X-Men (1963) #14

Cover by Jack Kirby

Cover Date: November 1965

On-Sale Date: September 1965

Synopsis: Eminent anthropologist and crap roboticist Bolivar Trask stirs up anti-mutant sentiment with his new invention, the Sentinels. Predictably, the Sentinels turn against their creator and humanity.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES

Page 1

The X-Men are shown here in the final stages of recuperating from the injuries they sustained while fighting the Juggernaut in X-Men (1963) #13.  I currently have Fantastic Four Annual (1965) #3 - which depicts the X-Men fighting loads of villains with no sign of injury - in between issues #13 and #14. That inconsistency bothers me enough that I'm going to open up a gap in #14 for the FF Annual to happen.  (I can't really place it after #14, because issues #14 through #18 run right into each other.)

Page 3, panel 1

Angel declares that the X-Men haven't had a vacation in years.  This issue probably takes place in late XY 0 or early XY 1, which isn't really enough time to accommodate this.  I could just say that Angel's exaggerating, but I have another out: we don't know exactly how long it's been since the male X-Men started at the school.

As for Cyclops' claim that the X-Men have been "on the go" for months, that's vague enough to cover just about anything.  Xavier works them hard even during their down time.

Page 4, panel 3

Here we get a little bit of background for Angel, as he talks about his wings sprouting during military school.

Page 4, panel 4

It's said here that Professor X was the one who designed Cyclops' glasses.  I'm pretty sure that later stories will reveal that Mr. Sinister gave Scott his glasses, but we'll see soon enough.  Scott's memories regarding Sinister's involvement in his life are pretty screwy, so if there is a contradiction I can always write it off.

Page 5, panel 4

I don't think this is the first time that Angel is shown driving, but I might as well address it here.  I honestly don't know what the driver's license rules were for New York in the 1960s, and I haven't been able to find out.  What I do know is that these early comics depict teenagers driving cars without adult supervision pretty regularly.  I'm not going to use this to pin a specific age on Angel just yet, but if anyone knows how old you had to be to drive a car back then I'd appreciate the info.

Page 5, panel 5

Beast and Iceman both live "in the city", that city being New York.  Later stories will say that Iceman was born in the town of Hempstead on Long Island, so that checks out.  Beast was born in Dunfee, Illinois, but as far as I know there's no reason that his parents can't have moved since then.

Page 9, panel 3

Zelda mentions that she hasn't seen Beast and Iceman for months. The last time she appeared was in X-Men (1963) #7, so there should be a gap of at least two months between these issues.

Page 14, panel 5

This issue is the first time that the X-Men meet the Sentinels, and the first time that the Sentinels are revealed to the general populace.

Page 20, panels 3 and 4

This issue ends on a cliffhanger, as the X-Men are assaulted when they try to find the Sentinel base.

COUNTING THE DAYS

• Day 1:
• Page 1 to 3: The X-Men recover from their injuries, Professor X gives them a vacation, Bolivar Trask holds an anti-mutant press conference
• FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL (1965) #3: The X-Men attend the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm.
• Day 2:
• Page 4 to 20: The X-Men go off on vacation, Professor X debates Trask on live TV, the Sentinels are unveiled, the X-Men come back to fight them