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Post by spoon on Mar 9, 2024 12:26:20 GMT -5
My question for those of you who read this run when it was originally published: did you realize Wyngarde was Mastermind through these hints before the actual reveal? My first issue of X-Men was #99, and I read it religiously most of the way up to #180 or so. But I didn’t recognize Mastermind. I’m not sure I had ever even seen Mastermind at that point. I’ll bet it took a lot of people by surprise. I don’t think Mastermind really appeared that often. He’s in all those issues at the very beginning with the Brotherhood. And I think he appeared a few times after that, but he wasn’t any kind of a major villain like Magneto or Juggernaut. It seems likely to me that he came completely out of left field for a lot of readers. But I would sure be interested to hear any different! Mastermind did have some later appearances. He should up during the Factor Three story, I think with other former Brotherhood members. Then he was one of the mutants captured by the Sentinels during the Neal Adams run. He also had some guest appearances in other titles while X-Men was in reprints. I've read some of them, but barely remember them. It's really the Marvel Chronology Project aiding my memory. There's are some issues of Avengers when Magneto showed up. That was when Avengers was picked up some X-Men plot threads because that also the period where Avengers had a Sentinel story when I think Quicksilver was injured. There are also a couple issues of Defenders that would've been the Alpha story where Magneto is reduced to infancy.
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Post by spoon on Mar 8, 2024 21:50:55 GMT -5
As iconic as it was, in hindsight, I think that story was a terrible mistake. I agree 100%. To me, it's a very powerful story. I also like the Luke Cage story immediately after, when Peter is grieving. What's the mistake? Is it that Gwen is a better fit for Peter as a realistic girlfriend (like they're both smart) and you think it would make for better stories with her still in the cast? That's something I see some merit. On the hand, I wouldn't agree that it's too heavy for the series.
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Post by spoon on Mar 8, 2024 21:20:53 GMT -5
Resuming by Claremont/Byrne X-Men re-read, I read Uncanny X-Men #129-131.
Since we start #129 with the X-Men departing Muir Island as Banshee stays behind, there yet another problem with the plotline about not realizing everyone surviving the destruction of Magneto's base. Banshee fell in love with Moira earlier in Claremont's run. It's implausible he wouldn't check in with Moira as soon as possible. I'd be interested in a What If based on Madrox, Havok, and/or Polaris joining when Banshee leaves the team.
Amusingly, the rough and tumble Wolverine is the only one with a pillow on the flight back to Salem Center. Jean has another hallucination of Jason Wyngarde on the flight. We get a nice resolution to the subplot of Scott's muted response to Jean's apparent death, when he reflects that he was bottling up his feelings because of all the losses he's had in his life. He also claims Colleen Wing was "just a friend." On the other, Jean reveals nothing of her hallucinations and instead makes out with Scott. The moral of the story is that you should be honest with your significant other instead of keeping secrets. Secrets make you more susceptible to psychic manipulation, which makes you give into your dark side, which makes you lose control, which eventually makes kill off the whole D'Bari species.
The X-Men find Xavier has returned to the mansion. This creates a conflict between the Prof, who has a new interest in micromanaging, and Cyclops, who has grown used to autonomy in running the team and thinks he knows the newbies better than Xavier. There's a cool Easter egg where Scott and Jean have some dialogue about the door to the Danger Room which is verbatim from X-Men #60. We see more Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost for the first time, with the revelation that the seemingly random Warhawk issue was a plot to wiretap Xavier's mansion. Cerebro detects two new mutants, so the team splits up to contact both simultaneously. Xavier doesn't mention which group Nightcrawler is assigned to, which might reflect how much the focus on him has declined.
