is that it’s sometimes not clear which text bubble to read next. I imagine this is all the result of doing the art first and text later.
April 12, 2025
Il vero motivo per cui comprare questo volume sono i disegni di Neil Adams, incredibilmente avanguardista rispetto agli altri autori di comics coevi per la dinamicità, la definizione e l’espressività delle sue figure e la creatività nella scelta di inquadrature e disposizione delle vignette della tavola. Non e’ un azzardo infatti dire che i suoi disegni reggano bene ancora oggi la prova del tempo, anche grazie ad uso molto diffuso (molto più che in Kirby per esempio) delle ombre/neri.
Anche le storie di Roy Thomas funzionano perché nonostante molte di queste abbiano dei villain ridicoli -vediamo un faraone, un dottore che si trasforma in un simil pterodattilo e un giapponese nostalgico dell’impero- ci sono sempre eventi importanti, come nella prima saga in cui facciamo la conoscenza del fratello di Scott Summers Alex, anche lui mutante con lo pseudonimo di Havok, o anche semplicemente momenti molto fighi, come quando Sauron (l’essere simil pterodattilo) evoca nella testa di Angelo un mostro a tre teste davvero ripugnante. I suoi dialoghi poi sono drammatici e al contempo credibili e scorrevoli, lontani dalla verbosità artificiosa di Stan Lee.
L’apice del duo viene raggiunto senza alcun dubbio nella minisaga del ritorno delle Sentinelle, qui riesumate Larry Trask, figlio del loro inventore Bolivar Trask. Larry e’ nettamente più spietato del padre ed e’ disposto a tutto per annientare gli x men, il che rende sconvolgente la scoperta che anche lui e’ un mutante. Anche il modo in cui Ciclope riesce a sbarazzarsi delle Sentinelle piegando la logica della loro programmazione denota un acume di scrittura inusuale per un fumetto di supereroi anni 60.
Molto interessante anche la storia in cui gli X-men affrontano gli alieni Z’nox, il cui bellissimo design ricorda un po’ quello che farà Lucas col mondo di Star Wars.
In appendice ai primi numeri ci viene raccontata la genesi di Angelo (come ha scoperto i poteri, come si e’ unito agli x men ecc…).
Anche le storie di Roy Thomas funzionano perché nonostante molte di queste abbiano dei villain ridicoli -vediamo un faraone, un dottore che si trasforma in un simil pterodattilo e un giapponese nostalgico dell’impero- ci sono sempre eventi importanti, come nella prima saga in cui facciamo la conoscenza del fratello di Scott Summers Alex, anche lui mutante con lo pseudonimo di Havok, o anche semplicemente momenti molto fighi, come quando Sauron (l’essere simil pterodattilo) evoca nella testa di Angelo un mostro a tre teste davvero ripugnante. I suoi dialoghi poi sono drammatici e al contempo credibili e scorrevoli, lontani dalla verbosità artificiosa di Stan Lee.
L’apice del duo viene raggiunto senza alcun dubbio nella minisaga del ritorno delle Sentinelle, qui riesumate Larry Trask, figlio del loro inventore Bolivar Trask. Larry e’ nettamente più spietato del padre ed e’ disposto a tutto per annientare gli x men, il che rende sconvolgente la scoperta che anche lui e’ un mutante. Anche il modo in cui Ciclope riesce a sbarazzarsi delle Sentinelle piegando la logica della loro programmazione denota un acume di scrittura inusuale per un fumetto di supereroi anni 60.
Molto interessante anche la storia in cui gli X-men affrontano gli alieni Z’nox, il cui bellissimo design ricorda un po’ quello che farà Lucas col mondo di Star Wars.
In appendice ai primi numeri ci viene raccontata la genesi di Angelo (come ha scoperto i poteri, come si e’ unito agli x men ecc…).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 18, 2021
Collecting the last 13 issues of the original X-Men run, from back in 1969 and 1970, this book shows off the reasons all us comic book fans spent the next five years constantly chanting Bring Back the X-Men. The pairing of wordsmith Thomas with penciller Adams (and, it should be added, inker Tom Palmer) for issues 56-63 brought forth a highly memorable run for the title. The Sentinels epic lasted from 57-59, and remains a high point for Marvel's non-Kirby or Ditko-related stories. Adams was clearly heavily invested in the title, and his work as an innovative storyteller was possibly freer here than anywhere other than his work on Deadman the year before.
