X-Men Original Series.

 X-Men Issues 1-3

After enjoying the X-Men movie series I wanted to find out more about the characters. To that end, I've started reading the first X-Men comics. They are done in Stan Lee's bombastic style, but they fit the age in which they were created. Kirby's art was also quite detailed. It's rough here, but you can see his eye for detail in every panel. 

Here's my impression of the first three books.

1. Magneto was powerful, but the only reason he lost was because the unfettered bumbling of the team surprised him, and they were able to get it together well enough to take him down.

2. The Vanisher was a tricky foe whose power was beyond anything the X-Men could do. If it weren't for the Professor, they would have lost.

3. The same goes for the Blob. The Professor is the only thing that saved the X-Men. In fact I found the X-Men unsympathetic here. They found the Blob and brought him back to their headquarters. However, the way they treated him was horrible. If he didn't have such a terrible personality, he would be the hero of this story. I suppose the mistakes they made with him will help the team grow in the future.  

Personally, the characters were rather annoying. I found their constant banter draining and wanted them to shut up. Other than that, their personalities were nicely done. Everyone came through quite clearly and that characterization has continued to this very day. However, the McGuffin in the room was clear. Of the first three adventures, the Professor solved two of them.

The biggest cringe moment was when Xavier admitted to himself that he loved Jean. While it wasn't clear if this was romantic love or parental love, the statement was out of character. I recently found out that when this was written Xavier wasn’t in his 50s but his 20s. That changes things, but only because Lee hadn’t decided on the character yet and was just throwing things at a wall to see what would fit.

I can see the wonderful potential of the characters here, but the military's blind trust in the mutants was a stark contrast to current stories.