X-Men #94

A reprint book comes back to life

By 1975 the X-Men had been out of new stories for five years. The title stopped producing new material after issue #66 in March 1970, and from December 1970 through April 1975, issues #67 to #93 reprinted older adventures, a decision driven by poor sales.

The revival came in Giant-Size X-Men #1, a 68-page special with a May 1975 cover date that was distributed to newsstands in February. In it, Professor X recruits a new team from around the world to rescue the original X-Men from the living island Krakoa. X-Men #94, which went on sale April 29, 1975, with an August 1975 cover date and a 25-cent price, is the first regular issue to continue that story.

It opens with a breakup. Sunfire says he never meant to join, and Banshee is talked into staying. Then Angel announces that he, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Havok and Polaris are leaving. Cyclops alone stays to lead the newcomers: Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Thunderbird and Banshee. After weeks of hard training in the Danger Room, the new team is sent to stop Count Nefaria and the Ani-Men, who have seized the Valhalla air force base in the Colorado Rockies and are threatening to launch the country's nuclear missiles. The issue ends with the team's jet disabled and falling.

The new lineup did not last long intact. Thunderbird died in the very next issue, #95.

An editor, an artist and a young writer

Len Wein, born in New York City on June 12, 1948, had succeeded Roy Thomas as Marvel's editor-in-chief in 1974. He and artist Dave Cockrum created the new team in Giant-Size X-Men #1, including Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus and Thunderbird, and Wein had earlier co-created Wolverine. Wein plotted the first new X-Men stories with Cockrum; Chris Claremont scripted them as issues #94 and #95, after which Claremont wrote the book on his own with Wein staying on as editor for a time. Wein died September 10, 2017.

Claremont was born in London on November 25, 1950, and moved to the United States as a child. He had started at Marvel in 1969 as a college gofer. Wein gave him the X-Men partly because the book's poor standing meant other writers would not object. Claremont stayed for 16 years, from 1975 to 1991, longer than any other writer on the series, and turned it into one of Marvel's most popular titles. He went on to write The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past with John Byrne.

Cockrum was born in Pendleton, Oregon, on November 11, 1943, the son of an Air Force officer. He created Nightcrawler while serving six years in the Navy, long before the character saw print, and Storm and Nightcrawler grew out of characters he had meant to bring into DC's Legion of Super-Heroes. He penciled X-Men #94 to #105 and #107 before John Byrne took over with #108. He died November 26, 2006.

The cover was penciled by Gil Kane, who also drew the cover of Giant-Size X-Men #1, with Cockrum inking. Its lettering announces, "X-Men, you came seeking Count Nefaria!!"

Spring 1975

X-Men #94 reached stands on the day the United States began its final helicopter evacuation of Saigon, Operation Frequent Wind. The next day, April 30, 1975, Saigon fell and the Vietnam War ended.

Earlier that month Bill Gates founded Microsoft in Albuquerque. In May the Mayaguez incident played out off Cambodia, and the national unemployment rate peaked at 9.0 percent. In June Universal released Steven Spielberg's Jaws in 409 theaters across the country.

From a forgotten title to a top seller

Under Claremont the series became the industry's top title and, with Spider-Man, a driving force at Marvel for the next 20 years. The story has been reprinted many times, in Classic X-Men #2 in 1986, Marvel Masterworks, Essential X-Men and Giant-Size X-Men #4 in 2006, and the title later added "Uncanny" to its name.

The market for high-grade copies has moved with the franchise. In June 2004 a CGC 9.6 sold online for $4,450; at that time, the census showed this grade as the second highest, with 15 copies at 9.6 and only one at 9.8. In 2010 a dealer in Hamilton, Ontario, sold a copy for a record $26,500, and in 2012 the same comic sold in his store for $12,000; his last two sales in February 2013 were $9,501 and $8,089. The sources do not give the grades of those copies.

