Red Mosquito

On a whim I bought a shit ton of 1980's Uncanny X-Men comics.

- I forgot how grim they were. The X-men are constantly getting their asses kicked by everyone, and mutants die in droves. It's great.

- They are a lot slower than I remember, but this isn't a complaint. Kinda nice.

- too much soap opera stuff, but that's Clairemont.

- I wonder if it's still possible to get comics printed like this (4 color process on shitty newsprint). I want to make a comic that looks exactly like this.

- The 80s were superior to all other decades.

What issues did you get?

I loved the X-Men in the 80's. I've been trying to recapture that feeling for 30 years but I'm just not into them anymore. It's funny how wordy those comics are looking at them now. You got your money's worth anyways.

wease wrote:What issues did you get?

Most haven't arrived yet, but I got most of the 200's. Missing about 20 issues I guess. I also have a few earlier ones.

The Australian days were probably the best. They have such a harsh vibe. Silvestri was kinda underrated then, too.

Looking at the reprints with modern printing techniques and there is just no comparison. The new ones look so dead to me. I need my printing errors, limited colors and little dots!

i love Claremont's run with X Men. Super weird, violent, grim ...a soap opera too. Everything with Dark Phoenix was wonderful.

Also the first years of the 90s had great stuff too.

BurtReynolds wrote:

wease wrote:What issues did you get?

Most haven't arrived yet, but I got most of the 200's. Missing about 20 issues I guess. I also have a few earlier ones.

The Australian days were probably the best. They have such a harsh vibe. Silvestri was kinda underrated then, too.

I stopped around 230 and didn’t pick back up until Jim Lee came aboard. I have since picked up all the issues I missed. I’ve thought Silverstein was badass from the first time I ever saw his work. Probably the Avengers/X-Men miniseries. Or Web of Spider-Man. Yeah, I think he did that before the A/X mini.

Other than Byrne’s run my favorite period is 165-around 210 or so. Thru the Mutant Massacre. 165 or so is when I started and I still have absolute love for that era of the book.

BurtReynolds wrote:- I forgot how grim they were. The X-men are constantly getting their asses kicked by everyone, and mutants die in droves. It's great.

This stood out to me in the 90's animated series pilot where they get their asses kicked by sentinels and Morph is assumed dead. I must have been 8 years old when I first saw the rerun on morning TV and was shook and hooked.

The films are super lame by comparison.

It's almost Game of Thrones-like at times. Sometimes they just lose. And its not a small loss on the road to some greater victory - they just flat out lose.

If you read Claremont’s entire run, you’ll see they never have just an out-and-out win. On the occasion they do win one, it’s always with a “except for this part”.

Started reading the original Aliens Dark Horse books. The almost sketch-like B&W is really refreshing compared to modern computer colored works, the layout and art overall tend to evoke Giger's work as well.

The original Predator stuff was really good too. Their Conan comics were pretty much definitive. Marvel has all that stuff now it sucks balls.

bada wrote:The original Predator stuff was really good too. Their Conan comics were pretty much definitive. Marvel has all that stuff now it sucks balls.

I have a bunch of the original Terminator and Predator books that I enjoyed back in the day. Dark Horse was probably my favorite label behind Image.

The AVP Omnibus Editions are on archive.org in a few formats btw.

bada wrote: Their Conan comics were pretty much definitive.

Definitive over the first Marvel series? I don’t think so.

yeah Dark Horse was so cool...alien, predator, hell, those robocop ones were super cool too

wease wrote:

bada wrote: Their Conan comics were pretty much definitive.

Definitive over the first Marvel series? I don’t think so.

Yeah I'd say so I love the original Marvel run but Dark Horse killed it.

bada wrote:

wease wrote:

bada wrote: Their Conan comics were pretty much definitive.

Definitive over the first Marvel series? I don’t think so.

Yeah I'd say so I love the original Marvel run but Dark Horse killed it.

I’m a fan of that initial Busiek/ Nord run, but I wouldn’t put it ahead of the earlier Marvel run.

wease wrote:

bada wrote:

wease wrote:

bada wrote: Their Conan comics were pretty much definitive.

Definitive over the first Marvel series? I don’t think so.

Yeah I'd say so I love the original Marvel run but Dark Horse killed it.

I’m a fan of that initial Busiek/ Nord run, but I wouldn’t put it ahead of the earlier Marvel run.

I'll allow it.

Just read the first issue of the new Amazing Fantasy limited series and it was pretty cool. Not too many Marvel books hold my interest nowadays it was a nice surprise.