As silly as it might sound now, I remember the day that my heart literally skipped a beat.
I was a teenager at the time that JB left Marvel to go work for DC on "Superman." Now, I knew about JB's career over at Charlton before, and I was aware of his work on the "Untold Legend of the Batman" comic for DC, but for as long as I had been collecting -- As in holding onto a collection of books, as I had been reading comics longer than I can remember -- JB was always a part of Marvel Comics; A BIG part!
I wouldn't say that I was a "Marvel Zombie," but I was pretty close to it back then. So, when I picked up the latest copy of "Comic Collector," or the like, and saw the cover caption that read (in effect): "Byrne leaves Marvel!," my heart skipped a beat.
I couldn't believe it!
JB was, then, "Mr. Marvel" to me. He was the best artist, in my opinion, at the best company (Well, at that time it was, to me), and it was positively world-shattering to me that he would leave the company.
To make matters worse, I had just read the "Marvel Age" in which JB gave an interview and described the great plans he had in store for the 25th Anniversary issue of "Fantastic Four." To this day, I still regret that I was not able to read JB's version of that comic. It sounded so damn cool!
The funny thing I noticed then, and I still think I'm right about this, is how, after JB left, Marvel still managed to keep his art around in the way of reprints.
"Marvel Tales" all of a sudden stopped reprinting older "Amazing Spider-Man" issues and started up the reprints of "Marvel Team-Up" issues with JB's artwork. I remember doing the math at the time and figuring that as soon as those "MTU" issues ran their course, over in "Classic X-Men," JB's classic run would start being reprinted in time to pick up any slack. Surely, the editors knew what they were doing, right?
Anyway, needless to say, probably, I began collecting "Man of Steel," "Legends," and "Superman," and "Action Comics." Yep, I was (am) one of the faithful 30,000 (or whatever the number was/is) that followed JB from title to title.
So, have any of you ever had a comic book-related experience that made your heart skip a beat, or rocked your world, or turned it upside-down?
By 1985, I was already reading a lot of DC stuff. Gene Colan Batman (man, was he perfect for that or what?), Legion of Super-Heroes, Infantino Flash (the Trial of Barry Allen - best soap ever!), All-Star Squadron, Don Heck on Hawkman (ok, maybe I'm the only one who loved that), Len Wein's Blue Beetle, O'Neil's Question, and especially Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans.
I still read anything I could find, though. I dug Avengers, Thor, Amazing Spider-Man, Zeck Captain America, Daredevil, and of course, FF and Alpha Flight around that time. Even so, I thought DC under Giordano was so much better than Marvel under Shooter.
Then Miller hit Batman, Byrne hit Superman, Grell hit Green Arrow and Perez hit Wonder Woman. Oh man. That was glory...
(I probably got all the dates wrong, but that's what happens when you get old).
The biggest hit for me, though, was Epic's Elfquest no.3. I bought no. 1, but didn't care for it, so I skipped no. 2. My buddy Larry and I were at the gas station picking out what comics we were going to buy (remember when you could get new issues at the gas station?) and I started flipping through no. 3.
Cutter Recognized Leetah.
I Recognized Elfquest.
In the immortal words of Comic Book Guy, "Best. Series. Ever."
And later, I finally got the joke behind Johnny Storm's roomate's play going out of business due to the enormous cost of Alpo.
Took me a beat to notice the "Imaginary Novel" line. Scared the heck out of me, back in those days when promotion meant an ad that said "On Sale Now". I did not know this issue was coming until I saw it on the newsstand.
I was also not so jaded as modern fans. When Superman (or Batman, or the JLA or anybody ) was placed into a life-threatening situation, I did not know for certain he would survive, imaginary story or not. I hadn't read previews and spoilers for issues 3 months ahead of the one I held in my hand. For all I knew, every issue could be the last one.
On a lighter note, there was. . .
I had no idea who the Golden Age Flash was, but something about this cover really grabbed me. With the appalling distribution in Canada in those days, it was only the 4th or 5th issue of THE FLASH I'd seen, my first being 110.
Like JB, I didn't know that comic books characters were unlikely to die. My first-ever comic book was AVENGERS #161, and at the end of that book all of the Avengers have been "killed" by Ultron.
AAAAAAUUUGH!
I was 8 when I read Part 1 of that story, and I was 11 by the time I read Part 2.
I don't want to reveal any spoilers, but the most tragic event in GENERATIONS (those who have read it know what I mean) knocked the wind out of me. I was deeply affected by that page.
