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Uncanny X-Men #121
Jul. 3rd, 2006 10:05 pmI 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.
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.
