The Uncanny X-Men - What Is...The Power!

I knew of Neal Adams before. I'd run across his work at DC on a few issues of Strange Adventures starring Deadman and in some issues of The Brave and the Bold with Batman and his co-stars. But it was when he jaunted across the avenues to become (briefly) a Marvel artist that I really came under the spell of this most important artist of his generation. It was when Neal Adams joined Roy Thomas on a little project already headed for cancellation, a little project dubbed The Uncanny X-Men. 

It always seems it's when books are doomed that sometimes real creativity can be tried, and characters revived. Of course, as long as a formula sells, there's little incentive to change the status quo, but that can be a problem too. The X-Men under the lush art of Neal Adams and inker extraordinaire Tom Palmer became a compelling commodity, at least for critics and fanboys. Sadly, the sales of the title didn't save it, but as we all know that would change in a few years when another artist, Dave Cockrum in league with writer Len Wein, revived the title yet again. But what about this famous run?

In the Adams run we were treated to the menace of the Living Monolith, the return of the Sentinels, the revenge of Magneto with his Savage Land mutants in tow, and the debuts of Havok and Sauron. Not shabby, and then there was the resurrection of Professor X and a full-scale alien invasion to boot. The first Neal Adams issue wraps up the Living Pharoh storyline in which a likely mad Egyptian scholar found he had the ability to absorb great energy but learned that Alex Summers could do so too and that stunted his power. So, he kidnaps Alex, locks him in a box which allows the Living Pharoh to transform into the enormous and deadly Living Monolith. Eventually Alex gets free, and the Monolith is no more. 

Tom Palmer really shines up the work of Neal Adams and they have become a legendary team.   Below are the covers of the issues involved. All feature Adams work save the last which is graced with a Marie Severin illustration. I've also included some snapshot summaries of the stories inside. 

The X-Men defeat the Living Monolith only to face the threat of the revived Sentinels, giant robots designed specifically to capture and kill mutants. They were launched by the son of the original creator of the Sentinels who died had the hands of his metallic creations. It's a furious battle against the Sentinels and during the struggle we are introduced to Havok, the codename Alex Summers chooses for himself. We also are treated to a fantastic costume designed by Adams. Ultimately a secret is revealed, and the X-Men use logic to defeat these unbeatable robots. 

Alex Summers is hurt during the Sentinel battle and the X-Men seek out an old colleague of Professor Xavier's named Dr. Karl Lykos. Lykos though has a secret, and that is he requires the vital energy of other beings to survive. This vampiric need is fed by humans, but when he gets a dose of the energy in the mutant Havok, Lykos turns into a human-pteranodon hybrid, and he chooses the name of a famous literary villain and dubs himself Sauron. The Angel goes to fight this winged foe and gets himself hypnotized. Eventually Sauron needs more power and returns to the distant South American territory in which he was first attacked. The X-Men follow for the finale. 

After the confrontation with Sauro, the X-Men follow the fallen Angel into an underworld territory which turns out to Ka-Zar's Savage Land. The Angel has been found and healed by the "Creator" who claims to want only to find mutants among the savage tribes and give them succor. But his greater scheme is revealed when his real identity is uncovered. The I remember the last panel of the first half was a real shocker. The X-Men battle Magneto and the Savage Land mutants he has created

After a fantastic fill-in issue drawn by Don Heck, Neal Adams returns to the X-Men for one more issue. This time he is teamed with writer Denny O'Neil (his new-found writing ally at DC), and they give us a whopping tale about invading aliens and the desperate need for the X-Men to work together to fend off the threat. It feels more like a Justice League story to me, but it does give us a great surprise when Professor Xavier is revealed to alive and well. 

I've traded away my original X-Men comics, but I since picked all these issues up again in the tome from 1996 called X-Men Visionaries 2 - The Neal Adams Collection. The coloring is a bit wonky, but it's juicy to have these grand stories in color once again. I also own these in the Epic volume dedicated to this era of the Merry Mutants. Here is the cover to the second printing of this volume.

Next up is The Mighty Thor. 

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