Christian's Pages :: Marvel

X-Men Annual 9, page 44

Artists: Arthur Adams (Penciller) , Mike Mignola (Inker) , Al Gordon (Inker)

16 Comments - 921 Views - 17 Likes

Additional Images:

Mignola convention doodle

Printed page

Composition and flow

Previous Item:
Incredible Hulk, issue 393 page 18

Next Item:
Captain Marvel (2008) issue 4 page 20

Artwork Details

Title:	X-Men Annual 9, page 44
Artist:	Arthur Adams (Penciller)
Artist:	Mike Mignola (Inker)
Artist:	Al Gordon (Inker)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	921
Likes on CAF:	17 18
Favorited on CAF:	1
Comments:	16
Added to Site:	5/29/2022
Comic Art Archive:

Description

I was trying to find a way to describe where Arthur Adams and the Asgardian Wars storyline fit within the teenage nostalgia side of my OA collecting, but it ended up being too much of a confusing (for me) jumble of stories and anecdotal links... so I'll just summarise by saying that in the mid to late 80's I was absolutely and profoundly obsessed with both the Artist and the books.

The only teenager stories I'll pick out are:
1) In 7th grade one of our assignments was to write a sort of analysis and opinion piece on a work of Art we liked. Most of the class picked obvious stuff like the Mona Lisa or a Van Gogh. I did mine on one of Adams' Classic X-Men frontispieces (can't remember which it was). I went well over the word count requested, made a cover for it, added supplemental pages of his Art and even hand stitched the pages together instead of just using a stapler. I still remember my teacher handing it back to me and saying "you REALLY like this Artist don't you?". I was left beaming more for the recognition of it as a valid form of Art and a valid interest than for the A+.

2) Adams to Mignola: I'm from Montreal and in the 80's we only had pokey little comic conventions with maybe 3-5 Artists (often not very well known) tucked away in a small side room. As I had ambitions of drawing comics for a living I'd spend most of the day in that room regardless. In April of 88 we got Mignola as a guest and I remember thinking "oh, that guy who took over Alpha Flight for a few issues right after Byrne... he sucked!" and didn't pay him much notice. At some point though he started telling a personal story about Arthur Adams and my ears perked up. I scooted over to his table and in the time it took him to tell his story I got the chance to flip through some of his more recent stuff (World of Krypton, Cosmic Odyssey) and was blown away. Beyond the quality of those pages, he conveyed so much Artistic knowledge and insights in the hours I was glued to his table that he cemented himself as one of my all time favourite Artists. Side lesson: this is also how I discovered that an inker (Talaoc on Mignola's Alpha Flight work) can have a huge impact on your perception of someone's pencils!

Back to this piece:
I stretched hard to secure this page at auction. While it wasn't in my list of grail pages it's most definitely a page from one of my ultimate grail books and one I feel I can be content enough with to scratch "80's Adams mutant related annual page" off my wantlist. I know I still want a better page... but this sates me enough that if I had enough cash to secure a better page from this era I'd just as soon spend it on one of his more modern covers.

The page itself comes right after Kitty berating Loki and warning him that there are too many mutants in Asgard to contain and that he's screwed the minute even one of them reaches one of Asgards heroes. It starts the wind-down for the story's resolution. From an Artistic perspective, Adams' depiction of Karnilla in the 2nd and 3rd panels is phenomenal. The inking for the book is credited to Mignola and Al Gordon, so I'm not sure who handled those panels, but they are fantastic. Another aspect of Adams' work on these books was how he depicts and accentuates the characters' heights. It can be a pain to allow for that kind of range in heights in panels but he always seems to do a good job of it. For something so early in his career it also shows that he already had a decent grasp of composition and flow (see additional image).

Added bonus: It's always fun to see notes and goofy additions to a page that are not part of the final printed page. Part of the magic of having something physical a human being put some of their own into. In this case, there is a pencil note on the bottom left that reads "Meanwhile, back at the ranch" just above the name Mignola (not sure if that's really a signature or just a note), and one on the bottom left that reads "Fer Christ's sake Rahne, he's just a dog. Jeez"

Acquired via Heritage auction.

Social/Sharing

About the Owner

	Christian L.
Joined:	November 2020
Last Login:	July 2025
Country:	CANADA
On CAF:	Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

Contact the Owner

Use can use a contact form to send an email to this gallery owner,
but, you must be logged in to use this feature.

Comments on this Artwork

You must be logged in to make comments.

