In 1963, Marvel Comics debuted a little comic book known as The X-Men. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the X-Men were billed as the "Strangest Teens of All". They were a group of young people that were born with a genetic quirk that made them into mutants, hated and feared by "normal" humans. The book had a lukewarm reception. Over the next seven years, comic luminaries like Roy Thomas and Neal Adams worked on the book.
Despite Thomas and Adams' work being acclaimed, the book was cancelled with #66. In a way. You see, the title did continue on, but it only reprinted the earlier issues until issue #93. The X-Men did continue appearing in various books, mainly as guest stars. This meant that the team must have continued to have adventures after the book went to reprints.
That's where The Hidden Years stepped in. Appropriately, this title was helmed by a man who's name was already tied to the X-Men: John Byrne. The Hidden Years was meant to reveal the 'lost history' of the X-Men after the events of X-Men #66 and before their successful revamp in Giant-Size X-Men #1. So, how did this hidden history start? Let's find out in X-Men: The Hidden Years #1!
The cover is pretty good, if a bit basic. A John Byrne and Chris Dickey piece. It is a bit basic, though. It depicts the original X-Men leaping into action against an unseen foe, a spectral Professor Xavier behind them. He looks like he's barking orders.
"Once More Savage Land"
Writer: John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Tom Palmer
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Letterer: John Byrne
Editor: Jason Liebig
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras
The story begins with the original X-Men battling the Hulk, as shown in X-Men #66 (March 1970). Ol' Jade Jaws is not once to sneeze at, though. He uses his mighty meaty fists to make a hole in the ground, threatening to cause Scott and Jean to fall into the underground lab miles below. Good thing the Beast has their backs, with a bit of help from a ladder and a helicopter. Angel joins them, announcing he has the device they were looking for. The group leaves, and the Hulk doesn't pursue. All he wants is to be left alone.
So, what was the device they were looking for? Well, it's a small gamma-ray emitter. The X-Men hope it can affect their ailing mentor, Charles Xavier. The device works like it should, restoring the old prof back to being hale and hearty. It seemed that happy times have returned for the merry mutants.
However, after three days, one of the X-Men makes an announcement: Robert Drake, the Iceman, is leaving. You see, Bobby is really angry about Professor X keeping secret his own battles with the Z'nox. The man even went so far as to fake his own death. Yeah, Xavier being a bit of a jerk is nothing new. Only Jean Grey knew about his secret plan. As such, Bobby feels he can no longer trust Xavier...nor can he trust Jean anymore, either.
The other four original X-Men try to convince him to stay, but the ice-maker's mind is made up. He's going to make like a banana and split. Professor Xavier summons the whole X-Men team: Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel, Havok, and Lorna Dane (She didn't get the "Polaris" codename yet). Xavier is made aware of Iceman's departure, but he's got more important things to worry about. Mainly, he wants to debrief the group on what he was up to since he faked his death.
This is used to help readers get an idea of where we are exactly at in X-Men's history at this point. We get a recap of the X-Men's battle against the subterranean monster called Grotesk in X-Men #42 (March 1968). It was during this battle that Professor Xavier seemingly sacrificed his life to stop Grotesk. However, it turned out that the Xavier that died was actually an imposter, a former mutant villain called Changeling. The Changeling had discovered that he was dying of a terminal illness, and wanted to spend his remaining time redeeming himself.
We get much more recap of the events of the X-Men's book up to this point. Iceman's meeting with Lorna Dane, the discovery of Scott's brother Alex Summers, which led up to battles with the Living Pharoah and Lawrence Trask's Sentinels. The X-Men returned to the Savage Land, where they joined forces with Ka-Zar to battle Magneto. Afterwards, they would meet a future X-Man and Avenger, the Japanese mutant known as Sunfire. It was after this they discovered that Xavier was actually alive.
