Uncanny X-Men 014

November 1965

In which things change forever for the X-Men when Bolivar Trask declares them a Mutant Menace and unleashes the might of his Sentinels. Unfortunately for Trask things do not go as planned.

Cover Story

Here's some classic X-Men drama right here, Professor Xavier is helpless as the mechanical Sentinel towers over him. The X-Men, astonished rather than astonishing, arrive on the scene in this dynamic cover.

Cover of Uncanny X-Men 014
Jack Kirby, Wally Wood and Sam Rosen

The logo is white with a black drop over a red background and looks impressive. The caption is limited to the story title and a bit of text reminding readers that the book is now monthly.

It's interesting that this magazine has so little of the usual promotional and egotistical hype of some previous issue. Especially considering some of the comments in the letters section, which we will come to later.

Professor Xavier remains confrontational in his pose and is no way looks defenceless, perhaps aware of the iminant arrival of his X-Men.

The Sentinel makes his first appearance, Oddly in the same colour as the X-Men uniforms rather than in the trademark red and purple which is established in the pages of the magazine. It towers over Xavier with a dark and menacing expression on its face.

The X-Men themselves are overshadowed a little by the forground action; they enter through a window looking utterly dumbfounded at the scene they find. Beast leads the way but Marvel Girl is somewhat pushed into the background. One day she is going to get sick of that and snap completely!

Overall it's a stunning piece of coverwork which sets up the menace of The Sentinels for decades to come.

Among Us Stalk ...The Sentinels!

Time for a Vacation

Credits Written by Stan Lee Layouts by Jack Kirby Illustrated by Jay Gavin Inked by Vince Colletta Lettered by Artie SImek n.b. Jay Gavin is a psuedonym of Werner Roth

The X-Men are being rehabilitated after their devastating battle against the Juggernaut. Professor Xavier announces its time for the X-Men to take a vacation. Jean, Warren, Bobby and Hank are thrilled to return to visit their families, but it is clear that Scott is becoming deeply lonely as well as being besotted with Jean.

Uncanny X-Men 014 3.4
Dr. Bolivar Trask

Bolivar Trask, an eminent anthropologist appears on television declaring mutants a more serious threat than any other facing the world. The media pick up on his theory declaring a 'Mutant Menace' on society.

Xavier learns the news and decides to appear on a live television debate against Bolivar Trask in an effort to mitigate the damage he has already caused.

Lights, Camera, Sentinels

Uncanny X-Men 014 8.4
Trask Pays The Price

In the debate Trask reveals the weapon he has created to defend mankind from the mutants; the robotic defender known as the Sentinel. However Trask's inabilities as a robotic engineer leave teh Sentinels the ability to decide how best to defend mankind. They decide they must rule over mankind to defend them; and capture Trask fleeing back to their base. A lone Sentinel remains threatening the safety of Xavier and the others in the studio. Xavier calls to the X-Men for assistance.

The X-Men hear the mental summons of Xavier; Iceman and Beast are closest and rush to the professors aid, struggling to defeat the Sentinel. Iceman is hit with a heat ray and things look dire for Beast and Xavier.

Meanwhile after an accident with his optic blast Cyclops is forced to flee a baying mob fuelled by Trask's 'Mutant Menace' agenda. He reaches the studio and joins the battle; but soon Beast is knocked out and the battle looks lost, until the Sentinel simply deactivates. .

Angel is attacked by the Trask-abducting Sentinels as he makes his way to the studio, but is rescued by Marvel Girl who pulls him down to the train she is riding.

X-Men Reunited

The X-Men are reunited as they try to work out just why the Sentinel deactivated. Xavier manages to pull a single message from the Sentinel's computerised brain, it is the location of their secret base.

At the Sentinel's base Trask is held prisoner as the Sentinels explain that they will force him to make a whole Sentinel army so they can subjugate humanity; meanwhile the X-Men approach in Xavier's Rolls Royce.

