X-Men (1963) #17

Cover by Jack Kirby

Cover Date: February 1966

On-Sale Date: December 1965

Synopsis: Magneto captures the X-Men one-by-one, except for Iceman who is recovering in hospital.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES:

Page 1

This is the beginning of a new story, but it follows shortly after last issue.  The military and medical personnel arrived between issues.

Page 3, panels 4 to 6

Professor X notes that he's been protecting his X-Men for months.  This is the level of vagueness that a project like this thrives on.

Page 20

Magneto makes his complete return in this cliffhanger, greeting Angel's parents at the door of the mansion.  He appeared in the shadows last issue, so he shouldn't be making any prominent appearances between X-Men (1963) #11 and #16.

On the letters page, there's an answer that gives general ages for the X-Men.  It begins by saying that Cyclops is the oldest, so it's wrong right off the bat: it's already been established that Beast is the oldest.  I'm still willing to use this as a guide, just swapping out Cyke for Beast.  That makes Beast the oldest in his late teens, the others (Angel, Cyke and Jean) from two months to a year younger, and Iceman a year and a half younger.  So if Iceman was 16 in X-Men (1963) #1, Beast was 17 or 18.  If I had to guess, I'd say that Cyclops is the one who is two months younger than Beast, Jean is a year younger, and Angel is somewhere between the two.

COUNTING THE DAYS

This story takes place in a single day, the same day as the end of last issue.