Why Were 2 New X-Men Excluded From The GSX1 Cover? 1 1

[Cat]

9 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

Giant-Size X-Men would be the mega-key, and no reason why he couldn’t have been raised to a similar level as Wolverine.  A similar anger and intensity.  Chris Claremont later on created Forge, another Native American mutant, and no reason that Claremont and Byrne couldn’t eventually have made Thunderbird’s characterisation as three-dimensional as Logan’s.

Weapon X would have experimented on Thunderbird in some way, enhancing his physical attributes. Unknown to him his father, a whispered genius, was kidnapped and forced to work on the project, torturing his son for their own twisted purposes. His father? Forge. *

 

 

*Yeah I know, Apache and Cheyenne. But this was before they were on the page. Easy to change to that stuff so it never was. 

[Ken Aldred]

1 minute ago, Mecha_Fantastic said:

Weapon X would have experimented on Thunderbird in some way, enhancing his physical attributes. Unknown to him his father, a whispered genius, was kidnapped and forced to work on the project, torturing his son for their own twisted purposes. His father? Forge. *

 

 

*Yeah I know, Apache and Cheyenne. But this was before they were on the page. Easy to change to that stuff so it never was. 

Also, no Wolverine-like claws, but that would’ve been compensated for, as with Warpath, by giving him Apache design Adamantium hunting knives.

[Dr Zen]

On 6/29/2021 at 12:49 AM, bronze_rules said:

I'll do you one better... why was wolverine not on x-men 94 cover?

Banshee was.

Probably the same reason Superman wasn't on the cover of Action Comics#2. 

 

They didn't realize how popular he would end up being.

[Juno Beach]

45 minutes ago, Dr Zen said:

Probably the same reason Superman wasn't on the cover of Action Comics#2. 

 

They didn't realize how popular he would end up being.

Yup, Wolverine didn't start to get popular until John Byrne took over. Nightcrawler was Cockrum's fav. 

[Readcomix]

3 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

The problem was that Wolverine and Thunderbird had very similar powers, and so one or the other was considered surplus to requirements.  It just so happened that the axe fell on Thunderbird. At the time, Wolverine was just as much a new and untested, equally disposable character.

I can’t remember where, but I read an interview with either Claremont or Cockrum where whichever one of them it was said that they decided pretty early on that there was a lot of power-type overlap among Wolverine, Thunderbird and Nightcrawler, making them hard to all fully utilize, so someone needed to go. I think they said they landed on Thunderbird because he had the overlaps but no unique aspect (eg Wolverine had the claws, Nightcrawler the teleportation) as all three relied on speed, agility, moderate strength etc. (So Lord knows why those two ever chose to create a Legion of Superheroes homage/knockoff! )

I still think it would be very cool for some writer to bring him back and say John Proudstar has been living in secrecy for years running some special SHIELD black ops team, with only Fury and a few others knowing. 

[Von Cichlid]

4 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

I liked Thunderbird, and was happy when his brother appeared in the 80s with similar abilities. Good character, same with Warpath.

I think a lot of people liked Thunderbird, which is why it was so significant when he was killed in his 3rd appearance.  The fact that he stayed dead gave the title a sense of gravity that it really maintained for 10 - 15 years.  In hindsight, X-Factor and Inferno were the beginning of the end of the classic era for me, with the era being completely over by 281/ X-Men 1.

[Cat]

10 hours ago, Von Cichlid said:

I think a lot of people liked Thunderbird, which is why it was so significant when he was killed in his 3rd appearance.  The fact that he stayed dead gave the title a sense of gravity that it really maintained for 10 - 15 years.  In hindsight, X-Factor and Inferno were the beginning of the end of the classic era for me, with the era being completely over by 281/ X-Men 1.

I'd go a little bit further and include Mutant Genesis, Claremont's final story of his original run, X-Men 1-3. It's a nice way to bow out, with Magneto having his ultimate plot, and the X-Men being reunited. 

[djzombi]

On 6/30/2021 at 10:41 PM, Von Cichlid said:

I think a lot of people liked Thunderbird, which is why it was so significant when he was killed in his 3rd appearance.  The fact that he stayed dead gave the title a sense of gravity that it really maintained for 10 - 15 years.  In hindsight, X-Factor and Inferno were the beginning of the end of the classic era for me, with the era being completely over by 281/ X-Men 1.

Ditto, 100%