Gulacy was good, and THE MOKF artist, (poor Jim Craig, having to follow not just Gulacy, but that amazing final story!) but I actually prefer Zeck as inked by Day. The Zeck/Day combination was action-packed and beautiful. Day by himself was nice, but his work was more design-oriented and I think the actual storytelling suffered a bit. Even so, I'd have been more than happy to have had many more Moench/Day issues. We still miss you, Gene.

I did find an issue of Spider-Man wearing the Black costume with a rip in it. It's only a small tear but it's there nonetheless.

http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/images/spiderman_spectacular/132.jpg

Remember that bit in Enter the Dragon when Bruce Lee kicks a guy so hard it seems like he kicked him clean out of the movie? That's what Gulacy's art looked like. The Shang Chi vs The Cat fight is one of the greatest fights ever drawn.

Zeck and Day did some very fine work in MOKF, but for Gulacy, it was where you saw someone evolve into a unique artist. Much in the same way that Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD was for Steranko. Some of Gulacy's early issues of MOKF looked like bad Steranko imitations, just as some of Steranko's early SHIELD stuff looked like bad Kirby. But by the time he reached MOKF #50, Gulacy's work was really amazing.

The Craig issues were the artistic weak spot of Moench's MOKF run, but even there the art was very solid. And actually I thought the stories during that run were among the best that Moench wrote.

On Pym vs. McCoy, I gotta say Pym's smarter, but you'd never want to have to rely on him. What I've always wondered, though, is why Marvel doesn't use McCoy more as a liaison between the X-Men and the Avengers. He's the one character with strong ties to both sides, and you'd think they'd find that valuable.

Don't forget that Beast was part of the Avengers for years. Still, I don't think they see him much as the scientist or smart man of the team and there will always be others before him (Stark, Pym).

David, I think youre list probably covers the first six. Reed is definitely one and Doom definitely two.
Stark's probably three. It's hard to be sure about the rest. What about T'Challa? What about Peter Parker (I'm guessing he's not quite on that level)?

Pym or McCoy? That's tough, but I'd have to go with Pym (and I reeeeally don't like the character). McCoy seems to have only one focus. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but there's really one thing Hank does: biology. Pym does biology, entymology, cybernetics, robotics, and artificial intelligence, and computer programing. He's had major breakthroughs in those fields with Pym Particles, the ant man suit/helmet, and Ultron. Who's actually smarter? who knows. Pym is clearly more accomplished, so he gets the nod.

In reaction to Pyb getting called more than McCoy, there's a simple explanation. The X-Men characters generally aren't allowed to cross over into the rest of the M.U. They're kept cordoned off in their own little section that doesn't interact with the rest of the world. Kinda like the U.S. government has done with the American Indians.

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Pym is more successful and expert in his field. On one hand he invented the Pym Particles, but on the other hand he created Ultron and practically a jerk. He's smart and genious, but it's all being halted by his complicated and troubled personality.
McCoy is not as successful, but he's smart and expert in many fields, some of them are not even science. He has no famous inventions. Hank is mostly the X-Men go-to science and medical persona. His only attempt to create something useful was to "cure" mutants but eventually caused his own further mutation. The next time he wroked on anything was the cure to the Legacy virus on which he spent years. He did find a cure, thanks to the notes left by the deceased Moira MacTaggert. And he's not a jerk.

http://www.dynamicforces.com/images/civilwar5.jpg

Has anyone found one yet of the black costume in tatters?

Has there ever been a definitive ranking of the "smartest people" in the Marvel U.? Amadeus Cho is constantly referred to as the "7th smartest person in the world," but have they ever said who the first 6 are? Reed, Tony Stark, Pym, McCoy, Bruce Banner, Dr. Doom even?

He takes time to learn things like ethics and philosophy, and I don't think the fact that he's never created a murderous artificial life form should count against him, but rather it should count as a point for him.

http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/images/spiderman/098_alt.jpg

I will do my absolute best to get June's Judging Comics for Marvel and DC out before July's shows up!