tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post6721392114262021474..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining Uncanny X-Men #281Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-59436776588887601812021-09-04T22:56:42.563-05:002021-09-04T22:56:42.563-05:00The problem with Portacio wasn't his drawing s...The problem with Portacio wasn't his drawing style. He could certainly craft a good image, but he had no clue how to tell a story, and that's where the mess was made. In isolation, one of his drawings was fine. But he couldn't lay out a page, and couldn't manage page transitions, and he definitely didn't know how to focus on the important subject in any given panel (instead he'd just draw what he felt like drawing.) Lee was better at all this, but only when he was working from someone else's scripts/plots. As soon as he got control of the narrative, his work devolved into glorified hero poses every page or two. <br /><br />That's why so many people keep referring back to guys like Steranko, Kirby, and Chaykin. Forget whether you prefer Portacio's art style to theirs. What's important in sequential art is how each image flows from one to the next, either by the drawing and angle itself, or by how it fits in with the page as a whole. Portacio was almost objectively terrible at this, even back in the X-Factor issues, leaving the scripter struggling to patch together a coherent story via narration or dialogue. <br /><br />I'd love to see Portacio working with a writer who provides detailed panel/page descriptions (like Neil Gaiman.) I bet that'd be a comic worth reading.Bobnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-47892542289098211582021-01-21T12:37:35.874-06:002021-01-21T12:37:35.874-06:00A lot of people complaining this story is a "...A lot of people complaining this story is a "mess." Obviously Portacio is no Claremont but this story isn't difficult to follow, at least not for me. Not in story nor pacing/storyboarding.<br /><br />One even claimed, "Portacio has always struck me as a rich mans Liefeld." You've got to be kidding me. Rob isn't fit to carry Whilce's pencil box. Just look at the cover of Uncanny #290. Whilce is just a step down from Lee - that's how good he was/is. Hell, at times I'd say Whilce is superior to Lee. Anyway, I'm offended lol<br /><br />That's right, it's me: The Whilce Portacio fanboy of the comment section! ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-77791889981371286552017-12-14T03:35:51.823-06:002017-12-14T03:35:51.823-06:00The pointless deaths of the Hellions will always g...The pointless deaths of the Hellions will always go down as one of the greatest wastes of potentially good characters in comic book history- Claremont had barely scratched the surface with any of them, and they not only died here, but STAYED DEAD, barring the "one-day-resurrection" stories. Tarot & Roulette had great powers, and Catseye has one of the most fascinating character-types in comics, and they were only in 5-7 issues of New Mutants. And then they just get wiped out OFF-HANDEDLY in a couple of issues! Nobody even really DEALS with their deaths until Nicieza has X-Force mention it, and when the White Queen finally comes out of her coma.Jabronivillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07318218102203693195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-22790087324749752962016-04-14T23:01:26.927-05:002016-04-14T23:01:26.927-05:00Gateway pops up briefly, to essentially teleport P...<i>Gateway pops up briefly, to essentially teleport Pierce to his death.</i><br /><br />Rats, I didn't register this little tidbit. Now if you have to write Gateway off the book, and I really never was a fan to begin with, that's kind of cool. We never really got down to it what was the deal between the Reavers and Gateway and the exact nature of the geas G supposedly was under, but one has to assume this one time Gateway was quite glad to do exactly as he was told. Pierce would have done well to listen himself all his warnings to Lady Deathstrike in WOLVERINE #35.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-28365323720602444302016-04-12T22:02:05.751-05:002016-04-12T22:02:05.751-05:00Since Im the "when things came out guy",...Since Im the "when things came out guy", the animated series debuted with a special showing of the pilot in October of 92. The full show didn't start until January 93, which was an awfully long wait for a 13 year old ready to see his beloved nerd comics get to experiance the light of day of mainstream society on its deserving face. Of course, in the time between uncanny 281 and October 92, quite a bit had changed in the x-world, and I was mostly out at that point. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00347023924872659184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-5270488026518077792016-04-12T15:28:57.969-05:002016-04-12T15:28:57.969-05:00And I see the main thrust even then is to go and d...<i>And I see the main thrust even then is to go and drive that one more nail into Claremont's New Mutants' legacy by undoing Nova Roma. </i><br /><br />Well, Nova Roma is one of Claremont's weaker concepts, so I can understand the desire to tweak it. That said, the undoing is pretty terrible too, which is why it was, eventually, officially un-undone and we went back to the initial, still-weak-but-not-as-bad, status quo. :P Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-20234243790421156652016-04-12T15:26:19.081-05:002016-04-12T15:26:19.081-05:00@Teemu: The best way to blow the air out of your o...@Teemu: <i>The best way to blow the air out of your own or anyone's WATCHMEN/DKR pretensions btw is to remind that they're the bitch that borne to the world the Comic Sans font.