Uncanny X-Men 011 - The Triumph of Magneto

May 1965

In which the X-Men and the Brotherhood race to be the first to recruit a being of incredible power. Magneto and his Evil mutants are successful, but at what cost. I'll give you a clue, we won't be seeing old Mags for a while now.

Cover Story

Uncanny X-Men 011 Cover
Jack Kirby, Chic Stone and Sam Rosen

Is this dramatic or is this dramatic, lets start with the basics we have the classic logo in yellow over a blue drop shadow all imposed over a single panel of action.

There are no captions, barring the theatre marquee in the background introducing the latest new character, and it's entirely unobtrusive. This feels like a very mature cover, selling the comic on its merits rather than on hyperbole.

The major battle here is between the Stranger and Professor Xavier, strange considering the two do not really come into contact in the story. Also note the absence of the Brotherhood, this is their swan song issue, and yet they aren't even on the cover.

The stranger looks menacing, in a rampaging Stan Lee kind of way, levitating over a frightened crowd. A lorry in the background has a driver peering around to see what the hold up is, this scene feels alive.

The male X-Men are all posed quite dynamically, Cyclops in particular running into the action, Angel looks like he is going to give the Stranger a hug, but as a team they work. Marvel Girl is, well it's hard to tell with her back being to the reader and most of her out of frame, she appears to be looking terrified at the beautiful sunset in the distance, framed by the grey buildings of New York.

It's a stunning cover, and one that deserves to be without captions, it invites the reader to come inside and read this amazing tale, its just a slight shame that the tale inside is more about the conflict between the Brotherhood and the X-Men, than the mysterious Stranger.

The Triumph of Magneto

Credits Written by Stan Lee Drawn by Jack Kirby Inked by Chic Stone Lettered by Artie Simek

A New Mutant?

Cyclops summons the X-Men to Xavier's new invention, a machine that can project an image of a detected mutant. The machine is locked onto a new target so powerful it is able to disrupt the machine and keep its identity a secret. The X-Men are dispatched to track down this new mutant.

Uncanny X-Men 011 p2.4

The Stranger rents a room from an old lady, he is confused by the language she uses as it is not plain English. Later he goes downtown but causes a commotion by casually walking on air to avoid waiting to cross the road. He hides by walking though a wall he feels drawn to, right into Magneto's new base.

Meanwhile the X-Men battle anti-mutant hysteria when Cyclops's optic blast is unleashed by a overzealous police officer. Beast rescues him from the situation and the pair discover an ice slide laid on by Iceman, and decide to take a ride. Reunited the X-Men continue the search for the new mutant.

The Power of Magneto

Magneto tries to recruit the Stranger by using his power to restrain him, Mastermind then demonstrates his abilities with illusion. The Stranger is furious and demonstrates his own immense power by turning Mastermind to some kind of stone-like solid matter; mastermind crashes through the floor.

X-Changes Magneto and Toad are taken away by the stranger to an alien world. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver leave the Brotherhood. Mastermind is incapacitated by being turned to a stone like material

The X-Men arrive on the scene but Magneto orders Quicksilver to attack Angel to keep them at bay. Iceman encases Quicksilver in snow causing Scarlet Witch to enter the fray. She hexes Beast causing him to careen into Iceman ending his attack.

The Stranger departs in a cone of energy taking Magento, and perhaps inadvertently, Toad with him.

Cyclops and Marvel Girl join the battle and Marvel Girl keeps Scarlet Witch too busy dodging projectiles to hex anyone while Cyclops saves Beast from falling debris that Scarlet Witch had hexed. Cyclops free's Quicksilver from Iceman's trap calming Scarlet Witch.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver decide to leave the Brotherhood but decline Cyclops' offer to join the X-Men and instead return to Europe to their homeland. 

Exit, Magneto!

In a forest the Stranger dissolves his cone of energy releasing Magneto and Toad. Magneto tries to demand the Stranger's allegiance, but unimpressed the Stranger wraps Toad and Magneto in a anti-magnetic membrane rendering Magneto's powers useless.

First Appearances The Stranger

Meanwhile the X-Men try to work out what has happened to Mastermind; he is still alive but entirely incapacitated. Professor Xavier realises the massive power of the Stranger and heads out with the X-Men to find him.

The X-Men take the X-Copter and find Magneto and Toad in their trap.

Illustration of The Brotherhood
David Cooper

The stranger appears and reveals he is an alien who collects examples of mutation for study on his home world. Magneto's arrogance caused him to be the one collected, along with Toad.

As the X-Men wonder what will become of Magneto, and what other threats await them the police arrive and the X-Men are forced to make a quick get away.

Back at the school Xavier removes Magneto, Mastermind and Toad from Cerebro's display, when the unit goes mad with an alarm so loud it must threaten the greatest power the X-Men have ever faced.

Mutant Evolution

Mutant	Power Evolution
The Stranger	The Stranger can transport himself and others through space with cones of energy, conjure items with specific properties from thin air, grow to large sizes, transmute living flesh into immobile but living matter, walk on air and walk through walls.

