More Mutant Genesis Nostalgia

A couple of weeks back you may remember I posted up an Excalibur: Mutant Genesis poster, which was mailed to me by Janet-Elizabeth Black. Well, accompanying this Janet was also kind enough to also scan in another 3 posters from Mutant Genesis, and while they're a little bit of tangent from the usual focus of this blog I thought I'd share them with you here. I'm on a bit of rose-tint-filtered (Or should that be Ruby Quartz, where the X-Men are involved?) 90s nostalgia kick at the moment, and hope you won't mind indulging me a little.

As always click to open a larger version.

First up Larry Stroman's poster for Peter David's first run on X-Factor. I actually have this issue somewhere. Peter David is one of very few writers who has managed to produce an incredibly consistent amount of good work. Granted I do prefer his 2000s incarnation of the team, but this really was a great change of direction for a book which had started its life as way of separating the founding 5 X-Men into their own book. Rather than cancel it, they gave the book over to Havoc and Polaris (Who I guess you could say were the 6th and 7th 'Original X-Men') working as a Pentagon Funded government team. That always threw up some interesting stuff. And when it comes to characters like Jamie Madrox, Guido Carosella and Rhane Sinclair few people know how to get the best out of these characters like Peter David. This was a book which I dipped in and out of throughout its life, until it was replaced with the alternate universe series Mutant X.

Secondly the poster for Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza's X-Force, in all its over the top, steroid induced goodness. Just don't look at their feet... ;)

In all seriousness I know folks love to point out the flaws in Liefeld's artwork, but X-Force really was a huge revolution for the X-Books. New Mutants had been needing a bit of freshening up for a while, and actually having a guy like Cannonball decide to abandon Xavier's direction in exchange for Cable's was a big deal at the time.

Yes, the costumes do look pretty ridiculous, but I've always had plenty time for both Domino and Cable to this day. Never really got Feral, though. 

And finally a Jim Lee poster for his and Chris Claremont's X-Men. Complete with a plug for one of Claremont's novels in the bottom left. The art remains great. Proper Magneto as a villain. Remember that concept? You know, before all the X-Men villains began to become X-Men? Such a novelty... :)

I can even forgive the Asian-bodied Psylocke. This time.

I think we often forget just how big a deal Chris Claremont was in the 80s and 90s. He was the Bendis of his day, and then some. X-Men #1 remains the best selling comic of all time, and nobody ever will ever likely match his 17 years on the X-Men flagship title. He made the X-Men into everything that we frequently take for granted these days. That should not be forgotten.

In addition to these posters Janet also sent me a scan of one of the marketing cards for Mutant Genesis. 

Check it out:

Excalibur. As part of a brand-wide initiative. Man, it seems so long ago.

Nightcrawler is chosen here to represent Excalibur, rather than Captain Britain. Something practically unthinkable a couple of years earlier. Brian's name is even credited last in the blurb on the back of the card. A sign, maybe, of things come.

You'll also notice the reference to Excalibur going 'Bi-weekly' (A curious US comics industry term which doesn't actually mean 'Twice a Week' but every fortnight. Two issues per month.). That can't have been easy for Davis, who was of course both writing and pencilling each issue.

Anyway, enough of my nostalgic prattling... 

I hope you enjoyed seeing these and thanks again to Janet for sharing them. 

ICFD Cover of the Week - 27th January 2013

This week's Cover of the week is from Captain Britain (Vol. 2) #10, from October of 1985. Art by Alan Davis.

I apologise for the somewhat grainy quality of the image. I have had to go searching online for this one, as sadly this is a comic which went 'missing' from my collection at some point during the 1990s, most probably having ended up junked of jumble saled by well-meaning parents. By that point I wasn't too upset, as I had the coloured version of the story inside collected in the 'Before Excalibur...' paperback. Although on reflection I might have to go about tracking down a copy at some point.

I've actually returned to this cover after having recently been revisiting Warren Ellis' Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis series from a couple of years back, which despite being an X-Men series very much goes back to the concepts laid out in this Captain Britain story.