Unfortunately, the team split up. Number 64 brought Don Heck back under heavy Palmer inks to try to imitate Adams' style, and it worked alright, introducing the Japanese mutant Sunfire in the bargain. Number 65 was plotted entirely by Adams, and scripted by Denny O'Neil moonlighting from DC - it brought Professor X back to life with a silly excuse that he'd spent the last two years worrying in private about a menace to all life on earth that, it ends up, required the aid of two X-adjacent characters not introduced until after his supposed death. O'Neil was the perfect person to write the prose that showed the ending of the menace, but the menace was one of the least compelling of post 1963 Marvel. And for number 66, Adams was replaced by the competent and clear-headed pencils of Sal Buscema for a story shoe-horning the Hulk into the X-Men's circle. We wanted the X-Men to come back, but we wanted them to come back to what they were three months earlier.
Unfortunately, the team split up. Number 64 brought Don Heck back under heavy Palmer inks to try to imitate Adams' style, and it worked alright, introducing the Japanese mutant Sunfire in the bargain. Number 65 was plotted entirely by Adams, and scripted by Denny O'Neil moonlighting from DC - it brought Professor X back to life with a silly excuse that he'd spent the last two years worrying in private about a menace to all life on earth that, it ends up, required the aid of two X-adjacent characters not introduced until after his supposed death. O'Neil was the perfect person to write the prose that showed the ending of the menace, but the menace was one of the least compelling of post 1963 Marvel. And for number 66, Adams was replaced by the competent and clear-headed pencils of Sal Buscema for a story shoe-horning the Hulk into the X-Men's circle. We wanted the X-Men to come back, but we wanted them to come back to what they were three months earlier.
December 11, 2018
My intention in reading this was to understand where Marvel was at with the X-Men before they went on hiatus for 5 years (issues 67-93 were just reprints of the original series until Chris Claremont took over writing duties). This collection encompasses the last year of the series (issues 54-66 running from 1969-1970) and is almost exclusively written by Roy Thomas with Neal Adams doing the artwork.
For a comic that was on the verge of cancellation there were some really excellent storylines happening, but they were hindered by a lack of focus or direction. Professor X being killed off and the recruitment of two new X-Men, Havok and Lorna Dane, were some good jumping off points for the book to really get some steam.
The problem is it still reads like the very early issues where characters weren't developed beyond 'the smart one', 'the female', or 'the ladies man'. I had no emotional investment in these characters and, aside from Sauron and Havok, the newer characters introduced are just so plain and boring. The storylines lacked depth and seemed to revolve more around surprising twists or introducing new villains than actually telling a decent story. You can see why readers would have been done with the X-Men by this point. The saving grace, to me, was Neal Adams revolutionary artwork which at this point in it's run was a breath of fresh air to series.
Not terrible by any means, but nothing groundbreaking either. Recommended.
For a comic that was on the verge of cancellation there were some really excellent storylines happening, but they were hindered by a lack of focus or direction. Professor X being killed off and the recruitment of two new X-Men, Havok and Lorna Dane, were some good jumping off points for the book to really get some steam.
The problem is it still reads like the very early issues where characters weren't developed beyond 'the smart one', 'the female', or 'the ladies man'. I had no emotional investment in these characters and, aside from Sauron and Havok, the newer characters introduced are just so plain and boring. The storylines lacked depth and seemed to revolve more around surprising twists or introducing new villains than actually telling a decent story. You can see why readers would have been done with the X-Men by this point. The saving grace, to me, was Neal Adams revolutionary artwork which at this point in it's run was a breath of fresh air to series.
Not terrible by any means, but nothing groundbreaking either. Recommended.
December 28, 2021
Neal Adams coming on to the book vastly improves the series, but it's still clunky and uninteresting. People say that Jean Grey didn't have a character before Claremont, but the honest truth is that none of the X-Men had characters before Claremont started writing. Scott is uptight, but not dramatically so; Warren is rich; Hank is smart; Bobby sucks! That's the rest of them. Alex and Lorna are also here but they're even more ill-defined--a problem that would plague Lorna for the entirety of her publication history.
