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X-Men: Miniseries
X-Men: First X-men
X-Men legend Neal Adams returns to Marvel's mutants, to reveal the secret history of the X-Men...BEFORE Xavier's team! What terrifying threat led the solitary secret agent nicknamed Wolverine to form a mutant strike force, decades in the past? As the government solidifies its plan for the new subspecies known as mutants, Wolverine and his ally Sabretooth recruit a certain Master of Magnetism and Prince of Atlantis to their cause. And as the terrifying new villain Virus attacks Wolverine's ragtag team, the curtain is pulled back on the beginning of the Sentinel program! Be here for the event that rewrites everything you know about the X-Men's past! COLLECTING: First X-Men 1-5
160 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2013
About the author
Christos Gage
1,469 books119 followersChris N. Gage is a writer for comic books and television.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
May 18, 2022
I read the comic books First X-Men #1-5, which sees Neal Adams return to an X-Book and attempt, alongside writer Christos Gage to provide a prologue to the Sentinels, featuring Weapon X, Creed's hate for Logan and more. Logan leads a campaign to halt the United States first attempt to curb the 'mutant problem' circa 1950s-60s. An OK reimagination of early Wolverine, and early Sentinels! 6 out of 12
2013 read
2013 read
March 4, 2019
Omg this was terrible. The art was bad the story was even worse. Why try to change the lore this late in the game. Ugh.....so bad.
October 7, 2016
After reading Batman: Odyssey, I was concerned about this one. But this was light years better than Odyssey thankfully. For those of that didn't care for this one, try to read Batman: Odyssey and you'll probably appreciate this one a little more.
But all kidding aside, I enjoyed this one. I think it's meant to be more of a "What If" story than canon, as there were some things that didn't add up with the continuity I remember. But it was a very interesting take on the potential first team of X-Men featuring Wolverine and Sabretooth. Sabretooth was more heroic than he's been presented before, and Professor X was a bit different as well.
The Neal Adams art was great, as I've stated before he's one of my favorite artists (along with Berni Wrightson.)
Overall a good read for X-Men and Wolverine fans.
But all kidding aside, I enjoyed this one. I think it's meant to be more of a "What If" story than canon, as there were some things that didn't add up with the continuity I remember. But it was a very interesting take on the potential first team of X-Men featuring Wolverine and Sabretooth. Sabretooth was more heroic than he's been presented before, and Professor X was a bit different as well.
The Neal Adams art was great, as I've stated before he's one of my favorite artists (along with Berni Wrightson.)
Overall a good read for X-Men and Wolverine fans.
June 25, 2013
I enjoyed this as a part of Logan (Wolverine's) journey. It had some cool preludes to books that take place later on. If you like X-Men read this. It never tries to create many connections between the reader and the ancillary characters aside from Holo which I like. We know these characters don't have much of a future so lets use em to tell a story and move on. Art is awesome as Adams rocks. So to all the people who gave this 1 star: quit complaining and just enjoy.
July 31, 2017
Interesting story done well but not believable in the Marvel Universe. It works pretty well as a What If though. But also not all that original - the parallels to the world we know is just too close. And it depends on Logan and Creed meeting Prof X and Magneto before they do. Even with Logan losing his memory just too hard to ring true. And another Sentinel story - ugh.
August 26, 2021
I'm not sure if writers Adams and Gage really intended to re-write the beginnings of the X-Men by placing the first group earlier in X-Men chronology than Professor X's assembling of mutant teenagers. Whether this is a "What If?" mini-series or not, it shouldn't matter. The X-Men continuity and canon has been violated so many times over the years that readers should just go along with the ride and enjoy it. I did, as the three star rating reflects my opinion that this is good story-telling and an engaging adventure but not enough to propel it to a four-star (exceeds expectations) or five-star (a classic of the genre) rating.
In this tale, individual with special abilities were already being labeled as "mutants" and discriminated against and abused in the even earlier '60's before the establishment of Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters. The pre-Wolverine and immortal Logan with the bone claws and healing factor
decides to do something about it, and recruits Victor Creed (Sabertooth) to help find people like themselves and rescue those who might be experimented on like lab rats.
