Uncanny X-Men 012 - The Origin of Professor X

July 1965

In which we take a step back in time to discover more of Professor Xavier's family and the X-men defend the school against the oncoming menace of the Juggernaut!

Cover Story

Oh my goodness, here is a cover that says 'Brace yourself, we are going for a ride!', and what a ride it turned out to be.

Cover of Uncanny X-Men 012
Jack Kirby, Frank Giacoia and Sam Rosen

Starting out with the basics the X-Men logo is white on red with a drop shadow in black. It's not my favourite combination, but it works perfectly well here. We also have a couple of captions, one announcing the Juggernaut and the other promising the origin of Professor X. The colouring of these is interesting, if not pleasing, but if truth be told they are probably a bit too big given the enormous artwork beneath them

This cover is why we pick an X-Men comic from the shelves instead of any other. Juggernaut bursts out of a prison of twisted broken metal with real energy and movement, and the other X-Men are utterly stunned.

Professor Xavier cowers in fear, without a plan and knowing Juggernaut could so easily defeat him. Cyclops leaps into action as does Beast, both of them have fear across their faces but their training has kicked in and they are on the attack.

Iceman of course is already there and taking the brunt of the flying metal shards from Juggernaut's escape while shielding his face from the shrapnel with his arm. The sheer energy of Juggernaut's escape has knocked Angel from his flightpath and unless he can right himself he is in for a nasty fall.

At the back is Marvel Girl, but for once she is not cowering in fear, instead she leads the attack from the rear, concentrating with all her might on restraining Juggernaut mentally. It may be a lost cause, but it's great to see Jean doing something in a cover other than cowering - we all know she's the strongest of the X-Men and it's about time she showed it!

Overall it is an amazing cover; choosing an action scene that would fit in at the very end of the story only helps to build the drama and suspense as we read through the story, knowing that the Juggernaut will eventually reach the school and face the X-Men

The Origin of Professor X

Defending the School

Credits Written by Stan Lee Layouts by Jack Kirby Pencilling by Alex Toth Inked by Vince Colletta Lettered by Sam Rosen

It's the one we have been waiting for, the origins of our heroic headmaster Professor Charles Xavier. In true cliff hanger style we join our merry mutants as they rush to discover the cause of the deafening sirens emanating from the office of Professor X.

Professor Xavier Warns the X-Men
Uncanny X-Men 012 P2.2

The mutants discover the existence of Cerebro and Xavier warns them that they may face a being of immeasurable power. He orders them to defend the grounds with a wall of ice, ditches and grenade launchers.

On their return Xavier reveals to the mutants that the threat is none other than his own brother. Jeremy Kyle show here they come! Can you imagine? Don't get me started on the inevitable Summers DNA results episode!

The Brother of Professor Charles Xavier

Cain Marko attacks Charles Xavier
Uncanny X-Men 012 P5.6

Xavier reveals his father, Brian Xavier died in an atomic blast in New Mexico. Even at this young age Charles' mutant power let him know that Brian's colleague Kurt Marko might have saved him from the blast, but did not do so. A few months later Charles' Mother Sharon married Kurt.

Kurt soon revealed that he had no love for Sharon, and simply wanted her money and Brian's reputation and admirers. He cared little for Charles, especially when his own son arrived to live with them.

As Xavier recalls the story, the unnamed menace reaches the ice barrier and shatters it with ease. The whole school shakes and Jean is almost crushed by a falling chandelier, Cyclops quick thinking and Iceman's reactions save her.  

The Rise of Professor Xavier

Not long after the arrival of Cain, Sharon Xavier passed away leaving Kurt in control of Xavier and his inheritance. Kurt argued with his son over the accident that killed Brian Xavier, and as they scuffled spilled chemicals caused a devastating explosion.

First Appearances Brian Xavier Sharon Xavier Kurt Marko Cain Marko - Juggernaut

Kurt reveals to Charles that he might have saved Brian if he had tried, but that his death genuinely was an accident. He also warns Charles to beware of Cain, especially when he finds out about his powers.

At the school the menace has reached the second barrier, an electro magnetic forcefield and breaches it with ease. I say ease, I mean Xavier's telling his whole life story in the time it takes Juggernaut to reach the school.

Charles Xavier attacks Cain Marko
Uncanny X-Men 012 P11.6

Charles reveals he was a gifted child, and used his emerging mental powers to give him the edge in classes and sports, Cain, eaten up with jealousy attacked Charles, but Charles easily subdued him with a combination of his mental and physical skill.

