The X-Men (1963) #6

Cover by Jack Kirby

Cover Date: July 1964

On-Sale Date: May 1964

Synopsis: Magneto tries to recruit the Sub-Mariner, and the X-Men show up to stop them. Everybody fights until the Sub-Mariner gets sick of it, wrecks Magneto's big magnet, and leaves.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES

Page 1

The X-Men are now being described as "the most unusual teen-agers of all time!" With Iceman the youngest at 16, that gives an age range of 16 to 19. This issue is most likely still in XY 0, so the X-Men were born in years ranging from XY -16 to XY -20.

Angel mentions that this is the first time he's seen Cyclops smile in months. This isn't particularly helpful, but I'm mentioning it for the sake of completeness.

Finally, Xavier says that it's the cook's day off.  The school has a cook?  There's never been any mention of mansion staff, or any people shown living there aside from Xavier and the X-Men themselves.  This mysterious cook hasn't ever made an on-panel appearance, as far as I know.

Page 2, panel 5

The coast guard are keeping an eye out for Namor.  His last appearance before this was in Fantastic Four (1961) #27, in which he was spurned by Sue Storm.

Page 6, panel 1

Namor is still mad about being rejected by Sue Storm, so FF #27 can't have happened too long ago.  The guest appearance of the X-Men in FF #28 has to happen in between, so a bit of time must pass. Luckily for me Namor is a guy who can stay mad about stuff for a really long time.

Page 7, panels 7 to 9

This flashback happened, as Xavier says, some days before the beginning of this story.

Page 9, panel 5

Namor is referring to his ill-fated alliance with the Hulk from Avengers (1963) #3.  I covered that story a few days ago, but only the X-Men's brief cameo.

Page 11, panels 4 and 5

Page 20, Panel 6

This the first time that the Sub-Mariner is meeting the X-Men, as well as Magneto and his Brotherhood. None of those meetings go particularly well, although he does get horny for the Scarlet Witch while on the rebound from Sue Storm. I don't think this ever comes up again.

Also, you can see in the background that Jean is still wearing the new cowl that first appeared in Fantastic Four (1961) #28.

COUNTING THE DAYS

This issue takes place some time after Fantastic Four (1961) #28, although it can't be too long since Namor is still mad about stuff that happened in FF #27.

• Days before the story starts: Page 7.6 to 7.8 flashback. Magneto uses his big magnet to stop a freighter getting too close to his island.
• Day 1: Page 1 to 8.1. Xavier and Magneto both decide that Namor might be a mutant, and try to contact him in their astral forms. Xavier gives up when he senses Magneto, and Magneto contacts one of Namor's treacherous flunkies.
• Day 2: Page 8.2 to 22. I had a day pass here to give Xavier time to charter a sailing ship. Namor is convinced to go to Magneto's island, the X-Men arrive, and everyone fights until Namor decides he's sick of the whole thing and leaves.