James S
Member Since 2017

1 - Posted on 5/29/2022

Perfect lines in every panel!

E DLS
Member Since 2005

1 - Posted on 5/29/2022

A great write up for a great page!

Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

1 - Posted on 5/29/2022

The art that cemented his legend and made anything with his name a must buy.

Kin Wong
Member Since 2007

1 - Posted on 5/29/2022

Awesome write-up, and congrats on getting a page from your grail issue! Your story reminded me of a project I did for my high school art class using panels from a couple issues of X-Men (the only time I cut up any comics)- which makes me wonder how much of the CAF community has stories about school projects involving comic artists :)

Carlo M
Member Since 2006

1 - Posted on 5/30/2022

Excellent example from a classic storyline!

Ruben DaCollector
Member Since 2008

1 - Posted on 5/30/2022

Great description, Christian, though I personally only remember either 1 or 2 artists at the cons throughout the 80's! I don't remember seeing 3 or more artists until the 90's rolled in. In fact, even in the summer of 1992 when we got Dale Keown to come in just as he was starting Pitt for Image, there was only one other artist that day. I remember because my friend who promoted the shows screwed up and forgot to reserve me a table, so I had no choice but to be squished into that tiny little side room you mentioned, which was completely useless since no comic buyers knew I was even in there and even if they did, nobody could've gotten through the throngs of fans in there, lined up to see Dale. My only good memory of that day was that I thankfully had brought my ghettoblaster with me and Dale was super excited to have Metallica to listen to for a few hours while he signed comics!

Christian L.
Member Since 2020

1 - Posted on 5/30/2022

Ruben DaCollector wrote:

These were the "Montreal Sports Collectibles and Comic Book Show" and I only started attending them in late 87 (it was an awkward trek for a solo 15yr old kid from the burbs to get to them) so perhaps they had grown at bit by then, but I was also including the local constants like Gabriel Morrissette who was always there but never featured on the pamphlets. The last I attended was in 1989 where Todd McFarlane was the headliner in the main hall and I vaguely remember there being at least 3 others in the side room.

With the exception of the bustle and massive lines around McFarlane, I really liked the quiet side room thing as it allowed me to hang out with pros for hours and learn a lot about Art that I never would have had access to otherwise.

F M
Member Since 2005

1 - Posted on 5/30/2022

A great page from (also) one of my own fav' X-Men stories. Congrats.

Raymond Bryan
Member Since 2011

1 - Posted on 5/30/2022

Congratulations!! Just an amazing story and art team!

James Dornoff
Member Since 2019

1 - Posted on 5/30/2022

Amazing page and art, such a great piece and time in comics. Huge congrats!

frank x townsondecker
Member Since 2006

1 - Posted on 5/30/2022

Excellent!

J. Sid
Member Since 2004

1 - Posted on 5/30/2022

Awesome page!

Steve . M
Member Since 2017

1 - Posted on 5/31/2022

Art Adams is one of those must have artists that I've yet to cross off the list. So reading your description was great fun. The page is beautiful and you're right, the bottom left panel is fantastic. Love how he's taken into account the height differentials. Congratulations!

Jordan Joanou
Member Since 2008

1 - Posted on 5/31/2022

Art Adams detailed link work in this issue is outstanding. Congrats.

Constant N
Member Since 2005

1 - Posted on 6/13/2022

This page is so beautiful and ooooo..., scerey monsters in the first panel!! To my uneducated eyes, the vigorous inking on this page could be by the master himself....Arthur Adams? It's pure speculation on my part as my eyes are old and weary.

Christian L.
Member Since 2020

Posted on 6/13/2022

Constant N wrote:

Someone here would probably know way more behind the scenes info on these books, but I'm assuming Adams inking this page would be possible but quite unlikely.

I always understood books being inked by multiple people as indicating that it was late or behind schedule and needed "all hands on deck" to get it done in time for print. As Adams is not known (at least at that time) as a fast penciler I doubt he'd have had the time to also ink any pages. That said, this is one of the last pages of the storyline so it's not entirely impossible that he might have finished his pencils and helped out on these last few left to ink.

I'd love the opportunity to ask either Adams or Mignola more about that in person though! :)

All
	Chris Johnson 9/7/2025 3:34:00 PM
	Anthony Mauceli 9/7/2025 3:34:00 PM
	Dan Moler 9/7/2025 3:33:00 PM
	Paul Handler 9/7/2025 3:32:00 PM
	Peter Marino 9/7/2025 3:28:00 PM
View All