White pgs; Universal holder
Gil Kane cover; New X-Men Begin; Sunfire Leaves X-Men; 2nd app of Nightcrawler, Storm, Thunderbird & Colossus
It is not everyday a comic book comes out that changes the face of the entire industry, but X-Men #94 was an issue that had wide-reaching impact, that echoes throughout popular culture in the modern day. The storyline, involving old X-Men nemesis Count Nefaria, is rather standard fare, but it is not the actual plot of this issue that makes it a top Bronze Age key, rather, it is the appearance of the new X-Men team, Storm, Banshee, Wolverine, Thunderbird, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Sunfire, that put this issue in the ranks of legendary comics. Although the new characters were introduced in Giant-Size X-Men #1, this is the first issue in the run to feature X-Men mk. II. The series was languishing in reprint purgatory and close to cancellation before this issue revived the franchise. A renewed breath of life turned out to be perfect for Marvel fans who were longing for a jolt of fresh energy, and this new group of X-Men took off like a house on fire. These characters are now the ones most closely associated with the franchise, and the addition of John Byrne into the mix later in the decade would only serve to send this title into the stratosphere; along the way Wolverine would grow into one of Marvel's top sellers, giving rise to an enormously successful movie franchise, and myriad other X-Men spin-off comics. It all started here. Any X-Men fan worth their salt needs to own this landmark book.