Beloved Comic Books--The Uncanny X-Men

[Doctor Strange]

(Stealing a minute to respond!)

Those Spider-Man and X-Men comics are certainly great, but the stuff I most enjoyed during my mid-70s Marvel days were Jim Starlin's tripped-out Captain Marvel and Warlock runs, the amazing Barry Smith Conans, and the Englehart/Brunner Doctor Strange (though my favorite DS of the period was the one-shot that preceded that run in Marvel Premiere with script by Lee and art by Barry Smith... Smith's style was just perfect for Doctor Strange).

And I loved John Buscema's continuing work (with Lee, then Thomas, scripts) on Fantastic Four, The Avengers, and Thor. Kirby was a tough act to follow, but Buscema, like Romita, was a real pro whose comics always looked great and told the story effectively.

 

[Trixie]

I was the lone girl in the comic store in the early 80s and I loved looking at all of them! Prior to that I got my fix of Archie comics from 7-11. The only highlight to visiting my dad and his new family (with four kids!) was leaving and stopping in there to load up. As far as Mad magazine, when I was ten I visited family in Australia and found four huge boxes filled with them in my uncle’s house. Pretty much all I did for two weeks was read them! Thanks for the nice reminder of those times!

 

[Nathan Dodge]

I was the lone girl in the comic store in the early 80s and I loved looking at all of them! Prior to that I got my fix of Archie comics from 7-11. The only highlight to visiting my dad and his new family (with four kids!) was leaving and stopping in there to load up. As far as Mad magazine, when I was ten I visited family in Australia and found four huge boxes filled with them in my uncle’s house. Pretty much all I did for two weeks was read them! Thanks for the nice reminder of those times!

Do you remember Crazy magazine? It was Marvel Comics' attempt at a Mad-like humor magazine. It's "mascot" was a shy, nebbishy-looking character whose name escapes me; later, they brought in Obnoxio the clown, a cigar-smoking, stubble-faced grouch.

Crazy wasn't very good.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

I've splattered a lot of words on this thread, but let me restate that the 2-volume The X-Men Companion, published 1982, right after the classic Claremont-Byrne run, but during the second Claremont-Cockrum run, has long, insightful interviews with all of these guys and is about as good a history of the comic and an in-depth look at the creative process as you'll ever find. The interviews are just a few short years removed from the comics' publication, so memories are still fresh. These volumes chronicle not just the "New" X-Men from 1975, but the original team of the 1960s. Two lengthy essays open the books. I'm raving about these, can't ya tell???

The X-Men Companion was published by Fantagraphics Books and edited by Peter Sanderson. Lots of black & white reproductions of the art, too. They can probably be had for cheap (the cover price of those long-ago days was $4.95).

 

[Old School QD]

I had a couple periods of intense comic collecting as well. I'm a Marvel guy who read a lot of Amazing Spiderman, Punisher, Wolverine and X-Men. My first period was during high school in the late 1980's / early 1990's when Todd McFarlane began drawing ASM at issue #298 and I've got that entire set he did. I collected the Fall of the Mutants saga in X-Men and the crossovers, some X-Factor and the Fallen Angels miniseries. I picked up the first 30 or so issues of the Wolverine series from issue #1. Punisher War Journal was a favourite as well. I also liked the What The? comedy series and didn't miss a chance to read my friend's Groo collection. MAD Magazine was also always around.

More recently, I really got into the Civil War event and ensured I acquired every issue from each series that it ran in. I had a library list and check them off as I bought them, deperately seeking out those I missed. And trying in vain to get the missed issues is what led me towards graphic novels. I picked up the followup X-Men stories of Messiah Complex and its offspring in GN format and really liked being able to carry around the entire storyline in a single hardbound edition. I think that's what I'll be grabbing in the future from now on if I get back into it again.

I've kept all my comics which are bagged and boarded in a couple of the 3'-or-so long cardboard comic boxes. (They get really heavy!) I haven't sold them because I've decided to keep them for my sons (2 yrs and 6 weeks respectively) to read when they are old enough, passing along my pasttime to them.

