Yeah, about that...Most of the X-Men as you know them today - including Storm, Wolverine and Nightcrawler - were introduced in Giant Size X-Men #1, a relaunch of the series which (believe it or not) was flagging in popularity back in the day. The team gets a relaunch in the story itself, too, with Cyclops being the only member of the original X-Men called up to be part of Xavier's new team. Except, it was revealed in the mini-series Deadly Genesis that Giant Size #1 actually introduced the second attempt at an All-New, Mostly-Different X-Men! Before the team that shot the merry band of mutants into the stratosphere, Xavier had cobbled together an even more rag-tag bunch, who had managed to all get themselves killed. Except for Cyclops, natch, but thankfully Charles used his powers to wipe the horrific scenes - along with any blame he might have for getting a bunch of inexperienced kids murdered - from his memory. The jerk.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
