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It is X-Men time of year here at the Lido Shuffle, as ushered in by the release of their latest blockbuster X-Men: Apocalypse. As is tradition for these things I’ll be celebrating this new release in the only way I know how: a list of the best X-Men comic covers. However, given that the X-Men have a truly titanic amount of covers in existence I’m going to pace myself by just taking on the first age of the X-Men. These are the best X-Men covers from their first issue up until Giant Sized X-Men #1 in 1975, which introduced the more popular team of Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus and more.
Despite being a lot less popular than the post-1975 stuff this era in the X-Men is still pretty impressive with a lot of unique and formative covers that have remained impressive touchstones in the language of superheroes. The books low visibility gave the artists a freedom to experiment they might not have had in a bigger title and today, we honor that creativity in list format.
13.
So the first thing to understand about a fair number of these covers is that they’re actually reprints. See, back when comic preservation was in the absolute toilet Marvel and DC would sporadically reprint more modest series as a way to try and increase circulation without having to make a whole new comic. The X-Men was a perfect option for this plan, which is great because it led to a bunch of covers like this one that are far better preserved and beautifully rendered.
Just off the bat, I love this cover and not only because it features the Mimic, one of my favorite under-used X-Men characters. He was a weird meta-human type with the power to mimic the abilities of any mutant. I can’t say why I love him so much except that I love how his power mimicking here translates into copying Beast’s giant hand-feet. Moreover, this cover is a good example of creative direction ahead of its time as it was originally published in the mid-'60s but is more indicative of the style of ‘70s covers. That’s what I meant about the X-Men being a hotbed for creative experimentation in cover design.
The scale of the Mimic and the way he’s framed at the center of the action is exactly how comic artists started doing things in the ‘70s as it was a way of catering to the aging readership. The thinking in the Silver Age was that a cover needed as much action as possible to sell to kids but this is more about intriguing the audience and creating a detailed work of art.
12.
This is another reprinted cover but the image itself is one of the most iconic in the entire X-Men canon to not involve Wolverine. The early days of the X-Men were mostly filled with folks like Mimic: interesting concepts that have been more or less forgotten but not the Sentinels, which is really the only reason this cover has endured because it’s exceptionally odd.
Seriously, the point of view in this image is decidedly skewed, like we seem to be seeing Xavier and the Sentinel from contradictory angles and the Sentinel itself looks really weird. Its hands look positively human and its head is elongated in an alien kind of way.
That strangeness is a big part of what makes it as evocative and memorable as it is. I’ve never seen a comic cover that manages to embody this level of uniqueness. I don’t even know what the Sentinel is supposed to be doing with its hands outstretched in a Y formation like that, all I know is that it looks cool and weird and definitely threatening.
A lot of formative comic creations run off of high-concept creativity or gut feeling and this definitely falls into the latter category. I also really love the X-Men all trying to get through the window in the background like the three stooges.
11.
See, this guy here, Master of Factor Three, is exactly what I mean when I talk about the weird but mostly forgotten folks that populate early X-Men adventures. Nobody has bothered resurrecting this weirdo despite this story being one of the only ones to actually use the term “homo superior” in the cover art, which is pretty noteworthy just on its own.
In any event this is a pretty good example of a transitional cover caught between the trends of the ‘60s and ‘70s. The scale of the X-Men and the way this is shaped to have a depth of field is very much in line with ‘70s thinking. The camera is positioned close to the Master with the X-Men occupying the background and thus appearing smaller, rather than just making everyone the same size regardless of position.
On the other side, the shrunken X-Men feel very much in line with the small-scale Silver Age covers but in a good way. I like that we’re getting to see everyone’s powers in action as they try to escape their domed prison, or at least almost everyone- Jean Grey is really phoning it in here. Though, to be fair, Ice Man looks to be hurling snowballs at the dome walls so he’s not really doing his best either.
10.
Now this is a true ‘70s cover and what a cover at that. This is from the “X-Men Featuring” era for the comic, where the stories switched to a blend of reprints with sporadic new single-issue length stories and occasionally bran new covers. Aside from the change of title this era also saw a change in uniform as the X-Men ditched the yellow and blue costumes for more individualistic designs that would eventually inform the 1975 team.
Overall a lot of people prefer this era- Beast’s red and blue costume is really cool, Cyclops’ cowl is a nice touch, Ice Man stopped looking like a snowman, but me personally I cannot stand Angel’s new look. However, I’ll let that slide here because this cover absolutely masters metaphor and the new look.
