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John Bodin
Byrne Robotics Member
Purveyor of Rare Items
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 3911
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| Posted: 14 April 2014 at 1:23pm | IP Logged | 1
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Did the "Paul Smith era" happen to coincide with any of the "speculator" hype sales incentive stuff (multiple covers, etc.) that seemed to drive sales even higher, for no real reason related to the actual content or the quality of the stories themselves?
I'm pretty sure I was on-board the "X-Men train" through the Paul Smith era, and tapered-off after that, but I can't for the life of me remember anything from that era actually being good.
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Ronald Joseph
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 18 April 2011
Location: United States
Posts: 1784
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| Posted: 14 April 2014 at 1:28pm | IP Logged | 2
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I'm pretty sure I was on-board the "X-Men train" through the Paul Smith era, and tapered-off after that, but I can't for the life of me remember anything from that era actually being good.
Guess it's a matter of taste. One man's junk is another man's treasure, right?
The Paul Smith era gave us things like The Morlocks, Madelyne Prior, another Dark Phoenix story (sort of), Lockheed, Rogue joining the team, and Ororo's Mohawk.
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Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17671
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| Posted: 14 April 2014 at 1:43pm | IP Logged | 3
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Like John Bodin, I continued reading X-MEN during Smith's run, but
even though I may remember a few things nothing feels MEMORABLE.
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Daniel Gillotte
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 11 October 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 2595
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| Posted: 14 April 2014 at 1:58pm | IP Logged | 4
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I remember the box touting WINNER of 5 EAGLE AWARDS on this issue of X-Men and even as a kid not knowing what these awards were thought it meant SOMETHING.
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James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7633
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| Posted: 14 April 2014 at 2:15pm | IP Logged | 5
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The speculator boom was after PMS' run.
Not surprised you didn't know what an Eagle award was Daniel - they were pretty big in the UK but USA?
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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
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| Posted: 15 April 2014 at 4:57am | IP Logged | 6
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I would be very interested to know how much JB's run sold IF you include all the many, many reprint editions! And also how much of the later large sales periods consisted of multiple issues bought by the same individuals. In other words, did the JB stories actually have the most READERS?
Edited by Eric Jansen on 15 April 2014 at 4:58am
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 15 April 2014 at 3:03pm | IP Logged | 7
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I would be very interested to know how much JB's run sold IF you include all the many, many reprint editions! And also how much of the later large sales periods consisted of multiple issues bought by the same individuals. In other words, did the JB stories actually have the most READERS?•• Doubtful. Altho the X-MEN was one of the first books to benefit from the "Buy 3" mentality -- one to read, one to save, one as an "investment" -- the sales were climbing in a very organic fashion until the speculators came along. One issue sold mostly represent one warm body laying down 35¢. There's really no reason to build something that wasn't there. Chris and Dave knocked over some dominoes, Chris and I knocked over some more. And so it went.
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Mark Haslett
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 6111
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| Posted: 15 April 2014 at 4:01pm | IP Logged | 8
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There's really no reason to build something that wasn't there. Chris and Dave knocked over some dominoes, Chris and I knocked over some more. And so it went.
**
I think one puzzling element of this is that in the title's upward climb, the books that were Byrne/Claremont were used as the keystones to almost everything that followed. Claremont's choices of where to go "next" often circled back to the death of Phoenix, Days of Future Past, the Hellfire Club, and Mariko. Later, things like the rising "importance" of Sabre-Tooth and the discovery of Jean Grey for "X-Factor" folded more John Byrne influence into the ongoing story.
The gods who decide what stories continue to be 'relevent' smiled particularly favorably upon much of what Byrne and Claremont did together.
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Eric Ladd
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 August 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 4506
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| Posted: 15 April 2014 at 5:48pm | IP Logged | 9
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I always attributed Wolverine being in the right place at the right time for his rise in popularity. There were enough talented people working on the character to make enough positive changes that the public ate him up. The character as he was introduced in The Hulk did not remain for long. Unfortunately, there was never a good stopping point for him and Wolverine has been pushed into the realm of absurdity.
Let's not forget that mini series about Wolverine. Late 1982, Frank Miller and Chris Claremont put out four very hard hitting issues. I always wondered how much Frank contributed to the story because of the setting, but anything with ninjas was gold back in the early 80's. The character was popular, but that mini series made Wolverine super cool. Kids were buying ninja gear, ninja how to books and Stephen K. Hayes was publishing ninja books and articles. I think if Nightcrawler had been Japanese along with a Ninjitsu background then good ol 'Kurt Wakamoto' might be the most popular X-Men these days. Nightcrawler would have been a better ninja!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 15 April 2014 at 6:14pm | IP Logged | 10
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I think one puzzling element of this is that in the title's upward climb, the books that were Byrne/Claremont were used as the keystones to almost everything that followed. Claremont's choices of where to go "next" often circled back to the death of Phoenix, Days of Future Past, the Hellfire Club, and Mariko. Later, things like the rising "importance" of Sabre-Tooth and the discovery of Jean Grey for "X-Factor" folded more John Byrne influence into the ongoing story. ••• After I left the book I used to say, only half in jest, that it seemed like I was still plotting X-MEN.
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Andrew Bitner
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 June 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 15 April 2014 at 6:43pm | IP Logged | 11
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I agree with Mark; JB's time on X-MEN is in their DNA, now and always.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 15 April 2014 at 7:33pm | IP Logged | 12
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I agree with Mark; JB's time on X-MEN is in their DNA, now and always.•• And, BOY, do I wish it wasn't!! If I could go back in time and whisper in my young ear, so many things I would tell him not to do. So many seeds laid accidentally, that were meant to be cool stories done and over, and ended up being strip mined for decades. (Pardon the mixed metaphor!)
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