It was, perhaps, a signal moment for me. It was my first practical encounter with the concept of artistic license, for one thing. And for another, it placed forever in my mind the idea that these costumes and uniforms are "not of this earth" -- not something that, even today, we could precisely duplicate.

From where I sit, an image like that can no more be said to "depict the story" than could those little clusters of heads that used to be in the corner symbol of issues of THE AVENGERS. This isn't storytelling -- this is roll call!

Yet why did Christopher Reeve look good in the Superman films?  We could even see the stiching.  In recent years I've come to think of him as being drawn by Alex Toth.  Only the essential lines are there, but it's all that's needed.  No bulging biceps and rippling six-packs in sight.  Brandon Routh even had a muscle suit under his costume and he looked wimpy compared to Reeve. Proof that less is more.

Getting back to the Quietly-Morrison debate,  in mid 2001 I was sent a script from an issue of X-men to draw a few sample pages from.  The issue itself wasn't due out for a couple of weeks or so, and it was one of the first few on their run. 

Although the script itself was quite detailed, I didn't find it easy to read.  Morrison was directing each shot, and a lot of the times the choices didn't make sense.  Other shots would have been more dramatic, or easier for the reader to understand.  He also asked for a lot of subtle expressions and body language that I didn't think would work for a still picture on such a small scale.  

One picture that I do remember was a shot with Cyclops and Wolverine in the jet.  Professor Xavier was mind-linked with Scott so the panel was described as seen from Prof X's point of view through Scott's eyes, looking out onto the night sky from the cockpit.  Both Scott and Logan reflected in the windscreen, with clouds and stars visible as well.  I thought that was a good idea for a shot, and did the best I could to acheive it.  (Pretty well I thought)  When I saw the printed version that Quietly had drawn is was shot from the outside of the jet, looking in.   A boring and quite frankly easier option. 

I wasn't a fan of Quietly's to begin with (his line has no variation and everyone looks like they're made from jelly moulds) but that just made me think that he was an uncaring hack.