11 – PROFESSOR X

Subject: Professor X
Real Name: Charles Xavier
Height: 6′ Weight: 190 lbs.
Group Affiliation: X-Men
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #1, September 1963

Power Ratings:

• Energy Projection: 1/7
• Mental Powers: 6/7
• Strength: 1/7
• Fighting Ability: 1/7
• Intelligence: 5/7

Let’s get this straight: Professor X is “the most powerful mutant telepath on Earth,” and yet his Mental Powers rating is 6/7? Are 7/7 reserved for non-mutant telepaths? Celestial/mystical beings of the Marvel Universe variety? (Apparently; Phoenix aka Rachel Summers is the only one with a 7/7 Mental Powers rating)

Professor X has never looked more Asian than when Jim Lee draws him, but then again, no character looks more Asian than when Jim Lee drew them (this is why I didn’t know until pathetically later that 1990′s Psylocke was Japanese… sure, she looked Japanese, but so did Gambit). Artwise though Charles looks nicely stately, powerful and intense and only slightly showing off how buff he actually is inside his hoverchair.

Random observation: After the first 10 cards, all the front images are now in Portrait orientation versus landscape. Whether this was by design is unclear. More likely Lee got bored with drawing in landscape… personally I always thought his art and layouts were better in portrait mode anyway, might be because of the statuesque poses he loves so much.