Visually, it's unlike almost anything I've seen from this time period and genre in comics. That's awesome! But it doesn't make up for the fact that nothing that people like about the X-Men actually existed until at least 1975.
Visually, it's unlike almost anything I've seen from this time period and genre in comics. That's awesome! But it doesn't make up for the fact that nothing that people like about the X-Men actually existed until at least 1975.
May 27, 2024
The end of an era - the original X-Men run ends with a bang, and then a whimper. Havok and Polaris join the team (sort of) and there's an insane story about Changeling pretending to be Professor X so Professor X could prepare for an alien invasion??? But Neal Adams really elevates the book in a way that starts to feel like Claremont's future run, and causes the returning Roy Thomas to up his own game. Then, Marvel kicks itself in it's own dick by re-drawing a Neil Adams monster, which causes him to quit and the final issue of the first era of the X-Men (before their 5-year, 30-issue hiatus) is just a thudding brick of a Hulk cross-over.
God, Neal Adams is good on this book, though.
God, Neal Adams is good on this book, though.
April 25, 2021
At last, the first truly great X-Men stories, in Neal Adams' collaboration with Roy Thomas that gave us the return of the Sentinels, the introduction of Sauron, and Magneto's first imperfect graduation from mustache-twirler to high-concept antagonist. A pity it wasn't enough to save the book from a period of oblivion, but the stage is set for future glory (and missed expectations).
November 18, 2021
An incredible jump from other Silver Age X-Men material, Neal Adams' art was lightyears ahead of the game and elevates even Roy Thomas' weaker scripts. These may not be the most important X-Men stories ever, but they're worth checking out for anyone generally interested in mainstream superhero comics history.
April 9, 2022
Wen Neal Adams comes in as the new artist the book gets a lot better his art was so ahead of it's time & it was really noticeable to me since I have been reading this x-men books in order . This was better then all the issues that came before you see the storys improving & we got the return of the sentinels which was koo.
December 2, 2024
This collection is much better than all the previous collections due to the addition of Neal Adams. There is actually a well written and amazingly drawn sentinel storyline in this collection. If I had a do over on where I started to read the X-Men in their entirety, it would be this book rather than starting at issue 1.
January 19, 2021
This is a decent enough collection of X-Men comics, collecting the final 13 issues (#54-66) from the late 60s and early 70s prior to the X-Men becoming a reprint title until Giant X-Men #1.
The book features the Introduction of the Living Pharaoh and of Scott Summers' (Cyclops) brother Alex (aka Havok), the return of the Sentinels, a trip to the Savage Land, staving off an alien invasion, and meeting the Hulk.
The book is uneven. I enjoyed the Sentinel story and I thought there were some clever twitsts in the Savage Land story that made it interesting. The constraints of the book being divided between telling Angel's origin story in the Living Pharaoh issues does slow that down and it's not as interesting. The surprise return of a deceased character is clumsily handled and I don't know what was trying to be accomplished with the Hulk story.
The art helps with Neal Adams and Don Heck being among the artist featured. So overall, this book is okay, but not really great.
The book features the Introduction of the Living Pharaoh and of Scott Summers' (Cyclops) brother Alex (aka Havok), the return of the Sentinels, a trip to the Savage Land, staving off an alien invasion, and meeting the Hulk.
The book is uneven. I enjoyed the Sentinel story and I thought there were some clever twitsts in the Savage Land story that made it interesting. The constraints of the book being divided between telling Angel's origin story in the Living Pharaoh issues does slow that down and it's not as interesting. The surprise return of a deceased character is clumsily handled and I don't know what was trying to be accomplished with the Hulk story.
The art helps with Neal Adams and Don Heck being among the artist featured. So overall, this book is okay, but not really great.
March 19, 2022
The last couple of issues are not my favorite, but this part of the series is cool. My favorites are the couple of issues with Sauron. A good starting point or stand alone for the sake of X-Men history!