The folks who go to Chicago meet Kitty Pryde. Unfortunately, her parents on the verge of a divorce and her dad looks vaguely like Ron Jeremy. We get some rare panels of Ororo with pupils and irises. The White Queen defeats the group of X-Men, but Kitty stows away on her hovercraft. Scott, Jean, and Kurt are sent to find the NYC mutant (Dazzler) in #130, which features an early John Romita Jr. Although Byrne draws most of the remaining covers of his run, it's remarkable how many up to this point have been drawn by other artists. Dazzler, despite being a disco singer, is at what seems more like a punk club. Claremont has this thing where he seems to be very into stuff like the punk scene while writing how putrid it is. It's like an edgelord performance. This team is more successful at its mission. Nightcrawler takes a phone call from Kitty, who got the X-Men's phone number from Storm. At the end of the issue, we get another image of Wyngarde's shadow looking like Mastermind's old appearance. My question for those of you who read this run when it was originally published: did you realize Wyngarde was Mastermind through these hints before the actual reveal?
In #131, we get the New York group rescuing the Chicago group. In a sad sequence, Kurt rescues Kitty, but then Kitty runs away from him. Kurt says that he's the one Kitty spoke to on the phone, but his appearance overshadows that. Kurt is the most charismatic, chill guy on the team, but the stigma of his appearance doesn't let his personality shine through to Kitty. Claremont & Byrne also do a great job showing off how Jean's powers have grown. She trashes a car then totally reassembles it. She alters her clothing at the molecular level. Cyke is basically the POV character in exploring how cool yet terrifying Jean's increasing power and sudden vicious streak are. Also, Kitty mentions how heavy Wolverine is, which reminds me that I think the first mentions of Logan's adamantium bones (not just claws) have only been over the last few issues. Despite this, a random Hellfire mercenary carried Logan with one arm back in #129.
It's implied Wolverine kills some mercenaries (the scripts are hinting that he kills people in some recent issues). Phoenix defeats the White Queen with some cool Phoenix imagery. It sounds like Jean killed Emma (but in some later issue IIRC it turns out she was in a coma). We also get one of the cool Byrne sequence with the X-Men in uniform followed by a panel in the same poses/positions in their civilian garb. Byrne continues the heights he's achieved in the Proteus arc. He's been great throughout, but his art reached another level starting with that arc. I also like his rendition of Jean's face a lot more compared to earlier in his run. There's also a very cool rapid-fire Nightcrawler teleportation sequence.
The last loose ends in #131 are what's up with our two new mutants. Dazzler remarks that she wants to be a singer rather than join the team. Scott is worried that she's seen the X-Men in their civilian identities, but they don't know much about Dazzler. It's true; we don't learn her real name or backstory. I suppose that was going to left to whoever handle her ongoing series, or maybe Claremont & Byrne didn't care too much to figure that out for a character they weren't going to keep. We actually only see two panels in two issues of her using her powers in combat. Kitty's parents are understandably upset that Xavier's student took her to the malt shop, and then Kitty goes missing for a couple of days. That would take a lot of explaining and Jean just give a damn anymore, so she alters their memories. Suddenly, Kitty's parents love Xavier's school. It helps that the headmistress of the competing school is unable to make her only follow-up visit.
Scott and Ororo and Charles are all alarmed by Jean's casual manipulations. But she's using her power for a good end. What's the worst that could happen?
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Post by spoon on Mar 7, 2024 22:54:45 GMT -5
I read The New Teen Titans: Games graphic novel by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. This is one of those legendary unfinished projects that actually got finished a couple decades later. George Perez really gets the chance to indulge in larger format pages. Also, the page count is so high that it can't reasonably be read in one sitting. The Introduction, Afterword, and feature on the original plot are very helpful in understanding the history of Games and the stops and starts in crafting it. It's noted that Wolfman was going through a period of writer's block, and it was actually Perez who typed up a plot outline based on the discussions the pair had. Wolfman had decided he would do any scripting until all the art was completed. However, since the plot outline wasn't a super-detailed page by page, panel by panel thing, that meant that some of original thoughts underlying the pages that would have been brought out in the script were lost from memory over the years. Unfortunately, I think it shows. The clues that would've led the Titans to the various terrorists aren't clearly shown, and sometimes I'm puzzling by how we're getting from point A to point B.
