Episode 1397 Talkback: Spotlight on The X-Men in the Copper Age Part One
Pants
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We knew going in that the X-Men in the Copper Age would be too broad a topic to spotlight in just one episode, so in this installment we confine ourselves to the years 1980-85. It's a serpentine saga of Secret Wars and samurai weddings; of the Brood and the Brotherhood; of doomed romance and Dire Wraiths; of Morlocks and mohawks! Everything X-Men (and New Mutants) between John Byrne's departure and the Trial of Magneto is covered here, courtesy of Chris Eberle and Co. (1:39:30)
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Mile High Comics used to bring the X-Men creative team to town (Denver) about once a year. One year it was Claremont & Smith. I asked Paul Smith about Bob Wiacek's inks and told him that I really liked how they detailed Kitty's hair.
"I know that sounds weird, but please remember, at the time comic book hair wasn't detailed. It was treated as a sculpted mass sitting on top of the head."
Anyway, I called Kitty's hair, "Noodle hair". I don't know why that pissed Smith off, but it did. Long story short, I thought he was coming over the table at me.
The first 12 issues of Micronauts (Mantlo & Golden) are FANTASTIC! A little wordy, to be expected, but a great read nonetheless!
Chris, I strongly agree with your feelings regarding 80s X-Men single book continuity vs. 90s and beyond X-Men multiple books continuity(?). There were just three books, Uncanny, New Mutants, X-Factor, and various mini-series and overall, the writing was AWESOME. I miss that sooo much.
When do you think you’ll all get to Part 2? Btw, in case I’ve never said this before, let me take the opportunity to say that Pants, you’re doing an awesome job. I also give mad props to Murd (a.k.a. The Professor), Shane, and Pimp Shiznit All-Mighty Jamie D. The chemistry among you four is awesome and Chris, you’re becoming one of my favorite CGS guest hosts ever. Keep up the great work guys.
All New X-Men is playing around with some Bronze Age continuity(Jean Grey/Jason Wyngarde).
These episodes are a great refresher for reading current X-books.
The other thing that bugged me were the supporting characters. Claremont was often quoted as saying something along the lines of "I think of a character and then think, couldn't this be a woman?" I had no problem with that particular approach. But often than not, it seemed more like his approach was more, "I look at a major/minor supporting character/background passerby and I think, couldn't this be an alien/sorcerer/God/mystically-altered-persona/yet-another-undiscovered-mutant?" I got to where I couldn't read a story of his and wonder if the guy delivering pizza to the Xavier school wouldn't turn out to be a mutant assassin from a lost civilization hidden on the Yucatan peninsula.
I also thought that Claremont was getting stretched rather thin over so many mutant series and mini-series, but this was still early on and that thinness would seem more evident to me later on.
For all that, it was still a very lively period marked with good stories and terrific art, and those perceived flaws hadn't yet dulled the overall excitement of the series for me.
I note that very little was said of the Annuals for that period (unless I just missed hearing it -- I was doing some housecleaning while listening to the podcast and my attention might have momentarily wandered). George Perez and Terry Austin did a bang-up job of pitting the team against an old Avengers friend/antangonist, Arkon, in Annual #3; #4 had an early and still-developing-his-own-style John Romita Jr depicting their journey into Dante's Inferno with Dr Strange to rescue Nightcrawler's soul - a tale which formally introduced Kurt's foster mother, Margali of the Winding Road; #5 had a Brent Anderson illustrated adventure that teamed the X-Men with the Fantastic Four in a return to Arkon's dimension to battle the Badoon; and #6 (which I believe was mentioned) had a rematch with Dracula drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz.
FWIW, I was not a JRjr fan during his X-Men run and I am not a fan of his art today on titles such as Captain America. I know a lot of people love his work, but I happen to think it is blocky, chunky, inconsistent and sometimes very sloppy. I am sure his uncanny ability to meet deadlines has helped him get stints on nearly every character at Marvel, but honestly I just don't see the appeal. Obviously art is subjective, but for my copper age X-Men, I would have preferred Brent Anderson, Art Adams, Paul Smith, or bring Byrne back.
And speaking of frightening cover images (per Adam's comment about X-Men in the 80's), remember this iconic cover of the Brood infected Wolverine from #234! Cripes!!
Please keep up these spotlight episodes! And Chris Eberle is an excellent guest host too. Another home run @Pants!
Great Paul Smith take on Wolverine.
And that Uncanny 234 cover is wicked scary.
I'm still hoping for a spotlight series on the Fantastic Four. You like Marvel cosmic? It started here. Not just that but this book was the backbone for the entire Marvel U for many years. So much of what we take for granted about the Marvel U came from this series. Many great artists and writers worked on the book over the years too. It certainly would be a worthy choice.
A friend of mine had an interesting story about meeting Adams. My friend, who is now a game illustrator and who, during the mid-90's, was one of the chief contributors to the Magic - Ice Age card game, attended a small local con here in the very early 90's. He took his portfolio around to the major comic artists who attended -- there weren't many of them there, since it was a small con, but there were a few. All of them were encouraging, all were impressed with his work, all had helpful advice to offer, and all had specific pieces and pages that they specifically commented on.
Then, he came to Art Adams. When asked to look through the portfolio and give the work an appraisal, Adams did so reluctantly, saying, apologetically, that he wasn't very good at doing that sort of thing. According to my friend, Adams pretty much lived up to that statement, and his comments, observations and advice were pretty much the exact reverse of everything the other pros had told my friend.
My friend still likes Adams' work, but he has a completely different opinion of him otherwise as a result of that encounter.
Neal Adams is notorious for giving brutally honest portfolio reviews. He pulls no punches, and he pissed off a lot of people over the years who didn’t know how to accept criticism. Those that did, however, he usually helped a great deal (after they were done being pissed off at him).
I'm not sure of Art’s review policy, but the man knows how to draw and how to tell a story. Maybe he’s just not that good at relating that knowledge to others. He certainly wouldn’t be alone if that is the case.
Then Bob Budiansky, who was in charge of poster production at Marvel, asked Art to do a poster drawing based off the Heroes for Hope cover.
Also, that X-Men Annual with the X-Babies, as well as the New Mutants Special were both originally scheduled to be drawn by Paul Smith. Art was brought in after Smith backed out and skipped town.
Interesting side-note to this was that as a result of my visit my roommate and my neighbor, also aspiring comic artists, decided that if Neal Adams would look at my work then they should have no trouble getting interviewed. My roommate simply embarrassed himself, but my neighbor got himself hired and worked at the studio for at least a few years.
As for the interview with Neal Adams, I found him to be friendly and easy-going, especially as I had to have been an unwanted intrusion on a workday, and gave me a much gentler letting down than I probably deserved. And I certainly appreciated the cocoa.
Overall, I loved this episode and l really enjoy whenever Chris takes to the mic.
As for Arcade, I think he did kill his previous assistant. I think she burned half his face off on his birthday or something like that. I may be mistaken but it might have been revealed in the Loeb/Sale Wolverine/Gambit: Victims mini series.
I can't wait for you guys to reach the chromium age where I was picking the books up off the shelf.