X-Men #20 (May 66): I, LuciferCreative Team: expertly edited by Stan Lee; skillfully scripted by Roy Thomas; perfectly penciled by Jay Gavin; ideally inked by Dick Ayers; laxly lettered by Artie Simek
Starting Line Up: Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Beast, Marvel Girl
Synopsis: The Blob and Unus, who met in the carny circuit, have become X-Men impersonaters and are robbing banks. They're doing it to draw out the real X-Men as unknowing pawns of Lucifer. Cyclops quits the team to get his eyes fixed so he can be with Marvel Girl. He runs into the imposters and battles them until the X-Men arrive. They defeat the imposters. Meanwhile, Lucifer mentally attacks Xavier. Xavier's body becomes useless but his mind still functions so he tells how he met Lucifer. He was exploring Tibet and found an ancient city ruled by Lucifer. Lucifer was using the city as a stanging point to lead an alien invasion of Earth. Xavier led a revolt against him. They won, but in the process Lucifer dropped a large stone slab on Xavier's legs. Xavier's body recovers and they all go after Lucifer.
Yeah, but is it good? This a fun little story as far as the imposters go, and has some historial significance as it relates the story of how Xavir lost his legs. Unfortunately, Lucifer is a dull villain. At least making him the vanguard of an alien invasion is somewhat interesting. He really should have been a bigger deal to the X-Men, being the reason Xavier lost is legs and all. This is Roy Thomas first issue. Roy Thomas wrote the bulk of the original X-Men stories, but his first run starting here, he didn't "get" what the X-Men should have been about. He was trying too hard to write generic supe hero stories or stories that would fit better into another series. This is close to a Fantastic Four story.
Significata: Xavier's loss of legs by Lucifer revealed. Roy Thomas' first issue.
