90's Comics Binge, The Great Jim Lee... Jim Lee's X-men (above)

I don't have any fresh art scanned and I have been wanting to do more posts on artists I love so figured I'd take this opportunity to spew a little something regarding what I am reading these days and what's got me excited/inspired.

I've been reading all of Jim Lee's X-men and WildC.A.T.S work like a fiend for the past week along with other 90's Image comics. I'm enjoying it so much, I felt compelled to blog about it.

I attribute the rekindling of my interest in these 90's comics to my recent viewing of the new direct to DVD animated feature "Hulk Vs." ( http://www.amazon.com/Hulk-Vs-Two-Disc-Special-Widescreen/dp/B001KP2J30/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1234747523&sr=1-1)which features two short films, Hulk vs. Wolverine and Hulk vs. Thor. Hulk vs. Wolverine is what really got the ball rolling on this Jim Lee/90's comics kick of mine. This film reminded me why Wolverine was one of my favorite characters as a kid. It has been so long since I have seen Wolvie in his classic duds kicking ass. Jeff Matsuda's design work on this film is very cool and the animation is solid. This is my personal favorite animated version of Wolverine to date, you should but it!

Having seen this awesome vision of Wolvie in the film I went on a quest to look through my old comics and find the coolest Wolverine images I could remember. Of course, Jim Lee came to mind immediately. I decided to whip out my "Mutant Genesis" TPB collecting Chris Claremont and Jim Lee's first few issues of X-men (http://www.amazon.com/X-Men-Mutant-Genesis-Chris-Claremont/dp/0785122125/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234747580&sr=8-1). I wanted to see all the sweet Jim Lee Wolverine drawings I loved when I was a kid/teen. Thankfully, I decided to read the entire book instead of just look at the pictures and something hit me...I miss kick ass 90's comics! I was reading this Lee/Claremont material and I was actually saying to myself, "Wow, the X-men are cool." something I haven't said in a long, long time. I realized Calremont and Jim Lee's vision of the X-men are the X-men I love and want to read about. All of the characters look badass and every page is loaded with over the top action. Even quiet pages buzz with energy. Lee and Claremont's work has a grandiosity, flamboyance and entertainment factor that is just absent from so many of today's mainstream superhero comics. Jim Lee continued this over the top approach to superheroes with his creator owned WildC.A.T.S and that's a lot of fun to read too. On re-reading this older material I've come to feel that superhero comics take themselves too seriously these days. Every storyline is overly dark in tone, the heroes hardly seem like heroes at all, and the plots are boring. There's hardly any action in a lot of the books on the racks, just a bunch of talking heads and a splash page once in a long while. I'm generalizing, I know there are lots of solid superhero comics out there but I'm ranting so I don't want to think about them.

I often see the 90's Image Comics ( http://www.amazon.com/Image-Comics-Independence-George-Khoury/dp/1893905713/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234747868&sr=1-1)stuff being ripped on by fanboys on message boards. I know there are definitely some sound reasons for the negativity. However, I think the tone directed towards this period of comics is often overly negative. I'm not saying all comics today should be like 90's Image Comics, heaven forbid, I just think if a few books resurrected some of the positive principles that made those books fun it would be exciting, at least for me.

Now I want to rant a little bit about Jim Lee specifically. I think Jim's work can be considered a genre in and of itself. I have heard this said of Jack Kirby's work, I think Jim's stuff is worthy of the same description. He is the best there is at what he does and what he does are high energy, action packed, flashy superhero comics. To say he is the most technically astute artist in comics would be ignorant but I think he's fantastic at his particular approach to drawing. Jim's style has influenced so many creators. He has many imitators but none can quite achieve the genuine Jim Lee feel. I'm diggin his work on All Star Batman and Robin and I hope he gets to finish WildC.A.T.S with Grant Morrison. I'm always excited to see what Jim is doing next, he is definitely a special, major force in the comics world.

Jim Lee's "WildC.A.T.S" (above)

End fanboy rant, though I may have to do a follow up to this post delving deeper into my love of other Image Comics stuff and who knows what else.

Fresh sketches and stuff coming soon.

Thanks for visiting!