August 14, 2023
60th anniversary reread: the Neal Adams effect to a floundering book. It is wonderful to see the fans react on the letter pages. I also increased my respect for Heck as he imitated Adams in the Sunfire issue. An iconic little stretch.
April 27, 2024
Given the quality of the first 48 issues or so of the X-Men, I expected it must have gone downhill a bit when it got cancelled. I actually found these last dozen issues or so the most interesting the series has been so far. While Havoc and Polaris are hardly the most intriguing characters ever created, they do add an element of flavor that the book had previously been lacking.
The villains continue to be forgettable, and Roy Thomas "Oh Hannah"s hard upon his return, but Neal Adams's panel layouts make the book more visually striking than it's ever been.
While I am grateful to be finished with this era of the X-Men comics, I'm glad I finally stuck it out and read the original material so I don't feel like I missed anything.
I didn't miss anything.
As with my reviews of the previous volumes, I think your enjoyment of this collection will depend on whether you're into the mid-twentieth century comic hackery style of lots of alliteration, puns, and characters leaning heavily into melodrama rather than logic or character development. I think, if you're a fan of comic art and panel layouts, this is several steps above the previous collections.
The villains continue to be forgettable, and Roy Thomas "Oh Hannah"s hard upon his return, but Neal Adams's panel layouts make the book more visually striking than it's ever been.
While I am grateful to be finished with this era of the X-Men comics, I'm glad I finally stuck it out and read the original material so I don't feel like I missed anything.
I didn't miss anything.
As with my reviews of the previous volumes, I think your enjoyment of this collection will depend on whether you're into the mid-twentieth century comic hackery style of lots of alliteration, puns, and characters leaning heavily into melodrama rather than logic or character development. I think, if you're a fan of comic art and panel layouts, this is several steps above the previous collections.
March 20, 2018
Finally! Neal Adams shows up to do the art and these start to feel like modern comics. Until then, it's pretty rough-going.
November 11, 2019
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Neal Adams art
⭐⭐⭐ Stories
⭐⭐⭐ Stories
September 17, 2023
The X-Men #54-66.
October 4, 2024
Ah! My favorite period from this title, as Roy Thomas brought Neal Adams aboard for a run of spectacular artwork and some delightful tales, including the return of the Sentinels. Wonderful.
February 19, 2025
Neal Adams artwork elevates the stories and sets the pace for future X-Men greatness.
August 11, 2025
it's really such a shame the series got canned just as the art and writing got so genuinely good... whatever. chris claremont here i come
September 26, 2023
This is top shelf stuff and is eclipsed only by the Claremont and Byrne run. Roy Thomas and Neal Adams are firing on all cylinders here.
Marvel cares enough about their material to revisit it every time superior source material appears, as this softcover edition has superior restoration over the previous hardcover edition.
Marvel cares enough about their material to revisit it every time superior source material appears, as this softcover edition has superior restoration over the previous hardcover edition.
October 21, 2012
Too little, too late, really. These final dozen issues of the series' initial run are generally better than the abysm of the recent output, but not even the creation of Lorna Dane, Alex Summers, Sauron, Sunfire, and the return of Xavier can resurrect the waning series, either in creativity or sales. The partnership of Roy Thomas and Neal Adams goes a decently-long way to revive the artistic aspect of the series for a time, though Thomas sends returns to his habitual shortcomings (reviving old enemies with no significant movement) and even Adams's artwork eventually decays into monotony (all the guys start looking alike). As with most of Thomas's work, plenty of good ideas arise, yet they are all hampered by an inability to bring them to a satisfactory or significant conclusion. Part of the problem, perhaps, is the bizarre in-house decision to eschew multi-issue storylines. This isn't as big of a factor, though, since most of the episodes in this collection span more than one issue. Not in a cohesive way, always, but there is enough connectivity to expect the audiences' familiarity with recent events (though the ever-handy "as seen in issue #___" footnote is ever-near for the benefit of those who tuned in late). The creation of Alex Summers is certainly the highlight of this collection, moreso than the nondescript return of Professor Xavier, who had been assuredly dead for over two years in real time. He just wheels in one day, the X-Men react more to Jean than to him, and life goes back to normal. He doesn't even get a decent full-page splash (perhaps those hadn't been invented yet). Magneto and the Sentinels return, but the need to make them palatable diminishes their impact as well. The only thing allowed to change in the X-Universe at this point, essentially, is the number of characters and the uniforms of the heroes. Things aren't that much different now, though, come to think of it. Ah, well. The final panel of the final issue is a sentimental farewell, which somehow avoids being mawkish. Had it truly been the end of the X-Men, we probably wouldn't be talking about it 40-some years later, but fortunately it wasn't the end. Come, Chris Claremont: your canvas awaits.