Since the story was far out-of-date in terms of the roster, etc. by the year of publication, it's an out of continuity time capsule. That allows for some risk-taking, because there's no problem with altering the characters from the status quo of their established histories. Almost of my Titans reading is actually from before the point on the book take place, despite it being a long delayed project, so I got a sense of the Titans from a bit beyond the era I know. Like I've through the grapevine about how polarizing Danny Chase was, but I may have actually read more of Danny in this one graphic novel than I have in all my previous reading combined.
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Post by spoon on Mar 5, 2024 23:22:20 GMT -5
I polished off X-Men Epic Collection vol. 6: Proteus by reading X-Men #123-128, Marvel Team-Up #89, and X-Men Annual #3. I think I've only read the Annual once before, and I'm not sure that I've read the issue of MTU before. I've read all the issues of X-Men multiple times, but it's actually been a few years, so there were a few things (particularly in #125) that I'd forgotten.
X-Men #123-124 is the Arcade two-parter. Great elements here are the action sequences, a classic villain facing the X-Men for the first time, Colossus's short-lived brainwashed turn as the Proletarian, and the return albeit in a small role of Amanda Sefton. Colossus's susceptibility to brainwashing are a result of his homesickness, and it's the culmination of the subplot of Piotr off his game. The cons are that it doesn't make sense that Arcade would release the X-Men just for sort of winning his game when he has a contract to kill them, that I don't know why Black Tom and Juggernaut hired Arcade to kill the X-Men, and the ongoing plotholes from Claremont and Byrne keeping the team separated from Jean and others. Scott tells his date Colleen Wing that he's been trying but failing to get in contact with Jean's family. You'd think he'd be more persistent since they just live upstate. But the implication is that it's for a death notification, so Colleen knows Jean is presumed dead by the X-Men. Except Misty Knight saw Jean after her supposed death date, and Colleen and Misty are business partners. Don't these folks ever talk?
A couple of things seem No-Prize worthy, but have explanations. First, Arcade seems to know that Storm suffers from claustrophobia. But of course, Arcade was hired by Black Tom & Juggs, and they were present for Storm's Cassidy Keep freakout. Also, robot Col Alexei Vashin of the KGB appears before the real Vashin has ever appeared. I'm guessing Arcade has info on intelligence agencies and decided it would be good for the brainwashing to model the robot after a real KGB official.
Visually a nice highlight of the story is Nightcrawler using his power to disappear into shadows. That power seemed later to fall rapidly out of use.
The MTU story is mostly forgettable. It features cameos by Arcade and Ms. Locke, but the main villain is underwhelming. The story was actually published months after its placement here, so the placement is probably because this had to come after the Arcade story but was better not forced into some hard to find space amidst the Proteus and Hellfire Club arcs.
X-Men Annual #3 was the first non-reprint X-Men Annual. This is the X-Men versus Arkon. The TPB include the inked cover art showing that there were more of warriors on the cover as drawn, but somehow they got wiped out in a color separations/printing error. The story is a bit of a mess because it requires Arkon starting a fight, when if he just talked to the X-Men he could've gotten their cooperation and ended the story in like 4 pages. Although Claremont's wrote the story, for some reason the script feels like it's not the regular writer for teh series. As great as George Perez is, his renditions of the characters are not as vibrant as Byrne's.
Then again, Byrne's renditions are like the platonic ideals of all these characters. His Phoenix, his Nightcrawler, his Colossus, everytime he has Cyclops and Wolverine face: they're all brilliant during the four-part Proteus arc. I left Storm out, because maybe his version doesn't feel as far ahead of some other versions compared to other members of the team.
Uncanny X-Men #125 is a crucial issue. It's just the warm-up of the Proteus story before the action gets into full swing, but it does a lot of clean-up work. For one, when Beast stumbles upon the X-Men in the mansion, it finally ends the mistaken belief by the two groups that each other is dead. For another, we get the start of the explanation that Scott has been repressing his grief about Jean, making more sense of his oddly muted reaction. But most importantly, we get some clarity to the story of Phoenix/Jean. After saving the whole universe, Jean's has been surprisingly less effective against less fantastic threats. After first theorizing that her actions in the Shi'ar Empire had drained her, Moira's testing on Muir Island later reveal that Jean is unconsciously applying psychic circuit breakers to her powers. Also, in a couple of panels of Professor Xavier's musing on Lilandra's world, we get a clearer explanation of the M'Kraan Crystal then we did in the original story.