The cover shows the Captain in this weird face paint version of his costume, fighting a Crocodile, which is part of a pretty messed up hallucinogenic dream sequence. Behind them we see the scarred and scaled face of Joshua N'Dingi - 'Doctor Crocodile' - former member of the RCX and also the man responsible for said sequence. On the left hand side his more human face, on the right the cybernetics which saved his life.

I remember this issue for one quite specific reason.

It was a bit messed up. :)

Granted, probably not by today's standards. But when I first read this story, as a much younger kid, it bothered me. I really wasn't old enough to fully understand some of the themes in play, but I was certainly able to grasp that there was something dark and vaguely adult here which made me uncomfortable. Something I'd also experienced with odd issues of Eagle or 2000 AD, at that time. Rereading it in my teens of course that was exactly the same thing which interested me, but you know how that goes...

Basically, in this issue, Brian has received a phone call telling him that his older brother, Jamie, is being held captive by a local Warlord in the African nation of Mbangawi. But all is not what it seems. Upon arrival the Captain is gassed, and sent hurtling into a greatly disturbing hallucinatory vision quest, led by a disturbing Dr Seuss style ape creature. Seemingly naked, with a likeness of his costume painted on, he runs from giant elephants, wrestles crocodiles and chases this ape creature, whose narration reveals details of Jamie Braddock's involvement with all manner of unsavoury pursuits from sex trafficking to the slave trade...

It's pretty dark, all in all. 

And then, faced with the facts and being a Superhero, Captain Britain beats down his Brother's captor and chooses to turn Jamie over to the authorities, right?

Well, actually, no. He's so disgusted with Jamie that he sides with the guy whose supposed to be the 'bad guy' and leaves his own brother to a life of hallucinatory torment.

The end.

Pretty unsettling stuff, no? It certainly blew my young mind at the time. It definitely was not the kind of thing which I had come to expect from Marvel's American stories. It was all pretty heavy, and for years I actually found myself trying to rewrite my own 'headcanon' of events, it had bothered me so much. But it also guaranteed that I have returned to this issue a number of times.

The fallout of this issue was later explored during Claremont and Davis' run on Excalibur. For me it's an incredibly important issue, both in terms of understanding Brian and also understanding the Braddock Family dynamic. Much as though a number of writers have tried to portray Brian as a 'perfect superhero' with impeccable, faultless moral values, it's honestly not true. Sometimes he does make harsh decisions. Sometimes he sides with the guy you are supposed to think of as the 'bad guy'. There's always very definite and strong sense of logic behind it, and his decision is ultimately justifiable in the grand scheme of thing. That doesn't mean that it always has to be 'nice,' however... :)

Either way, this is a cover which will always evoke a strong memory for me. Long after I actually still possessed a physical copy of the issue itself.

ICFD Cover of the Week - 20th January 2013

This week's cover is the slightly time worn cover to my copy of The Mighty World of Marvel (Vol2) #7, from December of 1983.

Creases, scuffs and all...

Yeah, I did debate removing those while touching up the contrast levels, but opted not to in the end. I like to think it gives it character. :)

The Mighty World of Marvel (As a British publication) first ran from 1972 to 1977, before changing its name to 'Marvel Comic,' and later 'Marvel Superheroes'. It was an anthology title, in the British tradition of such, which reprinted US material featuring mainstays like Spider-man, The Hulk, The Avengers and X-Men to rotating in runs of Nick Fury, Tomb of Dracula and even Planet of the Apes reprints later in its life.

This second volume began in 1983, primarily as an opportunity to reprint a number of specific US limited series. Sadly, it actually only lasted 17 issues, but reprinted early 80s runs of things like Vision and Scarlet Witch, Cloak and Dagger and in this case the justly classic Chris Claremont and Frank Miller Wolverine limited series from 1982.

I usually use this feature to display original UK cover artwork, which readers outside of Britain and Ireland may not have seen before. But this week I decided it might be interesting to showcase how US art was sometimes incorporated into the covers of UK reprints. At its base this is Miller's cover to Wolverine #3, with the image moved the bottom right of the cover, allowing space to add info on the other strips included to the left side of the cover.