I really love the design of the stone X here, as a weird concept as it is. It was damn clever fitting a different X-Men into each of the spaces and it creates a great visual metaphor for Juggernaut’s destruction of the entire team. Speaking of Juggernaut, I’m glad that they finally gave him pants by this adaptation though I’m sure we’ll see the bare-legged Juggernaut before we’re done here.
I admit I don’t really get the background here as it seems to have a tiled floor, implying it’s some kind of all purple room? Regardless, it complements Juggernaut and the title’s red dominance really well and I can live with the block coloring.
9.
On the one hand, I’m inclined to say this cover has only become a piece of iconic design because the X-Men are in it, but on the other that’s not really true for Thor or even the Fantastic Four’s first appearances. There’s something about this cover beyond just being historic that’s strangely compelling and it’s not just that it features snowballs and bazookas in the same image. I think it’s the curiously pop-art sensibility of the placement and background. That white and violet split background coupled with the smattering of blue and yellow figures has the ‘60s psychedelia to it that’s impossible to fake.
It feels very mod in a way that X-Men: First Class clearly took notice of and integrated perfectly. Again, I do wish Jean Grey had more to do on this cover than swoon and add a pop of color but those were just the times. I mean, I wish Ice Man looked like actual ice and not an angry snowman but that doesn’t change the overall impact. The ‘60s was a time when we decided anything could be art and this cover feels like a true justification of that idea.
8.
I told you the Juggernaut would make another appearance on this list and yes, even though it’s hard to tell, he isn’t wearing any pants in this cover. This is another reprint from the classic series, which actually required a bit of tracing for reproduction purposes, which is why this cover has a weird sort of exaggerated Jack Kirby vibe to it. You can really see that in Beast and Juggernaut’s hands, which are amazingly thick. Kirby always drew fingers as having near right angles but this is goes beyond even his usual style, like if you look Juggernaut’s hand is the size of Ice Man’s entire torso.
Much like Juggernaut’s last appearance, this gives us a weird background that’s drawn as the interior of Xavier’s mansion but is colored like the inside of hell. I really don’t know why they decided to make the X-Men comics like this aside from trying to make the logo pop a bit more but even that seems a like stretching it.
Going back to what I’ve said before this cover is a blend of ‘60s and ‘70s art. The visual is all action, all the time, with all of the character, caught up in their own overblown reaction to Juggernaut’s entry but the scale is very ‘70s. I really love the detail that’s been added to the debris Juggernaut’s knocked out of his way, it’s a nice touch that adds texture without feeling too cluttered on the whole, though I’m not sure he needed that weird white aura around his body.
7.
I was tempted at first to suggest this cover was another blend of ‘60s and ‘70s aesthetic but that’s not really true. It honestly feels like the product of some aborted decade that never really got started, like out there in the multiverse there’s a whole era of comic covers that look way more like this one. Again we have the impressionistic style of background, using the plain white to emphasize the starkness of the situation and pitiless force of Unus’ powers. I like that Unus himself is portrayed as far from the action and small despite his powers hurling the X-Men right at the reader at high speed.
It’s a lot like the Juggernaut cover with the impressionistic background, moderate scale, and action-heavy individualistic focus. I really like the throw lines on all of the X-Men, with Angel as my favorite of the pack getting thrown towards the audience ass first. Speaking of Angel, you can see they’ve added him to the top of the marquee by this point, perched atop the team logo. I don’t love that idea but it’s kind of cute in its own way.
6.
This was the reprint cover that underwent the most alteration as the original print had the entire thing inked in moody black and red. Normally I’d favor that approach but in this case I think the image is so detailed that the actual coloring does it a lot more favors than the monochromatic approach. This is the cover that’s been the most ‘70s so far, even if the image isn’t dominated by a single figure. The use of lighting is the most in tune with the more mature aesthetics of that decade, especially that menacing human shadow cast across the shattered X-Men in the center of the frame.
If you look, you can see the light from the door as well as the hand in the bottom left corner are still colored in the reddish-orange that informed the entire cover in its previous iteration. I really like the visual of Xavier’s wheelchair overturned and him on his side, it’s a vulnerable look that undercuts a lot of the patriarchal authority he claims. I also dig the weird nature of this junk room the villain has trapped them in, it’s like he’s keeping them prisoner inside his evil supply closet.
5.
Another thoroughly ‘70s cover, this one even more so than the last. This is what I mean when I say the ‘70s was all about large scale characters occupying the center of the frame- Cyclops and Quicksilver here are bigger than anyone else we’ve seen that was meant to be literally represented. As you can see, despite the increased size the action hasn’t been diminished, which was a big part of selling this new format. They weren’t trying to cut down the amount of impressive visual flair, just compress it into characters the audience was understood to have more stake in.
