Special Edition X-Men #1 (Feb. 1983):
“Second Genesis”
by Chris Claremont, Len Wein, Dave Cockrum

Special Edition X-Men #1

Title: “Second Genesis”

Medium: comic

Cover date: Feb. 1983

Publisher:
Written by: Chris Claremont, Len Wein
Art by: Dave Cockrum

45 characters in this story:

Character (Click links for info about character and his/her religious practice, affiliation, etc.)	Religious Affiliation	Team(s) [Notes]	Pub.	# app.
Cyclops (Scott Summers)	Protestant; mutant supremacist	Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy; Summers Rebellion...  The Twelve; X-Factor; X-Men		8,371
Professor X (Charles Xavier)	religious	Brotherhood of Mutants; Genoshan Excalibur...  Illuminati; The Mutant Underground (founder); The Twelve; X-Men (founder)		4,999
Wolverine (James Howlett / Logan)	raised Protestant; sometimes atheist; has practiced Buddhism; skeptical seeker	Alpha Flight; Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy...  First Flight; Secret Defenders; Team X; The Avengers; The Canadian Army; Weapon Plus; Weapon X; X-Force; X-Men; X-Treme Sanctions Executive		10,615
Storm (Ororo Munroe)	Goddess worship	black; Lady Liberators...  Morlocks (leader); The Fantastic Four; The Twelve; Weapon X (Exiles); X-Men; X-Saviours; X-Treme Sanctions Executive		5,068
Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner)	Catholic (raised Gypsy/Roma)	Excalibur; Neyaphem...  X-Men; X-Treme Sanctions Executive		4,345
Colossus (Peter Rasputin)	Communist atheist (former)	Excalibur; The Acolytes...  Weapon X (Exiles); X-Men		4,122
Banshee (Sean Cassidy)	Catholic	Factor Three; Generation X (teacher)...  X-Corps (leader); X-Men		1,340
Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida)	Shinto	Asian; Big Hero 6...  C-Corps; Horsemen of Apocalypse; Pacific Overlords; The Marauders; The Twelve; X-Corporation; X-Men		259
Thunderbird (John Proudstar)	Native American spirituality (Apache)	Apache; Native American...  X-Men		40
Marvel Girl (Jean Grey)	Episcopalian	Metro College; The Twelve...  X-Factor; X-Men		1,905
Iceman (Bobby Drake)	Jewish Catholic	Secret Defenders; Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends...  The Champions; The Defenders; The Twelve; X-Factor; X-Men		1,752
Angel (Warren Worthington III)	Episcopalian	Academy of Tomorrow; Horsemen of Apocalypse...  Renegades; Secret Defenders; St. Joe's Preparatory School; The Champions; The Defenders; X-Club; X-Factor; X-Force; X-Men; X-Saviours		1,741
Illyana Rasputin (details)  not yet named	occult/magick; demonolatry; raised Communist	The Exiles; The New Mutants		450
Havok (Alex Summers)	Catholic (lapsed)	Academy of Tomorrow; Brotherhood of Mutants...  Dark Descendants; Magistrates; Old Landon College; Starjammers; X-Factor; X-Men [Cyclops' brother]		592
Lorna Dane	Jewish Catholic	Academy of Tomorrow; Horsemen of Apocalypse...  Starjammers; The Acolytes; The Twelve; X-Factor; X-Men [studied geophysics in college]		464
Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters		[high school]		373
Alexandra Rasputin	Russian Orthodox; Communist	[mother of Colossus, Magik, Mikhail]		4
Nikolai Rasputin	Russian Orthodox; Communist	[father of Colossus, Magik, Mikhail]		6
Krakoa	N.A.	[island made alive by radiation]		6
Cerebro	N.A.	[Xavier's mutant-finding machine, given sentience by Bastion]		9
African natives (details)  Tribal natives in Kenya who prayed and offered sacrifices to Ororo (Storm) to petition for rain.	African primal-indigenous religion	[1st app: Detective Comics (vol. 1) #333 (Nov. 1964)]		3
X-Men		[1st app: The X-Men (vol. 1) #1 (Sep. 1963)]		9,958
birds (details)  On the living island of Krakoa, Nightcrawler and Sunfire are attacked by a flock of angry birds during their mission to rescue captive X-Men.	N.A.	[animal species]	various	2
crabs (details)  On the living island of Krakoa, Wolverine and Banshee are attacked by giant crabs during their mission to rescue captive X-Men.	N.A.	[animal species]		2
The Canadian Army		[military unit]		5
The Grand Ole Opry		[1st app: Giant-Size X-Men #1 (July 1975)]		4
Department H (details)  not yet identified by name		[government agency]		101
unnamed tribal leader	African primal-indigenous religion; worshipped Ororo	[wore headdress; petitioned "goddess" Ororo for rain]		1
Apache (details)  When the character John Proudstar (Thunderbird) is introduced, he is on the Apache reservation he lives at in Arizona, thinking extensively about the state of the Apache people. Many Apache are seen.	Native American religion (Apache)	[race/ethnicity]		1
Len Wein (cameo)  Glynis Wein and Len Wein are seen as Grand Ole Opry attendees.		[comic book writer; editor]		27
Glynis Oliver-Wein (cameo)  Glynis Wein and Len Wein are seen as Grand Ole Opry attendees.		[was wife of comic book writer Len Wein]		8