April 24, 2016
Collecting X-Men issues #54–66, and most notably of all the Roy Thomas / Neal Adams run included therein, this a collection X-fans must not miss. While Thomas and Adams didn't manage to save the title from cancellation, their brief and powerful run did get it back on the stands if only, initially, as a reprint book. But it is equally valid to say that not only the sales of that reprint book, but also the stories themselves (and the artistic vision of Adams) was crucial to Len Wein's relaunch of the new X-Men some 30 issues later, and the vision of these new X-Men that Chris Claremont brought to a new generation of X-fans, first accompanied by Dave Cockrum and then by John Byrne (both very classic X-Men runs in their own right).
In short, this run mattered. And there are many reasons for that. The least of which certainly not being Adams' art. As usually it leaps off the page and really strikes a chord in terms of visual storytelling. Thomas' plots and writing is also at its finest (which is saying something, given Thomas' long career as a comics writer).
However one looks at this, this two fat thumbs up and big go get, get reading recommendation. X-Men stories can certainly be this good, but Iäm not sure they can get any better.
In short, this run mattered. And there are many reasons for that. The least of which certainly not being Adams' art. As usually it leaps off the page and really strikes a chord in terms of visual storytelling. Thomas' plots and writing is also at its finest (which is saying something, given Thomas' long career as a comics writer).
However one looks at this, this two fat thumbs up and big go get, get reading recommendation. X-Men stories can certainly be this good, but Iäm not sure they can get any better.
February 9, 2016
Adams & Thomas. I would rate this 2nd behind the Clarmemont/Byrne run in terms of quality, if only for the art. (i skipped the 1990s, forgive me if you are a jim lee fan, i missed it, sorry) . However these issues are nowhere near perfect, but this is worth having if you are an orignal X team fan, mainly for the Neal Adams innovative (at the time) beautiful, unique mind-blowing artwork. As always Neal puts on a clinic. But the Roy Thomas writing & plotting is typical craptastic 1960's Marvel goofiness, some of it is borderline genius & some of it is SO BAD, the writing will make you LOL & also cringe often. -- Sadly, the maturity of the writing does not match the advanced state of the artwork. And as for the few issues in this TPB that do NOT have Adams art, they are extemely bland & very pedestrian, indicating why the title was already about to be cancelled when Adams came on board, much too late to save it.
May 14, 2014
- What has happened to the paperback versions of these? It is like they never existed! Now my comics won't match!! Grrrrr!
- This one wasn't as good as others. The plots weren't so great.
- Learning more about Sauron was cool. I love that he wanted to take on a Tolkien name. Sauron has been in previous issues, but it was like they were introducing him for the first time.
- The art is getting better. There is more definition.
- Angel changes his outfit about 3 times in this volume. I like the last one the best.
- This one wasn't as good as others. The plots weren't so great.
- Learning more about Sauron was cool. I love that he wanted to take on a Tolkien name. Sauron has been in previous issues, but it was like they were introducing him for the first time.
- The art is getting better. There is more definition.
- Angel changes his outfit about 3 times in this volume. I like the last one the best.
March 15, 2015
Har endelig fået læst alle afsnit af den første omgang X-men fra 1960-erne hvilket for det meste var ret skidt. Men dette sidste bind var faktisk rigtig god især takket være især en fænomenal Sentinel-saga af Roy Thomas og Neil Adams. Sauron- og Magneto-historierne er også rigtig gode men bogen er stadig plaget af nogle få problematiske issues i begge ender af bogen. Ekstra ros også til Roy Thomas der har skrevet en meget interessant introduktion som til gengæld er omkring 3 gange længere end de sædvanlige man finder i masterworks.
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