X-Men (1991) #1

X-Men #1

Originally released in 1991

Written by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee

Art by Jim Lee

When I started reading X-Men #1, the cover art alone immediately got the theme song from the 90's X-Men cartoon blaring in my head.  Going into this, I was a little concerned when I saw that Chris Claremont was writing - I've heard nothing but good things about his work, so I wasn't concerned about the quality, but I know that he tends to be extremely heavy on continuity and plot points.  Fortunately, that wasn't the case here; the plot is relatively straightforward.  Magneto, a former X-Men villain who gradually evolved into a reluctant ally of the team, has been living in retirement on Asteroid M, staying out of the affairs of Earth.  However, the arrival of people who are devoted to his former cause, a group called the Acolytes, convinces him that mutants are still in danger from humanity.

This serves as a sort of soft reboot of the franchise, with Magneto hijacking nuclear missiles and the X-Men trying to stop him, much like in X-Men issue 1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  The main difference is Magneto's characterization - his gradual evolution as a character allows him to be played much more sympathetically than he was back in the 60s, with him being confronted with the repercussions of his darker actions and being horrified by the result.

Another difference is that the X-Men team is much, much larger than the original run, to the point where I had to remove several members from the tags on this post because of character limitations, and in the comic itself, there's discussion of splitting them into two teams.  Aside from the characters mentioned in the labels - Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Beast, and Storm, which would be a solid X-Men line-up on its own - there's also Iceman, Archangel, Psylocke, and Colossus, plus Professor X, Moira MacTaggart, Banshee, and Forge in supporting roles.

Jim Lee's art remains immediately recognizable, and mostly avoids the sort of excesses associated with 90s comics. (though some shots can be a little gratuitous)  Chris Claremont's writing can get wordy at times, particularly with the narration, but it can help to get the characters' thought process across more effectively than thought bubbles.

Some X-Men get more focus than the others, with Wolverine, Cyclops, and Rogue seeming to get the lion's share this time around, but with this being a longer issue than normal, most of the cast gets some time to shine. (Angel, Iceman, and Colossus get the short end of the stick this time around) For the most part, however, this is Magneto's story, as he tries to rationalize his actions as defending Asteroid M, which he dramatically declares to be a sovereign nation and a safe haven for mutants at the issue's end, and comes to grips with the horrors that he committed in the name of saving mutantkind.

Despite my concerns that this issue would be difficult to follow, it went by smoothly, though it likely helped that I was already familiar enough with the X-Men to know who the members of this team were, and familiar enough with Magneto to know his backstory and motivations, and to have a rough idea of how he'd developed.  Without that knowledge, I likely would have been a little lost going into this, but the same thing seems like it would apply to most long-running comics.