 

Stats Corner

With this issue featuring the demise of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, at least for now, I thought it would be a good point to take a look at how they are fairing in our panel count. I was all planned with my speech about why Toad and Scarlet Witch are overlooked in favour of the more powerful Mastermind and more interesting Quicksilver. Except they aren't.

The numbers rather speak for themselves, apart from Magneto, who is the leader and also had a whole issue to himself before the rest of the Brotherhood came along, the appearance count is actually pretty close.

Uncanny X-Men 011 p4.6

Mastermind had an issue with no other Brotherhood members when we met Unus the Untouchable, which gives him the edge on appearances, but when it comes to the panel to issue ratio it is all rather equal.

What's more interesting is how little they all feature in this issue, we know from the letters pages that the fans were fed up of the Brotherhood, but that the bullpen loved them. It would have been sad at the time to see their characters written out with such a whimper, thankfully hindsight tells us that these characters will all have their most dramatic of moments with the X-Men in years to come.

Brood Count

Uncanny X-Men 011 p12.6

I was very disappointed to note that Cyclops doesn't brood at all during this issue, not to worry though as Marvel Girl more than makes up for it with two moments brooding about her feelings for Cyclops.

We're still going to have to wait some time for this pair to get it together, but it's worth noting that the other X-Men have somewhat lost interest in Marvel Girl in recent issues. Eventually they will all have their own relationships. even Professor Xavier!

We Got A Cliffhanger 

For the first time, and most definitely for the last we have an issue with a cliffhanger ending, designed to draw us into the next. Over the coming issues Uncanny X-Men will move more and more towards two issue stories, and even story arcs that cover multiple issues.

The first story arc could be considered to be the first Brotherhood arc, starting in issue one with the introduction of Magneto and continuing into issue four with the introduction of the Brotherhood. Issues 6, 7 and 8 concentrate on Magneto trying to recruit more powerful mutants with his final issue, issue 11 featuring his demise at the hands of a much more powerful being.

Issue	Key Events
Uncanny X-Men 001	Magneto starts his war against humanity with an attack on a military base. The X-Men defeat him but Magneto escapes to fight another day. First Appearance of Magneto, Professor Xavier, Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman and Marvel Girl. Uncanny X-Men 001 at X-Mentionables
Uncanny X-Men 004	The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants conquer a small island nation in their battle against humanity. A cruel and tyrannical leader, Magneto attracts the attention of the X-Men. The X-Men drive Magneto and the Brotherhood from the island. Magneto leaves a bomb to destroy the island, but Quicksilver returns to defuse it. First Appearance of Mastermind, Scarlet Witch, Toad and Quicksilver. Uncanny X-Men 004 at X-Mentionables
Uncanny X-Men 005	The Brotherhood attempt to take their revenge on the X-Men by using Toad in disguise as bait for a trap. Angel is captured as is Toad, but Toad blindly takes the X-Men to Magneto's base where they battle. The X-Men escape with their lives intact and learn from Professor Xavier that this was their final exam, and they have passed First Appearance of John and Elaine Grey Uncanny X-Men 005 at X-Mentionables
Uncanny X-Men 006	The X-Men and the Brotherhood both try to recruit Namor, the Sub-Mariner to their causes. Namor is attracted to Magneto's promises of conquest and revenge, and also to the Scarlet Witch, but when the X-Men attack and Namor sees Magneto's true colours, he prefers to return to the ocean and ignore matters of the land. First appearance of Namor Uncanny X-Men 006 at X-Mentionables
Uncanny X-Men 007	Magneto recruits Blob to the Brotherhood and Blob's memories return. The Brotherhood try to lure the X-Men into a trap using Blob, but when Magneto seems prepared to kill both Blob and the X-Men Blob makes the decision to return to the carnival rather than stay with either team. Blob becomes the sixth member of the Brotherhood, and he first to leave. Uncanny X-Men 007 at X-Mentionables
Uncanny X-Men 008	Beast leaves the X-Men after being attacked by a human mob, he encounters Unus the Untouchable and realises Mastermind is trying to recruit him for the Brotherhood. Beast defeats Unus with science, forcing him to return to his life before meeting the Brotherhood. First Appearance of Unus the Untouchable Beast leaves the X-Men, but rejoins the same issue, Unus fails to become the seventh member of the Brotherhood Uncanny X-Men 008 at X-Mentionables
Uncanny X-Men 011	A being of huge power draws the attention of the X-Men and the Brotherhood. Magneto tries to recruit him but is unprepared to find that the Stranger is an alien who collects mutants. The Stranger collects Magneto and Toad and takes them to an alien world. First Appearance of The Stranger Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch leave the Brotherhood Mastermind is incapacitated Magneto and Toad are taken to an alien world forever.

Of course this wont be the last we see of them, but the Brotherhood arc set the standard for what would be come a X-men staple that would stretch out across multiple comics. We may never have had modern masterpieces like Civil War and House Of M, without these early multi-comic arcs.