Uncanny X-Men Issue 003 - Beware of the Blob

January 1964

In which all the fun of the fair comes to visit the X-Men at their school, an intriguing love heptagon develops and The X-Men meet the original immovable object, The Blob!

Cover Story

Uncanny X-Men Issue 3
Artwork by Jack Kirby,
Sol Brodsky and Sam Rosen

Bright and white is one again the order of the day for issue three, with the classic logo rendered in red with a black drop shadow.

The dynamic visual Marvel style is very much is in evidence, although the caption describing the comic as being in the 'fantastic Four' style has now been dropped.

The X-Men are attacking the bob as he attempts to drag Marvel Girl away, Unlike the previous issue Marvel Girl is anything but helpless, using her mental powers to try and lift the Blob.

Beasr attempts his trademark double footed kick while Cyclops brings his optic beam into play. Angel is trying to lift the Blob with the power of his wings and iceman throws an ice missile, but of course none of this is working,

Most of the X-Men stand out well against the white background, but Iceman is still somewhat lost in his snow-covered form. Blob is surprisingly unexaggerated in size compared to the typical marvel style of drawing him.

Three captions adorn the page, Blob is described as one of the strangest super-foes of all and the issue described as the 'Newest Lee-Kirby Super Spectacular. It's clear that the Lee-Kirby partnership was as big a draw to the comic book as the characters within.

I'm not a fan of these early, somewhat sparse covers, and as the months go by the style changes to be more often a colourful, exaggerated scene evocative of the story within.

Beware of the Blob

The Search for a New Mutant

The X-Men train in the Danger Room, but Professor Xavier cuts short their training when he senses the presence of a new mutant nearby. He orders the X-Men into plain clothes and sends them out to try and discover and recruit this mutant.

Credits Written by Stan Lee Drawn by Jack Kirby Inked by Paul Reinman Lettered by Art Simek

Bobby and Hank each find prospective mutants but it is Scott who discovers The Blob working in a carnival sideshow. Cyclops sees the Blob's talents but is unimpressed with his attitude. He extends an invitation from the X-Men but Blob declines, however when Warren and Jean appear Blob is attracted to Jean and decides to go with them

The Power of The Blob

.At the school Blob demonstrates his mutant powers to the X-Men and after he easily escapes a trap laid by Iceman Professor Xavier extends him an offer to join the X-Men, but Blob refuses. Professor Xavier orders the X-Men to restrain Blob so he can erase his memory of the school, but Blob easily escapes and returns to the carnival. 

All The Fun of The Fair

First Appearances Fred J Dukes - Blob The Carnival Folk

Blob returns to the carnival and takes control of the carneys by force. Angel witnesses this and despite being shot at, manages to return to the school to warn the others and Professor Xavier rushes to complete a device with which to defeat the Blob.

Illustration of The Blob

The X-Men clash with the attacking forces from the carnival, after a long battle however they are subdued, and Blob and his forces enter the school. As Professor Xavier awaits the Blob he sends Marvel Girl a telepathic message to help her,and the other X-men escape.

Before Blob can reach Professor Xavier the X-Men catch up and subdue both Blob and his forces. Professor Xavier uses his machine, amplifying his powers and wiping all memory of the X-Men from the minds of the carnival folk/ The Blob returns to the carnival as the X-Men wonder if and when his memory may return.

Mutant Evolution

Mutant	Power Evolution
Beast	Beast is able to climb a wall using only he feet.
Blob	Blob cannot be moved once he plants his feet. He is impervious to bullets,cannonballs and can extinguish a torch by gripping it without being harmed.

 

Love Heptagon

The four panels of page four that set up the love heptagon.

Yes, I said heptagon, in this issue there's noone who isn't harboring secret, or not so secret feelings for fabulous red-head Jean Grey. Let's start with Scott Summers who is, after two issues, completely head over heals in love with Jean. However Scott feels he cannot declare his love for Jean while he has no control of his optic beams.

It's page four where Scott admits this to himself, although to no-one else, and in these six panels we also see Hank, Bobby and Warren vie to be the one to accompany Jean in their plain clothes operation. In the sixth panel Professor Xavier considers to himself how he cannot declare his own love for jean Grey because he is leader of the X-Men and confined to a wheelchair, apparently the fact that he is a good forty years her senior doesn't come into it!

That makes it six, but even Fred J. Dukes, The Blob declares an interest on page eight, even if he does call Jean a tomato; words never were his thing.

Over time the number of people in this love heptagon will reduce as Hank and Bobby find themselves girlfriends, but Xavier's love for Jean is revisited at a much later date.

The Name Game

It's worth a note here that Cyclops finally has his first name and is officially Scott Summers. Hank and Bobby are still to be officially Henry and Robert.

Capture Count

Blob is the first enemy of the X-Men to actually capture them for any length of time. Magneto had a good try in issue one, but Cyclops was immediately able to tunnel out. I'll be keeping tabs on which X-Men get captured the most, since as we move forward in the comics, it becomes increasing common to split the team by having certain members captured. 

Whether any of the X-Men can match Sue Storm's record for getting captured remains to be seen; but for our purposes we'll count any situation where a X-Man is captured and cannot immediately mount an escape, or has to be rescued by someone else.