Some recruits join them, others do not. Turning them down were a young Professor Xavier, Magneto and Namor. So, the germ of an idea for a special school may have come to Xavier during this encounter with Logan. The hatred that Creed has for Logan gets a possible explanation here for the first time (I think). The beginnings of The Sentinels ( a false start) is also detailed, along with a new and intriguing mutant villain (Virus).
Neal Adams' art doesn't wow me the way it used to, but it still remains great. I know his scripting skills are suspect so the addition of Christos Gage as co-writer is very welcome. A fun read, but not essential if you're not an X-Men collector. (I used to be).
In this tale, individual with special abilities were already being labeled as "mutants" and discriminated against and abused in the even earlier '60's before the establishment of Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters. The pre-Wolverine and immortal Logan with the bone claws and healing factor
decides to do something about it, and recruits Victor Creed (Sabertooth) to help find people like themselves and rescue those who might be experimented on like lab rats.
Some recruits join them, others do not. Turning them down were a young Professor Xavier, Magneto and Namor. So, the germ of an idea for a special school may have come to Xavier during this encounter with Logan. The hatred that Creed has for Logan gets a possible explanation here for the first time (I think). The beginnings of The Sentinels ( a false start) is also detailed, along with a new and intriguing mutant villain (Virus).
Neal Adams' art doesn't wow me the way it used to, but it still remains great. I know his scripting skills are suspect so the addition of Christos Gage as co-writer is very welcome. A fun read, but not essential if you're not an X-Men collector. (I used to be).
January 11, 2018
It brought a new insight on a new view and take of why Victor Creed(Sabertooth) hates Logan(wolverine) and wants to bring him pain. Also time leading up to how and why he agreed to take part in Weapon X experiment.
Also interesting take on young Charles Xavier where he didn't want to help others and just wanted to be considered a human being and love a normal life. Later finally realizes what he must do for others.
Also interesting take on young Charles Xavier where he didn't want to help others and just wanted to be considered a human being and love a normal life. Later finally realizes what he must do for others.
May 17, 2013
via NYPL - Sadly, this one's a trainwreck of forgettable characters, as Adams and Gage never give readers any reason to empathise with one of the cast.
April 27, 2015
2.5 stars
June 11, 2018
Read "The First X-Men" by Neal Adams (writer/penciler/inker [issue #5]), Christos Gage (writer), Andrew Currie (inker [#1-4]), and Matthew Wilson (colorist). Originally released in single issue format as "The First X-Men" #1-5.
Generally speaking, not bad. This is the third "newer work" (2011 onwards) that I've read over the past few years. The first, "Batman: Odyssey" (released cover date December 2011 through June 2012), had some pretty art by Adams (as always) but the story was confusing and the main characters (Batman, Robin, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon) were all depicted so out of character that that I had a hard time enjoying it). The second to come out was this one, "The First X-Men" (October 2012 through March 2013). And the third (most recent) was "Superman: The Coming of the Supermen" (April 2016 through September 2016), which I enjoyed more than the Batman story because the Superman tale was shorter and didn't feel as "padded" although it again felt like I was reading different versions of Superman and his supporting casts than I've ever read before, just as with the Batman story.
Of the three, I think I enjoyed "The First X-Men" more than I did "Batman: Odyssey", and probably about the same as I did "Superman: The Coming of the Supermen". The story is better in "The First X-Men" than the other two (perhaps because in this case Adams had a co-writer, Christos Gage.
Adams' art, again, is very nice in places. However, his storytelling seems to take second place at times to drawing a cool looking page. His facial expressions also don't always seem to match the tone of the dialogue. (In the case of Wolverine and Sabretooth, most of the time they appear to be growling their words--which is usually appropriate for these two characters--although Adams does show them smiling occasionally.)
And, again in the area of storytelling, there are abrupt jumps in the action between panels sometimes. For instance, in one panel they would all be sitting together, in the next Wolverine would be lunged across the panel attacking someone with only his dialogue explaining what was happening (rather than a close up shot of Wolverine reacting to whatever was just said, in between). "Traveling" transitions (when the characters are moving from one location to another are sometimes rushed or omitted, as well.
