Hey Bronze X-Men Fans, Where Did This Image Appear 1 1

[Spider-Variant]

Ok, thought I would go to the experts instead of searching endlessly.

Besides the THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN MIGHTY MARVEL COMICS CALENDAR 1978 (Month of December, 25th Day), where did this X-Men image with Spider-Man appear?  I think I know the artist and can date it to within a year's span of when it could have been published, but I cannot find it anywhere else.  I am thinking perhaps unpublished or fanzine.

I love a good challenge, but this one seems to beg for an X-Man aficionado. 

Edited December 26, 2020 by Spider-Variant

[Von Cichlid]

The major hint is that Wolverine appears to be wearing his "Fang" costume.  Besides Iron Fist 15, I don't know where else that costume's use occurs outside of the actual X-Men run.

[Spider-Variant]

I did notice what appeared to be Wolverine in his Fang outfit, which debuted chronologically in X-Men 107 with a cover date of October 1977, which would have put it on the stands in July 1977.  I wasn't 100% sure, so wanted to see if any others agreed on that.  As the calendar had to be on sale by at least December 1977, that would give this image about a six month span of creation.

But then my research got a little sideways, as I looked at that Iron Fist 15.  It had a cover date of September 1977 and would have been on sale June 1977 (one site I checked has an on sale date of May 31, 1977).  Maybe the fact X-Men was still a bi-weekly magazine, meant Dave Cockrum was ahead on the artwork.  Since John Byrne took over the art in X-Men 108, Dave simply shared what Wolverine would look like when he returned to Earth with the other X-Men, allowing him to get ahead of the storyline in IF15, as John Byrne did the art chores there.

So, did Wolverine appear in the Fang costume in Iron Fist, before he ever liberated it in X-Men 107?  Do any fans remember picking up that IF15 and thinking WTH is Wolverine wearing? 

I'm still leaning toward fanzine or even unpublished for this Christmas picture.

I bet someone knows though.  

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Spider-Variant

[MGsimba77]

The Fang costume came from Wolverine ripping it out of Fang after the yellow costume was blasted out or destroyed by Fang in 107. Yeah it first appeared in IM15 without any mention of it unless I'm mistaken. It only appears in 4 issues. It's in the beginning of 109 a little bit before the yellow just randomly comes back. You're right, Byrne picks it up where Cockrum left off. It looked awful! Fortunately Byrne got rid of it as it may of destroyed the character. It almost looked like a poor man's black panther. 

So upon googling some information on the calendar each month featured artwork from one or two specific artists. December was John Byrne's. That would make sense for that spidey xmen panel but I don't know why they have the cover of "What if" #1 there? I don't think that was Byrne. The panel for the 29th is from MTU #1 and that's Andru. So its not all Byrne. I don't think that xmen panel appears anywhere other than this calendar. I was thinking maybe a Christmas themed marvel treasury but they predate the Fang costume. Maybe its buried on an ad page in some obscure book?

[ganni]

Guess John Byrne drew this panel just for this calendar.  Nightcrawler is a definite John Byrne's style.

[Spider-Variant]

11 hours ago, MGsimba77 said:

The Fang costume came from Wolverine ripping it out of Fang after the yellow costume was blasted out or destroyed by Fang in 107. Yeah it first appeared in IM15 without any mention of it unless I'm mistaken. It only appears in 4 issues. It's in the beginning of 109 a little bit before the yellow just randomly comes back. You're right, Byrne picks it up where Cockrum left off. It looked awful! Fortunately Byrne got rid of it as it may of destroyed the character. It almost looked like a poor man's black panther. 

So upon googling some information on the calendar each month featured artwork from one or two specific artists. December was John Byrne's. That would make sense for that spidey xmen panel but I don't know why they have the cover of "What if" #1 there? I don't think that was Byrne. The panel for the 29th is from MTU #1 and that's Andru. So its not all Byrne. I don't think that xmen panel appears anywhere other than this calendar. I was thinking maybe a Christmas themed marvel treasury but they predate the Fang costume. Maybe its buried on an ad page in some obscure book?

