(This will be the first of (hopefully) a series of posts about X-Men artists. I grew up loving the X-Men, started reading when John Romita Jr. was on his first run then kept on for a long time, and worked backward. This won't be an especially scholarly overview, just me talking about what I like. I hope that's enough to get a couple readers.)
The X-Men always had top drawer artists around them, from Kirby to Neal Adams to Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Jim Lee, etc ... when Chris Claremont was in charge especially he got that the X-Men needed the next big thing as their artist.
It all started with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, though, as so much at Marvel did.
One thing that sticks out about this cover is how not jacked up our heroes are. They're in shape, sure, but it's not the hyper-detailed musculature that would take over comics as time went on.
It's also cool to note how much we learn about our heroes from just this cover - everyone is doing their thing powers wise, including Magneto. Jean's the only one in the background in kind of a dainty girly pose that she would adopt a lot. It does have character, though.
Again, like the image above, even though nothing's really happening dramatically in this scene, the heroes are mostly doing their heroic stuff, even though it's essentially in Professor X's living room (or office or what have you.) Did Beast need to come in through the window? Does Iceman need to be making an ice mess? Did Angel need to fly from the doorway? Of course not, but for someone just looking at this comic for the first time, we learn a lot about what these characters can do in one static image. It's a kind of short-hand really. Plus the name matches the image, without knowing who was who, you could figure it out.
These images are big and splashy, not a ton of backgrounds but as most of you know, Kirby was churning out a lot of comics in these days.
Another thing to note here, and this could be me projecting a bit - The X-Men look different than the FF or the Avengers. They're oddly shaped and drawn, even Jean who's in many ways the typical Stan Lee sweetheart doesn't look like an Avenger.
There's a heroic ideal to this FF piece. Not that the X-Men aren't heroic but they aren't drawn quite the same.
I also have to mention Kirby's Juggernaut. Again, he's not nearly as massive as he'd become over the years, he's just bigger than everyone else. He's thick but not muscle-bound beyond belief. But he's dominating and scary.
Kirby's villains always looked weird and sniveling. Look at these guys, their shoulders are hunched, they're generally pretty ugly - you knew who the bad guys were for sure. At the same time, though, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are different - even without knowing the details, they aren't just like the rest of the crew. They're a little better looking, their colors a little brighter. There's more to them.
And a couple pin ups, just because Kirby did so many of them to fill the back of so many comics. Sure, Jean's stuck doing girly stuff again but Angel looks great doing his thing!
I didn't start reading comics until long after Kirby's peak. It's easy to understand why so many people saw his art and started to draw, his characters were dynamic and different and he kept making new stuff until he passed away.
In the great scheme of things, though, he's always The King!
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