Friday, July 18, 2014
Making a Splash: John Byrne's X-Men, Part 3
And we're back with the third (and sadly final) batch of John Byrne X-Men (issues 132-143, January-December 1980) splashes! These splashes are (putting it mildly) part of the stuff of legend! The legend of Dark Phoenix, that is! Claremont, Byrne, and Austin were clicking on all cylinders! Their various artistic visions blending and melding (sometimes in spite of their differences) into a run of awesome comics that are nigh-unto-impossible to beat! As promised, Ol' Groove is including post-Dark Phoenix splashes...including the almost as legendary Days of Future Past storyline! Plus, the debut of Wolverine's John Byrne-designed tan and brown uniform! Can mere mortals dare gaze 'pon such magnificence and not have their lives forever changed? Dare ye find out, Groove-ophiles? Dare ye?
Wonderful. This set runs the whole gamut of my X-fan boy memories: from "Man, this is the best thing ever!" through "Whoa, this just got real!" to "Crap! Can't believe this is Byrne's last issue!"
ReplyDeleteI hope it's okay to plug a new website by a friend of mine that may overlap with your interests. Stuart Hopen wrote mystery comics for DC during the Groovy Age, including the original incarnation of Madame Xanadu in Doorway to Nightmare. A favorite of mine is "Moonlight and Laughter" from Unexpected #194. A comic he did with Sam Kieth was eventually published as a novel by Tor Books. Back in the 80s I illustrated his comic Daemon Mask, and he has that material up, along with other weird and interesting comics, stories and critical articles. He's a bit invisible at this early point, so a comment would be a help, and a link would be groovy indeed, if you find the site interesting enough. It's called Celestial Cities of Science and Magic and here's the link: http://www.stuarthopen.com/
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind indulgence, Groove. I don't comment too often, but I'm here almost every day.
I've been re-enjoying these in the second uncanny omnibus.
ReplyDeleteAnd the 'Cyclops .. is dead!' / 'Cyclops is alive!' splashes still crack me up.
These splash pages are amazing. But equal credit should go to the magnificent inks of Terry Austin. Mr. Austin was at his peak here, bringing all the embellishment his pen could put to John Byrne 's pulse-pounding pencils. After Tom Palmer he is the greatest inker of all time.
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