Marvel Year Two: The X-Men

The X-Man, while not yet Uncanny, are pretty true to theme throughout it's history.  It's a problematic anti-bigotry metaphor (first racial, then sexual orientation) that has the same flaws as Harry Potter.  Our heroes face ignorant bigotry from a world who hates and fears them for being different.  But they'll show them.  Show them they're superior, not because of their choices or hard work, but because they're just born better than everyone else.

The boys are already in place, with Iceman at 16 and the rest around 18.  They've been in training, but haven't had a mission yet. 

Beast is a brutish horndog with no indication of his brains.  You can assume Warren Worthington the Third is rich from his name.  Iceman has his Frosty look, and we get the first clue that maybe Bobby isn't really interested in girls.

Cyclops is called Slim and looks it (sometimes).  The real question everyone came here for: do his eye-beams create heat?  The answer is no, as shown here as he breaks, but does not melt, ice...

And yes, as he gently melts off ice from Angel's wings an issue later:

And don't give me any of that "kinetic energy can create heat from friction" jive - if you can punch ice hard enough to make it melt (which you can't), it would be enough to jack the hell out of Worthington's dainty little wings.

Clearly he's gently breaking pieces of ice off of Warren's wings and not melting it.  When Slim says "I'll have that melted in no time," he's talking about Angel's sensitive heart.

We get a little bit of Xavier's origins, which are all ret-the-f-conned later:

• The world's first mutant (not by a long shot).
• He's crippled from a childhood accident (later adulthood, I remember Juggernaut being involved).
• His parents were involved in early work in atomic weapons.  If he's talking about the Manhattan Project, that would make him about twenty years old.

Easy one: Xavier's a dirty liar.  He's also a bossy d-bag.

Starting out, there's not a lot of anti-mutant hysteria.  The X-Men seem well received by the public, and even have a working relationship with the FBI via Special Agent Fred Duncan.

(X-Men 1-2)

Collected in X-Men Epic Collection: Children Of The Atom for Kindle and Paperback