First Appearances Bolvar Trask The Sentinels Kathryn Worthington Warren Worthington Jr. Carter

The X-Men are confused by the absence of any kind of building in the location Xavier has led them to. However their confusion is short lived as the Sentinel's base rises from beneath a hill and starts to shoot at the X-Men.

Thankfully the kids at the time didn't have to wait a whole eight weeks for the next part of the story, as from this week X-Men went monthly. Hurrah!

Mutant Evolution

Mutant	Power Evolution
Marvel Girl	Jean is able to pull Angel from the sky and secure him firmly to the roof of a moving train.

 

Mutant Menace

It starts. What seems to us now to be one of the very foundations of the X-Men series is introduced in this issue, a feature that is still shaping the comics to this day. No, I am not talking about Trask or the Sentinels, but about mankind's ability to persecute mutants.

Uncanny X-Men 014 6..6
A Mutant Menace

Until now the only stories of persecution have been Magneto's fears; now with Magneto gone his, and Xavier's worst fears are coming true with an alarming figurehead leading the charge against mutants. Xavier first tries to reason with the nation via television; but it's clear things have gone too far already.

Cyclops is chased by a mob after accidentally releasing his optic blasts in public and has to make a swift escape, and the press, and to an extent the public are far too happy to absorb the hatred peddled by the media.

It's not a situation we find ourselves too far from today; the media are always looking for someone to hate, and the broader the definition the better.

It is this reflection of society that helped make X-Men so popular with other minority groups. People could see the struggles of these characters and empathise with them. It is ironic that in more recent times the young Iceman of these comics helped his future self deal with his sexuality, just as he helped people in the real world deal with the impacts of their own. 

The Brood

Don't worry, I haven't gone stark raving mad, I know The Brood wont be making an appearance for a long time yet, but there is something brood related we need to talk about. Scott Summers.

Uncanny X-Men 014 4.6
Scott Broods

At this point in the story Scott is entirely besotted with Jean Grey, and yet his believe that he has no right to date anyone at all is only just beginning to shake. Jean is clearly interested in Scott, not that he has the social skills to read this, but believes that his interest in her is limited.

Even Warren, who has all the emotional range of a ball-peen hammer has noticed that Scott is falling for Jean, and Xavier has noticed the huge emotional toll it is taking on the field leader of the X-Men,

As his friends extend the hand of friendship and try to involve him, Scott withdraws more and more. The consequences are likely to be somewhat explosive. The four lots of brooding Cyclops does in this issue bring his average back up to just over once an issue; and it's going to get worse before it gets better.

What Else Are You Counting?

I've been doing an awful lot of counting as I make my way through the issues; what can I say, statistics thrill me. You've already seen in previous posts that I'm keeping track of who gets the most panels (Cyclops) and who gets the least (Brian Xavier - Gravestone Only) as well as who gets the best panels per issue ratio.

Uncanny X-Men 014 17.2
Angel gets captured by Marvel Girl

This is now the Sentinels, who appear in exactly 50% of panels in the issue they have appeared in. However in fairness to everyone except Multiple Man, there are more Sentinels than there are mutants; so they may have an advantage. I blame Bolivar Trask.

I thought it might be fun to mention the other things I'm counting, that may or may not prove to have an interesting conclusion.

In the 1960s the dangers of smoking were starting to become known, so I thought it would be interesting to keep track of who does, and doesn't smoke, and what method they use. Frankly so far there have been so few smokers that It's hard to draw any conclusions, but who knows what the future will bring.

I'm tracking who gets captured the most, it's Angel by the way and he is lucky I didn't count his capture by Jean this issue as another one - I figured friendly captures don't count. I'm also checking how often Hank and Bobby blow off their regular dates. Zelda seems quote upset in this issue, the first time she loses out to Bobby's secret life, so far we have yet to meet Vera, Beast's better half.

Along with Cyclops' brood count I'm also checking how often Beast makes a gadget, as he seems to have such a reputation for technology. So far, just the one.

Let me know in the comments if there's anything else I should be counting.