X-Facts: 8 Interesting "X-Men (First Class)" Bits

Since their debut in September 1961, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's "The X-Men" has become one of the most beloved comic book teams in history. With its premise of "mutants using their powers for the benefit of humanity" later mixed with engaging storylines that tackled issues of racism and prejudice among others, X-Men skyrocketed from the pages of a comic book towards worldwide popularity spawning toy lines, animated tv shows, video games, and a million-dollar movie franchise which included an X-Men film trilogy and a Wolverine Origins spin-off.

Now with the X-Men: First Class film just around the corner, here are some interesting facts about our all time-favorite mutant team that some of you may - or may not - know.

8) Contrary to "popular" belief, the "X" in the "X-Men" doesn't mean Xavier (after its mutant-telepath founder Charles Xavier). It actually referred to the "X-gene": an unknown gene that caused the mutant evolution which in turn gave other human beings "extra" powers or abilities.

the X-Gene people. And its purple.

7)Xavier's "School for Gifted Youngsters" complete address is 1407 Greymalkin Lane in Salem Center, in Weschester County in New York City. 

Now you know where to find mutants.

6) The original team was composed of Angel (Warren Worthington III), Cyclops (Scott Summers), Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), Beast (Hank-McCoy), and the snowball-throwing Iceman (Bobby Drake).  

Snowballs. Beats Magneto every time.

Snowballs, really?



5) Not a lot of people know about this, but the idea of super powered/highly intelligent beings that were feared by humans first appeared in the science-fiction novel "Children of the Atom" by writer Wilmar H. Shiras - and is said to be the inspiration for the creation of the X-Men (though its never officially confirmed by its makers).

The title "Children of the Atom" reappeared in 1999 as the title of an X-Men six-issue limited series that retold the team's origins, and of a 1994 classic arcade video game that had the most powerful Magneto EVER (at least in my opinion).







4) Jean Grey (Marvel Girl/Phoenix) was the "apple of the eye" of everybody during the 1960's, with Cyclops and Angel competing for her affection. Apparently, they were not the only ones who had some kind of romantic love for Jean: the bald-headed Professor X did show some signs of having more than just "fatherly-love" towards her.

I bet Charles and Jean had some kind of "telepathic-sex" back then and maybe... just maybe... that turned them into something like this:

Bald Phoenix!!

3)  Beast wasn't a "beast" back then... at least, not yet. He didn't sport the fur and the animalistic look which were all accustomed to see.

He looked like a circus guy on a trampoline.

But hey, at least this time in "First Class" film, Beast gets to kiss a teenage-hot Mystique. At least that's what I saw in the trailer. Not bad for a guy who eventually grew hairs in places you don't even want to know.



2) Originally, Stan Lee wanted the series to be titled "The Merry Mutants". Because of its lameness, then-Marvel Publisher Martin Goodman turned it down and eventually changed it to "The X-Men".

Really Stan? That's all you can come up with?

Imagine if Goodwin gave the go signal for Lee's "The Merry Mutants". We would have titles like "The Uncanny Merry Mutants", the "Astonishing Merry Mutants", "The Merry Mutants: The Last Stand" or "The Merry Mutants: First Class" - all of them sounding like an 'effin comedy sitcom.

We all have Goodwin to thank for folks.


And finally...


1) "The X-Men" was not all original like what most people think. They were based from another superhero team from the "House that Superman Built" who debuted 3 months before they did: 

Wait is that Charles Xavier?

DOOM PATROL, guys. Appeared in DC Comics in June 1963, the group consisted of once normal people who each got into an accident which in turn, gave them extraordinary powers.

"That's sounds more like the Fantastic Four... how come the X-Men was a rip-off these guys?" Well let me count the ways:

•  They were alienated from and feared by the human race because of their distinct "gifts".
•  Just like the more marketable mutant team X-Men, Doom Patrol is led by a paraplegic in a wheelchair (The Chief). Only that DP's leader has hair and rocks a beard and mustache. 
• Doom Patrol's main nemesis is group named... The Brotherhood of Evil. Now, if that doesn't sound familiar to you, X-Men's main villain - Magneto, leads a group which he calls The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. 
• Finally, the tag line for X-Men #1 is the freaking same as Doom Patrol's:

from Cracked.com

Interesting isn't it? Marvel didn't even bother to change their tag-line a bit and instead relied on the hope that readers would use their stupidity and therefore, not notice the obvious similarities.

That's two points for Stan!


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Social History in Comics: New Heroic Comics 81 - "Hill 528"

The significance of New Heroic Comics 81 (March 1953), published by Famous Funnies, is that it contains a short true story about the bravery of Corporal Fred McGee in the Korean War. Corporal McGee is still alive today, and is a decorated veteran of the Korean War. In this two page story depicting the events on Hill 528 for which Corporal McGee received his honors, McGee is not shown as an African American, even though that is his identity. Personally I think it is unlikely that this omission was deliberate on the part of the comic book creators. It is more likely that it was simply assumed that McGee was white, because in the early 1950s institutional racism, if nothing else, tended to make society blind to the contributions of African Americans. It was as if a whole section of the population didn't exist, and you can see this by the absence of African American characters in comics throughout the 1950s especially. The error made on this comic is reminiscent of that made by the Marvel colorists on the cover of Sgt. Fury 1 in the early 60s - they simply assumed that all the characters were white, unaware of Lee and Kirby's intention to introduce diversity into the Marvel universe. Here then is "Hill 528". I wish that somebody who is a comic book creator would re-do this short story with McGee correctly depicted as an African American, and publish it somewhere while McGee is still alive.

As a special treat, here's the inside back cover of the comic, which features a Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree ad drawn by none other than Frank Frazetta!

Also, just to complete this short post, here's the cover of Sgt. Fury 1, showing the incorrectly colored Gabriel Jones:

Gabriel Jones is the famous African American horn-blowing member of the Howling Commandos.

African American History Month Reprise: Sgt. Fury 6 - "The Fangs of the Fox"

Central to any consideration of the introduction of African American characters into mainstream comic books of the 1960s has to be issue #6 of Sgt. Fury (March 1964), a Lee/Kirby masterpiece with inking by George Roussos. The whole series promotes a view of harmonious relations between all ethnic groups and races in America as desirable, simply by virtue of the diversity of the Howling Commandos themselves. You have a Jewish American (Izzy Cohen), Italian- (Dino Manelli), Irish- (Dum-Dum Dugan), African- (Gabriel Jones), and originally three Anglo-Americans, two from the north (Fury himself and Junior, who gets killed early in the series) and one from the South (Rebel Ralston). But issue 6 of this series is one that takes the bull of racism by the horns, brings it out in the open and slays it for all to see.

As the cover suggests, the story is "based on a little known incident of the North African campaign", so right away you know Rommell and the Afrika Korps are going to be part of the tale, and Monty's British Desert Rats are going to show up at some point. The expertise with which this story is written, though, is evident from the way the reader is led to believe that the mission to get Rommell is the main plot, and that the racist issue is a sub-plot - it's not evident at all from the cover. By the end of the book the former fizzles out and the latter provides the main punch. The story was clearly written to get a strong point across on racism.

Back to the story of issue 6. Leaving aside the details of the mission, just suffice to say it's all going on in North Africa, the Howlers are given a replacement for Junior who was lost two issues previous. Fury notices something strange about the new guy, George Stonewell. First of all Fury puts it down to their new man maybe trying to impress him with his toughness, now that he's with the Howling Commandos, but when they enter the barracks all is revealed:

Fury sure doesn't mince his words. Notice how Stonewell assumes that 'Rebel' is a racist because he's from the South. In Wally Wood's "Perimeter" (Frontline Combat 15 by EC, Jan 1954) Wood used a similar scenario to undermine the stereotype of all Southerners being racists. In fact this story feels like it draws a lot of inspiration from Wood's 1954 standard setter.

Now as I'm sure anyone in the armed forces will tell you, the most important people to any soldier are the other members of his/her unit. I hasten to add that I do not speak from direct experience here, but from what I have learned from a colleague who is a veteran. Their lives are inter-dependent at a level most other people don't experience. So disharmony is, unsurprisingly, a danger to everyone concerned. A couple of times during this story the point is made that racial disharmony is a direct threat to the lives of soldiers - Stonewell, in considering himself superior to Izzy and Gabe, doesn't think them capable of handling the mission, and his clumsy attempts to take over their roles nearly gets them killed a couple of times. Here's the first incident, where mistrust of Gabriel's abilities almost ends in disaster and does reach a flashpoint between Jones and Stonewell that Fury has to break up and suppress with some serious threats:

In a kind of interlude, because Stonewell speaks German, Fury wants to use him to communicate with a captured Nazi officer. It is during this conversation that Nazi anti-semitism and racism against African Americans back home are equated:

Then comes the incident in which Stonewell tries to take over Izzy's role because he thinks Jewish people are incapable inferiors. Again this exposes the two commandos to unnecessary danger, as their conflict alerts the enemy to their presence. Yet when the chips are down the two fight as a team, and Stonewell deals the blow that frees them from their immediate danger, but in the process he's hit by grenade shrapnel. Izzy has to carry him to their rescue by Fury and the rest of the unit:

So now comes the final anti-racist message, using the same blood transfusion idea seen in the Our Army At War 160 story "What is the Color of Your Blood?" (November 1965) featuring Jackie Johnson and the Nazi heavyweight boxer. Gabe has the same rare AB blood type as Stonewell, who won't survive without a transfusion. Sgt. Fury 6 predates OAAW 160 by 18 months, but Bob Kanigher was using the blood transfusion theme in his Sgt. Rock stories well before this issue of Sgt. Fury. Remember the story "A New Kind of War" (March 1961) featuring Sgt. Rock and the nurse in Our Army At War 104, where she offers her blood to save Rock's life? In that one I think the point was being made about the bravery of nurses in war, and their willingness to sacrifice part of what keeps them alive, or even their own life, for that of their patient. Here the blood transfusion is being used to show that there's no difference between black and white. It makes the 'one drop of blood' rule look ridiculous.

The final page sees Stonewell preparing to depart, reassigned after making his recovery thanks to Gabe, and being saved by Izzy, the two men whose racial and ethnic backgrounds had led him to despise them. Stonewell has changed, but he's not fully reformed by any means. It's taken a lifetime of conditioning to turn him into the bigot he is, and in his case it isn't something that is going to go away too easily. But there's hope, and the last panel summarizes the message the story was putting across.

So ends one of the few major anti-racist comic books of the decade, the first in the 1960s to directly and openly confront racism.

War Comics Introduce Racial Integration: Tales of Suspense 61 - "The Strength of the Sumo"

Although Tales of Suspense isn't a war comic, the Captain America story in issue #61 (Jan 1965), set as it is in Vietnam, temporarily qualifies the title as one. This particular story stands out as an anomaly - disconnected from story arcs preceding or following it. It is unique in that it is the only pro-involvement Captain America Vietnam story, and one of only a handful of Marvel comics that touch on Vietnam during the period of American involvement in that arena. It is also special in that, seemingly out of the blue (or the red, white, and blue even!) the story contains a piece of retroactive continuity to justify Cap's trip to the war zone. He's there to rescue an African American chopper pilot who's been captured by the Viet Cong. For Cap this mission is a return favor, because the pilot's brother rescued Cap during WWII. That's another reason why this comic is special - Except for DC's Our Army At War and Marvel's Sgt. Fury, no other mainstream comics up to this point in time had featured non-stereotyped African American characters. With it's publication coinciding with increased American involvement (Operation Rolling Thunder was implemented in Feb 1965) and the deployment of ground troops in Vietnam that followed, there's an underlying symbolism running through this story that adds up to one of the finest pieces of propaganda in sequential art form I've ever seen in comics, at least partly aimed at encouraging African American enlistment.

Upon allowing himself to be captured, Captain America begins his exchange with the Viet Cong by asking, “Is the communist fighting man so weak, so unsure of himself, that he fears one lone American? Is this the much-vaunted power of the Viet-Cong?” The Viet Cong soldier responds: “Still your tongue, costumed one! Even we have heard of the prowess of Captain America! We will not be as easy to trick as you may hope!” Prophetic words indeed, although at the time they were meant to both bolster pride in America and suggest foolhardiness on the part of the Viet Cong. Notice the full-bearded, very Russian-looking major!

As Captain America is taken to the location of the captured African American chopper pilot, he sets up the reader for one of the messages underlying the story by stating, “He IS important…to me! I owe him a very great debt!” Years after World War II, here is America (Captain America symbolizes the conglomerate of values underpinning the republic) acknowledging the role of African American servicemen in World War II, and encouraging and anticipating their repeat involvement, this time in Vietnam. Being there himself, Kirby would certainly have been aware of the part African American soldiers played in supplying Patton’s sweep across Europe during WWII. In this story, the communists continue to reveal their ignorance as to the true power of America whilst simultaneously confirming their hostility through insults aimed at the USA.

The eventual meeting between Captain America and the African American pilot, Jim Baker, is highly symbolic.

Captain America: Jim Baker! I’ve found you at last!

Jim: Cap! They’ve caught you too! I can’t believe it!

Captain America: I’m not caught, son! I’ve come to free you!

Captain America explains that they will find a way out of the predicament, just as Jim’s brother found a way to rescue him years ago.

Captain America: I owe this to him, Lieutenant…and to you! And by all I hold dear, I swear to you that my debt will be paid!

Jim: But the entire world needs you, Cap…!

Captain America: It needs you too, Son! It needs ALL of us!

 

The story continues with a battle between Captain America and a sumo wrestler several times his size, who has underestimated the Captain’s strength – more propaganda convincing the reader that, although confronting the communist Vietnamese is a big undertaking, America is more than up to the task and the Viet Cong don’t understand what they are in for.

Sumo: I am twice your size! Three times your weight! To me you are no more than a bothersome flea! You waste your strength! Even though you may rise to your feet, you can never get free of my unbreakable hold!

Vietnamese soldier in the background: The American’s strength is greater than one could imagine!

Here the reader is reassured that America has the strength necessary for the task and that the Vietnamese have bitten off more than they can chew although, of course, subsequent real life events did not support this analysis of the situation. The use of a sumo wrestler is also a subtle device to connect, in the mind of the reader, the Vietcong of the Vietnam conflict with the Japanese enemy of World War II. Although Vietnam has its own traditional form of wrestling, Sumo is part of Japanese culture and its out-of-context use in this Vietnam Captain America story helps to place the Vietcong in the same category with reference to communism as the Japanese occupied with reference to Nazi Germany in World War II – connected to, even allied with the principal enemy.

The final page of the story adds a subtle piece of stigmatization of the Vietnamese as ‘idol-worshippers’, a negative label for the minds of the predominantly Abrahamic religion-following West, followed by a deliberate attempt to connect, again in the reader’s mind, the Viet Cong with the Soviet Union, by having Captain America and Jim escape in a commandeered Mig jet. At the end of the story Jim is thanking Captain America, who responds in modest fashion – the true spirit of America taking credit quietly for the final freedom of African Americans in the age of the Civil Rights Movement – it’s been there all along behind the scenes, fighting for liberty and justice for all. The final panel finishes with an ad for Sgt. Fury 13, where the reader will learn why Captain America was the greatest hero of all during the Golden age of Comics, a not-so-subtle claim to predominant American glory in World War II.

Although this story represents a really fine piece of subtle yet powerful propaganda in sequential art and narrative by Lee and Kirby, it is the one and only time Marvel Comics endorsed the anti-Vietcong sentiment behind the war.

Note: much of this post was re-written from part of my chapter in the book Captain America and the Struggle of the Superhero. I'm revisiting this particular story for my upcoming presentation on the integration of African American characters into mainstream comic books, arguing that the story seeks to counteract anti-Vietnam involvement sentiments present in the African American community due to, among other things, statements made repeatedly by the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X against any American involvement in Vietnam. Malcolm X gave a famous speech in Feb 1965 to this effect, one month before his assassination. Kirby has been quoted elsewhere in relation to the introduction of the Black Panther that Marvel were aware of an African American base within their readership. Given the message this story puts out encouraging African American involvement in Vietnam, it seems timed to address the anti-war sentiment in the African American community, using a kind of Civil Rights integrationist rhetoric to imply a brotherhood of Americans of all races united against the communist threat.

Wartime Romances

Romance comics aren't the only place to look for love stories. From time to time a romance story appears in a war comic, often with a nurse as the female lead character. There were actual wartime romance comics, such as this one, Wartime Romances 1, with cover drawn by the great Matt Baker, and published in July 1951 by St. John. I don't have this issue, and I'd really like to see "Lovelife of an Army Nurse" for my current project, if anyone has a scan or can point me in the direction of a reprint.

But in regular war comics the romance theme occasionally appeared. Here's an example from Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos 4, "Lord Ha-Ha's Last Laugh" (Marvel, November 1963). Fury is in London during the Blitz, and meets Red Cross nurse Lady Pamela Hawley, who just happens to be the sister of the infamous British traitor, Lord Ha-Ha (in reality Lord Haw-Haw was the broadcast name given by the British to several traitors used by the Nazis in WWII to spread propaganda by radio).

Fury doesn't rate his chances with Pamela, but later in the story he ends up at her father's house where they meet again. The Howlers are sent on a mission to abduct and return with Lord Ha Ha, but the latter ends up mown down by the Nazis while trying to escape from Fury. Fury takes on the task of sensitively informing Pam of her brother's death, obscuring the painful truth and picturing him as having been a hero when he met his demise.

By issue 5 we find Fury and Pam have developed something of a relationship. Indeed, Pam seems to be one of the few people who can actually tame the sergeant:

A good old piece of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby humor, from Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos 5, "At the Mercy of Baron Strucker" (Marvel, January 1964).