My first X-Men was X-Men 137, which I am not going to show the cover because if you don't know what the cover of X-Men 137 looks like I think you are in the wrong forum.
It's insane that one of Marvel's most famous covers has a giant banner about a Toys R Us shopping spree across the top
I'm not certain, but I think my first experience with a Marvel character was this Happy Meal toy. Apparently it came out in 1996. My first comic didn't come until much later.
I was hooked on Batman: The Animated Series, but I didn't know anything about Marvel.
A few years later, I got into Spider-Man: The Animated Series (or maybe X-Men: Evolution?). The next time my mom took me toy shopping, I got the Marvel Legends series 3 Magneto and Wolverine. Because of that, my first issue was Uncanny X-Men 133, included with the Wolverine figure. That issue cemented an enduring (and expensive) bond.
Would that be 8am or 9am Pacific Time?
8 a.m.
My first experience with any Marvel character was the Spiderman on the logo at the end of the Muppet Babies show. I also remember seeing the 1970s Spiderman show and thinking it was lame. For me at least, the 1980s was all about Superman / Batman / Wonderwoman in terms of branding. I even remember the Looney Tunes DC Heroes Happy Meal toys. I think the 1990s changed the balance in Marvel's favor in terms of number of well known / recognizable characters.
The very first issue of X-Men that I can clearly remember was number 14.
This would have been the early fall of 1965. I was seven years old, just a month or two from turning eight. I saw it on a spinner rack at a drugstore in my little town (No comic shops in those days). I could read on my own then, but my Dad liked the way that cover looked so he read it to me. I still have that comic. It's dog eared and tattered, but I have it.
Marvel had a crappy distribution deal in the early 60's. You saw DC's, Gold Keys, Charltons, Harveys and Archies everywhere, but you never saw that many Marvels. Batman and Justice League were my favs, but on those rare occasions when I saw a Marvel I usually got it. Especially Avengers and X-Men.
In 1968 Marvel reworked their distribution deal and after that the sky was the limit. I became a regular reader of most Marvel titles. X-Men, Avengers, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, FF, Doc Strange, Namor, Daredevil, Captain America, Silver Surfer and as many Marvels as I could get my hands on. I got paid cash from recycling glass bottles so I was able to afford them. Comics were only 12 cents so you didn't need to make a lot of money.
In the summer of 1974 I bought this at a grocery store:
Still have it. And it's in much better shape than my X-Men 14. Thanks goodness I never clipped out the Marvel Value Stamp.
And then came the Spring of 1975.
Giant-Size X-Men number one was probably the most important comic published during the Bronze Age. I think the X-Men, more than any other title, helped usher in the age of comic shops and the direct market. Casual readers became die hard fans and the die hards couldn't get enough. From about 1975 to 1991 X-Men was consistently the best book Marvel published. It was an extraordinary run that will probably never be equaled.
It says something that X-Men seems to bring out the best of whoever writes and draws it. Lee, Kirby, Thomas, Adams, Steranko, Windsor-Smith, Claremont, Cockrum, Byrne, Paul Smith, Silvestri, Romita Jr, they did the best work of their careers on X-Men (And yes, I'm fully aware of Neal Adam's amazing award winning run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow. As great as that was, I still think his X-Men stuff was better).
So why is that? Why do fans and creators love this book so much? I think it's because the concept is so stunningly stark: "Sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them!" It doesn't get much more noble and heroic than that. Nearly everyone has felt like an outcast at some point in their lives. Imagine being a freak, ostracized and ridiculed, never fitting in, never being accepted for who you are, and then turning around and protecting the very society that rejected you. What kind of fortitude does something like that take? What kind of inner strength?
I love the X-Men. And I'm very glad I got to thank Stan and Jack in person for creating them.
The first Marvel toys I remember having were the Stretch Armstrong versions of Spider-Man and the Hulk. At least one of them broke and left goo all over my closet floor. I remember having Captain America's and the Thing's face on t-shirts. I remember being young and into art, and going to my friend's house and thumbing through his older brother's comics. We would copy characters from the pages. He loved some dude with claws, but I gravitated to the guy with a visor that fit over his eyes, he could shoot lasers from it. I remember having a ColorForms set of the Hulk and his enemies. I remember some coloring books with these characters.
The first Marvel toy I remember consciously buying were the X-Men figures. That guy with the visor, now could light up. That guy with the claws had springs in his arms that made him pop, and a mask that could also be worn on your own finger as a ring! They had a buddy who could stick to walls via suction cups. Another buddy who was made of metal.
My first X-Men comics were these very unremarkable ones from ‘92/‘93. I got them as a set from a flea market (not sure if that an offensive term or still a thing, but it’s what they were called then). The stories in the issues are very forgettable (especially compared to the issues they were around), but I still love the art.
I was already watching the X-Men animated series, buying the figures, and reading other comics like those late ‘80s/early ‘90s gothic Batman stories and Death of Superman by the time I got these, but they were my intro to X-Men comics and really Marvel in general.