There is an interesting contrast here as the last panel on page eleven shows Xavier striking Marko to try and end the conflict, just as Marko struck Xavier in the last panel on page five. the panels even share the same 'dream sequence' border.

Luring Charles to his car, Cain drives like a maniac to try and terrify Charles, but the ploy ends in disaster when Cain crashes the car and almost kills Charles.

The Rise of the Juggernaut

Back at the school the menace reaches the grenades filled with sleeping gas, but they have very little effect. Xavier struggles to finish his story of how Cain came into his power.

First appearance, give or take a few silhouettes, of Juggernaut
Uncanny X-Men 012 P20.5

During the Korean War Cain deserts under heavy fire and flees into a cave where is discovers the Ruby of Cyttorak, upon touching the ruby Cain begins to transform into the Juggernaut; the cave beings to collapse and although Charles escapes, but Cain is buried.

Back at the school the menace has breached all the defences and finally crashes through the reenforced door of the school. Iceman's wall of ice and Cyclops' power beam do not slow down the oncoming menace, revealed to be Cain Marko, the Juggernaut!

Yes I know sixty years on it's bloody obvious that it's Juggernaut, but that's with the benefit of hindsight, i bet the readers at the time were genuinely shocked to discover... oh wait it's on the front cover isn't it? Still, talk about dramatic!

Mutant Evolution

Mutant	Power Evolution
Juggernaut	I know Juggernaut isn't a mutant, but he is most certainly a character with evolving powers. Essentially his power is that once in motion, he is unstoppable. He is also incredibly strong; able to withstand enormous physical damage and is resistant to sleeping gas.

 

Time to Move on, and back!

We've taken something a change of direction with the loss of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in the last issue, and bullpen have taken no time to introduce us to a new recurring enemy for the X-Men, indeed they introduced the threat at the beginning of the last issue.

The whole of this issue; bar a couple of pages of battle at the end, are focussed on the slow, drawn out introduction of the Juggernaut. It's an unusual step, given the usual action oriented style, and the minimal backstory given to enemies up to this point.

Not only is the storytelling style different but the structure too, we alternate between scenes set in the school, and scenes in the past during Xavier's childhood and adolescence. Furthermore to my eye the issue is split into four acts, rather than the usual three. This shouldn't come as a surprise as the lack of action means we get significantly more story.

As issue's go, its one of the best early ones and it wont be the last time we get to enjoy heavily story driven issues in the X-Men series.

Motivating Stuff

Magneto has his war with humanity, although at this point we really don't know why; Blob has no idea what he wants, and as for the other villains we have seen, they generally seem to just want money. Only Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver have had any kind of backstory and motivation for their actions, and that proved an incredible hit with the readers and now, we have Juggernaut.

Illustration of Juggernaut by David Cooper

Juggernaut is a masterstroke in so many ways, an enduring character he will be around the X-Men in various capacities for decades to come. He is introduced as Charles Xavier's brother, a great move in itself as it embraces and improves Xavier's motivation to do good.

The sibling rivalry between the two interestingly puts Xavier on top, given his disability of later years this helps give an insight into his character. I would even go so far as to say that Charles was not necessarily a nice person after the death of his parents. While he may not have intended it, it seems to me that he really did revel in beating his step brother at everything; no wonder he went off the rails.

Perhaps this explains Xavier's tendency in later years to try and fix people, especially the Wolverine?

Juggernaut himself just wants revenge, but not for some petty altercation, he genuinely seems to believe that all of the negative things that have happened to him are the fault of Xavier; he could be right. Although it was Cain's greed which ultimately caused the explosion that killed his father - it was Xavier's family tragedy which led to the situation in the first place. In Juggernaut's mind, this makes it Charles' fault.

For a character driven by hatred Juggernaut's motives are refreshingly complex, and they will become no less so as the years go on. Truly no-one can stop the Juggernaut!

What's in a Name?

Sharon Xavier names her son.
Uncanny X-Men 012 P5.3

Finally Professor Charles Xavier has his full name, twelve issues, or two years into the run of X-Men that leaves just Iceman to pick up the full version of his forename and we will have named all of the X-Men, until we get some new X-Men of course!

I suppose his first name could hardly have been Professor. 

This is actually a great issue for name hunters, as we found out not only Charles' name but also those of his parents, Juggernaut's name and that of his Father