UNCANNY X-MEN #94-95 and GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1 (1975): X-Men rebooted

Much has been written about Giant Size X-Men #1, and it deserves all the awards and more. Len Wein and Dave Cockrum took a team nobody was reading about, from a title that had been running on reprints for nearly three years, and planted the seeds for the most powerful franchise in comic book history. Instead of teenagers populating a school, the team was an international mix of young adults and old veterans who knew how to use their powers but were used to operating alone. 

They introduced Storm…

Thunderbird…

Colossus and his baby sister Illyana–future Magik…

Krakoa…

and Nightcrawler.

Len Wein also added his own creation, Wolverine to the team, and included Sunfire, who had never been an X-Man before. (And he quit the team in X-Men #94.)

The team got new costumes…

And the comic world would be forever changed.

After it published in May 1975, Marvel stopped running reprints and retitled “X-Men” as “Uncanny X-Men.”  GSX#1 was created by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum, but for the monthly book, Wein was credited as “plotter-editor” and new writer Chris Claremont signed on. And stayed on for decades.  Lots of people forget that Claremont may have been the architect of the Uncanny X-Men for 20 years, but he didn’t create them!

Giant-Size X-Men #is one of the 100 best single-issue stories of all time, according to this objectively accurate list.

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The splash page of issue #94 showed a mix of new and old members looking at Professor X, but reflected in the mirror behind him.  A wonderfully symbolic way to open a book about a new team, led by the leader of the old team.

They fought The Ani-Men and Count Nefaria.  One of the Ani-Men, Dragonfly, gets her own tag as she will have a solo career in the future.

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By the end of the next issue, #95, the “old” X-Men had quit (except for Cyclops), and Thunderbird was dead.

Note: He died in a plane crash.  Note that, because it will become a trope for these early Uncanny issues…In fact, X-members crashing vehicles would become so common that I’ve created a tag for it

The new team was formed, and the table was set.

3 thoughts on “UNCANNY X-MEN #94-95 and GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1 (1975): X-Men rebooted”

  1. Yeah, yeah, yeah……. I hated it then, and I hate it now. Twelve years of watching a team of very interesting young super-adults “mutate” into the most visually appealing and dynamic team of superheroes ever created, all blown to Hell in the name of Political Correctness. I don’t give a crap how “international” the New X-Men were, most of them were boring then, and are still boring as Hell, almost fifty years later. Colossus and Nightcrawler have gone absolutely nowhere in their half-century of being X-Men, and Thunderbird was so boring, Marvel editorial deemed he had to die immediately. I loved the thick camaraderie between the original X-Men, and found all the conflict and backbiting between the New X-Men to be just grating, like nails on a chalkboard. And then there’s Wolverine, trying to kill them all on a regular basis- WTF??? By 1971, the X-Men had “mutated” to a point where their membership was perfect. ( lost the Beast, but gained Havok and Polaris- not just a pair of extremely powerful X-Men, but unapologetic lovebirds as well! How lovely! An equitable trade, I’d say! ) And their costumes! Havok, Marvel Girl, Polaris, and the Angel ( blue and white with the halo insignia ) were rocking some seriously sexy costumes, especially for 1969-1975!! Polaris’ original outfit was basically just a nightgown she was running around in! She reminded me at the time of a particular aunt of mine, who had the same inclination! But “Second Genesis” was terrible- the X-Men- up to that point in time, the ONLY X-Men- were clearly and deliberately reduced to secondary background characters in their own damn comic!!!! That SUCKED!!!! Regular readers of Marvel’s “FOOM” Magazine had been given the warning/heads-up that this travesty was on the way, but, I kept hoping against hope that Marvel would not go through with The Change. What a sap! The X-Men of 1969-70 are the Ultimate Team of X-Men, in every way, shape, and form! The recruitments of Havok and Polaris even classify their team as being as powerful as any other iteration of the team. Ah, to be Havok! The power to literally vaporize anything- or any ONE- who gets in your way!! YEAH, baby!! From 1970 to 1975, I watched the slow evolution of my team throughout various Marvel appearances, ( particularly ‘Amazing Adventures’#11-16, and ‘Marvel Team-Up’#4 ) with growing hope that my guys were on the way back. No such luck, as per the Politically Correct whims of Marvel Comics Editorial. Well, I’ve had almost a half-century now, to “get over it”, and even though that still hasn’t quite happened yet, I must nevertheless admit that the magnificent Storm has won me over in recent decades. She is SO regal, and SO strong, and SO commanding, and has the BEST ASS in comics!!! So, at least for me, the New X-Men weren’t a COMPLETE waste of time!! Colossus and Nightcrawler are STILL a pair of sleeping pills, and I doubt I will ever be a member of Wolverine’s fan club, but it is what it is, and the Neo-X-Men are what they are, and I love Storm, ( and Psylocke, and Monet St. Croix ) and the Original X-Men still RULE, and that’s the name of THAT tune!! So- peace out!!

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    • Political correctness wasn’t a thing in 1975. Claremont had a vision that mutants wouldn’t just exist in the U.S., and Marvel figured out that having a more international looking team would sell more books. Just good old fashioned capitalism at work here…

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