At the same time Civil War started, I also started cataloguing my collection using the Comic Collector software. It's fairly involved, but can give you nice insight into the gaps in a collection and interfaces with other collectors, giving going pricing as well. Look it up if you're interested, otherwise, just enjoy the paper of the comic like always.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

I think that comics, at least for me, are more rooted in childhood, or whenever it was that you were reading them. I like movies, music, books, and TV shows from various periods, but when it comes to comics I'm largely "stuck" in that "Bronze Age" era, which was the time I was reading those books. The so-called Golden Age of comics is largely unknown to me, but the stories and art are far more interesting in the comic strips of the time and the Silver Age signifies the period where all that Marvel magic was created; I find the seventies books far more interesting.

 

[Cricket]

I was and still am obsessed with Archie Comics. I started reading them when I was about 7. I am 27 now, and I still buy several whenever I find them. It is sad but I can look through thousands of strips within the digest libraries and I can tell if I had read it before in another digest. I have it all, and I turn giddy when I find a new selection of double digests. I feel like I am getting double the fun when I get home to read them.
When I was a child, I would curl up in my chair with a gigantic chocolate milkshake in a Walt Disney cup and read my newest Archie comic. I would always get an ice cream headache, but I didn't care. I was lost in Riverdale.

 

[Viola]

You must've come along later, because the Punisher was strictly a guest star in other books when I was collecting. And there was only one X-Men comic! The Wolverine mini-series (by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller) was a BIG deal.

My peak of collecting was 1979-1984.

Heh, you got me, I was born in '84.

I'm getting interested in going back to the old/retro stuff, though. With fedoras. The Spirit, the original Sandman with the gasmask, stuff like that. I can't get into Claremont, though. I've tried.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

...and the Englehart/Brunner Doctor Strange (though my favorite DS of the period was the one-shot that preceded that run in Marvel Premiere with script by Lee and art by Barry Smith... Smith's style was just perfect for Doctor Strange).

This was a book I should've explored, but never did. That's some tremendous artwork!

 

[Doctor Strange]

Nothing against the original, way cool Ditko Doctor Strange, or later interpretations... but that mid-70s incarnation was the best!

This is the cover for that one Stan Lee/Barry Smith issue that came before Frank Brunner took over:

And some info on the Brunner/Englehart run, per Englehart himself:

http://www.steveenglehart.com/Comics/Dr Strange MP9-5.html

While there are tons of wonderful Marvel resources, this site is definitely my fave. I especialy like to view by all the comics published in a given month - check out any month (especially in 65-68) and be amazed how many classics were on the stands at once!

http://www.samcci.comics.org/index.html

 

[Nathan Dodge]

While there are tons of wonderful Marvel resources, this site is definitely my fave. I especialy like to view by all the comics published in a given month - check out any month (especially in 65-68) and be amazed how many classics were on the stands at once!

http://www.samcci.comics.org/index.html

That is a great resource!

It's bittersweet, yet oddly amusing that the era was at its "Twilight" by the time I started getting into comics. There are many who believe that the death of Phoenix (X-Men #137; I'll never forget it!) towards the end that Claremont-Byrne run was the end of the Silver Age. An interesting choice; I thought it may have ended with the death of Gwen Stacy or something. I don't know. I'd be interested in reading some of your opinions on when the Silver Age "ended", if it can even be pinpointed. It would be fun to discuss.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I'd say it's pretty clear that the Silver Age was over well before Claremont's X-Men - probably in 1970 or 1971. I've seen a bunch of definitions: Gwen's death (*); Kirby's defection to DC in 1970; the Denny O'Neil/Neil Adams reboot of Batman as the lone-wolf avenger; the start of Conan; the point where Stan Lee stopped doing substantial writing/editing; etc.

(* I have the whole Spider-Man run from this period!)

Alas, I'm too busy to discuss at length. Maybe when all my deadlines pass next week...

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Uncanny X-Men Marvel Masterworks Vol. 5

Picked this up yesterday in one of the few remaining actual comic book stores in south Florida. This wraps up the Dark Phoenix Saga and, as far as I'm concerned, the entire Claremont-Byrne run. Volume 6 has the "Days of Future Past" two-parter, but IMO that initially good story was overdone in subsequent issues.

But now I have the entire tragic Phoenix Saga, the greatest tale of the Bronze Age of comics. Perfect reading for this sweltering heat we've had lately (97 degrees today).

 

[Nathan Dodge]

What Will Be #1?

The 25 Greatest X-Men Moments, according to IGN. Note how many of those come from the Claremont-Byrne run.