The Alan Davis Captain Britain panel has then been added to the cover, along with a brief list of other content. Oddly Miller's image goes uncredited.

MWOM #7 has a couple of landmarks moments of its own though.

For one, you'll notice the 'Featuring The Daredevils' tag under the logo. The Daredevils was a Marvel UK anthology title which ran from January 1983 until November of the same year. It was designed to be more of a 'mature readers' title, reprinting slightly more sophisticated and pulpy material such as Frank Miller's Daredevil, Alan Moore's Night Raven text stories, and a few select Spider-man tales. It was also the home Alan Moore and Alan Davis' Captain Britain stories...

The Daredevils folded with #11, and became part of The Mighty World of Marvel with this very issue. Ironically, the only character who truly didn't survive this transition was Daredevil himself. :)

The second part of Jamie Delano's Night Raven text story 'Quiet Town' appears in MWOM #7, but the other landmark this issue supplies is through its Captain Britain strip. Remember, this was the first outing for these Alan Moore and Alan Davis stories, in their original black and white format. When The Daredevils was cancelled their Jaspers Warp storyline was well underway. This issue's strip, 'The Candlelight Dialogues,' is set in a concentration camp in Sir James Jaspers' newly created anti-superhuman world, and it actually serves as a pretty solid introduction for new readers to Captain Britain. But it's the campfire framing of the story which is of particular note. And the introduction of a certain chain-smoking teenager.

That winged girl (On the left in that final panel) is none other than Meggan Puceanu (Later 'Braddock' through marriage) in her very first Marvel Comics appearance. Sure, she doesn't look a lot like she does these days, in this early formative stage, but that's her. A Moore/Davis creation, yet to truly take shape.

If you actually find an issue or two of Mighty World of Marvel knocking around, it's well worth holding onto them. Granted, I had to adjust the contrast a lot to take the yellow out of that page I scanned, but the sturdy card stock covers have weathered an awful lot better than much of my older Marvel UK comics. The coloured pages from the Claremont/Wolverine stories also look pretty nice in that larger UK page size ratio.

That Excalibur artwork - Now with Added Colour!

About a week ago I posted up artwork from an Alan Davis Excalibur Poster, which showed the transition period between the original line-up and larger roster of the second major incarnation of the team. In a rather clever way.

Well, last week I received an email from a Janet-Elizabeth Black, who happened to still have a copy of the Poster this artwork became, and was kind enough to scan me a copy of it. So here it is, in full colour.

You should be able to click through for a larger version. The colours appear to be credited to Paul Mounts, whose name is added beneath Mark Farmer's in the finished poster. 

As you can see it also bears the 'Mutant Genesis' logo, which was the name of the X-Men Office initiative which featured the launches of Chris Claremont and Jim Lee's adjectiveless 'X-Men' (Still technically the best selling comic book #1 of all time) and Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld's X-Force. It was a big deal. The moment where the X-Men truly became a regimented line of books, with a very specific identity.

It's important to remember this, because much as though Excalibur seems to be passed off by many people these days as just this quirky little off-shoot book, that nobody ever read, this poster comes from a time when that very much was not the case. Back then it actually sold pretty well. Certainly well enough to be considered to be part of this X-Family 'Event'. 

It a really nice piece. Thanks for sharing, Janet.

In related news some of you might like to go over to Mark Farbrother's Blog, The Throne of Otherworld, where he's posted up a bit of info about the planned but abandoned Technet mini series from 1993. There even appears to be a small amount of artwork. Well worth a look.

ICFD Cover of the Week - 13th January 2013

Thundercats #128 - 29th December 1990

If you thought the Pair of Socks you got for Christmas was the suckiest gift possible, or that truly astounding Festive Jumper, take heart. You could have received Snarf.

The tiny furry %#$@.

Worst. Present. Ever.

Early 90s Excalibur art by Alan Davis

Recently I discovered that appears Tom Brevoort of Marvel Comics runs a Tumblr account by the name of The Marvel Age of Comics . It's a Tumblr where he posts up pieces of original artwork from Marvel's past, from pages and concept art, to one off pieces by specific artists. This piece by Alan Davis (And inks by Mark Farmer) was posted up at the weekend, and there was no way I couldn't share it...

