Uncanny X-Men #9
"Enter, The Avengers"
Written by Stan Lee
Drawn by Jack Kirby

One of the original "meet-up and beat-up" crossovers of yesteryear as the X-Men go to meet up with Xavier and run into the Avengers. The two groups feel the need to tustle, each thinking that the other are villians only to back off when they realize the truth: that they are on the same side. Unlike most of these meetings those, the Avengers go their own way rather than teaming up with the X-Men.

It's good to see Xavier on his own out in the field but why in the name of God does he allow Lucifer to go free? This is the man who took the use of his legs from him and his continued freedom is a threat to humankind. I know Xavier wants to be the bigger man but honestly not even prision?

B

Uncanny X-Men #8
"The Uncanny Threat of Unus the Untouchable"
Written by Stan Lee
Drawn by Jack Kirby

I have no idea what it is about untouchable foes that fascinates Stan Lee. Unus is a play on the Blob, except instead of being unmoveable he is untouchable. At least Magneto realizes that he can't just let any flunkie join his group (apparently the Toad got grandfather claused in on that "you must prove yourself to me" requirement) and has Unus take on the X-Men to prove himself.

The real gold of this issue is the Beast, as he is the real star of the book. The seeds are being planted of his discontent with mutantkind as he seeks a normal life. But as he will find himself again and again, his only home is with the X-Men

C

Uncanny X-Men #7
"The Return of the Blob"
Written by Stan Lee
Drawn by Jack Kirby

Okay. Now it's becoming almost obvious that Lee's afraid to deviate from the Brotherhood. Is no one else threatening the world? He mangages to bring back the Blob, who apparently Magneto wants to recruit to join his team, "what a valuable addition he'll be to my band of homo superiors!" Obviously, Magneto didn't read issue three or he'd see that the Blob is a bit of a tool who'd do little for his team other than run up their food budget and probably wreck havoc on their septic system. I do respect the Blob for quite quickly realizing that Magneto didn't care about him and giving up on caring about mutantkind.

I enjoy that this issue marks the debut of Cerebro; when Xavier is showing it off to Cyclops he actually describes it as an E.S.P. machine and there is an editor's note explaining that E.S.P. stands for "extra sensory perception." I'm sure it wasn't out of the place then but cut forward three and a half decades, you get writers talking about comprehending space in five dimensions and the reader is just expected to keep up. It just kind of caught me off guard.

Well, at the least the team finally got to graduate. I mean, it's hard to give out diplomas (with nothing written on them apparently) when Namor's attacking you.

C

Uncanny X-Men #6
"Sub-Mariner Joins the Evil Mutants"
Written by Stan Lee
Drawn by Jack Kirby

I always liked how Stan Lee handled characters like the Sub-Mariner, that type of tragic hero. Although at the same time, he keeps getting tricked by land-dwellers and he always has this sort of angry outburst when he catches on. It's always walking the line into being an almost Scooby Doo-esque "I woulda got away with it too..." but this book doesn't fall into that trap.

It goes on to further explore the differences between the X-Men and Brotherhood, when we see in the opening the X-Men playfully teasing and messing with each other but smiling and laughing. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood suffer in-fighting and one point Magneto almost kills both Mastermind and Scarlet Witch.

B