 

[ron521]

In the early 60's, my mother worked at a drug store, and sometimes brought me home comic books such as Fantastic Four, Classics Illustrated, Three Stooges, Metal Men, etc.
I eventually became a fan of Superman, Doom Patrol (similar to Xmen, but Doom Patrol was there first), Mystery In Space, Plastic Man, Batman, House of Secrets, House of Mystery, the Spectre, Metamorpho, and others.
In the early 70's, when comics went to 20 cents, I quit reading them and began reading motorcycle magazines instead.
More recently, I've gotten a little bit into some of the graphic novels such as Ghost, Empowered, Gen13, Danger Girl, and a few others. Both Metal Men and Metamorpho had a recent run from DC, and I am pleased to learn that Warner Bros has a Metal Men movie in the works.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

In the early 60's, my mother worked at a drug store, and sometimes brought me home comic books such as Fantastic Four, Classics Illustrated, Three Stooges, Metal Men, etc.
I eventually became a fan of Superman, Doom Patrol (similar to Xmen, but Doom Patrol was there first), Mystery In Space, Plastic Man, Batman, House of Secrets, House of Mystery, the Spectre, Metamorpho, and others.
In the early 70's, when comics went to 20 cents, I quit reading them and began reading motorcycle magazines instead.

I like reading the nostalgia that accompany comic books. DC's Superman and Batman were easily the biggest sellers throughout the 1960s.

I, too, moved on to other interests (music, literature, etc.) when comics started going downhill around 1985, and would probably have continued reading had the quality not fallen so far. Having read up on what has happened in all those years, and even coming back as a DC reader in 1997-98, it turns out I didn't miss much. Sometimes I expressed regret at having moved away from the hobby, but then I would never have grown and fostered new interests which turned out to be just as important to me.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

My big project for the rest of the year (and beyond!) will be tackling some of the Lee-Kirby Fantastic Four run via the Marvel Masterworks collection. I'm intrigued by the middle of that period, as I've never read those books but Kirby's amazing concepts and Lee's energetic storytelling look amazing! I'm floored by how many things came from these two guys and will be great to read them as they happened. I love how Kirby's art explodes on the page, huge overlapping spreads and HUGE sci-fi concepts! My word, were they brilliant! And to think as a kid I thought his artwork "ugly"!

I'm fast becoming a TRUE BELIEVER.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Gee, I envy you!

I wish I could read the classic Lee-Kirby Fantastic Four run for the first time!

Nuff said

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Gee, I envy you!

I wish I could read the classic Lee-Kirby Fantastic Four run for the first time!

Nuff said

I own a ragged copy of FF #89--the Mole Man's the villain--and though I've had the book for over twenty years, I only recently read the darn thing! Looking inside this masterpiece was like opening an old trunk in the attic and finding treasure! Kirby's images explode all over the page! There's a single-panel shot--and it looks like a movie--of the Human Torch flying towards the reader and it's truly amazing. Kirby drew in 3-D but there's no need for the silly glasses! And Stan "The Man" Lee's dialogue gets a bad rap, but to me it's every bit as energetic and alive as Kirby's art. It's easy to see how Marvel was revolutionary back in 1961--there's nothing quite like it! Comics since the mid-1980s are so blah, with their "dark", "moody", and "intense" imagery and say absolutely nothing. Give me epic, vibrant, life-affirming storytelling of Lee-Kirby!!!

Galactus is coming....

 

[Doctor Strange]

You probably already know this, but I love repeating it - it blew my mind when I first read it about 20 years ago:

One of Jack Kirby's first real art jobs was as an inbetweener on the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons, which were still being made in NYC (though the studio would shortly move to Florida).

Inbetweeners (aka "assistant animators") filled in the drawings in between the key poses done by an animator for a given scene. Thus, in a given second's 24 frames, the animator might do drawings 1, 6, 12, and 24. The inbetweener had to do the rest of the drawings and have them perfectly match the animator's drawings and continue the exact movements of the characters at the desired rate of change. This exacting work called for major draftsmanship skills, and a fine understanding of how to deconstruct action to individual poses.

With this background, it actually comes as no surprise that Kirby's comic art has such a dramatic, cinematic quality and a marvelous sense of movement. He had literally studied how to create the illusion of movement from drawings! (And while drawing a spinich-chomping superhero, no less!)

Oh, no... Galactus is here!