‘Artifact Edition’ looks at glory days of X-Men
Comic-book fans became engrossed in the lives of characters, including Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Colossus, as comic-book shops became destination shopping for fans in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne joined inker Terry Austin in creating a run on “Uncanny X-Men” that captured readers’ attention.
“Reading the Claremont/ Byrne X-Men run as they were being published is a little like seeing ‘Star Wars’ when it was released in 1977,” said John Tinkess, of Another Dimension Comics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
“You can try to explain it to other people, but you really had to be there to understand. It’s the kind of phenomenon that is rarely repeated.”
The latest “Artifact Edition” from IDW Publishing examines more than 100 pages from artist John Byrne’s run on “Uncanny X-Men,” one of the seminal comic book series of the 1980s.
“Artifact Editions” published by IDW take a very close examination of the original art behind some of comics’ bestloved stories.
The oversize volumes scan the original pages, providing behind the scenes detail for fans and students of the genre.
“I first noticed John Byrne’s work in Charlton’s ‘Doomsday +1.’ Looking at this art then, It was obvious he grew up on the Marvel Comics of the ‘60s,” said comic book retailer Joe Field, of Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff in Concord, California.
John Byrne’s run on the X-Men began with issue #108 and lasted until #143.
Working with Claremont and Austin, the team introduced characters that included Alpha Flight and Kitty Pryde, and their storylines “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past” have long echoed with comics fans and been the basis for TV, games and films.
Retailer Keith Colvin, of Keith’s Comics in Dallas, says issue #108 “is the first time I saw John Byrne artwork, and while I was crazy about the story, I was smitten by the art. Strength. Beauty. Action. Pacing. Scenery. Dozens of characters. Drawn in a recognizable style that was not hyper-realistic but not comicbooky either.”
He recalled pedaling home anxious to read it.
“The scene in X-Men #108 where Wolverine is punched into space is still with me today,” Colvin said.
“For the next few years each month revolved around haunting the local 7-Eleven until the new ‘Byrne X-Men’ came out.”
A few years later, in 1981, Colvin pleaded off work to drive to a signing featuring Byrne in the next county.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Colvin said. “For me it was like meeting royalty.”
Field said the X-Men of the era in some ways recalled the heyday of Stan Lee.
“The Claremont/Byrne team on X-Men felt like a throwback to Marvel’s earlier days when new characters and concepts were introduced at a rapid-fire rate,” Field said.
“X-Men spawned other titles, often under the creative direction of Chris Claremont. Without the success of the Claremont/Byrne X-Men series, it’s likely we wouldn’t have seen New Mutants, X-Factor, the solo Wolverine series ... and the many miniseries based on mutant characters.”
Magical time
Comic shops became the go-to location for fans to grab the new X-issues, or to dig for ones they had somehow missed.
“In the 1980s, every comic shop you went into had a wall of X-Men back issues behind the counter. It was by far the hottest comic of the time and spawned not only line expansions from Marvel — X-Factor, New Mutants, Excalibur, Wolverine — but DC tried to emulate their success, as well with ‘New Teen Titans,’ ‘Omega Men’ and ‘Legion,’” Tinkess said.
Retailer Bill Phillips, of Bunjee’s Comics in Griffin, Georgia, agreed.
“No doubt that the success of the Claremont/Byrne/Austin era led to the ‘New Teen Titans’ being a thing,” Phillips said, referring to the DC Comics title written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by George Perez.
“X-Men” as a comic also was willing to tackle darker themes, something that comics in the early 1980s weren’t as likely to do. In “Days of Future Past,” an alternate future sees most of the X-Men dead or in hiding.
Blogger and podcaster Dean Compton, of Her Dork World, His Dork World, says the strength of that story still holds up behind the dynamic artwork of Byrne.
“‘Days’ is one of my favorite stories ever, and despite its many reworkings and sequels, it still holds up today as arguably the best and most powerful X-Men story of all time,” Compton said. “And that’s saying something when you consider the powerful history of the X-Men.”
Pages or artwork from all but one issue of the Byrne run will be featured in the “Artifact Edition,” editor Scott Dunbier said via twitter.
“There was magic in the ‘Byrne Era’ of X-Men,” Colvin said. “Byrne’s art for sure, but also Austin’s inking and the Claremont storytelling created a touchstone X-Men story legacy.”
The “John Byrne’s X-Men Artifact Edition” retails for $125. And if you want to find the original John Byrne “X-Men” comics, or graphic novels collecting the complete stories in more affordable formats, your local comic shops still will be glad to assist.