UXM #125 also really starts planting seeds for the Dark Phoenix Saga. Jason Wyngarde (still not explicitly revealed as Mastermind) reappears, and it's revealed that he's posed as various people on Jean's journeys to get into her head. We get hints that he's know her from her early days as a hero, he creates an illusion of the first appearance of the classic Black Queen look, and Jean starts having a time-displaced hallucinations.
There's so much I love about the Proteus arc. There's action, pathos, great character moments, reunions, interpersonal conflicts, triumph, and tragedy. Phoenix finally starts using her powers to a greater extent, which is probably a result of the manipulation by Wyngarde weakening those aforementioned psychic circuit breakers. We gets some great reality warping moments from Proteus, who trades the more Silver Age sounding named Mutant X for a better one. As a Cyclops fan and a fan of great fight choreography, I love the sequence in #127 where Cyclops tests the nerve of Wolverine, and to a lesser extent Kurt and Ororo, after Proteus put them through the ringer. It's nice that Havok and Polaris get in on the action, although their roles aren't as big as they could be. We also get some local color in the Outer Hebrides, Edinburgh, and other parts of Scotland. There's also some really tragic backstory for Moira, as we learn that Proteus is her son conceived in a brutal marital rape.
Beyond the emotional elements of the storytelling, we get great suspense and action sequences. Shaking off his recent doubts, Colossus gets to play the key role in defeating Proteus.
I feel like I want to push on to the Dark Phoenix Saga proper, but I might take a brief break to read something else.
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Post by spoon on Mar 2, 2024 20:22:11 GMT -5
I was speaking to a friend who was telling me he picked up DD storyline Born Again and how excited he was to read it. Born Again is to be the next MCU storyline. I didn’t want to crap on his excitement but I have never understood the praise of this storyline.. So much so that I am rereading it because it’s been years and maybe I’ll see it differently. Which makes me wonder is there a storyline, or single issue that got accolades that just didn’t resonate with you? I really, really like Born Again. On the other hand, I'm not a fan of another Miller/Mazzuchelli collaboration, Batman: Year One. I would say the original Galactus Saga doesn't live up to the hype. It sounded much cooler when it was referenced or recapped in other stories than when I finally read it.
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Post by spoon on Mar 2, 2024 20:10:07 GMT -5
Kingdom Come. Batman Beyond. Christian Bale's Batman. O'Neil and Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow run. I heartily agreed about Kingdom Come and Bale's Batman. The hype about KC really mystifies me. It's like elevating telling over showing. We get scripting saying that it's big and important and serious, but the storytelling doesn't conveys much interesting. I've only scenes a few episodes of Batman Beyond, but I enjoyed them. I like GL/GA, but paradoxically I could see why people would expect more. I feel like it could be dependent on how a person is feeling when they read it and what they're expecting. For instance, a big part of it is dealing with social issues, but some of the issues feel more superficial/broad than they could be.
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Post by spoon on Mar 2, 2024 19:18:36 GMT -5
I bought a used copy of the Superman: Exile TPB. I finished reading Byrne's Superman run a month or two back, so I thought it would be interesting to read some of the stuff that came out shortly after. I've only read one or maybe two of the issues reprinted in this TPB.
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Post by spoon on Mar 2, 2024 18:52:12 GMT -5
One thing I forgot to mention in my X-Men posts is that in comics I didn't read off the shelf, I often don't realize how contemporary the culture references in the script were at the time. Like in Hulk Annual #7, the disguise Master Mold is jokingly called Grizzly Adams. I looked it up and found out that the Grizzly Adams TV series was actually on the air when that issue would've been published.