falcons (cameo)  A vicious falcon is among the birds who attack Nightcrawler and Sunfire on the island of Krakoa during their mission to rescue the original X-Men. A falcon attacked Nightcrawler with its talons.	N.A.	[animal species]		20
General Chasen (cameo)		The Canadian Army [opposed decision by Weapon X (Wolverine) to join X-Men]		7
Dave Cockrum (cameo)  seen as Grand Ole Opry attendee		[comic book artist; soldier]		9
bison (cameo)  When Charles Xavier goes to Arizona to meet John Proudstar (Thunderbird) for the first time and recruit him to join the X-Men, Proudstar is chasing down and tackling a bison.	N.A.	[animal species]		1
The Beast (Hank McCoy) (cover & 1-panel cameo, pg. 1)  Appears only on cover and splash page. At one point Jean mentions she misses Beast, wishes he was with them. Scott reminds her he graduated. At this time he works for Brand Corporation.	Episcopalian; agnostic	Academy of Tomorrow; Brotherhood of Mutants...  The Avengers; The Defenders; X-Club; X-Factor; X-Men		5,233
The Hulk (Bruce Banner) (mentioned)  Prof. Xavier meets in Canadian Army offices with Wolverine and Gen. Chasen. Xavier mentions Wolverine's recent encounter with Hulk and offers him a place with the X-Men.	Catholic (lapsed)	Hulkbusters; Pantheon...  Secret Defenders; The Avengers; The Defenders; The Order; The Ultimates; Warbound; Weapon X (Exiles); X-Saviours		4,551
Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) (mentioned)  The mutants who Prof. Xavier recruited to be new X-Men meet together for the first time at Xavier's school, wearing costumes Xavier explains were designed by Reed Richards, using unstable molecules.	humanist; portrayed alternatively as explicitly believing in God and as atheist	Fantastic Five; Illuminati...  The Avengers; The Fantastic Four		4,661
Geronimo (mentioned)  Cyclops: "I see it, Geronimo! It's..." When Thunderbird tells Cyclops somebody is following them, Cyclops calls him "Geronimo," in reference to Thunderbird's Native American ethnicity.	Native American religion (Apache/Bedonkohe); Dutch Reformed Church (convert)	[medicine man]		36
The Fantastic Four (mentioned)  Explaining their new costumes to the newly-recruited X-Men, Charles Xavier says the costumes were designed by Reed Richards, and that soon they will be sure to learn more about him and his family.		[1st app: The Fantastic Four (vol. 1) #1 (Nov. 1961)]		100
Der Jarrmachet (mentioned)  A mob in Winzeldorf, Germany chases Kurt Wagner. He wonders if he would have been better of staying with "Der Jahrmarkt." He concludes he's rather face a mob than spend more time as a carnival freak.		[ 1st app: Marvel Comics Presents (vol. 1) #101 (Late Apr. 1992) ]		8
chickens (mentioned)  In Kenya, a tribesman tells the goddess (Ororo, a.k.a. Storm) he will sacrifice 10 goats and chickens if she will bring them rain. She says to save their animals; his people need them more than her.	N.A.	[animal species]		200
monsters (mentioned)  A mob in the village of Winzeldorf, Germany repeatedly refers to mutant Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) as a "monster." They chase him with torches. He is rescued by Charles Xavier.	N.A.	[generic listing]	unknown	1
goats (mentioned)  In Kenya, a tribesman tells the goddess (Ororo, a.k.a. Storm) he will sacrifice 10 goats and chickens if she will bring them rain. She says to save their animals; his people need them more than her.	N.A.	[animal species]		1
George Armstrong Custer (mentioned)  John Proudstar (Thunderbird, to Prof. Xavier): "And you can stuff a cactus, Custer!" Thunderbird (to Cyclops): "I just hope you’re not leading me into another Little Big Horn!" Thunderbird insults Xavier, invoking the name of George Custer, when Xavier first invites him to join the X-Men. Later, Thunderbird invokes Custer's famed last battle, the Battle of Little Big Horn.	Protestant	[famed for "Custer's last stand"]	101-Bison; New York Motion Picture, etc.	145

This comic was reprinted from: Giant-Size X-Men #1 (July 1975): "Second Genesis".

Notes from original source:
Some sources identify uncredited artist Peter Iro as a person who inked backgrounds on some pages. In point of fact, according to Dave Cockrum, Iro tried inking five of Cockrum's pages, but the work was insufficiently professional to be used in the actual publication. Cockrum re-did the inking for the pages Iro attempted. All pencil and ink artwork in the published version of this story was done by Cockrum.

This story was indexed from secondary sources only. The character list above is not necessarily comprehensive. Webpage for Special Edition X-Men #1 (Feb. 1983) created 18 August 2012. Last modified 26 December 2013.

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