Uncanny X-Men #121

[womzilla]

I started reading comics in the early 1970s, guided mostly by my older brother and some family friends. I was blissfully unaware that there was a yawning chasm between Marvel and DC and grew up ambidextrous--my favorite titles were Superman (just moving from the Weisinger Era to the Schwartz), the X-Men (then in reprint), the Legion of Superheroes, the Justice League, and the Fantastic Four, with some Spider-Man reading thrown in.

Tim became aware of the division long before I did and I'm sure he tried to tell me about it several times over the course of our reading, but the first time I really remember was in regards Uncanny X-Men #121, which was in 1979. UXM #120-121 was a two-part story introducing the Canadian superheroes Alpha Flight, and the story features (among other things) a weather duel between X-man Storm and Flighter Shaman in Calgary. The weather gets out of control; we cut to a scene of two ordinary people dining in a skyscraper restaurant. They chat for a couple of panels and then the weather breaks the windows of the restaurant.

Tim loved this scene. It was, he said, a great example of how Marvel would--note that neither of us really conceived of comics as being created by individuals even at that late date. Ahem--how Marvel would put in two completely ordinary characters just as backdrop, no great significance. At DC, it would have been VITALLY IMPORTANT to the story that the man had just been to New York and had seen Grease on-stage, vastly preferring it to the film; but at Marvel it could just be a couple of nobodies. Mm hmm, I nodded, sensing that Tim was overgeneralizing.

Years later, of course, I discovered that the man in that scene was, of course, John Byrne, the artist and co-plotter of the issue.

So, Tim: You were wrong, and I never rubbed your face in it, not even now. You're welcome.

Comments

[montoya.livejournal.com]

I was reading the Uncanny X-Men Omnibus (which reprints the first five-ish years of Claremont's run) recently, and I was a bit taken aback by the letters. They're all so serious and treat the books as if they're high literature, with huge discourses about the characterization and what-not. And then you read the actual comics, and the characterization turns out to be restricted to the thought bubbles in battle. It's slightly disconcerting.

Also, though, it illustrates what a great time it is to be a comic reader today. We get those old X-Men AND a bunch of stuff that would have blown the socks off a reader in the '70s.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Truly, this is the golden age of reprints, with stuff from almost every decade to pick and choose from. I've pretty much lost touch with new comics, except sometimes finding some Tom Strong comics somewhere.

I like digressions in comics. Like the guy at the "Radical Chic" cocktail party in the Tom Wolfe issue of Incredible Hulk, blathering away while Hulk tries to snag some canapes in the background.

Speaking of Hulk, I loved the Thing/Hulk (no, that's just an ordinary slash!) issue by Wrightson where Hulk says, "WAIT! Is Hulk's turn to reason with men."

I loved the page in Detective Comics where the Joker is talking to himself about Joker Fish. ("But... what if everybody stops eating fish? I hadn't thought of that!")

Or the page from "Mad Love" where the Joker is trying to come up with an evil scheme, finds one he almost likes, then tosses it away muttering, "Too 'Riddler.'"

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I like digressions in comics.

Yeah, I liked Howard the Duck too. And Normalman.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I liked Howard the Duck a lot, too, especially at the beginning of the series. I really wanted to like Normalman, but the drawing and writing put me off.