tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post320507965146455726..comments2024-03-12T07:42:50.050-05:00Comments on Bronze Age Babies: The Birth of Phoenix, Part 2: X-Men 98Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04248324005584963229noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-5695309531705472032009-12-18T20:35:49.456-06:002009-12-18T20:35:49.456-06:00Doug and Karen:
As I said last time, I'm lovi...Doug and Karen:<br /><br />As I said last time, I'm lovin' this run of reviews. Thanks for doing them.<br /><br />Two thoughts:<br /><br />1. I totally agree with Doug;s comments on the Classic X-Men reprints. The interstitial pages were a HUGE letdown, especially since there was talk early on of trying to have the original teams do the new pages. New Claremont/Byrne/Austin X-Men? Needless to say, that would have been very cool. The backup stories by Claremont and Bolton were very cool, but even those started to run out of steam as those two drifted from the book. (FYI, the backups have been collected in two TPBs called X-Men Vignettes. They hold together nicely as a collection of character studies.)<br /><br />2. I enjoyed Byrne’s X-Men: The Hidden Years, but more for what it could have been than what it was. I thought his art on that series looked more inspired than it had for a while, but Tom Palmer’s inks have a tendency to smother Byrne. As for the writing, the biggest problem for me was that these weren’t my X-Men. Byrne has said many times he wasn’t all that fond of the new X-Men and preferred the original Lee/Kirby team (no real surprise there, I guess!) So while he was obviously having a blast writing these issues, the characterization didn’t feel right to me.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />Andrew<br />ComicsBronzeAge.comAndrew Wahlhttp://comicsbronzeage.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-37640388369880594732009-12-17T02:27:50.518-06:002009-12-17T02:27:50.518-06:00Hi Doug,
Actually, I am quite fond of Byrne's ...Hi Doug,<br />Actually, I am quite fond of Byrne's art in all of its permutations, scratchy or not, so for me, enjoying the art would be the only valid reason for actually bothering to read "Hidden Years"...<br />Anyway, I'm really enjoying your take on these issues - I started reading X-men somewhere around issue 119, and have never really managed to systematically read the material that came before (except for GS and issues 94-96 and a few other misc. issues in between which I borrowed from an older fan).Edo Bosnarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-49936815658019153322009-12-16T17:39:57.068-06:002009-12-16T17:39:57.068-06:00No. 98 was the first issue of X-Men I ever bought ...No. 98 was the first issue of X-Men I ever bought and has remained a favourite ever since. It's just a classy comic, from that fantastic cover right through to the "How the hell do they get out of that?" cliffhanger.<br />Thanks for posting, guys. Looking forward to the rest of the series.Simon B https://www.blogger.com/profile/07719757386457800087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-9554117722434103762009-12-16T16:53:51.093-06:002009-12-16T16:53:51.093-06:00Edo --
One of the criticisms of John Byrne that ...Edo -- <br /><br />One of the criticisms of John Byrne that Karen and I have made before is the "scratchiness" of his art after, say, the mid-1990's. I recall from Hidden Years that although more detailed, the art was overall not so good.<br /><br />And yes, I recall all of the subplots -- a staple of Byrne's writing, but overkill here.<br /><br />DougDoughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04248324005584963229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-75306159057598366962009-12-16T10:44:20.737-06:002009-12-16T10:44:20.737-06:00I was going to wait until you finished this series...I was going to wait until you finished this series to post, but since you mentioned "Hidden Years" I thought I'd comment while it's still relevant: I read about the first dozen issues, and while the whole underlying idea was great, I found it surprisingly flat, with meandering sub-plots and really stupid aspects like, yes, introducing Storm before she actually "appeared," or having Cyclops passed out for like 2 whole issues while being carried around by the other members.<br />I think the problem was that Byrne wanted to stretch the series out for something like 70 issues (think I read that somewhere), whereas what he should have done was limit the series to the 26 or so 'missing' issues - it probably would have enabled to to tell much tighter, more coherent stories.Edo Bosnarnoreply@blogger.com