The X-Men #9

Name: The X-Men #9
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Jan 1965 · Marvel · 0.12 USD

📊 ~51,179 copies sold its debut month

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“Enter, The Avengers!”

★ 1st appearance — Lucifer

About this Issue

The X-Men #9 earns its place as one of the pivotal Silver Age crossover issues because it stages the very first meeting — and battle — between the X-Men and the Avengers, planting a seed of inter-team rivalry and cooperation that would define decades of Marvel storytelling. Equally significant, it delivers the first appearance of Lucifer, the alien Quist operative whose past act of paralyzing Charles Xavier had been tantalizingly withheld since the series' beginning, finally giving Professor X's wheelchair a named cause and narrative weight. The issue also marks the earliest moment in Marvel continuity where the idea that Earth's super-teams might work at cross-purposes — rather than simply joining forces — was dramatized at length, a dynamic the publisher would return to again and again. For X-Men history specifically, the issue functions as an early, if incomplete, origin dossier on Xavier himself, opening a thread of backstory that would not be fully resolved until issue #20.

In "Enter, The Avengers!", the X-Men arrive in Bavaria to confront Lucifer, a foe tied to Professor Xavier’s past, only to find the Avengers already on the scene. With Lucifer’s heartbeat linked to a massive thermal bomb, the two teams must navigate a tense standoff as the X-Men work to prevent the Avengers from destroying him—and the world along with him. Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby, with Chic Stone’s inks, Stan Goldberg’s colors, and S. Rosen’s lettering, this pivotal issue features a cover by Kirby and Stone.

writer Stan Lee · artist Jack Kirby · inker Chic Stone · colorist Stan Goldberg · letterer S. Rosen · cover Jack Kirby, Chic Stone

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VG) $187

CGC 9.8 · 3 in census $27,167*

CGC 9.6 · 21 in census $6,399

CGC 9.4 · 33 in census $3,373

CGC 9.2 · 49 in census $2,288

CGC 9.0 · 87 in census $1,774

CGC 8.5 · 114 in census $1,056

Show all 22 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 141 in census $1,056*

CGC 7.5 · 171 in census $592*

CGC 7.0 · 193 in census $592*

CGC 6.5 · 203 in census $562

CGC 6.0 · 195 in census $495

CGC 5.5 · 170 in census $408

CGC 5.0 · 195 in census $310*

CGC 4.5 · 211 in census $310

CGC 4.0 · 183 in census $310*

CGC 3.5 · 117 in census $233

CGC 3.0 · 77 in census $201

CGC 2.5 · 41 in census $136

CGC 2.0 · 23 in census $125*

CGC 1.5 · 6 in census $105

CGC 1.0 · 7 in census $93*

CGC 0.5 · 104 in census $93

* 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 8 $900 1 listing CGC 7.5 $899 1 listing CGC 7 $595 1 listing CGC 6.5 $555 1 listing CGC 5 $300 1 listing CGC 4.5 $490 1 listing CGC 4 $450 1 listing CGC 1 $363 1 listing CGC $649 1 listing Raw — NM $5.65 1 listing Raw — NM- $3.99 1 listing Raw — VG $200 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $1.49–$438 12 listings

Raw / ungraded $1.49 Raw / ungraded $3.99 Raw / ungraded $3.99 Raw / ungraded $4 Raw / ungraded $4.99 Foil $18 Raw / ungraded $149.99 Raw / ungraded $225 Raw / ungraded $250 Raw / ungraded $299.99 Raw / ungraded $350 Raw / ungraded $438

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History

Written and edited by Stan Lee and penciled by Jack Kirby, the issue went on sale November 3, 1964 and carried a January 1965 cover date — a normal production gap for Marvel's distribution cycle of that era. Chic Stone, who had by late 1964 become Kirby's primary inker across multiple Marvel titles simultaneously including Fantastic Four, Thor, and Avengers, supplied the inking here; observers have noted that Stone's bold, flat 'pop art' style gives this issue a particularly graphic quality distinct from earlier numbers in the run. The series as a whole was, by the accounts of later comics historians, a modest seller compared to Marvel's other Silver Age titles, and both Lee and Kirby would leave it within roughly a year, but issue #9 represents one of their more ambitious attempts to exploit Marvel's shared-universe infrastructure by pulling in the Avengers roster.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Lucifer (the alien Quist), the villain retroactively established as the being responsible for paralyzing Professor X — created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
First meeting and first battle between the X-Men and the Avengers in Marvel continuity; the Avengers roster in this issue includes Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, and the Wasp (Hulk is absent).
Story titled 'Enter, the Avengers!' — written by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, inked by Chic Stone, lettered by Sam Rosen; Stan Lee also served as editor.
On-sale date was November 3, 1964; cover date January 1965; 36 pages at the standard 12-cent Silver Age cover price.
The issue contains a full-page Marvel Masterwork pin-up of Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), a regular feature of the early X-Men run.
Professor X first tells Cyclops that Lucifer is responsible for his paralysis, but withholds the full account — the complete origin of how Xavier lost the use of his legs is not revealed until X-Men #20.
The story's central dramatic engine is Lucifer's thermal bomb, wired to his own heartbeat: killing him would detonate it, forcing the X-Men to fight the Avengers to prevent them from doing exactly that.
The issue has been reprinted extensively, including in Marvel Masterworks #3 (1987), a Marvel Milestone Edition facsimile (October 1993), X-Men: The Early Years #9 (1995), Essential Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 (1999), Giant-Size X-Men #3 (2005), the X-Men Omnibus Vol. 1 (2009), X-Men Epic Collection: Children of the Atom (2014), and Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men Vol. 1 (2021).