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Post by spoon on Mar 2, 2024 18:49:29 GMT -5
I read Uncanny X-Men #117-122 via X-Men Epic Collection: Proteus (vol. 6). These are all stories I've read multiple times via Classic X-Men, but I think it's the first time I've read the stories without the original pages added for Classic X-Men. These issues consist of the first Shadow King story (#117), the Moses Magnum two-parter in Japan (#118-119), the first appearance of Alpha Flight (#120-121), and one of those transitional X-Men at home character development/subplot building issues (#122).
Claremont & Byrne are doing a lot of interweaving of cast members from Power Man & Iron Fist during this period. First, Jean runs into Misty Knight at the airport. Then, the team runs into Misty & Colleen Wing in Japan (with an Iron Fist cameo via a phone call). Misty & Colleen travel back with the X-Men through Canada. Both of them plus Luke Cage showed up in #122. In addition, a guest appearance by several of the X-Men in PM & IF #57 fighting the Living Monolith is referenced in X-Men #122. It's cool to see the cast brought together.
That leads me, however, to perhaps my biggest writing pet peeve of this period of X-Men. So many of the plot complications rely on the continued mistake belief by Jean, Beast, Professor X, Lilandra, and the Muir Island crew that the rest of the X-Men are dead, while the bulk of the team believes Jean and Hank perished. It started when they were separate during the Antarctic battle with Magneto and gets perpetuated by various circumstances: the X-Men are rescued by a Japanese on some never-explained mission that must remain incommunicado, a mourning Xavier decides to leave with Lilandra to go to the Shiar Empire, a mourning Jean goes traveling to Greece and Scotland. But this falls apart if the X-Men cast has the normal conversations one would expect. Jean and Misty were roommates, although I think at the end of the Warhawk story Jean decided to move back to the X-Mansion. Although it's mention that Misty was in the hospital for a bit, I'd think that they'd have had a conversation sometime in the past few weeks about the situation. Even in their chance airport meeting, I'd think Jean might say, "My boyfriend Scott died." Or when Scott starts getting close to Colleen, wouldn't Misty think about how Scott was dating Jean? Would she wonder about why Scott is apparently free now and whether it would create friction for her BFF to date her ex-roommate's ex-BF. Misty knows Jean is Phoenix, so I'd think she'd know this Scott who she sees out of costume is Jean's Scott. Also, Scott was so concerned with Magneto possibly attacking Xavier that it's odd the team didn't attempt to leave the Japanese ship in transit at some point. I also think that given the nature of crazy superhero battles, the two groups from the Magneto battle recognize their own miraculous mistakes but finding it impossible the other group had a miracle that they should result in a search to find them.
This also ties into the relationship drama. Scott introspectively notes he isn't mourning Jean like he thought he would. My recollection is that the eventual payoff is Scott realizing he was bottling up his feelings as the repressed, high-pressure team leader. In past readings, I've found that unsatisfying, but I'll see if it hits different when I read the issues in order over a short period of time. Back in the Savage Land, Wolverine seemed more affected by her death (which is something I'd expect from Claremont circa 1989), but he gets over it quick. In Japan, Logan meets Mariko Yashida for the first time and falls head over heels. After the leprechauns, Mariko is the first character to learn Logan is his real name.
Speaking of Wolverine, his prestige has been rising ever since Byrne joined the book. He's gone from being an overconfident jerk who frequently gets his comeuppance to someone with a lot of hidden talents who appears to be a keen observer of people and pulls off some cool stuff. In the Japan arc, his conversations show he can be sensitive. He has traveled to Japan in the past and knows the language. In Canada, we get a sense that he has grown from being more reckless during the days before his first appearance. The rather novel ending to the battle with Alpha Flight has Wolvering agree to surrender himself to allow his teammates to go, but then escape from the prison van to rejoin his teammates as a stowaway on their flight the U.S. Then, he helps Colossus get past some of his hangups in #122, showing concern for others and people skills that are a distinct departure from his portrayal in the Cockrum era.
