A Matter of Style

Before we continue, I want to take a moment to observe some of the artistic changes that have been taking place over the last few issues. The X-Men are maturing, both as characters and as a comic. The series is beginning to feel less like a monster-of-the-month novelty and more of an ongoing saga. This is reflected throughout the writing, the layouts, and the artwork itself.

Staff Shake Up

The first big changes to the X-Men staff are occurring during these recent issues. This is the staff of issue 11, and up until now Jack Kirby has done all the pencilling and Stan Lee has done all the writing. Now that is about to change, as some new talent is being brought in. The era of Lee and Kirby doing most of the work has ended sooner than I would have imagined.

Now On Sale Monthly!

In addition to the Sentinels, another X-Men milestone happened in issue 14. That is the announcement that X-Men is now a monthly series. Up until this point, issues were only coming out every other month. We’ve already covered more than two years of X-Men comics, from September 1963 to November 1965.