When I picked up Chris Sprouse's first issue of New Men my heart stopped altogether for about a week. The colours, the art and the writing meshed together to create the perfect picture of what an X-Men comic should be outside of JB's work. I was floored by Sprouse who should be an X-Men artist.
Sword of Dracula no. 2. Issue 1 was a bit of a let down, not bad, good enough to keep me hooked but maybe only for the first arc. Then issue 2 came out and I was floored with it.
Lets add a third time... any issue of Savage Dragon because you always see something happen that you just NEVER expected like when Larsen whacked Dragon's partner Alex or hell, the chickenheaded Powerhouse in general. Hitler's brain in a gorilla even!
I bought the new issue of FF a couple days ago, number 510. (No, it didn't make my heart skip a beat.)
But my nine year old son read it. He's read the last few issues I've bought. And partway through the comic, he starts laughing and kicking his feet, and looks up at me, eyes wide.
"Dad, the Thing is alive!"
He had a burst of adrenaline from that comic, and that's great. We adults are so jaded, that I don't even feel any need to mark as a spoiler the fact that the Thing is not dead. We all know the Thing isn't going to die. But my son didn't know that, and it made the story a hundred times better for him.
Oh, to be a kid again... heart skipping moments as an adult are fewer and far between, and tend to make me worry about cardiac arrest.
<sarcasm>
That's impossible! We all know kids don't read comics, so why would a kid enjoy a comic?
</sarcasm>
Actually, I love that feeling. Like I've said before, my students share that joy (even though my superintendent doesn't think they read comics. They just look at the pictures.
There were a few, but Fantastic Four 243 was a heart stopper for me. First of all, the cover was a gem. The FF, Avengers and Dr. Strange battling Galactus. A classic JB and FF cover. The story had everything:
Sue Richards straining her powers to the limit
Reed, Ben and Johnny confronting Terrax and Galactus.
Frankie Raye facination over the Big G.
Galactus instantly depowering Terrax.
The FF, Avengers and Dr. Strange taking on Galactus. What makes this battle so special was that instead of the usual Marvel that was popular at the time, "Let's gang up on the Baddie", John displayed the fight sequences in such a fashion that I could mentally see that battle played out....
Daredevil convincing Spiderman that entering the battle would be useless.
The Thing delivering the final blow.
And to top it off, Reed telling everyone that we must save Galactus.
Classic stuff.
James
PS - The cover for FF 243 was also in that months Bullpen Bulletins
Issues #253-253 of Captain America. That was one of
the greatest Captain America stories i've ever read!
The finale with Cap's battle with Baron Blood definitely
made my heart skip a beat!!
-C!
Marvel Preview #11 JB's first collaboration with Claremont and Austin and remember my Dad driving me to the city newstand to see if it was in and to buy it. First time an add made me seek out a comic the day it was supposed to come out.
This is one of the coolest and best fights between the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner EVER!!! Tales To Astonish #100 being THE best...
This message has been edited by EricLund on Feb 23, 2004 10:16 AM
This was my first 'regular DCU' book, the only others being cartoon Super Powers tie-in from the mini mart across the street from my gradeschool.
I was blown away. I can remember sitting shotgun to my mom, who had graciously supplied me with a ride to the comic book store [a whole store just for comics!!]. I remember laughing out loud when Clark discovered that he could fly! Strangely enough I could have related, and I daydreamed all the rest of the day about what it would be like to grow up and discover that you had super powers ... Still one of the my all time favorite books. Thanks, JB!
Part 1. I found these two on the same day in my first visit to a comic shop/coin store. I had been looking for issue #329 for a number of weeks and lo and behold, comic shops got their issues in 3 weeks earlier! So I was able to get two new issues, just five weeks after I'd gotten the previous issue.
I can't put my finger on one instance - but I agree with most of you - most of my favorite moments in comic fandom revolve around the work of John Byrne...
but you know what used to crush me? This is in the days before the internet, and Wizard and so on - back when the only info you could get was CBG, and I could never afford that anyway - the thing that killed me was that I never knew when JB was coming or going from a book! It would sneak up, surprize me - and I can't tell you how many times I bought an issue of a book that was the first issue after Byrne not realizing that it wasn't JB! I did this with FF, Superman, She-Hulk, Hulk, Avengers West Coast, etc etc - there were some where you knew the end was coming - Alpha Flight, say, or the second run on She-Hulk, or ones like Namor, where I bought the issue, got home, found it to be another artist, but it was ok, as JB was still involved somehow, etc. But that fooled me a number of times!