On the other hand, we start to get bits of Claremont being annoying in the promotion of his future faves. In one of the earliest examples of Claremont's "being a jerk to your teammates makes your cool" trope, Wolverine responds to Cyclops saying he didn't know Wolvie knew Japanese with the passive-aggressive "you never asked." Cyke is pretty gracious in response, but if your team is sailing to Japan on a Japanese, normals folks would think you should volunteer this info. We also get hyperbolic Storm in #121 claiming a blizzard created by Shaman probably wouldn't dissipate until the summer without her intervention. Does she have precognition? She also claims her hand was slashed to the bone in #122, but can somehow still move her fingers okay. Also, Wolvie has a potentially racist thought balloon in #122. He drops Storm off in Harlem but is worried if she can fend for herself. He thinks he might have to come back to save Storm and won't "be gentle with any buck dumb enough to get in my way." On one hand, one definition of "buck" is an impetuous young guy (regardless of race). On the other hand, especially in the context of bring Storm to Harlem, it feels like it's evoking the racially derogatory connotation.
Nightcrawler and Colossus don't get as much attention as characters during these issues, even arguably compared to Banshee who is slated for retirement after blowing out his powers thwarting Moses Mangum. I don't think it was cool for the X-Men to plan a surprise party for Banshee, though, instead of just picking him up from the hospital.
In some ways, Magnum is cheesy, but strangely he reminds me of both the super-powered version of Count Nefaria and the Master of the World. His power over the Earth is linked to implausible explanation about falling into a chasm in the Earth, which got retconned in pages added in Classic X-Men to include Apocalypse. Actionwise, the battles against the Mandroids are both pretty cool. In the Mandroid battle, there's a cool panel of Colossus reaching up out of a hole in the road to smash a truck. I think JR jr did a homage to that years later (maybe in #200). The panels of Sasquatch smashing Logan into a couple of walls are cool. Nightcrawler, in one of his few highlights from theses issues, gets to mess with Aurora. Alpha Flight is interesting, although without fully developed personalities yet. Snowbird gets the least attention. Northstar seems like a jerk. Sasquatch played in the NFL rather than the CFL because he mentions facing the Steelers defense.
In spite of lacking a big super-hero fight, #122 has lots of interesting bits. Colleen the minx sneaks Scott an apartment key in an envelope. Claremont & Byrne almost doxx her, but her address and phone number are partially obscured by Scott's thumb. Also, Jean runs into a debonair-looking man named Jason Wyngarde in Scott, although a found a bit of his dialogue jerky. I think TPBs generally start the Dark Phoenix Saga with #129, but in some ways this is the start. Classic X-Men would later retcon Jean as having met Jason in disguise during her trip to Greece mentioned in passing. I'm not sure I noticed in past readings of #122 that Byrne was dropping hints of Wyngarde's identity from the beginning with his shadow as the silhouette of Mastermind. Also, I believe his thought balloon is the first mention of the "Hellfire Club" although some past references to other groups like I think "Council of the Chosen" were later explained also to be the Club. The art in #122 is actually Byrne breakdowns with Austin finishes. On some pages it doesn't look as good as full Byrne pencils, but in other pages it actually looks better.
In coming attractions, near a door labeled Mutant X an off-panel baddie (you know who) kills disgruntled hovercraft businessman Angus McWhirter, who we met in a Cockrum issue. And in #122, Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut hire Arcade to kill the X-Men. Tom claims they'll be millionaires if Arcade succeeds. How does that work? Does he think Cain Marko will inherit Xavier's money. I feel certain the Prof has a Will and Juggs isn't in it.
In subplot news, the reason Lilandra is going back to the empire is because the civil war, left unresolved when she decided to remain on Earth has now ended in her favor, and she can take the throne. I haven't commented much on the Shadow King story. I'm neither too excited about it nor too critical, aside from a whiff of Orientalism. It's good to get more of Xavier's backstory and set up a baddie who won't pay off until much later. The astral plane battle isn't that interesting. The story deals with the retcon of Xavier meeting Ororo as a kid by explaining he didn't realize Storm was the same person until after he recruited her for the team. I'd like to see that "hey, don't we know each other" convo.