Hence Cyclops’ whole “gripping the air” move as Quicksilver prepares to punch him out. I actually really dig the visualization of superpowers in this cover, as that was something very much being figured out in this new era. Quicksilver’s super speed does look a bit like he’s turning into light or maybe gas, especially where his legs blur into his aura, but it’s got a charm to it and I do like his green costume. Cyclops’ optic blast looks absolutely great though and again you’ve got that highly detailed machinery that’s always cool to look at.
4.
Oh hey, look, it’s the Juggernaut again- can you tell this guy is one of my favorite X-Men villains? Putting that aside, though, This really is a great use of scale and metaphor in comic covers and features a lot of fun transitional ideas. Firstly, I love the weird concept that the giant looming Juggernaut is actually fighting Angel and Iceman on this cover, as if to imply he’s actually 50 feet tall or something (though, spoilers, that’s actually happened before.)
Also we get something I’ve never actually covered on this column before- the floating heads. Floating heads were a very popular trope used in team book covers as a way to indicating to the reads which heroes were going to be featured in this adventure. It’s a very ‘60s kind of concept though it was also probably mandated as a way to save time in sketching: quicker to draw a face than a whole hero. Y
ou might also note that this cover comes from a very odd period as the costumes are in a transitional phase. Angel looks to be wearing his classic costume while Iceman is in his new look, same as Cyclops. Then Jean Grey is sporting a weird, alternate version of her secondary mask. That’s because this is a reprint cover so it also kind of served as a chance to rework old stuff the editorial didn’t love, like Ice Man’s look. That’s always been the Marvel way- if you don’t like it pretend it didn’t happen.
3.
Man, this cover is absolutely fantastic. It’s easily one of the most iconic covers the X-Men ever produced, to the point I’ve no doubt it heavily influenced the visual design of the various Phoenix covers from the late ’70s. This isn’t Phoenix, by the way, it’s Polaris, daughter of Magneto. She was introduced not too far from the end of the original X-Men and dawn of the new heroes along with Cyclops’ secret brother Havoc but has stuck around to be pretty cool.
Her costume actually is green, hence why all the characters on this cover are completely bathed in that green light, which is a really cool and creative aesthetic to go with. It’s actually a better fit than some of the all red covers I’ve seen as green is the color the human eye can perceive the most different shades of.
At the same time, there’s a real ethereal quality to the way Polaris is drawn, hand outstretched but a faraway look in her eyes, she feels truly cosmic though the background helps a lot with that. Those are Kirby Dots, for the curious, a style of energy visualization pioneered by Jack Kirby created through that speckle of little dots and it is absolutely marvelous. I think this is the most dots I’ve ever seen on a cover and I absolutely love it.
2.
Meet another one of the X-Men’s greatest foes you’ve never heard of: the Living Monolith! He’s an Egyptian mutant whose powers allow him to absorb cosmic rays, like the kind that created the Fantastic Four, and convert them to mass. Basically, he could grow to Giant Man size and shoot cosmic energy from his hands because comics are amazing. I mentioned in the previous entry that these covers paved the way for the more iconic X-Men stuff in the ‘70s and this is a great example of that.
See, the pose of the Living Monolith here, specifically the idea of him grabbing the team’s logo in anger, was later used almost verbatim for the Dark Phoenix saga. Like I said, these early X-Men covers were a time for truly free experimentation and it’s hard not to find that inspiring. I especially like the impact design of the word POWER on the bottom of the page, the way it shoots out of the ground like a monolith in its own right.
1.
You didn’t really think we’d get through this list without a visit from Magneto did you? Hell yeah the Master of Magnet made this list and of course he took the top spot. Seriously though, even if this wasn’t the premiere showcase for possibly the BEST Marvel villain it’s an absolutely excellent cover that defied convention and I really wish had been more influential.
It’s another blend of Silver Age and ‘70s visual scale but much like covers 7 and 9, there’s a pop-art sensibility to it that feels decidedly under-appreciated. The best way I can describe it is a willingness to feature characters in undefined space that don’t take up the whole cover.
Previously, if characters were small the backgrounds had to be intricate and then in the ‘70s and modern era larger characters were accepted but they had to fill the whole screen. There’s something about the X-Men’s use of scale that’s wholly unique, with the little X-Men down at the bottom and the medium-sized brotherhood above them.
There’s nothing else to focus on but the figures but the figures aren’t terribly detailed, they’re more arch and colorful. It places the emphasis on broad designs and key colors rather than exquisite depth and, as a result, creates something new and vibrant and delightful- I only wish we’d gotten more like it.
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