10 Things Marvel Wants You To Forget About The X-Men
4. X-Men Wasn’t Originally A Hit
In 1991, X-Men #1 became the biggest selling comic of all time. Written by Chris Claremont and art by Jim Lee, this issue sold 8.1 million times with the combination of variant covered issues. But in 1970, the original run of the series was cancelled.
After Stan Lee and Jack Kirby left their work on X-Men as sales began to fall, Roy Thomas and Neal Adams took over. After they reached issue 66, and one year on from when they joined, the series was cancelled. From issue 67 to 93, no more new stories were coming out from the land of mutants. Instead, older issues were reprinted.
As the X-Men floundered in limbo, from the shadows out stepped Len Wein and Dave Cockrum. In 1975, they rejuvenated the mutant brand with Giant-Size X-Men. They replaced most of the original team and introduced exciting and experienced mutants from around the globe.
Shortly after, newcomer Chris Claremont came into the series as a writer. Claremont used soap-opera elements in the stories that fascinated readers. The X-Men fanbase grew rapidly, and this eventually led to the series reaching its peak popularity in the 1990s.
While the X-Men haven’t quite reached those heights since, it still has a devoted fanbase. It's wild to think that, had it not been for Wein and Cockrum, that may never have been the case.