Which is very different for depicting the story, which is what you really said.. Few covers really do that, t'is true -- but that X-MEN cover moves even further off mark than most.

Thanks for that classic example of why Full Script is a BAD idea most of the time!

He also appears to have had the misfortune of working with a writer who thinks he's writing movies.

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Most writers do nowadays.  Lines and lines of description of many, many multi-actioned panels that will be covered up by lines and lines of dialogue.

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Thanks for that classic example of why Full Script is a BAD idea most of the time!

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I pretty much agree.  Another recent example.

Three weeks ago finshed a job (pencils, inks and letters) - it was full script but I had to change things around in order to make it work.  I've worked with the Editor/writer for a while now so he knows that I only do it in order to clarify, and hopefully improve, the script.

Got an email yesterday to say that he likes it but is going to meet with the co-writer this week to revise the script and then send any changes to me at the weekend.  The picture are fine, they just want to revise the dialogue.  Why not just send me a plot in the first place?  At least I wouldn't have to re-letter anything?

You had anything similar happen to you, JB?

Yet why did Christopher Reeve look good in the Superman films?  We could even see the stiching.

I don't get what you mean exactly, but in my opinion they got it all wrong when they try to draw real or like a movie. A movie writer/director can never do what a comic book artist/writer can do. It's getting closer but they are not there. In the Superman movies the story had to be adapted to what was possible. For example in Superman IV (bad example but it's the one I know about) they had to go to another location than they desired. Let's say the writer was called in to rewrite, it happens. I have met a writer (he wrote sleepless in Seattle) who had to lie in the room next to the studio on a bed just to rewrite. Tell me when that happens in a comic book.

Lars,

I meant that in the Superman films with Christopher Reeve, he looked like Superman.  He was tall, strong looking, like the comic.  Yet when artists decide they want to have the characters appear in 'realistic' costumes, they do not look good at all.  As it's been noted above, they look like people in costumes.  Christopher Reeve didn't.  He looked like Superman.

In the recent comicbook films they've gone all hi-tech and tried to make everyone look like they've been drawn (all the muscles showing, etc) and it looks bad.  The X-men costumes were pretty good, and I think they made the best decision in that regard.  But modern day Batman has never looked good, neither did BR in Superman Returns.

it seems that whatever magic was in the original films* cannot be re-captured.

Also thinking about it, the costumes in Star Wars have always been pretty out there - I know it's different to Superheroes - but they've pretty much looked good.  Empire Strikes Back looks like it was drawn by Al Williamson.

*The one and a half with Richard Donner involved.

The "art" of the cover is something that I dearly miss: Covers that practically grab you and demand that you buy it. I often list FF 260 in this category. There's a *story* there -- in just the expression on Sue's face. This is something I *had* to read.

Heck, I used to be able to refer to specific issues by the cover: "Yeah, the one where Elektra is holding up Daredevil's ripped mask" or "the one where a giant Darkseid is holding Superman up by his cape!"

Now, I really have no idea. There are a lot of non-descript pin-ups. However, I believe this is another DSM symptom. You don't need to "sell" the covers anymore. Why bother? Fans can read about the story in Previews.

It's really a shame to think about the actual artistic elements of comics that we lost when we lost the newstands.

According to comicbookdb.com he wrote NEW X-MEN from #114 to 154, so about 40 issues.

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All that and an annual too that was released right after NEW X-MEN #117 or 118.