I think it's funny that Assistant Editors Month for Uncanny X-men was a one page blurb in the back.

I still hate that the finale to The Trial of Reed Richards was during this month.  (Although I did like Goodie-Two-Shoes in The Thing.)

It never ceases to amaze me how many people don't get it. Once at a
con, a guy asked me, straight faced, if the pages were blank because I
couldn't think of anything to draw.

***

Aaargh!

This was a very good issue in many ways.

1) The Great Beasts were a great villain for Alpha Flight.  They were a true "epic" threat that only this particular (Canadian) team could have handled.  And they were very original - Lee & Kirby original in the sense that a mythos for these characters were being created.  And the ability to see this ongoing plot develop was a blast.

2) Skillful playing with established Marvel mythos with the inclusion of Roxxon Oil.  Anyone with any Marvel lore would have immediately known that Hudson getting a letter from them would not be a good thing - but it was very subtle.  Most importantly - it distinguished between what the readers may know and what characters may know.  One thing that is truly irritating is when characters know information about the Marvel Universe that they have not experienced for themselves.  Superheroes don't get comp copies of the Handbook.

3) Single panle scene of Ancient One and young Dr Strange - priceless.

Oooh.  I just thought of an interesting commission idea...

You just did too.

About fans that complained or cried foul at the blank pages: if JB was a consistently late, unreliable creator only ever working on one book and doing stunts all the time, I could understand that type of reaction.  But for chrissakes, with your work ethic and the sheer number of titles any given month, on time, and there never being a scenario where it was obvious you didn't know how to draw something...  I think that's incredibly unfair.  Not to mention it wasn't that many pages in the book (not like it was the whole issue!).

Nice to see a new plot thread begin here with the Roxxon letter.  Another thing that I love about your writing JB is that as soon as I begin to think "why is that?" when reading, you answer it in the next panel!  For example, why does Snowbird need to be Anne McKenzie?  Answer in next panel!

Very cool that Kolomaq's enemy is not just the benevolent Inuit gods, but Tundra the Great Beast as well!