Marvel Comics Library. X-Men. Vol. 1. 1963-1966

When Marvel publisher Martin Goodman asked the brilliant Stan Lee to develop a new comic series, he had no idea he would end up with something like the X-Men. No one foresaw that these superheroes would become a true phenomenon of pop culture – not Goodman, not Lee, and not even the visionary futurist Jack Kirby. Conceived as mutants by Lee and Kirby, they began as a charming, motley crew of outsiders. They were teenagers with "eX-tra" powers that they received at birth, not through random cosmic radiation or an atomic explosion. Trained and led by a level-headed professor, the heroes were able to protect the world from threats and villains.

The early stories laid the groundwork for much of what would make the X-Men a nexus of comics and pop culture. Feared, misunderstood, and persecuted by the public, the mutants waged their own civil rights struggle. Despite their different superpowers, the outsiders Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Beast, and Iceman found safety in their community. Professor Xavier faced off against his enemy Magneto, who had gathered a brotherhood of evil mutants and was fighting against all of humanity.

Lee and Kirby were inspired to usher comics into the Marvel Age, creating a whole host of villains and characters that would become staples of Marvel's superhero lore: the super-powered siblings Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, the colossal Blob, the unstoppable Juggernaut, Ka-Zar, the jungle dweller from the Savage Land, the demigod The Stranger from the stars, and Bolivar Trask with his army of Sentinels hunting mutants.