Click to open a larger version.

What I love about this image is that not only does it feature the brilliant original line-up of Excalibur, as drawn by one of its creators, but it takes on a whole other dimension when you realise just who's standing in the background. Some are more obvious than others; the distinctive mask of Micromax looming giant-like over Cap's right shoulder and the blades on his back give away Kylun behind Rachel. And then you start noticing a theme developing...

On the left hand side that is clearly Widget, in its final evolution form. And that weird bug-like mask behind Brian and Rachel is the same one Cerise was wearing when she crash landed on Earth. That only leaves one figure unaccounted for. It looks like they're wearing a hood. Was Feron wearing a hood when he first appeared...?

So yes, basically what we have here is Davis drawing the first incarnation of a team he co-created standing in front of the characters who would go on to form the line-up of the team as it was when he ended his tenure on the book. 

How awesome is that? :)

ICFD Cover of the Week - 6th January 2013

This week's cover is from Action Force #27 (September 1987). 

For the benefit of my non-UK readers, Action Force is probably better known to you guys as G.I. Joe. 

Although that's really not the full story... 

Action Force actually began its life as a spin-off toy line from Action Man, both manufactured by Palitoy. The idea was to produce a line of much smaller figures (In terms of physical size) using a similar formula to the Action Man line, and based very much on historical military styles. Ironically, this smaller line of figures fast proved much more profitable that Action Man itself, and really took off far more in its own right.  

Palitoy were bought out by Hasbro in 1984, who having purchased all the Palitoy moulds then began incorporating their own G.I. Joe figures into the UK Action Force line. The logo, as seen above, began to mirror that of G.I. Joe to match this. Eventually, inevitably, Hasbro opted to re-brand the whole lot under the name "G.I. Joe" in UK as well. Thus confusing the hell out of a whole generation of British kids, for whom the term 'G.I.' meant absolutely nothing at all.

Why this cover? Well, let me get to that...

Last summer Marvel Comics in the US did a huge crossover event called 'Avengers vs X-Men'. A lot of long time comics readers were pretty cynical and dismissive over the concept, from the off. The same old complaints rattled around forums online... "What is the point of one set of heroes fighting another set of heroes?" They weren't interested. I can understand the argument, but I couldn't help but think folks were kind of missing the point...

While those comics readers of my generation were dismissive of the whole thing themselves, they were finding a very different response to A vs X coming from their children. The kids didn't care that it was Heroes fighting Heroes. They weren't thinking in terms of higher concepts, ethics or 'what it meant to be a hero'. All they cared about was that it was Avengers AND X-Men, in a book TOGETHER. Forget logic, they were just excited because it was a crossover featuring BOTH. AT THE SAME TIME.

And for them it didn't get much more awesome than that.

When I was hearing such anecdotes during the summer, it immediately reminded me of another crossover from my own childhood, and through that to this very cover.

Back the 1980s Marvel UK owned the comics rights to both Action Force and Hasbro's other big seller, Transformers. Growing up, there were even cliques in the playground formed around which you were a fan of (And not everybody would accept 'both' as an option). The idea of a comics crossover featuring Transformers AND Action Force was pretty much enough to blow our tiny minds...

But that is exactly what happened in 1987. 'Ancient Relics' was the name of that crossover story, and to my mind this was the iconic Cover of that event. Granted the Transformer in the background, Blades, was hardly what you would call a Big Player in the Transformers world. But that wasn't the point. It was Flint, Scarlett and Wild Bill standing in front of sodding giant robot. Look at the SCALE! Things are ON FIRE! And they're all in THE SAME WORLD!!!

You can debate the creative merit of such a story all you like, but here too I think that's kind of missing the point. This was a story designed to showcase the two biggest brands of the day. And for a child of the 1980s it really didn't get much better than that...

And this is Heroes' Business

"And this is hero's business."

Words: Jamie Delano

Art: Alan Davis