The Ten Goofiest Panels From X-MEN #1 – 5

 

 

I’ve spoken before about my strange love/hate relationship with X-Men #1, but with the first arc getting Marvel’s Premiere Hardcover treatment this week, today provided me with a good opportunity to unearth the ten goofiest panels of “Mutant Genesis!”

If you like exposition, shoulderpads, tiny pant legs and increasingly improbable skin colors, you’re gonna love this one.

13 thoughts on “The Ten Goofiest Panels From X-MEN #1 – 5

  1. I sat out the 90s when it came to Marvel… and in hindsight, I have to pat myself on the back.

    But, wacky.

  2. Man, that is a TERRIBLE hand on Gambit and has there ever been a worse character design than Maverick? I mean, there are some that are just as bad. Stryfe, Adam-X, everything ever produced by Wildstorm and Top Cow, but gatdayum that is one stupid looking character. He can’t lift his mask without puncturing his brain.

    And who the hell exercises in a tiny bikini, Psylocke? For that matter, am I the only one who was always annoyed that Wolverine’s claws were drawn so much longer than his forearms? How can use his wrist and/or elbows? How many more questions can I ask?

  3. And who the hell exercises in a tiny bikini, Psylocke?

    She was swimming in the pool when the alarm went off. So wearing a bikini (albeit a teenie one) seems okay. Perhaps she was swimming in concentrated orange juice?

    And remember this was X-Men #1, so I guess it was thought that there might be a few new readers. A bit of explanatory text to describe each characters’ powers might be expected. Of course, Claremont had a habit of doing this every time he could!

    Anyway, for me (large amounts of text and dodgy coloring aside) the artwork still looks better than many things produced today. Very 90s sure, but you’ve gotta love Lee’s art.

  4. Nimbus, unless it’s an adhesive-based unstable molucule bikini there’s no way she could be swimming laps in that top. Now maybe she was swimming without the top (and I wouldn’t put that past Claremont) and put it on when the alarm sounded, but the basic bio-mechanics of swimming makes a strapless top unworkable (I was on the swim team in college).

    Of course, if I remember my 90’s never-resolved plot threads, Betsy was trying to seduce Scott for some reason, and it usually involved water-based hijinks.

  5. I’ve always wondered about that comic. From the text, both Mags’ body armor AND his helmet blocked her attack. Did she kick him twice in one jump or something?

  6. Incidentally, only X-Men #1-3 were by Chris Claremont – Jim Lee famously threw an “either he goes or I do” tantrum around that point, won, and then left anyway to join Image. IIRC the last issue of the first storyline was actually by John Byrne, and the Omega Red one was all Scott Lobdell.

  7. “Incidentally, only X-Men #1-3 were by Chris Claremont – Jim Lee famously threw an “either he goes or I do” tantrum around that point, won, and then left anyway to join Image. ”

    There was no “tantrum” from Jim Lee. Claremont simply quit. And he did so well before scripting X-Men #1. The first three issues of X-Men were more or less his “severance package,” which — considering how many millions X-Men #1 sold — that is a hell of a severance.

    “IIRC the last issue of the first storyline was actually by John Byrne, and the Omega Red one was all Scott Lobdell.”

    No, X-Men 1-3, scripted by Claremont, plotted by him and Jim Lee, form a complete story. Issues 4-7 were the four-part “Omega Red” storyline. That was all plotted by Jim Lee, with script by Byrne on issues 4 and 5, then script by Scott Lobdell on 6 and 7.

  8. Oddly enough, despite Psylocke whining about her attack beign blunted, it’s pretty well implied Magneto was hit in the face with the little bit of blood flying there. Magneto’s face looks like the most armored part of his body, but no mention of his helmet, which is even flying of.

    In short, she did a strange flying upward kick, sock Magneto right in the face, and found the time to say: “Damn,gurl, this didn’t work. BECAUSE OF HIS ARMOR”