According to former Marvel EIC Jim Shooter, where most Marel writers took a hands-off approach to recruiting artistic talent to work with them, Claremont instead actively participated in scouting artistic talent for UXM. #xmen 1/5
Shooter observes that “Chris was very good at finding artists. I mean, other writers, they just let the editor find an artist. Chris is out bird-dogging artists all the time.” 2/5
“He was actively looking for artists. I know one time in Chicago, Chicago Con, this guy comes over asked me if I’d look at his samples and I did. They were really great. I said, ‘This is really good.’ I said, ‘Listen, give me your information, I’m going to see what we can do’”3/5
“So, he did. And as I’m walking away, I see Claremont. I said, ‘Chris, you should see this guy’s work.’ I said, ‘Dude, this guy’s good.’ And he says, ‘Really?’ And he runs over, and he looks, and he comes running back and says, ‘I want him on the X-Men.’” 4/5
“I said, ‘Well, we’ll talk to Louise or Ann, or something…’ I said, ‘Yeah, if they’re okay with him, it’s fine with me. I think he’s good.’ [He was] Marc Silvestri.” 5/5
You can find the full interview here. We quoted it in a different context last week as well, but there’s just so much in it; I’m probably not even finished with it yet on this page: comicbookhistorians.com/jim-shooter-bi…
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Though Jim Lee gets most of the credit for the 1990s X-Men aesthetic, Scott Williams’ inks played an immeasurable role in taking Lee’s line art from house style to the forefront of comics illustration thanks to harmonious collaboration. #xmen 1/10
In a recent interview with Syfywire, legendary inker Scott Williams talks about some of the misconceptions surrounding what inkers actually do and about how his 30 year partnership with Jim Lee in particular has thrived on mutual influence. 2/10
Williams immediately dispels the tragic misconception that inkers are tracers, describing a much stronger artistic contribution: "There are a lot of times where deadline strikes and the penciler is not able to give all the information within a given page that is required.” 3/10
UXM 261 feels more or less like a backdoor pilot for “Hardcase and the Harriers” but it also features some strong initial character development of Jubilee, defining the complex dualities and opposing extremes that readers identify with in Jubilation. #xmen #Jubilee 1/10
The issue opens with Jubilee expressing her frustration at the Southeast-Asian cuisine she’s exposed to in contrast to her abiding love for American junk food (something Wolverine provides, thus showcasing his bond with her). 2/10
Though a small and simple bit, the scene dramatizes Jubilee’s representational complexity as an Asian-American. This is actually important for a series that, since GSXM #1, was built around characters embodying essentialist national types. 3/10
At the time of Colossus’s 1975 debut, America was embroiled in “The Cold War” with the USSR, a war that was often fought through media propaganda. Though Piotr was built around familiar US symbols of Soviet people, Claremont developed him away from type. #xmen 1/8
Steel and agriculture were dominant symbols of the USSR at the time (seen on their flag), so a farm-boy who turns to living steel is right in-line with type from the get-go. His costume also features the colours of the Soviet flag and he espouses communist philosophy. 2/8
In “Asymmetric Warfare: The Vision of the Enemy in American and Soviet Cold War Cinemas,” Andrey Shcherbenok establishes US mass culture’s tendency to portray Soviet persons in media as homogenized, generic enemies, overdetermined by their hate of America. 3/8
The Forge/Storm reunion in Fall of the Mutants story hit a lot of emotional notes and thus offers a great object lesson on the importance of the illustration team to capture and project the emotional nuance of character melodramas through expression. #xmen 1/8
The spectacle of working in the superhero genre has the potential to distract from an artist’s skill with rendering emotion, and Silvestri in particular has been badly undervalued in this aspect of his work. The quality and diversity of Storm’s expressions make that clear. 2/8
Without these expressions, Claremont’s emotional beats really can’t come to fruition. The narrative of Forge and Storm – the intimacy and longing between them - can be seen in their words, but it’s really brought to life through the visual imagery more than anything. 3/8
While the circumstances of Rogue’s absorption of the Carol Danvers persona are surreal and supernatural, they nonetheless provide an intriguing example of the concept of “restorative justice” in a manner that makes a compelling story at the same time. #xmen #rogue 1/9
Restorative justice is a system that focuses on “providing an opportunity for the parties directly affected by the crime – victims, offenders and communities – to identify and address their needs in the aftermath of a crime” instead of simple punishment. 2/9
Though more recently popularized, RJ was commonly practiced by First Nations communities in North America, forming the basis of entire judicial infrastructures (where most Western justice systems, up until recently, focused on the familiar penal structure). 3/9
As a collaborative medium, comics are sometimes denigrated for their committee approach to character-building, but a closer look at the 'committee' behind Wolverine shows how a character like Logan offers a multifaceted connection to creative genius. #xmen #wolverine 1/10
As noted by Marvel historian Sean Howe, Wolverine was first “named and conceived by Roy Thomas, who detected a need to exploit the Canadian market” before being “developed further by Len Wein and John Romita” ahead of Logan’s debut in “The Incredible Hulk.” 2/10
Throw in Claremont, and the pedigree is quite impressive already. Thomas is perhaps best known as the greatest writer of Conan comics, a character that later artists would draw from quite directly in their interpretations of Wolverine. 3/10