That said, again, I enjoyed the overall story well enough.
One thing that people need to realize in these three Neal Adams written books (originally published as comic book limited series) is that these have to be taking place in Adams' own specific universe, separate from the other X-Men, Batman, and Superman comics that were coming out at the time these were, and any that came prior to that. Adams' plot points do not fit in with any already existing lines of continuity, and the characters are given to acting quite differently than they usually do. (And, yes, I realize that all of these characters have been written by countless writers by this point over the years, and that there is not single way of portraying any of these characters anymore, but for DC and/or Marvel comic book geeks like me it still sticks out like a sore thumb when the characters act differently from existing stories without some clearly labeled reason why, which is why I am unofficially labeling these as all taking place in the "Adams-verse".)
"The First X-Men" is not an especially original story. Logan (Wolverine), prior to his becoming part of the Weapon X program and receiving his Adamantium claws and to his losing most of his memory, partnering with Victor Creed (Sabretooth) and bringing together a small group of other mutants (mostly newly created ones for this series) to defend themselves and other mutants from a federal government agency that's been hunting them down. Along the way, they cross paths with other established characters ("guest stars", which is always part of the fun part to reading a Neal Adams book, seeing them and how he will draw them) such as Charles Xavier (Professor X), Magneto, and Namor the Sub-Mariner.
The ending is a bit predictable as it has to set things up to "fit" (somewhat) within established X-Men continuity (Wolverine still has to undergo the Weapon X ordeal and Charles Xavier establish his School for Gifted Youngsters). That, however, does not lessen my enjoyment of the story, overall, as it is not an uncommon thing in superhero stories, that they follow well established "story beats" and that you can oftentimes tell where the story is going.
I would recommend this book to any Neal Adams fans, and to any X-Men and/or Wolverine fans who don't think Adams and Gage's liberties with established comic book continuity and characterizations will cause them too much irritation to be able to enjoy this. (And for anyone who read "Batman: Odyssey" first and who did not like that work, please don't let it prevent you from trying this and "Superman: The Coming of the Supermen". I think you will agree that they are at least a bit better, even if they do not recapture that Neal Adams magic of his 1960s and 70s comics that he is mostly famous for still today.
Generally speaking, not bad. This is the third "newer work" (2011 onwards) that I've read over the past few years. The first, "Batman: Odyssey" (released cover date December 2011 through June 2012), had some pretty art by Adams (as always) but the story was confusing and the main characters (Batman, Robin, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon) were all depicted so out of character that that I had a hard time enjoying it). The second to come out was this one, "The First X-Men" (October 2012 through March 2013). And the third (most recent) was "Superman: The Coming of the Supermen" (April 2016 through September 2016), which I enjoyed more than the Batman story because the Superman tale was shorter and didn't feel as "padded" although it again felt like I was reading different versions of Superman and his supporting casts than I've ever read before, just as with the Batman story.
Of the three, I think I enjoyed "The First X-Men" more than I did "Batman: Odyssey", and probably about the same as I did "Superman: The Coming of the Supermen". The story is better in "The First X-Men" than the other two (perhaps because in this case Adams had a co-writer, Christos Gage.
Adams' art, again, is very nice in places. However, his storytelling seems to take second place at times to drawing a cool looking page. His facial expressions also don't always seem to match the tone of the dialogue. (In the case of Wolverine and Sabretooth, most of the time they appear to be growling their words--which is usually appropriate for these two characters--although Adams does show them smiling occasionally.)
And, again in the area of storytelling, there are abrupt jumps in the action between panels sometimes. For instance, in one panel they would all be sitting together, in the next Wolverine would be lunged across the panel attacking someone with only his dialogue explaining what was happening (rather than a close up shot of Wolverine reacting to whatever was just said, in between). "Traveling" transitions (when the characters are moving from one location to another are sometimes rushed or omitted, as well.
That said, again, I enjoyed the overall story well enough.