At CGC 9.8 the issue sold for $16,730 at auction in August 2010 and $15,535 in August 2016, then jumped to $63,000 in April 2021. A 9.8 brought $46,000 at an online auction in New York on December 17, 2021, and another sold for $66,000 in April 2022. Sales since then have ranged from $55,200 in December 2024 down to about $22,000 in May 2026.

CGC 9.6 copies followed the same arc, from $7,800 in January 2021 to $12,600 in April 2022, then back to around $5,000 to $7,000 in 2025 and 2026.

What to look for

The cover shows the new X-Men confronting Count Nefaria; Wolverine, later the franchise's biggest star, is not on it. The indicia lists the book as bimonthly, the price is 25 cents and the cover date is August 1975. Reprints, including Classic X-Men #2, are later and are not the 1975 original.

No copy has graded above 9.8. The census at 9.8 has grown from one copy in June 2004 to 18 by June 2013, 52 in January 2026 and 54 in April 2026. Two August 2026 sale listings disagree slightly: one counts 57 at 9.8, while another counts 141 copies at 9.6 with 55 graded higher.

At 9.6, this entry's grade, a June 2026 listing counted 140 copies, rising to 141 by August 2026.

The numbers

Cover price

25 cents

Pages

36; the story runs 18

Frequency

Bimonthly, per the indicia

Print run of #94

No verified figure found

Census, June 2004

1 at CGC 9.8; 15 at 9.6

Census, June 2013

18 at CGC 9.8; none higher

Census, 2026

52 at 9.8 (January), 54 (April), 57 (August); 140 at 9.6 (June), 141 (August); none above 9.8 (sale listings)

Highest grade

CGC 9.8; no 9.9 or 10.0 reported

Timeline

1. Mar 1970

   X-Men #66, the last new story for five years, is published.

2. Dec 1970

   The title becomes a reprint book with issue #67.

3. 1974

   Len Wein succeeds Roy Thomas as Marvel's editor-in-chief.

4. Feb 1975

   Giant-Size X-Men #1, cover-dated May 1975, reaches newsstands with the new team.

5. Apr 1975

   X-Men #93, the last reprint issue, carries an April 1975 cover date.

6. Apr 29, 1975

   X-Men #94 goes on sale, cover-dated August 1975.

7. 1975

   Thunderbird dies in X-Men #95.

8. 1977

   John Byrne takes over as penciler with issue #108.

9. 1991

   Chris Claremont ends his 16-year run on the series.

10. Jun 2004

    A CGC 9.6 sells online for $4,450; the census shows one 9.8 and 15 at 9.6.

11. 2010

    A dealer in Hamilton, Ontario, sells a copy for a record $26,500.

12. Jun 1, 2013

    18 copies are graded at CGC 9.8, none higher.

13. Apr 1, 2021

    A CGC 9.8 sells at auction for $63,000.

14. Apr 2022

    A CGC 9.8 sells at auction for $66,000, and a 9.6 brings $12,600.

15. Aug 2026

    A sale listing counts 141 at CGC 9.6 and 55 higher.

The world in 1975

• Mar 31, 1975

  John Wooden coaches UCLA to its 10th national title in his final game.

• Apr 4, 1975

  Bill Gates founds Microsoft in Albuquerque.

• Apr 29, 1975

  Operation Frequent Wind evacuates Americans and their allies from South Vietnam by helicopter.

• Apr 30, 1975

  Saigon falls and the Vietnam War ends.

• May 15, 1975

  U.S. forces retake the merchant ship Mayaguez.

• May 1975

  U.S. unemployment peaks at 9.0 percent.

• Jun 20, 1975

  Jaws opens in 409 theaters.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, X-Men #94 is number 53 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (47 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• For nearly five years before this issue, X-Men published only reprints.
• Wolverine, the team's future breakout star, does not appear on the cover.
• Dave Cockrum created Nightcrawler while serving in the Navy, years before the character was published.
• Thunderbird, one of the new recruits, was killed off in the very next issue.
• Len Wein chose a young Chris Claremont partly because no established writer would object to taking over such a poorly selling book.
• The issue went on sale the day the U.S. evacuation of Saigon began.