tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post1528726975355210410..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-aminations in January 2019...and Beyond! Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-87052538437607210062019-01-07T12:42:13.328-06:002019-01-07T12:42:13.328-06:00Yep, I have similar memories of Age of Apocalypse....Yep, I have similar memories of Age of Apocalypse.<br />I stopped reading comic books in high school, but couldn't stay away. I ended up being drawn back to comics by Vertigo....and Spawn (which was really hot at that point and just starting out). I couldn't resist starting to read X-Men comics again too though, as that my original comic book collection.<br /><br />When I saw that the Age of Apocalypse was going to relaunch the entire line, I decided that was a perfect point to drop all the X-books.<br />So, I ended up skipping the Age of Apocalypse. Then, the X-books started up again from their original numbering, so I decided I should keep buying them for my collection.<br /><br />It wasn't until about five years ago that I decided I should go back and hunt down all of the AoA comics.<br />My experience was similar to yours. I was pleasantly surprised as the quality of almost all of the AoA books.<br />It was a quite entertaining and well-done event, in the middle of a period of X-Men history when I wasn't enjoying the monthly comics.<br /><br />The two comics from that period which do stand out are Ellis on Excalibur and the Lobdell/Bachalo Generation X.<br />I decided to skip reading those titles at the time too.<br />I had lost interest in Excalibur, and had no idea who this Ellis guy was, as he hadn't become a big name yet.<br />Generation X was just another X-book to add to my pull-list, when I was already reading more than I wanted.<br />I would later go back and read both (Excalibur after Ellis showed up at Vertigo. Generation X when, out of nostalgia, I decided to fill-in the gaps on my X-book collection). It was too bad I wasn't reading both of them at the time they were being released.<br /><br />Generation NeXt was probably the best of all the AoA series.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-33100315977600813312019-01-07T08:37:40.868-06:002019-01-07T08:37:40.868-06:00(Austin usually sets off such excerpts in quotes —...<br>(Austin usually sets off such excerpts in quotes — sensibly — but due to so much of this being a conversation relayed in the first person I did away with them for readability; otherwise, more than half the lines would start with an opening double quote followed immediately by an opening single quote.)<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-91783882054347239502019-01-07T08:36:40.498-06:002019-01-07T08:36:40.498-06:00I’ll put this here instead of back where I first m...<br>I’ll put this here instead of back where I first mentioned it in comments on Loeb's debut in <i>Cable</i> #15...<br /><br /><b>Jeph Loeb on getting hired by the X-Office</b><br /><br />The first [<i>Legends of the Dark Knight</i>] Halloween special had been out a couple of months, and I got a phone call one day from Lisa Patrick at Marvel Comics. She said, “I’d like to know whether or not you’d like to work on the X-Men.”<br /><br />I said, “What?!?”<br /><br />And she said, “I’ve read your Halloween special. I think it’s terrific. We need new writers. Would you like to work in the X-Men office?”<br /><br />“Who is this?”<br /><br />“I’m Lisa Patrick; I work with Bob Harras.”<br /><br />“Does Bob know that you’re making this phone call?” <i>[laughs]</i> I was a <i>huge</i> X-Men fan. <i>X-Men</i> was the #1 book in the country. I thought that it was a joke. Why ask me?<br /><br />She said, “I have to ask you four questions.<br /><br />“One: Are you available?”<br /><br />“Yes.”<br /><br />“Two: Do you currently read the X-Men books?”<br /><br />“Yeah, I’m right up to date.”<br /><br />“Three: Can you deliver a property on time?”<br /><br />“Yes. Just ask anybody at DC.”<br /><br />“Four: Do you know what it’s like to work in the X-Men office?”<br /><br />“No, I have no idea.”<br /><br />And she said, “You’ve answered all the questions correctly.” <i>[laughs]</i> Of course, it would take me a year to find out what that last question meant.<br /><br />I very quickly met Scott Lobdell, and Scott helped me navigate through the Bob Harras waters. I started out as the writer on <i>Cable</i>, and then, all of a sudden, I was the writer on <i>X-Force</i>; shortly after that, I became the co-creator, along with Steve Skroce, of <i>X-Man</i>, so I went from no contact with Marvel to writing three of the then nine X-Men books.<br /><br /><i>Stefan Blitz & Brian Saner Lamken. “A Shot in the Dark — Jeph Loeb: The </i>Comicology<i> Interview.” </i>Comicology<i> Vol. II #1, Pgs. 7-33 [Side B]. Raleigh: TwoMorrows Publishing, Spring 2000.</i><br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-85501771318610390942019-01-04T23:14:34.098-06:002019-01-04T23:14:34.098-06:00AoA is such an odd storyline for me. In retrospect...AoA is such an odd storyline for me. In retrospect, it's a refreshing-yet-fleeting blip on an otherwise disappointing decade for X-books. At the time, I hadn't bought an X-book for probably two years, and had largely abandoned Marvel for Vertigo (also, Mark Waid's Flash was quenching any superhero cravings,) so when I saw a copy of "Astonishing X-Men" at a friend's house, he filled me in on the whole shebang. I flipped through the book, but it didn't do anything for me, so I set it aside and forgot about it. <br /><br />Then, about ten years ago, I was compiling a digital library of comics to replace the physical one I'd lost (and in the process, just downloading anything I could find) and came across a full Age of Apocalypse run in one folder. I spent a few days reading the whole thing, and was pleasantly surprised at how solid it turned out. The writing and art varies from book to book, but as a collaborative work, it's impressively coherent and consistent in overall plot and (especially) with the characters. It's arguably the best-executed Event of the decade aside from the original Infinity Gauntlet, which had the advantage of a single writer. I don't know whose "baby" AoA ultimately was, but I like to imagine Lobdell, Nicezia, Hama, Ellis, Harras, and whoever else sitting around, throwing ideas at each other and deciding what crazy directions to take each alternate universe character in (which traits of each hero and villain were part of their nature? which were nutured? how tough was it to not just make all the heroes into assholes, because seriously that's always tons of fun?)<br /><br />I didn't love the whole thing, but I liked it enough to give that failed Age of Apocalypse monthly series more chances than most people did (probably more than it deserved, but that's a discussion for another thread.)Bobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-79344440118497809572019-01-04T15:48:33.800-06:002019-01-04T15:48:33.800-06:00I remember exactly where I was when I read in prev...I remember exactly where I was when I read in previews that Xavier was "dying" and that the whole line was being cancelled. This was the biggest event I had seen in comics at that point, and to me personally the X-Men have yet to top it with any subsequent event. I wondered if you were going to review each issue on its own or do each title in a #1-4 grouping like a miniseries. I am so excited for this.Eric Magnushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13561025479642283501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-22855229836628779452019-01-04T15:13:38.669-06:002019-01-04T15:13:38.669-06:00AoA was the last big story line of my childhood co...AoA was the last big story line of my childhood comic reading. I can't wait to read your reviews of it!Discordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08043118219587453293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-31577973938273144912019-01-04T11:55:59.670-06:002019-01-04T11:55:59.670-06:00So excited for Age of Apocalypse. I reread the ent...So excited for Age of Apocalypse. I reread the entire story about three years ago and will probably do so again as you review it amax13noreply@blogger.com