One thing that people need to realize in these three Neal Adams written books (originally published as comic book limited series) is that these have to be taking place in Adams' own specific universe, separate from the other X-Men, Batman, and Superman comics that were coming out at the time these were, and any that came prior to that. Adams' plot points do not fit in with any already existing lines of continuity, and the characters are given to acting quite differently than they usually do. (And, yes, I realize that all of these characters have been written by countless writers by this point over the years, and that there is not single way of portraying any of these characters anymore, but for DC and/or Marvel comic book geeks like me it still sticks out like a sore thumb when the characters act differently from existing stories without some clearly labeled reason why, which is why I am unofficially labeling these as all taking place in the "Adams-verse".)
"The First X-Men" is not an especially original story. Logan (Wolverine), prior to his becoming part of the Weapon X program and receiving his Adamantium claws and to his losing most of his memory, partnering with Victor Creed (Sabretooth) and bringing together a small group of other mutants (mostly newly created ones for this series) to defend themselves and other mutants from a federal government agency that's been hunting them down. Along the way, they cross paths with other established characters ("guest stars", which is always part of the fun part to reading a Neal Adams book, seeing them and how he will draw them) such as Charles Xavier (Professor X), Magneto, and Namor the Sub-Mariner.
The ending is a bit predictable as it has to set things up to "fit" (somewhat) within established X-Men continuity (Wolverine still has to undergo the Weapon X ordeal and Charles Xavier establish his School for Gifted Youngsters). That, however, does not lessen my enjoyment of the story, overall, as it is not an uncommon thing in superhero stories, that they follow well established "story beats" and that you can oftentimes tell where the story is going.
I would recommend this book to any Neal Adams fans, and to any X-Men and/or Wolverine fans who don't think Adams and Gage's liberties with established comic book continuity and characterizations will cause them too much irritation to be able to enjoy this. (And for anyone who read "Batman: Odyssey" first and who did not like that work, please don't let it prevent you from trying this and "Superman: The Coming of the Supermen". I think you will agree that they are at least a bit better, even if they do not recapture that Neal Adams magic of his 1960s and 70s comics that he is mostly famous for still today.
April 10, 2024
If someone presented me with an outline for this story from concept to final page, I'd cautiously suggest that with precisely the right creative team, this could be interesting but on the surface the story feels very forced and not very original or fun.
The dialogue on the first few pages scraped against my eyes. I was trying to figure out if Gage was trying to suggest this took place at a particular time or whether he was trying to make a modern sounding patter between characters. Whatever he was trying to do, it didn't work. The syntax was off, and while it wasn't difficult to follow, it was jarring. But by the time the second issue rolled around, characters started talking somewhat stiltedly but believably.
Another big stumbling point for me is the art. You might love Neal Adams , and if that's the case, you might love the look of this book. For me, Adams's art has always felt inconsistent. It's not terrible. It's not ugly. It's just that Wolverine's face and haircut looks different from page to page, as do other characters. Every character was always recognizable and distinguishable from other characters but it's like watching a movie and an actor got a nose job and switched wigs several times during shooting, and since it wasn't filmed chronologically the nose seems to change from scene to scene.
The end result of this story is never truly in question, as it is supposed to take place "long before" Professor X builds the Westchester School (though, actually, we see him build it at the end of the story). We don't really learn anything new about any of the characters except it gives us a possible reason why Sabertooth has always been such a dick to Wolverine. It's sort of like a shoddier version of Star Wars' Rogue One, you know the new characters you're introduced to aren't going to survive to the parts of the story you've already seen so it seems like the creators don't even bother trying to give you any reason to care about them before they're inevitably killed off.
The dialogue on the first few pages scraped against my eyes. I was trying to figure out if Gage was trying to suggest this took place at a particular time or whether he was trying to make a modern sounding patter between characters. Whatever he was trying to do, it didn't work. The syntax was off, and while it wasn't difficult to follow, it was jarring. But by the time the second issue rolled around, characters started talking somewhat stiltedly but believably.
