• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

What's your go to Jim Lee key?
5 5

Started by William-James88,

137 posts in this topic

Gatsby77

Gatsby77

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, William-James88 said:

You don't say ... 

 

X-Men #8 w/ Swimsuit Psylocke, Cyclops and Jean by Jim Lee, in Yehoy Lee's Jim Lee Comic Art Gallery Room

Psylocke by Jim Lee, in David L.'s Lee, Jim Comic Art Gallery Room

 

Shout out to Jim Lee for using any excuse possible to get Psylocke in a swimsuit. - 9GAG

And the best one!

X-Men Swimsuit Issue | Jim lee art, Comics artwork, Comics

Anyone know where that last one was featured in print?

 

And that right there, reinforces my argument for X-Men 256-257 (only because I forget which issue the Japanese Psylocke first actually appeared in).

Worlds away from the British cloaked version of Betsy.

And, unlike Gambit (who, despite his film appearance in Origins: Wolverine, peaked in the '90s) she's actually still around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Gatsby77

Gatsby77

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Steelrain41 said:

His work on Punisher War Journal work is severely underrated and some of my favorites out of his body of work along with his X-Men run.

I *loved* that run.

In addition to 6-7, I still remember the stories in 14-15 (hostage situation in a school, w/ Spider-Man) and 17-19 (drug smugglers in Hawaii - where Microchip tries to come to the rescue by juggling a gun through a metal detector at the airport and, IIRC, Frank leaves one of the perps in quicksand to be eaten by an alligator).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
F For Fake

F For Fake

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, Jesse-Lee said:

X-Men #1 - 13-year-old me sure loved this, and those Marvel Swimsuit Editions... :bigsmile:

I had that poster hanging up on my wall as a teen for many years. Who knows where it went? A few years ago nostalgia hit, and I saw what they sell for now, wow! $100-$200 depending on condition. I ended up tracking one down in France, ended up getting it shipped here cheaper than any I'd seen domestically. It was brand new, sat rolled up in a tube in my laundry room. One day I realized I was never going to actually hang it up, so I sold it for about $125, I think.

The thing about Jim Lee, is that it's true that from the 90's going forward, many, if not most popular artists looked the same. But he was first. Sure, he drew on a lot of the same influences, but his stuff was electric when it first hit. I soon got totally sick of seeing his artwork, because it looked "like everything else." But eventually I had to admit it only looked like everyone else because everyone else had been ripping him off for 20 years. 

These days I wouldn't call myself a big Jim Lee fan, but I certainly appreciate him, and still have great nostalgic fondness for that initial X-Men run along with Punisher War Journal and Alpha Flight.

All that being said, Marc Silvestri was the one who knocked the door down so Jim Lee could walk through it. His X-Men run is superior to Lee's, and I'll go to my grave believing that.

(And also for the record, Paul Smith is my favorite X-Men artist over all, followed by Cockrum, then Silvestri, then Byrne, then Lee.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jesse-Lee

Jesse-Lee

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

I had that poster hanging up on my wall as a teen for many years. Who knows where it went? A few years ago nostalgia hit, and I saw what they sell for now, wow! $100-$200 depending on condition. I ended up tracking one down in France, ended up getting it shipped here cheaper than any I'd seen domestically. It was brand new, sat rolled up in a tube in my laundry room. One day I realized I was never going to actually hang it up, so I sold it for about $125, I think.

The thing about Jim Lee, is that it's true that from the 90's going forward, many, if not most popular artists looked the same. But he was first. Sure, he drew on a lot of the same influences, but his stuff was electric when it first hit. I soon got totally sick of seeing his artwork, because it looked "like everything else." But eventually I had to admit it only looked like everyone else because everyone else had been ripping him off for 20 years. 

These days I wouldn't call myself a big Jim Lee fan, but I certainly appreciate him, and still have great nostalgic fondness for that initial X-Men run along with Punisher War Journal and Alpha Flight.

All that being said, Marc Silvestri was the one who knocked the door down so Jim Lee could walk through it. His X-Men run is superior to Lee's, and I'll go to my grave believing that.

(And also for the record, Paul Smith is my favorite X-Men artist over all, followed by Cockrum, then Silvestri, then Byrne, then Lee.)

Agreed 100% - I was into comics right around the time Jim Lee blew up with X-men, and I'm a huge Batman freak too and love his work on the Hush series. His stuff will always hold a special place for me - I just picked up his Wolverine 27 cover I mentioned a few pages back. I do agree with you on the X-Men stuff too - I also picked up X-Men 234 and 251 recently, two amazing Silvestri Wolverine covers - I'm a bit of a Wolverine freak as well.

