Comments on: A Year of Cool Comic Book Moments - Day 54

By: Tuomas

Tuomas — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:47:55 +0000

The Cap page may be okay, but Black Widow's and Psylocke's poses look really stiff and unnatural in that second page. Not to mention the chubby red-haired dude's legs... What's wrong with them?!

I stopped reading X-Men around the time Lee became the regular artist. Of course it was mostly due to the writing getting worse, but even as a teenager it was quite obvious to me that the main reason Lee was brought in was that he was good at drawing boobs and asses. And that was not what I wanted from X-Men. Psylocke used to be one of my favourite characters in the series, but all of a sudden she metamorphosed into this D-cup ninja warrior in S/M leather suit, which just felt like catering to the lowest common denominator.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:03:55 +0000

Surely "Together again for the first time" simply means "Together for the second time" - and "together again for the second time" would by the same logic mean "together for the third time"

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:02:53 +0000

That "Anonymous" was me by the way (again).

By: Matthew Johnson

Matthew Johnson — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:59:47 +0000

Re: "Together again for the first time" -- this is one of those expressions, I think, that has changed to be the opposite of what it originally meant (sort of like "carrot and stick".) I think it was first used in house ads for the Huntress backup in Wonder Woman to promote a storyline where she teamed up with the Earth-2 Robin -- the implication being that these were two characters that SHOULD have teamed up before, but never had. (In other words, a long-overdue team-up.) The phrase was catchy enough, though, that it got re-used in broader contexts, eventually coming to mean (as it does here) just "together again."

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:56:40 +0000

I think people get on the backs of Claremont and Lee just because they can.

Erm.. no. I could slag off the works of Ed Brubaker, Alan Moore, Tim Sale etc if I did that sort of thing "just because I can". I only slag off the works of people who's work I don't like.

By: Duff McWhalen

Duff McWhalen — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:28:37 +0000

I think people get on the backs of Claremont and Lee just because they can. These are two seriously cool "late 80s early 90s" comic scenes. Really, this whole issue was a cool "late 80s early 90s" comic scene. That Cap splash was just about the coolest thing I ever saw as a kid, and I didn't even read this book. It was all those shirts. And yeah, the Wolverine videogame cover had pretty much the same pose. In the second panel, it's funny how ugly and random Psylocke's gloves are. I guess the dresses are ridiculous, but Whilce and his buddies don't care. When two beautiful women in wacky clothes step onto your boat, you don't question what they're wearing, you just go "yeeeaah foreign chicks."

By: JJ

JJ — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:22:53 +0000

With Jim Lee's art, I always end up looking for how many shoes/feet he avoids drawing, and how bad-looking the ones he includes frequently end up. But he does do good T&A.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:16:05 +0000

Is it my imagination, or did a scene involving Nick Fury and Black Widow suggest that she was keeping young with injections of Nick's own anti-aging elixer?

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:14:17 +0000

Sorry... My comment was a general reference to the era, not Lee's art...
Didn't mean to confuse...

By: T.

T. — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:11:46 +0000

Even for the era, those were bad dresses. But in fairness to Lee, the girls are supposed to look trashy and low class as part of a disguise, so I can forgive it.

On the other hand, the skintight trousers on the fat military man along with his fey stance are a much weirder art choice to me by Lee than the dresses.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:56:50 +0000

"look at Psylocke and Balck Widow’s dresses…. eee-yuk!" I wouldn't blame Lee for that - he probably photoref'd the dresses. The late 80s / early 90s weren't a great time for fashion.

By: BKH

BKH — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:35:26 +0000

Great art. Jim Lee is one of the best. Beautiful cover.

DubipR doesn't know what he is talking about.

By: Roquefort Raider

Roquefort Raider — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:09:25 +0000

"Wait, am I missing something or does it say “Together again - for the first time”? Or do the involved parties not remember the first time they met? (Has not read the book in question)"

I took it as meaning that although *we* have seen them together before, in stories set in the 80s, this was the first time the three characters had met (chronologically speaking).

By: Mike Loughlin

Mike Loughlin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:57:39 +0000

That Captain America splash page looks almost exactly like a Wolverine cover Lee drew- I think it was used on the box to a Nintendo game. There's also a very similar Travis Charest pin-up page in a Heroes Reborn Cap issue (from when James Robinson wrote a few issues).

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:56:51 +0000

It's the first time that they're together AGAIN. Basically, it's a convoluted way of saying it's the first time they've all been together since the last time they were all together.

By: Matt Ampersand

Matt Ampersand — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:55:10 +0000

Wait, am I missing something or does it say "Together again - for the first time"? Or do the involved parties not remember the first time they met? (Has not read the book in question)

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:10:49 +0000

Really enjoyed Morgan's Black Widow miniseries... They were both clever at cleaning up some of her back story... I particularly liked the explanation of why they can't have kids (their enhanced immune system sees the pregnancy as a parasite and rejects it...) I really enjoyed Jim Lee's work at the time, but seeing it reprinted in Wolverine Origins recently just showed how bad some late-80s/early-90s stuff was... look at Psylocke and Balck Widow's dresses.... eee-yuk! But that was deemed "cool" at the time...

By: Brian Mac

Brian Mac — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:08:47 +0000

The letterer is Tom Orzechowski, letterer on the X-Men from #94 to #292 (I think), although he didn't work on every issue in that span. His lettering probably reminds you of Claremont because he frequently works with Claremont -- he did the lettering on the X-Treme X-Men and Mekanix series as well. He's probably the only letterer whose work I can recognize on sight, and I always appreciate it.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:56:33 +0000

Lord, I loathe Jim Lee’s artwork….so freaking flat.

He was even worse back then. These days I don't much like his work, but I can see what other people see in it. In those days it was just bad

By: Jax

Jax — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:50:01 +0000

Who was the letterer for this X-men era?? I have always liked this style of lettering and it instantly reminds me of Claremont and the X-men.