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Cover: Jim Steranko

The X-Men #50

Name: The X-Men #50
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Nov 1968 · Marvel · 0.12 USD

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★ 1st appearance — Jennifer Nyles★ 1st appearance — El Conquistador

About this Issue

The X-Men #50 is a pivotal Silver Age chapter in which Lorna Dane — who would eventually take the name Polaris — has her latent magnetic powers unlocked on the page for the first time, making it the issue where the character functionally becomes a super-powered figure rather than simply a civilian caught in Mesmero's web. The closing splash, revealing a 'Magneto' figure stepping from the shadows to claim Lorna as his daughter, planted a generational story seed that would twist through thirty-five years of continuity before Chuck Austen's 2003 Uncanny X-Men arc finally settled the biological question. Equally durable is Jim Steranko's bold cover logo redesign, debuting here on issue #50: the block-lettered X-Men masthead he created proved so fundamental to the franchise's visual identity that, in a refined form, it has remained in use to this day.

Contains 2 stories

City of Mutants

15 pp · Superhero

Demi-Men (villain)

This Boy--This Bombshell!

5 pp · Superhero

MortyBuddy

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VG) $32

CGC 9.8 · 36 in census $5,808

CGC 9.6 · 80 in census $2,676

CGC 9.4 · 146 in census $1,851*

CGC 9.2 · 172 in census $1,029

CGC 9.0 · 224 in census $556

CGC 8.5 · 329 in census $397

Show all 22 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 279 in census $329

CGC 7.5 · 306 in census $329*

CGC 7.0 · 348 in census $205

CGC 6.5 · 297 in census $171*

CGC 6.0 · 208 in census $145*

CGC 5.5 · 194 in census $120*

CGC 5.0 · 179 in census $104*

CGC 4.5 · 113 in census $85*

CGC 4.0 · 83 in census $85*

CGC 3.5 · 43 in census $65*

CGC 3.0 · 38 in census $59*

CGC 2.5 · 11 in census $56*

CGC 2.0 · 8 in census $43*

CGC 1.5 none in existence

CGC 1.0 none in existence

CGC 0.5 · 3 in census $26*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

This exact issue on ebay

CGC 9.6 ▾ $4,200–$5,000 2 listings

CGC 9.6 $4200 CGC 9.6 $5000

CGC 9.2 $1,500 1 listing CGC 9 $1,099 1 listing CGC 8.5 $700 1 listing CGC 7.5 $530 1 listing

CGC 7 ▾ $375–$500 4 listings

CGC 7 $375 CGC 7 $390 CGC 7 $395 CGC 7 $499.99

CGC 6.5 ▾ $345–$390 2 listings

CGC 6.5 $345 CGC 6.5 $390

CGC 6 $350 1 listing

CGC 5.5 ▾ $510–$600 2 listings

CGC 5.5 · Signed $509.99 CGC 5.5 · Signed $600

CGC 4.5 $275 1 listing CGC $87 1 listing CBCS 5 $300 1 listing PGX 9.4 $840 1 listing Raw — NM $9.98 1 listing Raw — VF/NM $800 1 listing

Raw — VF ▾ $379–$431 3 listings

VF $379 VF $399.95 VF $431

Raw — FN $299 1 listing Raw — PR $130 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $3.99–$650 8 listings

Raw / ungraded $3.99 Raw / ungraded $239 Raw / ungraded $299 Raw / ungraded $317.01 Raw / ungraded $350.99 Raw / ungraded $367.07 Raw / ungraded $400 Raw / ungraded $650

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History

Writer Arnold Drake scripted both stories in this double-feature issue, with Jim Steranko handling the 15-page lead story ('City of Mutants') — pencils, inks by John Tartaglione, and likely coloring — while veteran Werner Roth drew the five-page Beast origin backup, inked by John Verpoorten. Steranko himself has said the assignment was done as a quick favor to production chief Sol Brodsky rather than as a passion project, which accounts for his famously self-deprecating remarks about the pages; yet the cover and logo design he produced in that same compressed window proved far more lasting than his modesty suggested. Stan Lee served as editor-in-chief, and the issue went on sale September 10, 1968, carrying a November 1968 cover date.

Trivia · 8 facts

Second appearance of Lorna Dane (later Polaris), created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Jim Steranko; her debut was in the immediately preceding X-Men #49 (October 1968).
Lorna Dane's magnetic powers are activated for the first time in this issue, through Mesmero's 'psyche-generator' machine, making it the functional origin of her powers.
Mesmero (Vincent) publicly declares Lorna the daughter of Magneto and crowns her 'Queen of the Mutants' — though the 'Magneto' who appears in the final panel is later revealed in X-Men #58 to be an android, and Lorna's biological parentage was not definitively confirmed in print until Uncanny X-Men #430-431 (2003).
Lorna's first attempted codename is 'Magnetrix,' not Polaris; she does not adopt the Polaris name until X-Men #97 (February 1976), when Erik the Red bestows it on her.
First appearance of the android Magneto (later identified as a Machinesmith construct) and introductory appearances of El Conquistador and Chico in the Beast backup story (their names are not revealed until the following issue).
The issue marks the first use of the bold block-lettered X-Men cover logo, designed by Jim Steranko — a masthead that, with later refinements by letterer Todd Klein, became the franchise's defining visual signature.
The Beast origin backup story ('This Boy — This Bombshell!'), drawn by Werner Roth and inked by John Verpoorten, continues the multi-part 'Origins of the Uncanny X-Men' serial; this installment was later reprinted in Amazing Adventures vol. 2 #17 (March 1973).
The issue contains two distinct art teams: Jim Steranko with John Tartaglione on the lead story, and Werner Roth with John Verpoorten on the backup — both scripted by Arnold Drake under editor Stan Lee.