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Have to disagree with you there. Loved almost everything Dave did with the All New, All Different X-Men -- except for his handling of Cyclops. And the visor was top of my list of things I did not like. Aside from having the glow of both eyes visible*, which defeated the name "Cyclops", I did not understand the ear covers.

The very simple, lean and clean visor Kirby designed, and Neal Adams handled so superbly, is, for me, the "best visor ever".

Before I left the book, in fact, I had convinced to Powers That Were to allow me to give Scott his old visor back. Storywise, it would be explained that he'd had sufficient experience with his boosted power level (since GSXM 1) that he no longer needed the bulkier visor. There's even a sketch floating around out there of Scott in the original visor, done by Terry Austin at a con, in anticipation of the change. Unfortunately, I left the book unexpectedly, so it didn't happen.

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* Whenever I make this observation, it seems someone invariably trots out this image, from X-MEN 5:

To forestall that reflex, let me point out that on the next page, Scott is using his beam as a key, to unlock the door of the mansion, and that the glow of both his eyes being visible for a moment before the beam activates -- but only a moment -- is a convention that dates back to the first issue:

Kirby's inspiration for Cyclops power was very obviously Gort, the robot in the original version of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. There the visor would slide open, and then the power would build to the firing point, as with Scott in the early days. Only later did opening the visor and firing the beam become simultaneous for Cyclops -- quite possibly due to the twin glows of his eyes being contrary to his name.

I too preffer Dave's visor, and of course the fun part giving what your opinion on it is, is that it's when it's drawn by you the i like it the most.

I can't vouch for the accuracy, but I came across this issue list for the Omnibus.

Marvel Team-Up (1972) #61-62;
Marvel Two-In-One #50;
Fantastic Four (1961) #215-218, #220-221, #232-262 and Annual #17;
Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #42;
Avengers (1963) #233;
Thing (1983) #2; and
Alpha Flight (1983) #4.

This will be my first time really digging into some of these only having dabbled in JB's FF before.  How does this list compare with the Visionaries books? More/less? To a novice, this is looking like a pretty impressive list.

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The Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four Omnibus reprints issues 1-30 and Annual 1 (848 pages).  Volume 2 reprints 31-60 and Annuals 2-4, (832 pages).  Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus reprints the entire Lee/Kirby run: Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #1-38 and Annual #1-2 - plus the Spider-Man stories from Fantastic Four Annual #1 & Strange Tales Annual #2, and the covers to Marvel Tales #3-28 & Annual #1-2 (1088 pages).  All these have a cover price of $99.99.  The Fantastic Four by John Byrne has 1084 pages so the size is among the biggest.  Amazon.com shows the cover price at $99.99, while other places show it as $125.00.  If the $125.00 price is correct, Amazon's current sale price now of $62.36 is a good deal indeed.  Even if the cover price is $99.99, it's still a good deal.

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #42;

How does this list compare with the Visionaries books?

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This issue is the only one not in the Visionaries, as far as I can tell.

I own all the Visionaries so I probably won't be getting the Omnibus.

So if I am doing my math here correctly, there are 8 Visionaries at a bit over 200 pages per book. They go for 25 per book, so $200 retail. The Omnibus seems to cover the first 4 Visionaries, except for the Spider-Man tale. I am going to assume a second Omnibus is likely to come at some point. Two of those at $99 a piece, my price is about the same.

So, now my delimma is which will I prefer to read. Something easier to pull off a shelf and crack open or something big and grandiose. I'm torn.

JB,

If they did recolor the FF Omnibus, is there anything you would do differently from the original color job?

The originals seem to work fine imho.