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Post by spoon on Mar 2, 2024 0:02:45 GMT -5
What single issues do you still need? I bought X-Men Epic vol. 5-7 in spite of having most of the material in them in other formats for the convenience and to have it in better condition/quality. I also like the extras and needed some of the more obscure content. I didn't have one of the Marvel Treasury Edition stories that were reprinted in vol. 7. I need most of the Brood Saga (I just have a couple scattered ones) then a couple in the 170s. My LCS had a few of the era for a good deal (2-3 dollars) so I have most of them after the that to 200. I haven't checked prices much, so if they are more than I want them to be a couple still get Epic Vol 8 instead.. you're not wrong that the extra stuff is nice. c That's an era where my own collection is a mix of the original comics, X-Men Classic reprints, and the From the Ashes TPB. I remember one year for Christmas I got Uncanny X-Men #166 and I was so thrilled. The Brood Saga is actually Epic vol. 9.
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Post by spoon on Mar 1, 2024 11:06:50 GMT -5
Finished X-Men epic vol. 7... I've read the Dark Phoenix saga a few times, but one thing I never really thought about before... Kitty was very much a replacement for Jean in alot of ways...very interesting. This is probably my last X-Men epic... I have enough of the single issues after this I just need to fill them in (one of these days). What single issues do you still need? I bought X-Men Epic vol. 5-7 in spite of having most of the material in them in other formats for the convenience and to have it in better condition/quality. I also like the extras and needed some of the more obscure content. I didn't have one of the Marvel Treasury Edition stories that were reprinted in vol. 7.
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Post by spoon on Mar 1, 2024 11:03:26 GMT -5
Bo Hampton was the guest artist on an issue of New Mutants I really liked. I hadn't really seen his name anywhere else and assuming maybe he hand't much else, so it's interesting to discover more about him from people's posts here.
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Post by spoon on Feb 28, 2024 9:15:53 GMT -5
I agree the circus story was odd.. and I had totally forgotten about the set up.. thanks for that! (I had been waiting a while for the 2nd edition of Proteus to come out). I thought the same thing... seemed odd they would be trapped for weeks. But, OTOH, the X-Men lose ALOT, so it shouldn't be too surprising. I agree on both counts that the Hulk Annual was an odd inclusion, but also really fun! This Epic Collection had its new printing in September. The three Epics covering Cockrum's first run and Byrne's run had new printings in 2023.
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Post by spoon on Feb 27, 2024 23:19:37 GMT -5
I read Incredible Hulk Annual #7 and Uncanny X-Men #111-116. I've read all these stories before and own Classic X-Men reprints of these Uncanny stories, but in a bit of indulgence I bought the X-Men: Proteus Epic Collection. Part of the reason is convenience. Part of it is reading the stories without the new pages/panels that were inserted in the Classic reprints to pad out the 17 pages stories. Boy are these brisk reads with just 17 pages.
The inclusion of the Hulk Annual is an interesting editorial choice. It has a lot of action, beautiful Byrne, Master Mold, Angel, and Iceman. But Warren and Bobby aren't X-Men at this time; their coming of the cancellation of the Champions. In contrast, a guest appearance by Nightcrawler in Amazing Spider-Man was skipped by the prior Epic Collection. My guess is that the editors couldn't pass up an X-Men adjacent story by Byrne in a TPB covering this era, and Master Mold's claim that he gained the mind of a dying Steven Langa after the events of X-Men #100 (a claim denied by Angel, who says Lang is in a vegetative state) is enough to tie it to a plot line from X-Men.
