X-Men (1963) #18

Cover by Werner Roth

Cover Date: March 1966

On-Sale Date: January 1966

Synopsis: The X-Men escape and stop Magneto from creating an army of mutants with the DNA of Angel's parents.  Meanwhile Professor X summons the Stranger to take Magneto back to his alien planet.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES

Page 4, panel 6

Magneto claims that Iceman is the youngest and most inexperienced of the X-Men. I believe this is the first in-story confirmation that Iceman is younger than Marvel Girl.  (The letters page confirmed it last issue, but I put more stock in the stories than the letters.)  As for Iceman being the most inexperienced, Magneto is dead wrong, as we've already seen that he was part of the team before Marvel Girl joined. Later we'll learn that he's the second member to join after Cyclops, so Mags is completely off-base.

Page 9, panels 4 to 7

This flashback depicts Magneto's escape from the Stranger's world, abandoning the loyal Toad to his fate.  After the Stranger left to explore other planets, Magneto was imprisoned on the Stranger's world for months. I could always say that months are shorter or longer on the Stranger's world if necessary, but there's no need right now.  Because X-Men (1963) #14-18 are a continuous run, there's a months-long gap between issues #11 and #14.

Regarding Magneto's return to Earth, there's one major discrepancy from his prior appearances: he knows where the X-Men live.  In previous issues it's made clear that Magneto has no idea how to find the X-Men, but in this story he waltzes right into the mansion like it's no big deal.  My assumption is that he finds the mansion with detection instruments in the spaceship he uses to escape the Stranger's world.

Page 20, panel 4

Angel's mother claims here that he used to thrive on sci-fi stories, an aspect of Warren's personality that is never referred to again.  Perhaps this was a phase he went through as a kid that his mother has blown out of proportion.

Letters page

If this answer to a letter is anything to go by, Angel's wings started to sprout when he was about 13.

COUNTING THE DAYS

This story takes place over two days, starting on the same day as the end of last issue.

• Day 1:
• Page 1 to 20.3: The X-Men thwart Magneto's plan, and Xavier summons the Stranger.
• Note that the first few pages of this issue are intertwined with pages 19 and 20 of last issue. It doesn't catch up to last issue's cliffhanger until page 4.2.
• The X-Men clean up the mansion, and Professor X alters the memories of Angel's parents.
• Day 2:
• Page 20.4 to 20.5: Angel's parents wake up and greet the X-Men.