how long did it take new X-men to catch on after GS #1?

[dekeuk]

 

I started collecting in 1976 but did not pay attention to anything Marvel until the mid-1980's. I always wondered how long it took the new X-men to really catch on.

 

Were they a hit right after GS #1 and #94 hit the shelf?

 

Or did it take until Byrne came along? Or later?

 

I remember seeing Chuck 2 page ads in all comics in the late 70's and #94 was already at what I thought was a crazy price level (I think it was $50).

 

What are your recollections. How long did it take for this title to really catch on like crazy with the public.

 

 

[joe_collector]

Well, X-Men 112 was the first monthly issue, and from my recollection, i was around 117-121 or so when things started to take off and prices increased.

 

But you must remember that it was a totally different hobby back then, and everything moved much slower than today's speculation bubble economy.

[arexcrooke]

I think the underlying question that dekuk asked and one I was thinking is:

With the release of GS1 and subsequently X-Men 94, did the general consensus conclude that this series was going to be a hit? Did the book/s have a lot of buzz about them when they were released?

[r100comics]

I thought things really started picking up once John Byrne joined in #108, after which the earlier issues like #94 and #101 became red hot.

 

 

[joe_collector]

With the release of GS1 and subsequently X-Men 94, did the general consensus conclude that this series was going to be a hit? Did the book/s have a lot of buzz about them when they were released?

 

NO!

 

It wasn't until 5 issues into the Byrne run that the book even went monthly.

[drbanner]

I think the underlying question that dekuk asked and one I was thinking is:

With the release of GS1 and subsequently X-Men 94, did the general consensus conclude that this series was going to be a hit? Did the book/s have a lot of buzz about them when they were released?

 

No, I don't believe so...4 months passed between X-men 93 (4/75) and 94 (8/75), GS 1 came out in-between, and the series didn't go monthly until 3 years later (8/78). You could probably check the OS guides from back in the day to get a better idea when things starting to get hot, but by the Alpha Flight issue they were definitely at the top of the radar.

[seank]

Well, X-Men 112 was the first monthly issue, and from my recollection, i was around 117-121 or so when things started to take off and prices increased.

 

But you must remember that it was a totally different hobby back then, and everything moved much slower than today's speculation bubble economy.

 

I'll ditto this. I think I heard about X-men and started buying right around 120 or so.

[Wally's Comics]

I think actual book sales in these months are a clear indicator

of when the X-men made their rise to mass appeal.

[rjpb]

In 1977/78 a friend and I pooled our collections to sell at local cons in central Ohio. Between us we had X-Men 94 and GS 1 as well as a few other issues. After maybe 4 cons over the next year both issues were still in the quarter box, with pretty much the rest of the post 1973 books. I moved out west in late 1979 and a year and half later was checking out a comic store in Seattle when I saw GS 1 on the wall for $60, so my impression was after several years of minimal interest the books took off pretty fast when they finally caught on.

 

By 1982 I had returned to Ohio, and we managed to sell both issues at a Columbus con. By then they were at best 7.0 condition due to quarter box abuse, and went for around $50 -$75 apiece.

[shadroch]

I think the underlying question that dekuk asked and one I was thinking is:

With the release of GS1 and subsequently X-Men 94, did the general consensus conclude that this series was going to be a hit? Did the book/s have a lot of buzz about them when they were released?

 

It would depend upon your idea of "buzz".

I remember when Roy Thomas announced that there would be a new X-Men book,the crowd at Creation went bonkers.When he next said that it would feature an all new team,it was a buzz-kill.I got excited when it was revealed that Sunfire was to be a member.The original team made a bit of a splash when they guest-starred in a few issues of Captain America,and Iceman popped into Marvel Team-Up.I'm pretty sure those issues sold better than normal.

There really wasn't much of an organized fandom back then. CBG(actually it was called TBG) back then was pretty much an ads only monthly,and Wizard was yet to be born.

GS X-Men #1 came out costing twice as much as most comics,which couldn't have helped sales much.

I honestly don't recall exactly when the book got hot,but it was on fire and backissues were in huge demand by issue 121.

Remember-Overstreet came out once a year,comic cons were few and far between for most people,and the circulation of TBG was in the low thousands,so word that a book might be in demand filtered out slowly in those days.

[MK Ultra]

I remember some comic short story about a ordinary collector that was talked into buying a case of Giant Size 1's because his LCS couldn't sell them. Then he sold them all to buy heavily into an independent spoof of TMNT (or was it Dazzler 1?). The collector then hosted some auction to sell them and started at $1K or something and quickly was offering them for half cover.

 

Anyone else remember that? Maybe in the X-Men chronicles or something like that?

[FlyingDonut]

The first show I ever set up at was the 1977 Chicago Comicon. X-Men books were ridiculously hot, we sold all of them. I remember the book getting very popular at about 104-105, somewhere in that range, with the book moving to monthly status, as JC said, at 113. Marvel moved slower then. The book exploded in the 115-120 range.

[blutobc]

Well, I picked up GS X-Men #1 directly off the newstands. Read it and promptly forgot about it. I didn't buy another X-Men book until Byrne came on board. Even then my collecting buddies were only seeking issues back to #108 originally. I gotta agree with most of the previous posters that the book really started getting HOT shortly after Byrne started.

[VintageComics]

The first X men book I remember picking up off the news stand was #118 and to this day I remember the feeling of seeing the two page spread of Tokyo with the red sky. Just blew me away. I was hooked.

 

R.

 

 

[joe_collector]

The first X-Men book that really hooked me was X-Men 111, with the X-Men all trapped in a circus by Mesmero. That book was drawn so freaking good, and flowed so well, I think it made me a Byrne fan for life. And lucky I probably was on the can when that last panel came up.

 

Paying only 35-cents for that was like highway robbery.

[tth2]

Well, X-Men 112 was the first monthly issue, and from my recollection, i was around 117-121 or so when things started to take off and prices increased.

This matches my own memory. The title definitely picked up momentum after #108, when people started noticing Byrne`s art, but it took another year or so interest really got big and started translating into significantly increased demand for back issues.

[tth2]

I think the underlying question that dekuk asked and one I was thinking is:

With the release of GS1 and subsequently X-Men 94, did the general consensus conclude that this series was going to be a hit?

No, definitely not. I think a core audience did quickly develop, and the new team did create some excitement, but it was a relatively small group still. I`m proud to say I bought X-Men 94 off the newsstand (the airport in San Diego, actually) and was smitten from the start. But it didn`t capture everyone`s interest. A lot of collectors said they didn`t like Chris Claremont`s art. Which is why the real rise of the new X-Men can be traced to Byrne coming on the book.

 

Did the book/s have a lot of buzz about them when they were released?

Definitely not.

[joe_collector]

A lot of collectors said they didn`t like Chris Claremont`s art.

 

[DrWatson]

Being younger, apparently, than the rest of you, the first issue I remember is 148 and of course they were already at hit at that point.

[OldGuy]

A lot of collectors said they didn`t like Chris Claremont`s art.

 

Dave Cockrum