In 1975, one of the most influential illustrations in my life came from Uncanny X-men #97, where in a climactic battle between Storm and Polaris, penciler Dave Cockrum drew the deciding blow as a dramatic close-up of Storm's hand, amazingly foreshortened and throwing lightning while Storm's face crackled with energy behind it... and my obsession with hands was born. I would not rest until I could draw a hand like that. Now I can draw them with my eyes closed. Well, assuming you don't want too much detail in the joints and stuff. Sadly, Dave Cockrum died just last year, but he'll always be a major influence on my drawing.
Anyhow, one of Rafe's housemates on the island, Hank, had fond memories of Uncanny 97 being his first ever X-men issue, and we both fixated on the hand and this scene! It was a geekout moment that I think frightened some of the other housemates. I don't know where the issue is anymore, but I certainly remember that panel. This is my homage to it, a quickie sketch not entirely done in the Cockrum style, but trying...
Rest in peace, Dave. Unknown to you, your legacy and influence live on.
8 comments:
YES!!! i remember this panel! count me in your geekout moment, this is also one of the stories that got me hooked on X-Men! "Game?...You think this is a game?..." :-D
Sadly, I'm geekier than most - I have the entire scene memorized, seemingly down to the word.
...the sky above Kennedy Airport goes dark as two mutant elementals battle in a death duel that all too soon becomes...
...a stalemate.
"We're too evenly matched, Storm. I guess we'll just have to call this game a draw."
"A game? Is that all this is to you, Polaris, a game?
"You attacked us without warning, without provocation. You sought our deaths without a thought for the innocents who might be endangered, even slain by your attack, and you dare call this a game??!?"
THIS IS NO GAME POLARIS!"
ZZRAAAKKKKAAM!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"LORNA!!"
And this is without the comic book anywhere near me. heh.
I love the energy signature work in this sketch, as well as the hand! God, Claremont was at his best when being so melodramatic, wasn't he?
Ben
He was! Especially with Storm. A righteous black woman with the power to make all the other X-men cower into submission. Wolverine was going to attack Cyclops at the end of that issue, and Storm stopped him and said he'd have to answer to her if he did. Ah yes, the beginnings of Claremont's butchlady fetish.
The energy sig is kind of a mix between Cockrum's and Byrne's versions of Kirby crackle. Oh lord, only a geek will get those references...
That hand is GORGEOUS! I love it! I can't draw hands for nothing but I noticed that you really do enjoy it. It's pretty cool, actually, I know a lot of artists find hands a difficult part.
It's really all Cockrum's influence, 'Fin. This panel from 97 as well as one image of the Emerald Empress from an old issue of Superboy & The Legion of Superheroes (198, if I'm not mistake, or maybe even 197!) got me started on hand gestures. I can really trace it to him.
wow... dialogue all the way to havok's part, too! i remember the "you attacked us w/o warning..." part. you used to recite that in college! now it would really be geekiest if you also memorized all the letters for the sound effects too...
Uhm, actually I did. Not to the letter, but that was the sound effect they wrote.
Me so geeky.
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