Another big stumbling point for me is the art. You might love Neal Adams , and if that's the case, you might love the look of this book. For me, Adams's art has always felt inconsistent. It's not terrible. It's not ugly. It's just that Wolverine's face and haircut looks different from page to page, as do other characters. Every character was always recognizable and distinguishable from other characters but it's like watching a movie and an actor got a nose job and switched wigs several times during shooting, and since it wasn't filmed chronologically the nose seems to change from scene to scene.
The end result of this story is never truly in question, as it is supposed to take place "long before" Professor X builds the Westchester School (though, actually, we see him build it at the end of the story). We don't really learn anything new about any of the characters except it gives us a possible reason why Sabertooth has always been such a dick to Wolverine. It's sort of like a shoddier version of Star Wars' Rogue One, you know the new characters you're introduced to aren't going to survive to the parts of the story you've already seen so it seems like the creators don't even bother trying to give you any reason to care about them before they're inevitably killed off.
April 16, 2019
I’ll be honest... at first I was groaning. The pacing at the beginning was rough, and the characterizations did not seem true to the lore.
It got much better.
This earned it’s 4 star rating for a few reasons:
- the art was awesome. Neal Adams rarely disappoints.
- Virus is a totally awesome and hideous villain
- the narrative gaps it fills are kind of cool. It explores Logan and Victor’s feud, and shows how Magneto went from “killin naaazis” to forming the brotherhood, there was an awesome Namor cameo that drew from homeless Namor, and it showed how Prof X evolved to believe in his mission. Did the retconning feel a little forced? Definitely! But I still enjoyed it. Guess I’m a sucker.
It ended up being a pretty fun read. I almost ranked it as a 3 because of really crappy pacing and dialogue in the beginning, but a strong ending makes a big difference, and this ended strong.
It got much better.
This earned it’s 4 star rating for a few reasons:
- the art was awesome. Neal Adams rarely disappoints.
- Virus is a totally awesome and hideous villain
- the narrative gaps it fills are kind of cool. It explores Logan and Victor’s feud, and shows how Magneto went from “killin naaazis” to forming the brotherhood, there was an awesome Namor cameo that drew from homeless Namor, and it showed how Prof X evolved to believe in his mission. Did the retconning feel a little forced? Definitely! But I still enjoyed it. Guess I’m a sucker.
It ended up being a pretty fun read. I almost ranked it as a 3 because of really crappy pacing and dialogue in the beginning, but a strong ending makes a big difference, and this ended strong.
October 15, 2021
This book has some cool and memorable visual ideas, and that's it. The plot of this prequel is in an uncomfortable state where it is aware of X-Men history, but doesn't fit inside it, so it becomes an unintentional 5 issues of "What If". The ending feels rushed, as though there were supposed to be 6 issues instead of 5. Neal Adams' art, with its trademark early-90s "pecs and boobs everywhere" style, is done no favors by the muddy inks and the poor design choice of having 3 feral strongmen out of 4 main characters, making it hard to give them all distinct body language and things to do in a fight. Even the antagonists are written weirdly, having these normal Washington intrigue movie conversations with comically large, outlandish villains sitting in the next chair.
December 31, 2021
A pretty good story that helps set up a lot of things for the X-Men stuff like seeing Charles get the idea to set up his school, the beginnings of the Weapon X program and the Sentinels project, we also see how Magneto was inspired to start forming his own brotherhood and they even managed to fit in Namor into the story. We also see why Sabertooth hates Wolverine and it is kind of the weakest part of the story as the romance that Sabertooth starts with another character Holo seems rushed and not really believable and someone what happened to her is somehow Wolverine's fault. But it is just kind of cool seeing almost everything X-Men related being set up.
January 9, 2019
Sigh.
This wasn’t good. I’m struggling to even think of anything to say about it. It feels like an unnecessary story, a weak attempt at retconning a previous X-Men team into a timeline that doesn’t really allow for it.
Oh and GUESS WHAT. There’s only one woman and she dies, accidentally killed by Sabretooth (which spurs him into becoming a villain.) Also she was 18 and dating Sabretooth (who is like in his 80s.) I’m sensing a pattern...
Anyhow. Don’t read this. It’s a waste of your time.
This wasn’t good. I’m struggling to even think of anything to say about it. It feels like an unnecessary story, a weak attempt at retconning a previous X-Men team into a timeline that doesn’t really allow for it.
