X-Men #7 (Sep 64): The Return of the Blob Creative Team: written with all the spell-binding skill of Stan Lee; drawn with all the titanic talent of Jack Kirby; inked with all the vibrant verve of Chic Stone; lettered with all the words spelled right by Art Simek
Starting Line Up: Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Beast, Marvel Girl
Synopsis: The X-Men graduate from Xavier's school. Xavier then leaves to persue an "unfinished task". He shows Cyclops his mutant detecting machine, Cerebro, then appoints him leader is his absense. Cyclops already wonders if he should leave the team. Marvel Girl's feeling for Cyclops are so obvious even Angel can tell. Iceman and Beast start hanging out in a coffee shop in Greenwich Village full of beatniks. The Blob hits his head and regains all his memories of the X-Men. Magneto recruits him into the Brotherhood. They fight the X-Men but Magneto is willing to destroy the Blob in order to destroy the X-Men. Blob doesn't care for this and stops fighting, not wanting anything to do with either side. The villains all escape.
Yeah, but is it good? Our X-Men vs Brotherhood feud continues. This time the hook is an old villain is brought in. Not a bad story. The subplots are finally emerging to give the book a more three dimensional feel. The love triangle is becoming more interesting now that Angel is aware of how Marvel Girl feels. And the Greenwich Village coffee shop is one of the hidden gems of the old X-Men series. It's totally campy now, but that's part of the fun. The beatnik stuff is pretty funny. Iceman starts to grow up a little here since he's trying to impress Zelda, the waitress at the coffee shop.
Significata: First appearane of Cerebro. First appearance of the coffee shop and Zelda. Angel knows Marvel Girl has feelings for Cyclops. Cyclops is made field leader of the team, a position he holds well into the Claremont era. Xavier goes off on a personal mission.
