Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Marvel's X-verse

The story i referenced above 'Captain Britain and James Jaspers Reality Warp' storyline (1981 - 1987 ish) was originally written by Alan Moore not Chris Claremont.

Just got these set up, witness your choice of the earliest stories...



http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/Mast%2003.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20Mast%2001%20TPB%201993.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20Mast%2001B.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20Ess%2001A.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20Ess%2001B.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20Mast%2001C.jpg

...and the latest...

http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20Mast%2001%20TPB%202009.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20Omni%2001.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20Ess%2001C.jpg

Closing in on the X-MEN section at the Silver Age Marvel site. Just got the "Reprints 2" page all set up (with the exception of adding all the story titles to the LAST Masterworks work).


The ONE book that may not belong on the page (or the site) is X-MEN MASTERWORKS Vol.8, because at the moment, not one issue reprinted in there is represented at the site! However, my feeling is, the volume brings "closure" to the original X-MEN series, and I am already planning to extend INCREDIBLE HULK all the way to the end of Herb Trimpe's prodigious run. (Several HULKs guest-star X-Men.)


In addition, I've already had a few Dave Cockrum issues set up from almost 2 years ago, and plan to go to the end of Dave's 1st run. By the time I'm done, there should be exactly ONE John Byrne issue on the site-- his first, and that'll be it. (It finished off a big epic Dave was just too damn slow to handle.)


This his rather like how I intend-- eventually-- to extend DAREDEVIL all the way to the 1st Frank Miller issue (also the END of a long storyline), and then STOP. Younger fans may wonder, "WTF???" as the stuff AFTER my intended end points is usually considered vastly superior. Too bad! I'm sure there are DOZENS of websites out there devoted to EACH of these books that no doubt focus almost entirely on the later, more "popular" stuff. ("Kirby who?")


As it is, Nick Simon may wind up in fits, as HIS general end point has been Jan'71! (Of course, he DID extend SGT. FURY alllllllll the way to that series' end.)

http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/

Nick's website does a lot of cool thematic pages (like covers with photo in the background); you should totally do one documenting all the appearances of the X-Men in between the end of their first series and Giant-Sized #1! (Not counting Beast).

There are always a few I forget, like the Havoc/Polaris issue in Hulk, etc.

Funny you should mention it... Right now, the 3rd X-MEN page, "51-66" contains, at the bottom, most of the "in-between" covers. (I'm still setting it up.)

http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/
Titles - X-Men - 51-66


I'm glad I can post stuff like this here. One of the moderators at the MASTERWORKS message board ("Gormuu") has put me on notice that I am "FORBIDDEN" to post any more links-- or even to MENTION or REFER to Nick's site-- ever again, or I'll be "BANNED".


He claims I've "crossed a line" and dirtied the image of Nick's site, turning it into a "PIRATE" site, by posting complete stories. He is so full of S*** it's unbelieavable. I've decided to not even try to discuss it with him, since he was giving me C*** a year ago because I "sign" my extensive restorations. At the same time, he allows this one friend of his ("AussieStu") to repeatedly be rude and insulting and obnoxious to other board members (NOT just me!). And, on a regular basis, other board members post links to "BLOGS" which feature SCANS OF COMPLETE STORIES. So WTF is going on there?


My own feeling is, it's very simple. MASTERWORKS is tied in directly with the MASTERWORKS website, which is set up specifically to promote MARVEL COMICS REPRINT collections.


I guess they figure it's okay to post DIRTY, UGLY scans of old comics. But not MY scans. If readers at that board look at MY scans, they're realize how INFERIOR those high-priced books are BY COMPARISON.


But you'll never get "Gormuu" to admit that.

By the way, on the newer reprints, I kinda like the Dean White paintings done right over the original art. Moreso than the Alex Ross paintings, merely "bases on" the same scenes. What does anybody else think?

I prefer new paintings ... I liked the old coloring style and don't like it being messed with so much. (just me)

Well, I got another big step done in the X-MEN section. Last night I finished (?) setting up the "Reprints 2" page, posting covers for EVERY book I could find (so far) reprinting stories from the 60's run.


Updating my own hand-typed index along the way to help keep things straight, I've now started on the reprint "compare" pages, where you can see the originals side-by-side with the reprint versions.


For X-MEN #1 (Sep'63), I count 24 DIFFERENT reprint books (plus at least 2 "variants" I don't have decent copies of to post). 24!!! That's a record so far...


http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/

This is slow going, but it's starting to fall into place.


Here's some stats for you.


Number of books containing reprints of these stories:


X-MEN #1 -- 24
X-MEN #2 -- 16
X-MEN #3 -- 16
X-MEN #4 -- 17


It's painfully obvious in cases like this, if and when I get around to adding FOREIGN reprints, they'll have to have separate "compare" pages to make it manageable.