</i><br /><br />Ha! Good point. <br /><br />Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-26067265526685942022016-04-11T12:03:35.052-05:002016-04-11T12:03:35.052-05:00I know you weren't making an assessment of the...I know you weren't making an assessment of the quality, Blam, but for me, SPIDER-MAN simply never felt like the flagship in <b>any</b> way. Not saying that wasn't the case or that Marvel didn't intend it to be the case, but due to the self-contained stories and high price point, it didn't feel like a real comic to me. I can't quite explain it, but that was simply my take on it at the time.<br /><br />(Though again, this could've been due to my dislike for McFarlane, as I'm sure that back then I would've thought: "A Spider-book with no connection to the real ones, where McFarlane can be completely ignored? Count me in! For not buying it, I mean.")Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-23282876391876844822016-04-11T06:38:38.648-05:002016-04-11T06:38:38.648-05:00Given the overall sketchiness of the newsstand I u...Given the overall sketchiness of the newsstand I used at the time, it probably did have stuff going back a year or more just because they didn't feel like removing things from the shelves.Melahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05539894845356203447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-43412437710579328632016-04-10T22:28:48.128-05:002016-04-10T22:28:48.128-05:00Blam, we don't do "upvote" thing her...Blam, we don't do "upvote" thing here, but if we did, I'd be presing it like crazy after your opening line.Jon Dubyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783906806644566810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-43557947857621819302016-04-10T22:06:47.777-05:002016-04-10T22:06:47.777-05:00I think this was one of those "six-month gaps...I think this was one of those "six-month gaps" that became as interlocked in X-book lore as the obligatory baseball game. Not to mention that long hair becomes quite a phenomenon in comics around this time...and not just among the women. We'll discover that next issue when our "very special guest" makes an appearance.Jon Dubyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783906806644566810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-73605719077322694152016-04-10T21:56:45.652-05:002016-04-10T21:56:45.652-05:00I didn't learn much about Image though, outsid...I didn't learn much about Image though, outside of the idea that thier books were HOT COLLECTOR'S ITEMS. (But then again, what book wasn't a "hot must-buy" in these ads? "Superpro #1 has a gold foil, die-cut holographic cover! Better buy 12!")Jon Dubyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783906806644566810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-25893539990638757502016-04-10T21:46:24.843-05:002016-04-10T21:46:24.843-05:00Actually the later X-Force story made it clear tha...Actually the later X-Force story made it clear that Tarot DID die here. She was just (somehow) resurrected by her boyfriend at tbe time, King Bedlam (my own No-prize-y explanation is that she was "kept alive" by King Bedlam's powers, which explains why when they were both hit with the M-day pulse,Tarot was back to being "dead" again.)Jon Dubyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783906806644566810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-91506632709702682882016-04-10T14:54:04.617-05:002016-04-10T14:54:04.617-05:00That is a point, Blam, but I wish to argue against...That is a point, Blam, but I wish to argue against it on basis of SM having isolated & numbered five-parter, then two-parter, and again five-parter story arcs for starters, while AMAZING went on with business as usual. It makes it hard to see SM as little more than a pumped-up, one character Marvel Comics Presents installment.<br /><br />X-MEN and UNCANNY X-MEN on the other hand were very similar books with each other except one of them was generally considered much better. And had more than one same guy named for the writer&artist credits.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-80028517172805394282016-04-10T12:14:35.232-05:002016-04-10T12:14:35.232-05:00I’m not saying that Adjectiveless Spider-Man was t...<br>I’m not saying that Adjectiveless <i>Spider-Man</i> was the premier series in any qualitative way, Matt. Launching it with McFarlane at the helm, though, as Marvel then did on the new <i>X-Men</i> with (Claremont &) Lee driving — plus better-quality paper (and higher prices) — sure appears to have been the company saying that these titles were the flagships of their franchises and indeed Marvel’s whole publishing slate. Otherwise we’d likely have gotten <i>The Sensational Spider-Man</i> and <i>Astonishing X-Men</i> back then.<br /><br />While the idea Teebore floats of the dispensation of adjectives being a move towards perceived sophistication is an intriguing one, I doubt it in fact. It’s not like the older titles were dumped or renamed.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-81624599947881964052016-04-09T04:56:39.503-05:002016-04-09T04:56:39.503-05:00Ha, January 1993 coverdate. They don't much do...Ha, January 1993 coverdate. They don't much do this contacting thing in Massachusetts Academy either.<br /><br />And I see the main thrust even then is to go and drive that one more nail into Claremont's New Mutants' legacy by undoing Nova Roma. Why don't they go and whack Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander while they're at... oh.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-40828509482701384152016-04-08T23:18:04.725-05:002016-04-08T23:18:04.725-05:00The best way to blow the air out of your own or an...The best way to blow the air out of your own or anyone's WATCHMEN/DKR pretensions btw is to remind that they're the bitch that borne to the world the Comic Sans font.