How GIANT-SIZE X-MEN Saved Marvel's Mutants

#xmen #wolverine #marvel
A look back at Len Wein and Dave Cockrum's GIANT-SIZE X-Men, and how it transformed the X-Men from forgotten title to one of Marvel's premier comics.
▶ Special thanks to @filmcaffeine , @McDermottYT , @OwenLikesComics and The Geeksplained Podcast ▶
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/geeksplained-podcast/id1407124684
▶ KO-FI ▶ ko-fi.com/foreverykindofgeek
▶ TWITTER ▶ EveryKindofGeek​
▶ SUBSCRIBE ▶ / foreverykindofgeek
▶ WATCH NEXT ▶ SHIELD By Jonathan Hickman | Uncovering The Secret History Of The Marvel Universe - • SHIELD By Jonathan Hic...
▶ CHAPTERS ▶
0:00 - Introduction
1:23 - From The Ashes Of The Past...
6:57 - The Second Genesis
11:03 - A Giant-Sized Legacy

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

Hey everyone, if you enjoyed this video, please consider liking, sharing, and if you feel like it, subscribing to my channel! I'd love to keep doing this and any bit of support helps immensely! SUBSCRIBE - kzbin.info SUPPORT ME ON PATREON - patreon.com/EveryKindofGeek DONATE ON KO-FI - ko-fi.com/foreverykindofgeek

[@SnapperChannel]

Giant Sized X-Men represents the uniqueness of Marvel/DC characters: sometimes the original runs don’t get it right away. All it takes is a new creative team to add in more unique features to characters and worlds that become synonymous.

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

Fantastic way to put it. I'm a firm believer that every title has the potential to shine with the right people and the right voice. Sometimes that takes years of building but there's always a chance to restore something you're passionate about.

[@alexandrefrauches132]

One aspect I like about Giant Size X-Men is how it makes the characters dynamic a big deal. Usually in this types of story it would be easy for the writers to just have the new members getting along with the old ones, or having some arguments in the beginning but end up in good terms by the end of the story. But in the case of the Giant Size team, even after their debut, the group still had struggles in working together due to the fact the members weren't young students like Scott and Jean, they were all adults, with their own sense of independence and were not use to follow orders and work together. This is why the writers idea of killing Thunderbird worked, bc it wasn't just the X-men suffering a major loss but also a reciving a hard lesson, pushing the to improve and become a better organized team.

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

I definitely agree, and I think that's why I connect a lot more with the earlier years of Claremont's time than the later ones. All the scope still feels incredibly grounded by this new team and every issue has an incredible weight to it.

[@jordanromesburg6819]

Clicked hoping for a new Owen Likes Comics/Matt Draper style channel - and not only is the format similar (in a good way!) but then Owen does a voice cameo 🤣

[@justinriley]

Everything people know, love, and recognize about X-Men is because of the phenomenal work of Chris Claremont and David Cockrum.

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

Not to mention Len Wein.

[@justinriley]

Kind of fitting that we're going back to what started it all before the X-Men enter a new era.

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

I'm definitely of two minds on the next chapter in X-Men. I get that returns and refocuses can help rope in new readers, but what I also liked about Giant-Size is that it did all that while re-inventing everything. I feel like you can absolutely do both with the right creators behind everything.

[@zemox2534]

Giant Size Xmen is a good story that introduced one of my favourite X men, Nightcrawler.

[@panthergawwwddd5887]

I remember my dad telling me about Giant Size and the first time he read it and how insane it was. This is truly a special piece of history in ALL of media, not just comics. The beauty of X-Men is that each generation has their definitive story of mutant kind that just blows everyone’s mind. Giant Size, Phoenix/Dark Phoenix, Age of Apocalypse, New X-Men, House/Powers. I can’t wait to see what the next one is!

[@AngelPerez-tu1nk]

Things gave come full circle. The Uncanny mutants will always be Marvel's most persevering heroes.

[@juansanchez209]

Love the video overall, but I personally feel that the Krakoa era was WAY played out by 2024, and I am extremely happy that we are moving past it. Some of my fellow X-Men fans have gone so far as to say that they think the Krakoa era could have gone on for decades and, while I respect their opinions, that personally baffles me. With all due respect to these individuals, I am genuinely a hardcore X-Men fan who has read far before and far beyond that popular 90s era. So given this context, I almost feel like a "bad" fan for harboring a borderline dislike of the Krakoa era lol

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

I totally understand, everyone has their favorite time or take and I don't want to say one is inherently better than the other. I do know Krakoa meant a lot to a lot of people, but I also know there comes a time when new ideas take over and hopefully a new creator brings a fresh take to things. I think a lot of the frustration comes from the fact that the new thing is being marketed as a step back or a return to normal. To me, it's always a bit of a tightrope walk between building on what came before and creating something new, and I'm hoping the more details we get the more it'll actually start to take shape.

[@freeknight10064]

Love your videos, bro. Keep being great!

[@danieladusei1993]

And btw u fought of covering grant Morrison x men run?

[@MirzaAliQasimRaza]

I love when u talk about xmen. ❤

[@danieladusei1993]

Ab another banger every geek keep pumping that marvel content

[@desmondnuamah6597]

Love chis run on the x men

[@ChristyAbbey]

I'm currently reading through the original series. As silver-agey as I am at heart, boredom and frustration are my consistent emotions (exceptions are the battle with Magneto at a military base, and the first sentinels arc.) I started picking up X-Men in the inn1978 with issue 101, and that was my jam.

[@daviddyster4145]

You done video what do you have planned for April? Is it another indie comic DC event or marvel event?

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

Actually I'm covering some videogames for April! I've definitely got more comic videos planned for the year but I always like to shake it up a little to keep myself from burning out

[@daviddyster4145]

@@ForEveryKindofGeek Oh, what is the first game you plan on doing?

