Michael Lee's Train of Thought

One of the things that I realized when Len Wein was a guest of honor at CONvergence for the first time was that he wrote the first issue of The Fantastic Four I ever purchased. And he turned out to be one of those people that was as great to meet in person as you would want to have, and was one of my favorite guests at CONvergence. So when I heard that his comic collection burned down with his house, I was especially saddened.

I really want to see
The "Let's Rebuild Len Wein's Comic Book Collection" Project succeed. And if you are in Minnesota, you can bring any comics to the MCBA Spring Comics Show, and hand them to either Christopher Jones or Melissa Kaercher. They will both have table space at the show.

Labels: comics, convergence, x-men

As someone who grew up reading X-Men comics in the 1980s, I wanted to pause for a moment and give tribute to Dave Cockrum. He was the first artist for the "New" X-Men, and he drew many of the issues that were a vital part of my youth.

I think the issue that immediately springs to mind is The Uncanny X-Men #153, entitled "Kitty's Fairy Tale". In this issue Kitty Pryde retold much of the Dark Phoenix story in a fantasy setting filled with pirates and humor. It could have been little more than one of those standard "refresh the readers on the backstory" issues that you would get in comics from time to time, but it was able to present it in a fresh way that could still be entertaining and moving.

Labels: comics, x-men