This omnibus was released last year and contains virtually every piece Arthur Adams did for Marvel Comics, both published and unpublished, between the years 1982 and 1999 inclusive. It is divided into sections, the first of whcih is...
EARLY WORK - 1982-1985
This section begins with a Wolverine pin-up from the sample packet he submitted to Marvel in 1982 when he was only 19 years old; it eventually saw print in Classic X-Men #23 (1988). Also included in this section are pin-ups from Doctor Strange Classics #3-4 and Marvel Fanfare #37, and the covers of Marvel Fanfare #13, Marvel Team-Up #141 and The New Defenders #142 as well as several other pages of unpublished pencils. The cover of the omnibus is taken from the 1991 Marvel Holiday Special and the "bearded man" the heroes are chasing (on the other side of the wraparound cover) is Santa Claus, but for the back over of the ombibus he substituted a figure of himself.
Replies
EXCALIBUR: MOJO MAYHEM:
Here is a comic book I bought new in 1990 (because it was drawn by Arthur Adams) but didn't read until today (because it featured Mojo). But, because "Buying new comics and not reading them is stupid," I did read it today. This comic was originally intended to be Excalibur Annual #1 (it takes place in the midst of Excalibur #10-11) but, as that year's annuals revolved around the "Atlantis Attacks" crossover and this one didn't, it was rebranded. The story itself features the X-Babies and pretty much picks up from the end of the X-Babies back-up feature in X-Men Annual #12. The "X-Babies" hold about as much interest for me as the "Little Archies" and like this story about as much as I expected to. It does feature Richochet Rita, a character I have come to like (even though I know the fate in store for her).
EXTRAS: A Marvel Age article about the "annual," Wolverine t-shirt art and a tpb cover.
I bought a huge collection of Excalibur comics as a long time ago and Mojo Mayhem was in there. I have yet to read them...
X-MEN ANNUAL #14 - "Days of Future Present" Pt. 4:
By 1990 I had stopped buying Marvel annuals, but I think I might have bought this one (because it's a sequel to the classic "Days of future Past"). If I did, I didn't read it... until today. It's the fourth part of a story which continued from the Fantastic Four, X-Factor and New Mutant annuals of the same year. Because it's part four of four and because these things tend to be cunulative, it's easy anough to follow on its own. (In other words, I'd rather read only the last part of a continued story than only the first.) It's too complicated to go into here, but it was really much better than I expected it would be.
EXTRAS: Art Adams' unabridged introducution to the Marvel Legends: X-Men - Arthur Adams tpb and 93 pages of sundry artwork.
By 1990 I had stopped buying Marvel annuals, but I think I might have bought this one...
I know what it is now. I didn't buy the annuals(s), but in 2014 I did buy the Fantastic Four "Epic Collection" Vol. 20, which included most of Walt Simonson's run as well as the four "Days of Futre Present" annuals. I still haven't read any of the first three, but now I know I can if I want. Personally, I would have been happier if they had left off the annuals (and FF #334-336) and presented Simonson's entire run in a single volume.
FANTASTIC FOUR(S): NEW AND CLASSIC - 1990-1992
FANTASTIC FOUR #347-349:
We now come to what is arguabley the pinnacle of Arthur Adams' Marvel work: "The New Fantastic Four." Adams was enganged to help Walt Simonson get caught up on his deadlines, and Simonson asked Adams what villains he would like to draw. "Uuuh, maybe the sub-Mariner, or... the Skrulls... or the Mole Man... or maybe some big monsters... I don't know..." In addition to those suggestions, Simonson proposed to (temporarily) replace the Fantastic Four with Marvel's four most popular characters at the time: Wolverine, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider and the Punisher. Adams suggested replacing the Punisher with the Hulk. For this three-issue run, the FF's masthead, "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine," was replaced with three new ones as well: "The World's Goofiest Comic Magazine!," "The World's Most Commercialest Comic Magazine!," and "The World's Most Collectable Comic Magazine!" this storyline was based on the precept that "Comics are supposed to be fun!"
FANTASTIC FOUR #358:
For the FF's 30th anniversary issue, Tom DeFalco and Arthur Adams provided a tongue-in-cheek five-pager featuring Dr. Doom.
MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL #1:
For Marvel's 1991 Holiday Special, Walt Simonson and Art Adams presented a ten-page story in which Franklin richards encounters Dickens' ghost of Jacob Marley.
EXTRAS: Covers include the 1991 Marvel Super-Heroes Summer Special, Marvel Holiday Special #2, Marvel 1991 - The Year in Review, The New Fantastic Four tpb, an FF pin-up from Marvel Fanfare #45, articles and illustrations from The Year in Review, trading cards and 42 more pages of various art.
There are two more sections of this omnibus which I'm going to bat out in a single entry.
MARVEL UNIVERSE TRADING CARDS - 1990-1991
42 trading cards, front and back, two per page, bigger than actual size, plus assorted sketches, etc.
PLAY TIME - 1992-1999
Various posters, art for games and other licensed products, Chef Boyardee pasta labels, more trading cards, hero caps, 11 pages of characters sketches, character pieces for merchandise at Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure Marvel super-Hero Island theme park, covers, pin-ups and variants. The last bit of artwork is the change made to the dustjacket of this very omnibus.
Now if only Dark Horse would get there $#!t together and release that Monkeyman and O'Brien collection I've been waiting nearly 30 years for.
ULTIMATE X:
HULK (2008):
Adams was not only the cover artist, but he also did the interiors of #7-9. The "Red Hulk" may not exist on Earth-J, but Marvel only caters to my whims by accident. And speaking of covers...
FEAR ITSELF: THE FEARLESS:
...what about those he did for Fear Itself: The Fearless?
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next