I've now reached the point in the project again where I've gotten up to the books WERNER ROTH worked on. I read an interview with someone in ALTER EGO (I think) where they discussed Roth's time on the book. It was said that Stan DID NOT want to hire the guy, and Roth came in one day when Stan wasn't there, and someone else he spoke with somehow intervened, and "convinced" Stan to give the guy a chance.


If memory serves (see how familiar this sounds), Stan claimed he felt Roth's style wasn't "dynamic" enough. However, we all know how things have been going in the various discussions here and elsewhere, to take such a claim with a grain of salt.


When Roth began on X-MEN (the issue after Toth), he did pencils over Jack Kirby, with inks by Joe Sinnott (WHAT A WAY to make your debut!), then Vince Colletta, then a whole stretch of issues by Dick Ayers, followed by John Tartaglione. I'd like to point out as an aside that, unlike many other pencillers, Roth's "pretty" style shone thru, and was NOT murdered by either Colletta, Ayers OR even Tartaglione!!! I think that says a lot about the guy.


But to the point I really wanted to focus on... Roth pencilled 5 issues over Jack Kirby's STORY. This was followed by 2 issues where he flew solo, while Stan still supplied dialogue. Take note. 2 ISSUES. 2! "On the third day...", ROY THOMAS, fresh from DC (and fanzines before that) took over writing dialogue. And, PROBABLY, more.


Unlike Stan, Roy has never been lazy in the (AHEM!) "writing" department. I don't know how detailed Roy's plots were-- one long paragraph? A full page? SEVERAL pages? Presumably, he DID work "Marvel Method", doing plot beforehand and dialogue afterwards.


The thing I wanted to take note of, which stands out to me now more than before (now that I know what I didn't before), is that, faced with a penciller NOT used to plotting his own stories, Stan JUMPED SHIP as soon as possible. I guess it was a good match. Roth wasn't big on plotting, and Roy WAS. (What self-respecting "writer" WOULDN'T be?????)

Would anybody happen to have a scan of the original, unused cover of X-MEN #33 (Jun'67)? Aparently it featured "The Outcast"-- pencils and inks by GIL KANE-- and was rejected by the Comics Code for being "too frightening". Only bits of it remain in the published cover (mostly Juggernaut's hands, and it explains why they look so grizzled as it was supposed to be an entirely different character!).

Here's the latest clean-ups, X-MEN #34 & 35, art by DAN ADKINS!

http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20034.jpg
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20035.jpg

X-MEN #40 & 88

Just replaced BOTH awful images on this one.


Isn't it disgraceful that someone had Marie change Frankie's face-- and The
Beast's? The original has so much more character...


http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20040.jpg

http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/XM%20088.jpg

X-MEN LEGACY 244: Blindfold's one of the most interesting of the newer X-characters. Ruth's power is a harsh one to use. It's demanding of its users. She's blind, but sees the future. The future she's seen is that of a group hiding among the mutants. She's glimpsed one of that group 'hurting us badly'. She doesn't have a clear image, so she begins the process of elimination.

She visits Gambit, Hellion, Dr. Nemesis/Prof X/Legion and the Sterile Cuckoos in a series of interviews that are alarming to varying degrees. But none of those she visits fills out her image. While investigating, she stumbles (but does a prognosticator every *really* stumble by accident?) upon a more conventional monster that's captured Magma, Surge, Armor and Dragoness- ensnaring them in a web.

Rogue and Madison Jeffries are on a parallel search for the missing mutants. The searches converge. A fairly good fight scene and the revelation of some interesting details about the monster emerge.

But Blindfold's search continues. A blind heroine stumbles on a rocky landscape. "And if I could stop this thing with every last drop of my heart's blood, I... would... willinglingy... bleed."

With those words, I think Blindfold's joined the ranks of my favorite characters.

Mike Carey's upcoming AGE OF X "event" might actually live up to the word in quotation marks.

The latest restoration, I'm afraid, gets my vote for one of the WORST covers I'm putting up at the site. Not only is the art AND design awful, the dialogue makes the X-Men seem like bad guys...

http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/MTU%20004.jpg

Just thought I'd let you know, check out the 3rd page of the X-MEN section ("51-66") and tell me what you think... (It's still "in progress", but it's come a long way.)

http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/

Titles -- X-Men -- 51-66

Checked it out and it's really groovy! I've always wanted to see those issues laid out like that! I can't wait to see when it's complete, but its already kind of how I envisioned it.

By the time I was reading Marvel comics off the rack, the X-Men were already the supreme franchise at Marvel, and I already had a strong knowledge of the Silver Age X-Men, so this era--when they were relegated to guest appearances--is so fascinating to me.

Thanks.

