60945 - The Uncanny X-Men

[Humble Master]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/60945/

In 1963 Marvel published the first issue of The X-Men. This was the series title on the cover as well as in the legal indicia within the comic book. With issue #50, the cover title switched to X-Men, though the legal indicia did not reflect the loss of the article until issue #94. A couple years after the series relaunch in 1975 the cover title was changed to The Uncanny X-Men beginning with #114, though the legal indicia did not reflect this change until issue #142. The final title change (thus far) resulted in the cover title becoming simply Uncanny X-Men with issue #394, though the legal indicia did not change to Uncanny X-Men until issue #408.

[Katya]

It just seems like a weird adjective to pick. Is there any greater reasoning behind it?

[Humble Master]

Marvel (specifically Stan Lee) was adjective happy back in the day. The first superhero comic Marvel published was The Fantastic Four, and soon they had The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Mighty Thor, The Invincible Iron Man, and The Astonishing Ant-Man. It certainly didn't stop in the sixties, as Marvel has also published The Spectacular Spider-Man, The Immortal Iron Fist, The Sensational She-Hulk, the Savage She-Hulk, the Mighty Avengers, Astonishing X-Men, New Mutants, New Avengers, New X-Men, New Exiles, Young Avengers, Young X-Men, Uncanny X-Force, etc.

There was no specific reason Uncanny was chosen for the X-Men (it may have been used in one of the early issues, but I don't have access to go look right now) so when they decided to add an adjective they honored the early issues by using Uncanny. Or it may simply have been that there weren't many handy x-adjectives that would provide an alliteration (like Invincible Iron Man, Astonishing Ant-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, etc.), but while they were looking in the x-section of the dictionary they happened to be near the u-section, and stumbled upon Uncanny after striking out in the x-section.

[Humble Master]

When I get home I'll check the first issue and see if Uncanny is tossed out when a military commander is describing the X-Men...I have a vague memory of that happening.

[Katya]

Or it may simply have been that there weren't many handy x-adjectives that would provide an alliteration (like Invincible Iron Man, Astonishing Ant-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, etc.), but while they were looking in the x-section of the dictionary they happened to be near the u-section, and stumbled upon Uncanny after striking out in the x-section.

And it's still sort of alliterative, in terms of both words starting with a vowel sound.

[Humble Master]

In the first issue from 1963 Magneto attacks an army base. The X-Men are allowed 15 minutes to try to defeat Magneto before more drastic measures are taken (classic cliche...). When the X-Men win their battle the General in charge of the base exclaims "Uncanny! Your fifteen minutes are not up!" (Lee 31).

So, in 1975 when they decided to add an adjective to the title of the series, I'm assuming they chose uncanny as a nod to that line from the first issue. I have no proof of this, but it seems likely.

Works Cited

Lee, Stan (w) and Jack Kirby (a). “X-Men.” The X-Men #1 (Sep. 1963). The X-Men Omnibus Volume 1: Collecting The X-Men Nos. 1-31. Ed. Cory Sedlmeier. NY: Marvel Comics, 2009. 8-31. Print.