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-26818143681688320252016-04-08T23:14:49.117-05:002016-04-08T23:14:49.117-05:00You may well be onto something there, Austin, thou...You may well be onto something there, Austin, though we might be on the "So I took Wolverine out of the ugly brown&tan costume, Mr. Byrne" ground here, because X-MEN (vol 1) only got the adjective during the Claremont/Byrne era. The covers certainly make no fuss over it; so smoothly goes the transition from "The All-New, All-Different X-Men" through "Now on sale monthly! X-Men" to settle with "The Uncanny X-Men".<br /><br />But then again, SPIDER-WOMAN and MS. MARVEL were adjectiveless from the get-go, as were the X-Men spin-offs THE NEW MUTANTS, THE X-FACTOR and WOLVERINE. The adjective rather feels like a honorific acknowledging the long existence of a book. I for one love my Thor as MIGHTY.<br /><br />On that not the mid-80's launched WEB OF SPIDER-MAN gets to be a curious case, I think had they had a pretension to make it merely SPIDER-MAN at time would've been universally decried move and maybe dubbed "A what Spider-Man" by the reading populace. I fear to even think how it would have gone in the Spider-Man office at the time when things were enough turbulent already.<br /><br />I have perverse love for PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN as a book title btw. I'd just love when the older boys in the letter columns referred to it as PPTSSM, if not the most anal retentives going for PPtSSM. It's a crime and shame that Marvel Unlimited has so poorly selection of the 80's issues of it, the very ones our Spidey book was printing during and just prior my formative years.<br /><br />Their officially shortening it to THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN is just so 90's move in the bad way.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-81120542139434503982016-04-08T20:58:58.523-05:002016-04-08T20:58:58.523-05:00Yeah, it doesn't get dealt with until New Warr...Yeah, it doesn't get dealt with until New Warriors 31.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-57889252015387460872016-04-08T16:25:20.999-05:002016-04-08T16:25:20.999-05:00I don't believe the animated series debuted un...I don't believe the animated series debuted until Fall of 1992 - so a little more than a year after this issue would have been out (it's cover dated 10/91, so on sale in August). <br /><br />Which isn't to say it couldn't have still been on shelves, especially given the huge sales of Adjectiveless. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-66801721194375877172016-04-08T16:18:58.471-05:002016-04-08T16:18:58.471-05:00I'll be in lookout for Liefeld addressing it o...<i>I'll be in lookout for Liefeld addressing it on-panel on his book.</i><br /><br />Don't look too hard. :) Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-41597928042299672502016-04-08T16:18:04.639-05:002016-04-08T16:18:04.639-05:00I too am fascinated by the push-and-pull between t...I too am fascinated by the push-and-pull between the future Image guys wanting to do classic status quo stuff at the same time they're aggressively pushing for bold new directions and blowing up trappings of the past. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-26680729552744444222016-04-08T16:16:36.858-05:002016-04-08T16:16:36.858-05:00Ah, yeah, I know the sets you're talking about...Ah, yeah, I know the sets you're talking about. They always bugged me as a kid since they featured repurposed, and not original, art.<br /><br />Spring of 1992 fits more with my recollection of when I'd have been buying the X-Men Series I cards. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-44547344137597037532016-04-08T16:14:27.827-05:002016-04-08T16:14:27.827-05:00I also wonder if there isn't some kind of self...I also wonder if there isn't some kind of self-conscious effort to make comics more serious - like, thinking that putting an adjective in front of the title is goofy Silver Age stuff, and comics are so much more serious and adult than that now, man, so it's just SUPERMAN and SPIDER-MAN and X-MEN, none of that goofy stuff? <br /><br />This is the era (post-WATCHMEN & DKR), where I really think you start to see more and more self-conscious readers (and creators) desperate to prove comics are more sophisticated than Batman '66, and I wonder if the rise of adjectiveless titles ties into that? <br /><br />(Of course, we're STILL seeing the effect of those self-conscious readers/creators, people who feel like superhero comics need to desperately (and always) prove they're not for kids in the most obvious ways possible. Heck, sometimes its seems like DC's entire publishing model for the last decade is driven by that mentality...). Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-82952571938860446662016-04-08T16:09:14.514-05:002016-04-08T16:09:14.514-05:00Should I stop referring to you as Teebore here, by...<i>Should I stop referring to you as Teebore here, by the way? I notice you've been gradually phasing it out to where it's only in your Twitter plug and Teebore's Take now.</i><br /><br />I'm phasing out "Teebore's Take" now, too, in favor of "Austin's Analysis" (which I use over on PopOptiq), so as to be more unified across platforms. <br /><br />But I really have no problem with you (or anyone) continuing to refer to me as Teebore. It's a functional change, but it's not like I hate the name or anything. If nothing else, it's a way for you long-time readers to show up newer readers who arrived after I shed the identity. :) Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.com