X-Men (1963) #51

Cover by Jim Steranko

Cover Date: December 1968

On-Sale Date: October 1968

FIRST STORY: "The Devil Had a Daughter!"

Synopsis: Magneto convinces Lorna to join him by claiming that he is her father.  The X-Men escape from the Mutant City, and Magneto's legs are paralyzed by some falling rubble.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES

Page 13

There's not a lot that I need to cover in this story, as it's mostly a long fight scene.  The most important moments are Lorna joining Magneto, and Magneto's legs being paralyzed by falling rubble, but neither of those are relevant beyond next issue.

Page 15

I couldn't make a post on this issue without sharing this page, which introduces the world to Erik the Red, the X-Men's resident bondage viking.  Believe it or not this is Cyclops in disguise, trying to infiltrate Magneto's forces.  The X-Men (but let's be real, the Beast did the work) must have spent the days-long gap between pages 14 and 15 creating a suit that can redirect Cyke's optic blasts through his gloves.  (The Arnold Drake run on X-Men is buck-wild, you guys.)

COUNTING THE DAYS:

This story spans several days, as follows:

• Day 1:
• Page 1 to 14: The X-Men escape the mutant city, but Lorna joins Magneto.
• Several days later:
• Page 15: Cyclops attacks the mutant city in his Erik the Red get-up.

SECOND STORY: "The Lure of the Beast-Nappers!"

Synopsis: El Conquistador sees Hank's football prowess, and kidnaps his parents so that Hank will work for his criminal gang.  Professor X sends the X-Men to investigate.

CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES:

Page 2

The Conquistador and his gang have been waiting a long time for his plan to come to fruition.  We don't learn what that plan is in this issue, but apparently it requires the aid of someone with moderately super-powered strength and agility.  (Come on Conquistador, just hire a circus acrobat or something.)

Page 3, panels 1 and 2

Presented without further comment, it must be noted that Hank attended a gay victory celebration between pages 2 and 3.

Page 5, panels 2 and 3

Cerebro detected Hank between page 4 and 5, and Professor X sent Iceman to investigate.  Note that Iceman's knowledge of Cerebro in this flashback story is something of a continuity error; Xavier kept it a secret for a while, revealing it first to Cyclops in X-Men (1963) #7.  The other X-Men didn't find out about it until a few issues later.

Page 15, panel 3

Angel is appearing here before his origin back-ups.  Why they did it this way is a mystery to me, but it should be noted that his upcoming series in issues #54 to #56 take place before this.

COUNTING THE DAYS

This story takes place in a single day, the same day as last issue (December 7th of XY -2).