Why doesn't this page have word balloons?

[Artemaria]

Here's the link. Any explanations would be appreciated. Is it Mechanical Art? Seller does not represent it as such.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=018

[delekkerste]

The word balloons were probably placed on a clear plastic overlay which was subsequently separated/lost from the board with the artwork.

[Artemaria]

Is that common? All the other Byrne / Austin pages I've seen have the word balloons right on the page.

[Nexus]

It's also possible the word balloons were simply removed. There are collectors who feel that word balloons clutter the page and only prefer to see the art. I've seen a lot pages where the word balloons were lifted off. Not how I like it, but to each his own.

[delekkerste]

Is that common? All the other Byrne / Austin pages I've seen have the word balloons right on the page.

 

I've seen several without.

[spider9698]

I owned a page from issue 132 with no word balloons. I had Tom Orzechowski recreate the balloons on an overlay. When I asked him why they weren't on the original he told me that during that period of the X-men run, Byrne and Austin would often run close to deadline. Art from Byrne would be made into a stat and sent to Tom for lettering while the original pencils went to Terry for the inking. The lettering would then be added to the final art as an overlay just before production.

Hope that helps.

S

[Thomas]

I thought this was funny when I saw it. A quick search of CAF show 2 pages from the same issue without word ballons so the explanation that Spider9698 gave is plausible if not the correct answer itself.

 

The one page in CAF with word balloons from this issue is a recreation so don't confuse that.

[Artemaria]

Sounds good to me. Thanks everyone!