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

@@daviddyster4145 that'd be telling a bit early, but definitely expect an announcement on that soon!

[@ginofrancejr555]

Excellent video without this issue the xmen would not be the classic that it is today Clairmont and cockrum were magic plus I hope you cover more 70s and 80s x men runs

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

Thanks! I've definitely been a fan of a lot of the Claremont years, and I've always had plans to cover something like New Mutants. It's definitely on the list!

[@alexandrefrauches132]

3:06 I only disagree about Cyclops. While his friends were indeed just archtypes with no development yet, Scott actually had some qualities that help him be a character of his own and not just a copy of other leaders at that time. He's not a absent-mind scientic genius like Reed nor had the same self-confidence as Captain America. At that time he was just a teenager who was choosen by Xavier to be the leader of the X-men, a position that, combine with his fear of hurting people with optic blast, puts alot of pressure on Scott, making him feel anxious and isolated from others. Scott wasn't a archtype of leader, he was young man who became a leader.

[@stevelandmartin-khan2430]

Commenting for the algorithm:)))

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

Thanks! Any little bump makes a world of difference!

[@MirzaAliQasimRaza]

Waiting for fall ofx to end so u can make a video on it❤

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

It's definitely in the cards, but I'm waiting till it's all wrapped up to get my thoughts together on it.

[@VICTORZITOSS]

Yeaaaah Let's get this video to a lot of views in the first hour so that it gets love from youtube Algorithm bless this video which i liked even before watching it because it's that good Seriously, sometimes i end up pissed off because i can't like it again after watching it, fix that youtube Lots of words lots of engagement, yadda yadda

[@ginofrancejr555]

My bad len wein is a x legend too

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

It's an easy mistake to make. Claremont's definitely a big name in X-Men, but I'll always credit Wein as the writer who really kicked that era off.

[@wdcain1]

My feelings on such a monumental comic has changed by modern stories. _Giant Size X-Men_ #1 has been retconned four times. 1) This team was the second Xavier sent after the first got wiped out. _Deadly Genesis._ 2) Xavier mind controlled Wolverine to join the X-Men. _X-Men Original Sin_ #1. 3) Krakoa was never evil, just insane from a scientist's experimention. _X-Men_ #24 (vol. 4). 4) Krakoa wasn't born from atomic testing and is a million year-old mutant. _X-Men_ #2 (vol. 7). All this changes this important comic and now it feels less special. But then future X-Men fans won't care about these retcons since they didn't read them as they were coming out. Does this restore the original story to its importance? I don't know.

[@MutantsInDisguise]

The X-Men were criminally abysmal as both a team and comic book that went nowhere, literally. Thank Lein Wein and Dave Cockrum for all they did for the team, not Stan Lee, who was just a hack that took credit from others.

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

I can see where you're coming from, but regardless of how much he contributed or how much he claims he contributed, Stan Lee was a co-creator along with Jack Kirby. I'll always push back against his claims of sole creatorship but he was a factor, and that first iteration is what helped inspire everything that came after. That said, I'll happily credit Wein and Cockrum for refining the concept of the X-Men and taking it to new heights. It just plain wouldn't be here today without them.

[@chriscueva1866]

It’s really Claremont who deserves all the credit. Also, the Lee and Kirby X-men comics weren’t bad and were actually pretty good when compared to the standards of the time. They created memorable characters and concepts that would last throughout the X-men’s entire history, I especially like the OG Bolivar Trask Sentinel story. The book starts to suffer when Kirby leaves and then gets real bad when Roy Thomas comes on the book. It gets good again towards the end when Jim Steranko comes on for a couple issues and then Neal Adams but it was too little, too late to save it from cancellation.

[@treymykel]

You say sadly they're going back You mean sadly they're going back to what made X-Men X-Men because the Cocoa age is an X-Men their genocide killers at this point and they're sectionist like no that's not the X-Men The postal fight for a better world for humans and mutants not just for mutants so I don't even know what you talk about sadly no they need to hurry up and go back to what giant size X-Men was and just what X-Men is That's why they did X-Men 97 you know I think some people forget about that because once again when you're telling these stories you have to think about action first entertainment first with a little bit of messaging it can't just be messaging evolution and turning off your fan base cuz he's comments haven't been selling a long time because they need to go back to the safe where they were making money off of the X-Men where X-Men was the largest selling comic book in Marvel not barely scraping by. Giant size X-Men is a great reintroduction to the X-Men and it was great that they were able to save a franchise that was a little stale because let's be honest Jack Kirby and Stan Lee they created so many characters and some of their characters fell by the wayside and even when they put some time and effort in between it they just probably had so much on their plate So a reintroduction with dry and size X-Men was just what the team needed but I wouldn't say oh it's because they need to be diverse I don't want people be like oh well you know cuz this white people okay yeah as a diverse person I connected with a lot of those white characters you know so I don't want to hear about always because the team wasn't diverse enough No the stories just wasn't nuanced enough That's what it was. Any changed it growed and yes the X-Men has its ups and downs and Lord knows is in a downswing right now hopefully they can bring it back like they did with X-Men 97 but we will see😅

[@GZP1023]

X-men was not a household name in the 80s. I dont think you know what that phrase means

[@ForEveryKindofGeek]

Pretty sure becoming one of Marvel’s top-selling titles meets the threshold of something that’s widely well-known. But thanks for the attempted snark! Keeps me on my toes.

[@VICTORZITOSS]

Yeaaaah Let's get this video to a lot of views in the first hour so that it gets love from youtube Algorithm bless this video which i liked even before watching it because it's that good Seriously, sometimes i end up pissed off because i can't like it again after watching it, fix that youtube Lots of words lots of engagement, yadda yadda