In "When We First Met", we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.

My buddy Keith M. was reading my recent list about Wolverine vs. Cyclops memes and he saw I mentioned that Stan Lee introduced ruby quartz lenses to restrain Cyclops' eye blasts. He had recalled that Lee actually DIDN'T call them ruby quartz, so he was wondering when the term was first used.

When we first met Cyclops in X-Men #1, it was just a special visor...

As seen in #2, it was just always "special visor"...

Even after Roy Thomas took over writing duties, it was just "special specs" or whatever...

Finally, when Roy Thomas got around to writing Cyclops' origin in X-Men #39, he came up with WHAT the material in Cyclops' lens was...

So there you go, it took over three years to have the material in the lens actually named!

Thanks for the suggestion, Keith! If anyone else has a question regarding when something in comic book history first showed up, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com and I'll try to figure it out for you!