I haven't quite made up my mind yet, but it looks like what's still missing it some AVENGERS, CAPTAIN AMERICA and DEFENDERS. All of which fall past the original scope of the site... but then, that whole "in-between" section does.

In the meantime, I JUST finished doing "quickie" clean-ups of the last 16 issues of X-MEN. I'm on a mission to eliminate EVERY "dirty" or "yellow" image from the entire site! As of now, that's EVERY X-MEN cover posted.

As it happens, I have every issue of X-MEN from #49-66 in my collection, and will probably do my own scans & restorations... eventually... unless I decide to go with Heritage Auction scans instead. They're a bit smaller, but they do tend to have images of books in MUCH better physical condition than mine, which require less time to fix them up.

For now, it tends to only take a few seconds to run many of these thru Photoshop and hit them once with "levels", and in some case, adjust hue/saturation or contrast.

The latest restoration: THE CAT #4 (1973), art by John Romita & his assistant, Tony Mortellaro...


http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/x-men/Cat%2004.jpg


What is this doing here, you might ask? Well, after going to the trouble of creating a new character (one who was so generic in both concept and name), and dumping it onlto the market with 2 OTHER "female" books at the same time (a tact sure to cause low sales on all 3 of them), sales apparently were low so that by the 4th issue, they not only decided to CANCEL the book, but to cut the page count short. So instead of 22 or 20 pages, it had 15 pages.


And in the back, a REPRINT of the MARVEL GIRL "feature", "The Female Of The Species". Makes her sound less than human, doesn't it?


And it seems THIS is why the same back-up was reprinted in the "WOMEN OF MARVEL Omnibus"-- not because of MARVEL GIRL, but because of THE CAT. The omnibus book contains her entire series, plus her appearances as TIGRA THE WERE-WOMAN. The back-up was included just because it weas there, even though, technically, it was a reprint of a reprint.


MY question is, how come they couldn't even bother creating villains for THE CAT? In this issue, she fights MAN-BULL, in another, THE OWL. Great way to establish her rep and identity-- having her tackle leftover DAREDEVIL villains. (Especially when DD spent so much time tackling leftover SPIDEY villains...)

The latest restoration, from my own scan: AVENGERS #136:


http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/avengers/AV%20136.jpg


Here's one where the "AVENGERS" logo, the text box at the bottom, and the left, right & bottom edges were ALL "straight" (in proper rotation) to each other... but, the "MARVEL COMICS GROUP" banner and "EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES" text line weren't. But I've fixed them now! Another 35-year-old paste-up job redone.


Compare this with the original...


http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/aa-at/AA%2012.jpg

Uncanny X-Force #3 introduces a new set of Four Horsemen for Apocalypse and rather than go the expected route of rehashing old concepts, actually delivers in a big way in introducing some new, interesting and frightening new villains for the X-Men. For the first time in years, I’m really missing the ability for writers to introduce new mutants at their leisure, as the creators here really knock it out of the park with each one.

In fact, the creators did a great job throughout. This issue was almost entirely action besides the origins of the four horsemen and that action delivers in a big way, doing a good job building suspense, utilizing the various powers and having each character in a different situation. It’s one of the better choreographed actions issues I’ve read in awhile.

Uncanny X-Force has emerged as the best X-title I’ve read in ages, with actual exciting plotlines and confrontations each issue. There is a great balance between the (5) main characters that works really well. I can’t believe I’m excited to read about Psylocke again! And Fantomax really works well here, better than he did when he was first introduced by Morrison.

This has been a surprise delight of a comic.

X-Men First Class trailer .......

looks surprisingly AWESOME!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrbHykKUfTM


I thought this was going to be lame.

I think this is the best to post this. I loved X-Men: Evolution when I was a child. This is a really touching video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOu4bfSv-Pg

looks great, after the last lame outings in X3 and wolverine I'm suprised at how much I'm looking forward to this....

The AGE OF X has now come and gone. I enjoyed it, though the reality behind the whole thing was kind of predictable, though the details certainly weren't.

I wish some of the costumes and names would stick around in the regular version.

It was good to see NEW MUTANTS characters used well, though they really should've been starring characters, since their own book was pulled into the publishing strategy.

This happens to the title way too much- yeah, Cannonball and Moonstar and, to a lesser extent, Magma and Sunspot are shown to good effect, but are hardly the stars of the NEW MUTANTS AGE OF X issues.

At least it wasn't Cyclops, Emma Frost and Wolverine stealing thier spotlight. Not that Rogue and Magneto are to be preferred. At least they aren't headlining *everything* with an X in it.

Are Legion fans aware that DNA are the new writers for NEW MUTANTS starting after the 'Age of X aftermath' issue(s?). The charachters X-Man and Blink are to be featured in some capacity.