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X-Men #59 (August 1969) is the finale of the Neal Adams Sentinels saga, under an Adams cover, and it carries Chris Claremont’s first comics credit.
Key Debuts and Story Milestones
- Chris Claremont’s first credit: a plot assist on Roy Thomas’s script, written while he was a college-age gofer at Marvel, six years before he began his long run on X-Men.
- The Sentinels saga ends: in “Do or Die, Baby!”, Larry Trask is exposed as a mutant, his Sentinels turn on him, and Cyclops tricks them into flying into the sun.
- Neal Adams pencils and colours all twenty pages, with Tom Palmer inks. This is part of the celebrated Thomas/Adams/Palmer run.
- First cameo of Karl Lykos, who becomes Sauron in the next issue, per the Grand Comics Database.
- Guest stars: Havok, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and the Toad. Cyclops, Marvel Girl and the Beast go undercover disguised as the last three.
Behind the Scenes and Quirky Details
- Cover credits: Neal Adams pencils, with inks credited to Tom Palmer. The cover title is “The Last X-Man”; the story inside is “Do or Die, Baby!”.
- The run couldn’t save the book: despite the acclaim, X-Men became a reprint title with #67 in 1970.
- A second life: this story was reprinted in Giant-Size X-Men #2 (1975), the issue right after the new team’s debut.
- On sale June 1969, a month before Apollo 11. The Sentinels get sent into space, weeks before NASA reached the Moon.
- The back cover: a Wallace Brown Christmas-card ad, “If you need extra money & you know just 10 people…”, with the business-reply coupon still uncut.
Condition:
FRONT
Logo crease — a horizontal crease of about 2¼ in across the “MEN” letters, meeting a vertical crease of about 1¼ in through the “M”. Non-colour-breaking (the ink is intact along both lines), visible as ridges in raking light, with a small scuff in the red nearby — MED impact to the grade
Corners and edges — light blunting at all four corners and light wear along the top edge near the spine. No missing paper — LOW impact to the grade
Gloss and colour — bright, glossy and flat. No writing on the cover — No impact on the grade.
SPINE
Ticks — several short ticks along the fold, a few of them colour-breaking and none longer than about ⅛ in, with light fraying and ink rub on the lower third — LOW impact to the grade
Structure — flat, no roll, no split, checked in two raking shots — No impact on the grade.
BACK
Corners — a soft, non-breaking bend at the top corner on the open edge, and light blunting at the spine-side corners — LOW impact to the grade
Surface — clean, with light general toning. The coupon is uncut — No impact on the grade.
INTERIOR
Page quality — cream to off-white and supple. No tears or writing on the pages shown — No impact on the grade.
Graded 6.0 (Fine), honest range 5.5–6.5. A bright, glossy copy with an uncut back cover. A non-colour-breaking crease through the logo and short spine ticks set the grade.
Please note: The grade above is my own opinion on a raw, uncertified comic, offered in good faith. It is not a certified grade from CGC, CBCS or any other grading service. This copy is unsigned and is the original printing. It has not been restored. The photographs are of the actual comic you will receive. There are 12 views: the front and back covers, a raking shot of the spine, an interior spread, and all eight corners. It ships bagged and boarded in a rigid mailer.