These issues of Uncanny cover the Mesmero story, the Magneto/Antarctica story, and the Savage Land/Garokk story. Although the Beast's discovery of the X-Men mesmerized in a circus run by Mesmero in #111 seems like it begins in medias res, it's the continuation of a subtle cliffhanger from the previous Epic Collection. In an issue of Marvel Team-Up, the Beast visited Xavier's mansion at the behest of Polaris and found it vacant. That's what led him to track them down. Although any Claremont/Byrne issue of X-Men has great stuff, I find aspects of the Mesmero issue underwhelming. There are few pages where the Byrne/Austin art team is uncharacteristically shaky. In addition, the story reveals that the X-Men have been under the sway of Mesmero for weeks. It makes the X-Men seem very weak. The story does provide an explanation for how Jean could be taken by surprise by Mesmero, and that brief explanation later got expanded into a Classic X-Men back-up story. It seems bizarre that Phoenix could be overcome by a lesser mentat. I wonder for those of you who were reading this issues as they were published was as jarring as it seems in retrospect. I realize that some of Phoenix's great displays of power were yet to come . . . but she rose from the ashes of the extreme heat and radiation of atmospheric and saved the whole universe from the threat of the M'Kraan Crystal. Comics creators sometimes try out ideas before going all in, and the Mesmero story feels like a dry run of the Jean/Phoenix mind-controlled by some perv story that Mastermind would later pick up. Jean has a "date" planned with the boss (Mesmero).
Although the start of the Magneto story in #112 is a classic and having heroes fail is necessary for suspense, the way it plays out is a tad irksome for similar reasons as the prior issue. The X-Men come across as too weak. The original team used to fight Magneto plus a whole Brotherhood. This team is squashed by Mags alone. Also, I keep thinking "what does this have to do with magnetism?" when Magneto does all sorts of crazy stuff in the fight with the X-Men. It's like Calvin Ball or an Atomic Age/Silver Age DC story. There are no rules. On the other hand, the fight in #113 when the X-Men win a pyrrhic victory over Magneto, is a much better fight. The fight choreography is a amazing. I love seeing the tactics, both as a result of Cyclops's planning and by some members disobeying the plan. The leadership/team dynamic is something I have my eye on in this re-reading. Speaking of which, when magma starts to collapse Magneto's underground base, Banshee has a question to Cyclops about what to do that leaves him speechless. To me, it reflects much worse on Banshee. The X-Men have recovered from a nearly unescapable cliffhanger. If Cyclops is the manager, Banshee as the wily veteran should be like the bench coach. He should have some ideas of his own, yet he comes across as trolling in a high pressure situation.
This is what leaves us with Phoenix and the Beast being rescued in the snows of Antarctica with the rest of the team in the Savage Land, each group thinking the other one is dead. The desperate images of Hank and Jean out in the snow remind me of the cover Byrne would draw years later for Power Man & Iron Fist #116 of a similar situation. Byrne gets to practice drawing shredded costumes, both with Jean out in the snow and various members of the team in the Savage Land.
In the Savage Land, Byrne really gets to show off his artistic skills. There are great splash pages, like the Beast holding Jean, the X-Men discovering stepping out in the Savage Land, and Sauron standing over a prostrate Storm in #114. Then, there's the two-page spread of Wolverine lashing out at Sauron in #115 and another two-pager of Garokk's city in #116. I also love the chase scene of Cyclops following Garokk in #116. We get more of the leadership/team dynamics with Cyclops come up with an idea to stop Sauron and then a bit of quick work after Nightcrawler rescues him from Garokk. We also get plenty of Cyclops and Wolverine butting heads.
In my reading of the prior Epic Collection late last year, Wolverine's development as a character was one theme I was following. While Wolverine had a tough time in the Cockrum era - exercising poor judgment, getting beat up, acting stalkerish toward Jean, etc. - in just a small period under Byrne, he's gotten a lot more positive portrayal. I'm a Cyclops fan, but Wolvie's side of the disputes gets more an airing than previously. He gets to show more skill and wisdom, like when he can communicate with Zabu. I think #116 might be the first time his healing factor is explicitly mentioned, although I might be forgetting something.
I've heard that Nightcrawler was Byrne least favorite member of this team, but he sure does a great job of drawing him. His renditions of all these classic looks for the charcters are great. I know Byrne has detractors, but there's so much he does well here. His storytelling is very clear. He conveys emotions well. I mentioned the fight choreography. My research tells me that both Garokk and Zaladane have appearances in Ka-Zar stories before this and this Savage Land story makes me want to seek those out.
ETA: One interesting bit of trivia is that the colorist of X-Men #115 is Francoise Mouly.
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