My first comics that started the true obsessions were Avengers Annual #17 and Captain America #350. My dad brought them home from a trip and surely just grabbed something in the airport, picking up the most expensive ones to somehow make up for whatever guilt he felt for being gone. If he only knew what he was starting.
That made me an Avengers kid through and through. I didn't mess with the X-Men until I got sick of hearing how awesome they were and picked up Uncanny 273, I think. I might have gotten 273-275 all at once with the spotty distribution to grocery stores and pharmacies.
I have no idea what my first comic was. I know I learned to read after my mother told me "if you learn to read, you can read your comics by yourself," but because I was so young I haven't even the foggiest recollection of what comics those would have been. Very likely Batman, Spider-Man, or Justice League, since I know I would have been watching Super Friends, the Batman live action show with Adam West, and the 70s Spider-Man cartoon. There's also pictures of me with a Batman Mego and in a Batman costume at age 3, so my guess is very likely an issue of Batman.
I do remember my first X-Men comic, since I was much older then. It wasn't an issue of Uncanny, it was the Teen Titans/X-Men crossover. I was reading Teen Titans and the crossover put the X-Men on my radar. About a year later I bought my first issue of Uncanny X-Men, 176.
My first X-Men comics were these very unremarkable ones from ‘92/‘93. I got them as a set from a flea market (not sure if that an offensive term or still a thing, but it’s what they were called then). The stories in the issues are very forgettable (especially compared to the issues they were around), but I still love the art.
I was already watching the X-Men animated series, buying the figures, and reading other comics like those late ‘80s/early ‘90s gothic Batman stories and Death of Superman by the time I got these, but they were my intro to X-Men comics and really Marvel in general.
Probably 60% of my collection came from trips to the flea market with my mom as a kid - it wasn't until way later that I started buying new issues as they released from the local book store. Loved those flea market finds!
My very first comic was a copy of Thor #246, purchased by my Dad for me (I was five at the time) off the spinner rack at our local Sheetz store. He and my Mom had been looking for a way to get me to start reading on my own, and they thought comics might be the way. Turns out that was indeed the case. 😉
I still have my original copy, beat to all kinds of hell and back, and definitely showing its age, framed in my downstairs hallway comic gallery.
Don't remember what my first X-Men comic was. I'm pretty sure it was during the Claremont/Byrne run somewhere.
Well, since this thread has gone insane and we're taking a communal trip down mutant memory lane...
When I was 10 years old, while barefoot riding my bitchin' Huffy bicycle with totally rad mag rims, I wiped out and tore my big toenail off, landing me in the ER. While I was lying in the hospital bed with my toe all wrapped in gauze, my big brother came in and brought me Uncanny X-Men issue 138 to cheer me up.
While it wasn't my first comic by a longshot, it was my first real exposure to the X-MEN and it took hold, sending me on a journey to do whatever I could to read more issues and make it to puberty so my mutant powers would express and I could finally join the X-MEN!!
Shortly thereafter, I traded a kid from school one of those 12-inch(?) Star Wars large size Stormtrooper figures for issue 113 and it was the best trade I ever made.
That issue blew me away (the cover art alone was incredible) and opened me up to the idea of procuring back issues and catching up on all the adventures I had missed.
Funny side note: Initially, I think because of their hair, I thought Beast and Logan were the same person and I couldn't figure out why he was blue sometimes, and at other times human-looking.
I did/still do wear a helmet with a chinstrap and mouth guard though... hmmmmm.
My first X-Men comics were these very unremarkable ones from ‘92/‘93. I got them as a set from a flea market (not sure if that an offensive term or still a thing, but it’s what they were called then). The stories in the issues are very forgettable (especially compared to the issues they were around), but I still love the art.
I was already watching the X-Men animated series, buying the figures, and reading other comics like those late ‘80s/early ‘90s gothic Batman stories and Death of Superman by the time I got these, but they were my intro to X-Men comics and really Marvel in general.
Probably 60% of my collection came from trips to the flea market with my mom as a kid - it wasn't until way later that I started buying new issues as they released from the local book store. Loved those flea market finds!
Yeah, was a great way to get a large collection quickly! I know it was these specific issues because I recently found them in the original bag I got them in, which I weirdly kept. All the books are beat up from many, many reads.
It was a eureka moment for me realizing you could buy new comics as they came out at the local comic store and not just get them from the flea market or pharmacy. I was lucky to have two in my area in southeastern Michigan — Book Bin and Big Ben’s Comix Oasis, the latter of which is still around and thriving.
My first comics were Pink Panther 58 and Scamp 44 from November of 1978
My first DC comics were Detective Comics 503 and Batman 336, from June of 1981
My first Marvel Comic was Marvel Team-Up from the same month
My first ever exposure to a Marvel character was probably Spider-Man's appearance in the Electric Company. First Marvel toy was Mego Spider-Man.
First exposure to a DC character would have undoubtedly been Super Friends. First DC toy would have been the Mego Die-Cast Superman and Batman
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