If you look at the rest of the calendar, the images used for each day appear chronologically as they did when reading ASM.  For December, there are a few that jump around, like you mention such as What If #1 and MTU #1.  So, December is a little odd in that aspect.

I would say at least 95% of the drawn images (as opposed to real photos) were used somewhere in a comic.  The ones of Stan Lee and the other Marvel staff are the ones I am not certain were ever published.

Of course, then there is this X-men image.  I am leaning toward it may have never seen the light of day besides the calendar and may have just been created for it.  I haven't looked through a lot of ad pages, so it could be one of those sure.

 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Spider-Variant

[Spider-Variant]

10 hours ago, ganni said:

Guess John Byrne drew this panel just for this calendar.  Nightcrawler is a definite John Byrne's style.

Well, I was leaning toward Dave Cockrum, but the size of the image makes it hard to tell.  Plus I am just a casual X-Men fan.

 

[Spider-Variant]

Hmmm, I guess I expected a few more educated guesses.  

[ganni]

My copies of X-men companion are way too deep for box diving. 

[Spider-Variant]

On 1/4/2021 at 11:37 PM, ganni said:

My copies of X-men companion are way too deep for box diving. 

Good idea.  I found both volumes on line and went through them.  The image is not in there.  I didn't read through them, but highly unlikely it is mentioned anywhere.

I am just going to assume this was unpublished or made specifically for the calendar.

[Black_Adam]

Never even heard of "Fang" Wolverine before (didn't get into X-Men as a teen until well into the Byrne run). But the outfit looks like Cockrum thought he was back drawing LoSH and Timber Wolf again. And Timber Wolf definitely wore it better!

[shadroch]

Although I've never seen one, Tom Defalco once casually mentioned adding someone to Marvels Christmas Card list. That image would make a kool card.

For people not familiar with the Imperial Guard, it was a blatant " homage" to the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Edited January 13, 2021 by shadroch

[Spider-Variant]

1 hour ago, shadroch said:

Although I've never seen one, Tom Defalco once casually mentioned adding someone to Marvels Christmas Card list. That image wold make a kool card.

For people not familiar with the Imperial Guard, it was a blatant " homage" to the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Hmm, it would have made a cool Christmas card indeed.  

[comicginger1789]

Weird that all the other images are from something except this. I mean, definitely possible it is some unpublished work or "leftover" art from another potential story or idea that ended up being used in this calendar (I love these calendars by the way...I have the 1977 one and now you have me interested to see if I can find where the images in THAT came from so thanks lol)

But a suggestion...could the image be from the treasuries? I have not read all of the holiday treasuries but I know sometimes they contained art snippets in between the reprinted stories and, being christmas themed, perhaps this image appeared in one of those treasuries? I also feel like the image is familiar, almost like it was used in an advertisement from the time period....I swear that prior to you sharing it here, I had seen before....

[Spider-Variant]

6 hours ago, comicginger1789 said:

Weird that all the other images are from something except this. I mean, definitely possible it is some unpublished work or "leftover" art from another potential story or idea that ended up being used in this calendar (I love these calendars by the way...I have the 1977 one and now you have me interested to see if I can find where the images in THAT came from so thanks lol)

But a suggestion...could the image be from the treasuries? I have not read all of the holiday treasuries but I know sometimes they contained art snippets in between the reprinted stories and, being christmas themed, perhaps this image appeared in one of those treasuries? I also feel like the image is familiar, almost like it was used in an advertisement from the time period....I swear that prior to you sharing it here, I had seen before....

I haven't checked Treasuries, but I'll give it a shot.  Probably very few fall within the time range of July to December 1977 that this image could have seen print though. 

Yes, I looked at every day and flipped through every month on my Spidey calendar.  Just loved it as a kid with all it's amazing art.