Xavier is left with one question, though. Why didn't the X-Men check to make sure Magneto was dead? The Beast explains that they felt they didn't need to. After all, Magneto may have been powerful, but he was just as squishy as any human. Even he couldn't survive a ton of rock coming down on his head. Xavier is furious. Magneto has survived seeming death before. He demands the X-Men head back to the Savage Land and check for a body. Nine hours later, the X-Men are on their way.
The X-Men are naturally a bit frustrated. They're not just plain ol' students anymore. They've shown they can shine on their own. Scott asks Jean if she has any idea what's up with Xavier. After all, they're both telepaths. But Jean's not sure. His mind was no more open to her than any of the others. She does sense that his mind is...off. Maybe that cure that Bruce Banner provided was not as effective as they thought. Considering what gamma rays can do in the Marvel Universe, it is plausible that they may have caused some...issues. Heck, read some Immortal Hulk sometime.
However, they're going to have to table the issue for now. They've entered the Savage Land, and hit some turbulence. Back at the Xavier Institute, there's another variety of turbulence about to hit. Lorna Dane and Alex Summers are taking a nice walk on the grounds, when Bobby Drake shows back up.
He wants to blow this pop stand, and he wants Lorna to come with him. Smooth, Drake.
(roll eyes)
Alex doesn't take too kindly to this, and the two boys end up having a superpowered brawl...which ends up having some collateral damage neither young man wanted.
Nice work, Bobby. Lorna gets in the Iceman's face, screaming "I'M NOT YOUR GIRLFRIEND" at him. Xavier telepathically ends this fight, as he needs them to go help the other X-Men. Bobby storms off. After all, he quit the X-Men. Back to the Savage Land! Warren flies out of the X-Men's flying machine, guiding them through the turbulence. But then another problem erupts. The turbulence broke something in the craft, not allowing the to land. Scott fixes that with his optic blasts.
Hank brings down the landing gear, but it snags on something and it causes the craft to flip end over end. The three X-Men were able to make it thanks to Jean's telekinesis. However, she herself is...not in the best of shape. Beast theorizes that Jean felt the impact through her TK field, and she's likely got a serious concussion. There's not much the X-Men can do for her, except let nature take it's course. But it seems that's not going to be an option.
The natives bring the mutants down with poisoned darts fired from their shields. Beast valiantly tries to fight them off, but even he succumbs to the venom. The natives then carry the four away. Some time later, Scott wakes up. One of the natives greets him, explaining the darts were basically a security measure. They weren't sure if the X-Men were enemies. Scott notices that Jean is missing. Another native explains they tried to tend to her, but her injuries...were too severe.
Page 36, Panel 2
In another place, the frog-like Amphibius is hopping along in a hurry. He's got an announcement to make: The X-Men are back in the Savage Land! And the man he is reporting this to is pleased. After all...the X-Men were the ones who killed Magneto.
This was a rather interesting comic book. I did enjoy it very much, though. It definitely is trying to imitate the feel of the old X-Men book, and I can't help but feel that maybe Byrne is trying to pay homage to his old X-Men comrade Chris Claremont in the narration. Byrne also turns in some pretty fine artwork as well.
X-Men: The Hidden Years would be Byrne's last work for Marvel Comics. The book was cancelled with issue #22 as part of a line-wide revamp of the X-Books. Byrne had claimed he could have done about 100 issues of the book before the events of Giant-Size X-Men #1, and the book was doing rather well in sales. This led to him deciding to no longer work for Marvel, and to this day...he's kept to that. In the years since, he's mainly kept to working for IDW, as far as I know.
X-Men: The Hidden Years is, well... a hidden gem in my opinion. It's a great series that helps fill in a rather significant hole in X-Men history, and I think it deserves more spotlight. If you want to read this for yourself, then I recommend tracking down the 2012 trade paperback X-Men: The Hidden Years Vol. 1. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other. Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, and wear a mask! Join me next time, when I look at the beginnings of the downfall of Hank Pym...
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