The X-Men #51
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe X-Men #51 (December 1968) is a pivotal chapter in the early Lorna Dane saga, delivering the first on-panel appearance of the Erik the Red identity — a disguise assumed by Cyclops that would grow into one of the X-Men's most durable recurring aliases, later adopted by a Shi'ar agent and even Magneto himself across subsequent decades. The issue also advances the morally charged question of Lorna Dane's parentage: the android posing as Magneto declares her his daughter, a claim that the story presents as manipulation yet which Marvel's own continuity would eventually validate in 2003, giving this 1968 issue an unexpected retroactive weight. Structurally, the comic is notable for pairing Jim Steranko's dynamic, psychedelic visual sensibility with Arnold Drake's emotionally grounded character work — particularly Iceman's conflict between romantic loyalty and team discipline — in one of the very few X-Men issues Steranko worked on, making it a compact artifact of late Silver Age experimentation. The issue's second story simultaneously advances the Beast's origin, continuing a multi-part flashback that gave Marvel's most articulate founding X-Man a full backstory at a time when such retroactive origin features were rare.
In "The Devil Had a Daughter!", Lorna Dane stands at a crossroads when Magneto claims her as his daughter, forcing her to choose between her newfound mutant family and the X-Men. With tensions boiling and the X-Men outnumbered, they retreat—only for Lorna to stay behind, leaving her fate uncertain. Written by Arnold Drake and brought to life with striking, dynamic art by Jim Steranko (pencils and inks on both interior and cover), this 1968 issue delivers a pivotal moment in mutant history, with Steranko’s bold visuals defining the era’s visual language.
In "The Devil Had a Daughter!", Lorna Dane faces a wrenching choice when Magneto claims her as his daughter and demands she join him. With the X-Men forced to retreat, Lorna stays behind, leaving her teammates to confront the uncertain path ahead—while the Demi-Men stand ready to carry out Magneto’s will.
In "The Lure of the Beast-Nappers!", Conquistador, ever the master manipulator, sees in Hank McCoy’s mutant powers the final piece he needs to achieve his grand design. With ruthless precision, he targets Hank and his parents, setting in motion a dangerous game of capture and coercion that will test the young mutant’s resolve like never before.
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The issue was written by Arnold Drake and edited by Stan Lee, with Jim Steranko providing pencils, cover art, and — according to multiple reference indexes including the Official Marvel Index to the X-Men — colors for the main story, inked by John Tartaglione and lettered by Sam Rosen; the backup Beast origin story was penciled by Werner Roth. In a celebrated piece of Marvel production lore, the credits box where the penciler's name should appear instead reads 'Do we have to tell you?' — a playful challenge to readers that was never formally answered in print, though the contribution has been universally attributed to Steranko by subsequent indexes. The issue is the third installment of a multi-part arc that ran through X-Men #49–52, one of the few sustained storylines of the late Silver Age X-Men run before the title shifted to reprints. The backup story — part of a serialized 'Origins of the Uncanny X-Men' feature — was reprinted in Amazing Adventures #17 (March 1973), though the first two pages of that installment were omitted in that reprint.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the Erik the Red identity: Cyclops (Scott Summers) debuts the alias on the final page as an undercover persona, wearing a costume engineered to redirect his optic blasts through his gloves rather than his visor.
- The 'Magneto' appearing throughout this arc was later retroactively established as a sophisticated android built by the Machinesmith — not the real Max Eisenhardt — a retcon clarified via the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe after being implied in Captain America #247–249.
- Lorna Dane's relationship to Magneto: the android villain claims paternity in this issue, a plot point treated for decades as Mesmero's psychological manipulation of Lorna before being confirmed as biologically true in Uncanny X-Men #432 (2003) by Chuck Austen.
- The issue carries the story title 'The Devil Had a Daughter!' for its main 15-page lead, and 'The Lure of the Beast-Nappers!' for its 5-page backup — the third chapter of the serialized Beast origin, written by Arnold Drake and penciled by Werner Roth.
- Jim Steranko's work here is part of his only X-Men run, spanning issues #50 and #51; he provided pencils, cover art, and inks/colors on the lead story, making these among the most visually distinctive issues of the original volume.
- The backup story's first two pages were omitted when it was reprinted in Amazing Adventures #17 (March 1973), which was part of Marvel's 'Origins of the Uncanny X-Men' reprint feature.
- The Erik the Red alias was subsequently used by at least two other characters: Shi'ar intelligence agent Davan Shakari (beginning in X-Men #97, February 1976) and Magneto himself, making issue #51 the root appearance of a shared identity that threaded through the X-Men's transition into the Chris Claremont era.
- El Conquistador (Orlando Furio) makes his full first appearance in the backup story, having been introduced in cameo in X-Men #50; this villain would be retold in X-Men Origins: Beast (November 2008).
Cast · 15 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Amazing Adventures #17 (1973), Strange #52 (1974), Spidey #68 (1985), The Official Marvel Index to the X-Men #3 (1987), X-Men: Mutations #[nn] (1996), Marvel Special #12 (1997), Marvel Special #16 (1999), Marvel Visionaries: Jim Steranko #[nn] (2002), Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men #5 (2005), Essential Classic X-Men #2 (2006), The X-Men Omnibus #2 (2011), Marvel Classic #6 (2012), Die offizielle Marvel-Comic-Sammlung #15 (2015), Marvel's Mightiest Heroes #41 (2015), Marvel. Официальная коллекция комиксов #93 (2017), X-Men Epic Collection #3 (2018), X-Men: Children of the Atom #[4] (2019), Los Hombres X #49
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