Giant-Size X-Men #1

History

The revival originated with editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, who around 1973–1974 wanted to relaunch the X-Men as an international team to help Marvel grow overseas sales — a strategy driven by a directive from Cadence Industries president Al Landau. Thomas initially assigned writer Mike Friedrich and artist Dave Cockrum to the project, but development stalled; when Len Wein succeeded Thomas as editor-in-chief, he took over the writing duties himself, with Cockrum remaining as artist. Wein and Cockrum plotted the story together over several days at the Marvel offices, and Wein has credited his editorial assistant Chris Claremont — who went uncredited in print — with supplying the key plot solution of having Polaris use her powers to hurl the living island Krakoa into space. Several of Cockrum's new characters, including Storm and Nightcrawler, were adapted from concept sketches he had originally developed as potential additions to DC's Legion of Super-Heroes.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearances of Storm (Ororo Munroe), Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), Colossus (Piotr Rasputin), and Thunderbird (John Proudstar).
• First appearance of Krakoa, the Living Island — a Pacific island that had mutated into a sentient group-mind entity feeding on mutant life energy; Krakoa would later become central to the Krakoan Era of X-Men comics beginning in 2019.
• First appearance of Illyana Rasputin as a child (unnamed in the story), Colossus's younger sister, who would later become Magik.
• Wolverine's first appearance as an X-Man and in a superheroic protagonist role; his prior appearance had been in The Incredible Hulk #181 (1974) as a government agent.
• Written by Len Wein (script/plot) and illustrated by Dave Cockrum; Chris Claremont contributed an uncredited plot element. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inked by Cockrum. Editor-in-Chief: Marv Wolfman. Colorist: Glynis Wein (Oliver).
• The 68-page book carried a May 1975 cover date; it was part of Marvel's Giant-Size format and contained the new 'Second Genesis' story plus reprint material from earlier X-Men issues (#43, #47, #57).
• The story bridged X-Men #66 (the last original issue before a five-year reprint era) and X-Men #94 (the relaunched ongoing series), effectively serving as the pivot point between the original and 'All-New, All-Different' eras of the franchise.
• The 'Second Genesis' story was reprinted in Classic X-Men #1 (September 1986) in an edited form, with a new bridging backup story by Claremont and John Bolton. It has also been collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 (2003), Essential X-Men Vol. 1 (1996), a Marvel Milestone Edition (1991), and a Facsimile Edition (2019), among numerous other collections.

Cast · 18 characters

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