But speaking of Paul Smith, even though I never got too far into following X-Men back then, I also picked up what might be one of my favorite X-men covers ever - 168. I don't know what it is about this book, but I could stare at the cover all day. It's arguably simplistic compared to the art we have today with virgin variants and digital art and whatnot, but there's just something about this art...

 

Xmen 168.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
William-James88

William-James88

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
7 hours ago, Gatsby77 said:

And that right there, reinforces my argument for X-Men 256-257 (only because I forget which issue the Japanese Psylocke first actually appeared in).

Worlds away from the British cloaked version of Betsy.

And, unlike Gambit (who, despite his film appearance in Origins: Wolverine, peaked in the '90s) she's actually still around.

But no longer as Betsy. They are split now and Psyloche isn't as fun as she used to be.

5 hours ago, F For Fake said:

 

All that being said, Marc Silvestri was the one who knocked the door down so Jim Lee could walk through it. His X-Men run is superior to Lee's, and I'll go to my grave believing that.

I think it would be hard to argue against that. Silvestri's run is far more iconic with the brood arc, the mr sinister intro and wolverine vs the reavers just to name a few. To me that's as good as it gets for the x-men (right up there with the Byrne issues).

 

 

Edited by William-James88
Link to comment
Share on other sites
William-James88

William-James88

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
On 9/23/2020 at 9:36 AM, AndyMcCarthy1984 said:

Uncanny X-Men #375 is mine.

More for sentimental reasons as it was one of my 1st ever comic books.

It was a UK reprint of this issue and I read it over and over and Jim Lees art just fired my 12 year old imagination.

Do you mean 275?

Edited by William-James88
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Gatsby77

Gatsby77

Posted
Posted

Pondering this further, I think - print runs aside - Lee's work is hurt by never staying consistently on one title for more than a year.

His Uncanny X-Men run (arguably his most popular) was 18 random issues scattered over 30. And itself leads to disagreement over 266 - since he created Gambit but didn't draw either of his first two appearances.

The sweet spot for his consecutive runs seems to be 11-12 issues (Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, WildCATS, Divine Right, Batman, Superman).

I'm pretty sure that, to this day, his longest consecutive run was just 13 issues (Punisher War Journal 1-13).

Which makes it hard for him to build a truly iconic run (a la Byrne on X-Men or FF, Miller on Daredevil, McFarlane on Amazing Spider-Man or Hulk, Bagley on Ultimate Spider-Man, or even Liefeld on New Mutants).

Has he surpassed 13 consecutive issues recently, say...on Justice League or even Suicide Squad?

Also - this is my vote for an iconic Lee cover - blew me away on the shelf. (And no - it turns out that's not actually Prof. X on the cover).

 

 

X-Men 276.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
William-James88

William-James88

Posted
  • Author
Posted
27 minutes ago, Gatsby77 said:

Pondering this further, I think - print runs aside - Lee's work is hurt by never staying consistently on one title for more than a year.

His Uncanny X-Men run (arguably his most popular) was 18 random issues scattered over 30. And itself leads to disagreement over 266 - since he created Gambit but didn't draw either of his first two appearances.

The sweet spot for his consecutive runs seems to be 11-12 issues (Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, WildCATS, Divine Right, Batman, Superman).

I'm pretty sure that, to this day, his longest consecutive run was just 13 issues (Punisher War Journal 1-13).

Which makes it hard for him to build a truly iconic run (a la Byrne on X-Men or FF, Miller on Daredevil, McFarlane on Amazing Spider-Man or Hulk, Bagley on Ultimate Spider-Man, or even Liefeld on New Mutants).

Has he surpassed 13 consecutive issues recently, say...on Justice League or even Suicide Squad?

Also - this is my vote for an iconic Lee cover - blew me away on the shelf. (And no - it turns out that's not actually Prof. X on the cover).

 

 

X-Men 276.jpg

For Suicide Squad, Lee only drew half the art in the issues, so it's not in the same league as the rest even if it did last for more than 13 issues (though not sure it did).

Question for you about that cover you posted. Is Wolverine in his "death" garb there or a semblance of it, or is that not related at all? If not, what's with that gold in his midsection.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Gatsby77

Gatsby77

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, William-James88 said:

For Suicide Squad, Lee only drew half the art in the issues, so it's not in the same league as the rest even if it did last for more than 13 issues (though not sure it did).

Question for you about that cover you posted. Is Wolverine in his "death" garb there or a semblance of it, or is that not related at all? If not, what's with that gold in his midsection.

No idea - haven't read the issue in 25+ years, but I remember it continued from 275, with the Starjammers, Death Bird, and the Skrulls.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
5 5
Go to topic listing