X-Men #9 (Jan 65): Enter, the Avengers!Creative Team: savagely written by Stan Lee; supremely drawn by Jack Kirby; superbly inked by Chic Stone; stoically lettered by S. Rosen
Starting Line Up: Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Beast, Marvel Girl
Guest Stars: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man, Wasp
Synopsis: The X-Men take a boat to somewhere in the Balklands to find Xavier. Xavier is searching for Lucifer, the man who caused his legs to be crushed. He doesn't explain the story yet. The X-Men meet the Avengers, who are also looking for Lucifer. They have a miscommunication and fight until Xavier mentally breaks it up. He summons the X-Men to help him diffuse the bomb Lucifer has attacked to his heart (if it stops, the bomb goes off). They do so and defeat Lucifer. But let him go.
Yeah, but is it good? Nope. Lucifer is the biggest wasted villain ever. Not that he's interesting here, but the man who crushed Xavier's legs ought to be a huuuuge villain the X-Men's world. But he's not. Lucifer doesn't even have a plan here. All he has is his defensive plan (which is pretty nifty). And they just let him go! What the Hell? This issue got away from the typical X-Men vs Brotherhood stories of the time, but failed to do something good while doing something different.
Significata: First appearance of Lucifer. We find out he crushed Xavier's legs (but arn't told how). The Avengers are the first major guest stars at this point (Sub-Mariner wasn't too major).
