Cover: Werner Roth & Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky

The X-Men #18

Mar 1966 · Marvel · 0.12 USD

📊 ~42,066 copies sold its debut month

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“If Iceman Should Fail--!”

Magneto dominates the cover of this 1966 Marvel issue, red-caped and triumphant with fist raised, as a stricken Iceman falls helplessly before him in a blaze of light — the title "If Iceman Should Fail--!" making the stakes unmistakably clear. The faces of the other X-Men — Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, and Angel — look on from the sidelines, with Angel also visible in action above, lending the composition a real sense of mounting tension. With cover art by Jack Kirby, Werner Roth, and Sol Brodsky, and interiors from Stan Lee, Jay Gavin, and Dick Ayers, this is silver-age Marvel mutant storytelling firing on all cylinders.

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writer Stan Lee · artist Jay Gavin · inker Dick Ayers · letterer Artie Simek · cover Werner Roth, Jack Kirby, Sol Brodsky

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Cast · 11 characters

Bobby Drake Charles Xavier Cyclops Hank McCoy Jean Grey Kathryn Worthington Magneto Mortimer Toynbee The Stranger Warren Worthington III Warren Worthington Jr.

Full credits

writer Stan Lee

artist Jay Gavin

inker Dick Ayers

letterer Artie Simek

cover pencils Werner Roth

cover pencils Jack Kirby

cover inks Sol Brodsky

Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers

▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers

With the rest of the X-Men captured in a locked gondola beneath an ascending balloon, it is up to an injured Iceman to battle Magneto on his own. Once the X-Men escape Magneto's trap, Professor X calls the Stranger who arrives on Earth to collect his former captive.

Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).