Oh and GUESS WHAT. There’s only one woman and she dies, accidentally killed by Sabretooth (which spurs him into becoming a villain.) Also she was 18 and dating Sabretooth (who is like in his 80s.) I’m sensing a pattern...
Anyhow. Don’t read this. It’s a waste of your time.
February 6, 2019
Neal Adams is one, if not the, artist who most inspires me as an illustrator. This is his later artwork and is a further slide in quality. Still it is head and shoulders of any other artwork in anything today.
The story stinks. Poorly written, trite dialogue and over done plotting. Also, this veers mighty far away from Lee and Kirby's more logical (as fantasy can be) origins of the team involved.
Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 3 out of 10 points.
The story stinks. Poorly written, trite dialogue and over done plotting. Also, this veers mighty far away from Lee and Kirby's more logical (as fantasy can be) origins of the team involved.
Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 3 out of 10 points.
July 25, 2018
This was a great intro to x men and had plenty of action and plenty of different characters. I enjoyed the big corporation bad guy and how the logan and the kids all fight as a unit. It was sad about Creed though.
May 15, 2021
I got this for my dad on his 63rd birthday because he couldn’t afford comic books as a kid with an adverse childhood... and I shouldn’t have given this as a present! What a bore! I’m sure there’s far better editions out there, I’ll make sure to screen his comic books asap 😥
March 17, 2022
If you’ve seen “X-Men: First Class,” you have read this book. However, it is an interesting take on Logan’s attempt to form a precursor to the X-Men. In addition, the tome has: Sabertooth! Bolivar Trask! The Sentinels! Professor X! Moira McTaggert! Even Weapon X!!
August 23, 2017
Ever wonder what mad Sabertooth so pissed at Wolverine? Read this.
September 27, 2017
The writing was bad at first but I stuck it out and it got better. in the end it was alright. a descent Or in story but nothing mind blowing.
November 5, 2017
Jssheisjndewjdn soooo gooood!! I don’t really read comics but now I DEFINITELY AM!!!!!
September 12, 2018
Terrible. I have never given a one star review and still might change it. Nothing was good not the story, not Neal Admas art not anything. A complete failure.
September 21, 2020
Creed & Holo 4eva
July 17, 2021
This was fine, a solid, straightforward story. If probably have liked it more if I was a wolverine person.
December 29, 2021
It was pretty good, showed some new characters but i would put this in a different universe.
May 8, 2022
I'm a big fan of graphic novels but this one was far too jarring. Moving between scenes far too quickly without any great detail.
Didn't quite work.
Didn't quite work.
June 4, 2024
A mini series that is basically a what if Wolverine formed the first team of X-Men.
March 15, 2017
Amazing to see Neal Adams still working in 2012. An interesting prequel, and fills in some back story, albeit a little clumsily.
January 12, 2013
Interesting take that there was an X-Men team before Xavier's X-Men. If Wolverine was not already popular enough, Neal Adams had to go and write a five-issue prelude stating Logan and Creed were the first X-Men.
I enjoyed the first issue but not sure this will entirely play out.
After FINALLY finishing this series, I'm glad it's over. Are they really the First X-Men? Maybe first mutant group to instill X-Men beliefs but were they really called X-Men? Interesting read but everyone's nickname (besides Wolverine & Sabretooth) were just terrible. Bomb? Yeti?
Gimme a break. Maybe if the book didn't focus so much on Wolvie and Sabretooth, I might've grown on the other characters.
I don't recommend this as I thought that overall, it was just okay.
I enjoyed the first issue but not sure this will entirely play out.
After FINALLY finishing this series, I'm glad it's over. Are they really the First X-Men? Maybe first mutant group to instill X-Men beliefs but were they really called X-Men? Interesting read but everyone's nickname (besides Wolverine & Sabretooth) were just terrible. Bomb? Yeti?
Gimme a break. Maybe if the book didn't focus so much on Wolvie and Sabretooth, I might've grown on the other characters.
I don't recommend this as I thought that overall, it was just okay.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews