lives, their father figures, siblings, and love interests. Polaris, who was created by Arnold Drake, Don Heck, and Werner Roth in 1968, is a more liberated woman, refusing to be defined by her father, Magneto, or the romantic advances by Iceman. Her personality is indicative of changes in the feminist movement. Although Jean Grey has external shifts, her character remains the same.
Notes
1. Werner Roth initially used the pen name Jay Gavin when he began working for Marvel. It is assumed this is because he was still also employed at DC Comics and did not want to upset his bosses at DC by working directly for the competition (Ro 92). Roth had two sons named Jay and Gavin, the likely source of his pen name.
2. It is not always clear in the issues whether characters such as Havok are members of the team or guest stars. Where there is confusion, The Official Index to the Marvel Universe: The Uncanny X-Men is used. This official reference book from Marvel includes a synopsis and team roster for the first 514 issues of The X-Men comic book series.
3. The two-part story began in X-Men #44 and concluded in The Avengers #53 . The Black Panther was featured much more prominently in The Avengers #53 .
4. Comic books do not follow traditional formatting for the text in dialogue balloons and text boxes. Every letter is capitalized and different words are bolded, sometimes to add a semblance of voice-inflected emphasis to the dialogue. When quoting directly from comic books, I will use standard formatting for the ease of reading comprehension, though it does not exactly mirror the content of the page.
5. The X-Men has been published monthly and at times biweekly for most of the title’s existence, but until issue #18 it was published bimonthly. Due to legal contracts with distributors at the time, Marvel could only publish eight comic books per month, so various titles alternated by month in the publication schedule.
6. Neal Adams drew X-Men #57 (June 1969)with the African American cop and X-Men #65 (Feb. 1970) with African Americans shown among the most noble minds on Earth. He also drew Green Lantern #76 (Feb. 1970), which features a famous scene in which an African American approaches Green Lantern, who has many outer space adventures, and asks him, “I been readin’ about you . . . How you work for the blue skins . . . And how on a planet someplace you helped out the orange skins . . . And you done considerable for the purple skins! Only there’s skins you never bothered with—! The black skins! I want to know . . . How come?! Answer me that, Mr. Green Lantern!”
Chapter Three
Relaunching and Reimagining
Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975) to The Uncanny X-Men #166 (Feb. 1983)
Creators and General Story
Between 1970 and 1975, Marvel did not publish any new issues of The X-Men , but the characters did not completely disappear from the Marvel universe. The X-Men still guest-starred in other Marvel comics or appeared in an anthology titles such as Marvel Team-Up ,which featured a rotating cast of Marvel characters. The X-Men comic book would be relaunched in 1975, first with a special issue, Giant-Size X-Men #1 , and subsequently with a bimonthly regular series. As the series gained in popularity, and with the arrival of John Byrne as regular artist, the series shifted to a monthly schedule. Beginning in 1981, Dazzler , the first spin-off series, marked the beginnings of the X-Men as a franchise and not just a comic book series. In 1983 the New Mutants , a new monthly comic book following a new class of teenagers Xavier is training, began publication. The analysis in this chapter will consider the X-Men comic books published between May 1975 and February 1983.These include Giant-Size X-Men #1 , The X-Men #94 through # 113 ,and The Uncanny X-Men #114 through # 166 .
According to Roy Thomas, one of the initial ideas for the relaunched X-Men title was to have “a couple of the original members, like Cyclops, [. . .] go looking
Notes
1. Werner Roth initially used the pen name Jay Gavin when he began working for Marvel. It is assumed this is because he was still also employed at DC Comics and did not want to upset his bosses at DC by working directly for the competition (Ro 92). Roth had two sons named Jay and Gavin, the likely source of his pen name.
2. It is not always clear in the issues whether characters such as Havok are members of the team or guest stars. Where there is confusion, The Official Index to the Marvel Universe: The Uncanny X-Men is used. This official reference book from Marvel includes a synopsis and team roster for the first 514 issues of The X-Men comic book series.
3. The two-part story began in X-Men #44 and concluded in The Avengers #53 . The Black Panther was featured much more prominently in The Avengers #53 .
4. Comic books do not follow traditional formatting for the text in dialogue balloons and text boxes. Every letter is capitalized and different words are bolded, sometimes to add a semblance of voice-inflected emphasis to the dialogue. When quoting directly from comic books, I will use standard formatting for the ease of reading comprehension, though it does not exactly mirror the content of the page.
5. The X-Men has been published monthly and at times biweekly for most of the title’s existence, but until issue #18 it was published bimonthly. Due to legal contracts with distributors at the time, Marvel could only publish eight comic books per month, so various titles alternated by month in the publication schedule.
6. Neal Adams drew X-Men #57 (June 1969)with the African American cop and X-Men #65 (Feb. 1970) with African Americans shown among the most noble minds on Earth. He also drew Green Lantern #76 (Feb. 1970), which features a famous scene in which an African American approaches Green Lantern, who has many outer space adventures, and asks him, “I been readin’ about you . . . How you work for the blue skins . . . And how on a planet someplace you helped out the orange skins . . . And you done considerable for the purple skins! Only there’s skins you never bothered with—! The black skins! I want to know . . . How come?! Answer me that, Mr. Green Lantern!”
Chapter Three
Relaunching and Reimagining
Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975) to The Uncanny X-Men #166 (Feb. 1983)
Creators and General Story
Between 1970 and 1975, Marvel did not publish any new issues of The X-Men , but the characters did not completely disappear from the Marvel universe. The X-Men still guest-starred in other Marvel comics or appeared in an anthology titles such as Marvel Team-Up ,which featured a rotating cast of Marvel characters. The X-Men comic book would be relaunched in 1975, first with a special issue, Giant-Size X-Men #1 , and subsequently with a bimonthly regular series. As the series gained in popularity, and with the arrival of John Byrne as regular artist, the series shifted to a monthly schedule. Beginning in 1981, Dazzler , the first spin-off series, marked the beginnings of the X-Men as a franchise and not just a comic book series. In 1983 the New Mutants , a new monthly comic book following a new class of teenagers Xavier is training, began publication. The analysis in this chapter will consider the X-Men comic books published between May 1975 and February 1983.These include Giant-Size X-Men #1 , The X-Men #94 through # 113 ,and The Uncanny X-Men #114 through # 166 .
According to Roy Thomas, one of the initial ideas for the relaunched X-Men title was to have “a couple of the original members, like Cyclops, [. . .] go looking
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