Seems Terry went into the Marvel offices one day, and Archie Goodwin (then EiC) emerged from his sanctum sanctorum and approached Terry with an idea. "They're going to cancel X-MEN," Archie said (as Terry paraphrased), "but if I can get them to make it monthly, we may be able to save it. If I can talk Byrne into penciling, would you be interested in inking?" Seems Arch had really liked the pairing of Terry and me on STARLORD, and thought it would work well for the merry mutants.

"Sure!" said Terry. And, as you can well imagine, Archie didn't have to work very hard to get me to accept the assignment. (I had made it known that if Dave Cockrum ever left that book and it didn't come to me, the halls of Marvel would run red!)

It was funny to hear this story from Terry. I had no idea my being invited onto the book was part of a "plan" Archie was putting together to save it from cancelation! But that sure does clarify why, when I suggested Sam Grainger continue on X-MEN (to make the transition from Dave to me easier on the loyal X-Fans) and Terry join me on MARVEL TEAM-UP, Archie was so adamant about the configuration he'd initially proposed!