Weapon X - Barry Windsor-Smith's psychedelic, outlaw Wolverine origin
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
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Jim's Patreon: / jimrugg
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Regarding the coloring. BWS hated the colouring in the collected edition. Marvel used the seps from the original series, but BWS had chosen those colours knowing they'd be on newsprint and be muted. If it was up to him, he would have re-coloured the trade, accounting for the new paper, but Marvel collected the series without his input.
I remember he said that he would have recolored it but Marvel didn't seem to care.
The reprints always look horrid. It reminds me of how gameboy advance games used bright palettes because the developers expected screens to not be backlit.
I love berserker rage James Rugg going off on complacent graphic designers.
He's so right! I have a similar bland, cropped image, black background ugly cover for my edition of God Loves, Man Kills. It's embarrassing that they published it.
He's not wrong lol we'd all have benefited if he was on that meeting where that cover was approved.
OMG when Jim just layyyyys out the cover direction team for the weapon X book with the terrible cover it's utterly priceless lol
One of the most beautifully drawn series of comics ever. I'm ashamed of myself that I didn't appreciate this art when I was little; when this first came out.
lol 100% agree and same here but there's no need to be "ashamed."
I am so glad that I’m not the only one who was confused by the ending of the book. In fact, this is the first Kayfabe cartoonist’s video that I’ve ever watched. And I watched the entire video to hear your thoughts on the ending of the story.
The suggestion that this is a Frankenstein story is reinforced with the Weapon X ending where the monster, in this case Wolverine, escapes into the arctic, as in the original Frankenstein novel.
Thats cool. Never thought of that.
Jims rant on the trash cover for the trade 😂😂😂😂😂
You know what's better than a new CF video?
Not watching for a week and having a few hours of quality content pile up to binge.
57:12 This might be my favorite Kayfabe moment ever. Thank You Jim!
There's a really awesome issue of Uncanny by BWS where he does a Weapon X style origin sequence for Lady Deathstrike's cyborg form. One of my all time favourite issues from that era.
205! I read it last weekend, amazing!
@@leonardokula5742 Wolverine 205?
Do you remember the part suggesting that Apocalypse was behind the Weapon X program ?!
Jim railing against terrible design is the best!!! :D
Get 'em, Jimmy!
so fukkin good! " Shame on you! shame, shame shame!" DEep Sigh hahahha
Really great video! As much as I love early John Byrne, no one is better than Barry Smith in my opinion. He has evolved , thrived in over 50 years of artwork. Weapon X and Conan for me are his magnum opus.
BWS is the MAN and my favorite artist, the best wolverine artist hands down....Uncanny X-men #205 & 212 are the greatest covers of all time and got me into comics in the 80s...and definitely the greatest Wolverine covers/art. This Weapon X series is so underrated! I bought them all of the stand when they came out
I remember getting MCP off a news rack in a smoke shop because my comic book store didn't carry them for some reason. Reading Weapon X in those pages was a singular experience that I haven't had before or since in any medium. This wasn't just a Wolverine story...this was BWS taking the medium on his back and helping to blaze the way to make an artform of storytelling.
Thank you for highlighting all of the finest art of old, that deserves all of our attention, from Frazetta to Mike Golden!! Hopefully your informative videos will remain cemented in the UA-camverse for generations.
Can you guys spotlight the old Marvel Cards by Fleer and other companies... those cards had some fine art!
Love this! One of my favorite comic ever. BWS is just amazing! Thank you guys for the walkthrough! U Rock!
Honestly, I want Wolverine's debut in the MCU to be just like this, a hard R slasher horror movie with him as the slasher villain going after a group of scientists in the facility. The only problem though is for that particular movie concept I can't imagine anyone except Hugh Jackman playing him, and he's done.
I completely agree about that late reprint what a despicable cover! Devoid of skill and thought. The first tpb printing had an awesome cover
I remember seeing these from my uncle’s collection before I could even read. The images and art style stick with me to this day... so beautiful.
Issue 82 was my intro to this raw storyline too! Love yall videos, these are the type of topics I wished were taking place at the lunchroom table. Thanks guys for these awesome retrospectives...
44:21 Man, Dwayne Turner. Is it me, or is he highly underrated? I fell in love with his artwork on his really short Wolverine run. I think it was issues #70-73, I've since looked for more of his work. I picked up one of the issues on a whim from the quarter bin a few years back, and have since sought the rest of the run, even ordered a trade that had them in it, just so I can look at his artwork from those issues more often.
Perfect video! Like always! Wolverine is my favorite character and this comic, for me, it's his second best, only behind the Wolverine minisseries by Claremont and Miller. I dare to say that is my favorite comic of all time in artwork, it's just so perfect, the details, the colors and the emotions on the expressions and body language. Very touching to see a hero like Wolverine being treated like trash by the scientists. And by the way, you guys complained about the TPB cover, here in Brazil, where I live, the TPB hardcover is very beautiful. The cover is the issue number 79, with details that shine the helmet and claws. The logo also respects the Weapon X with the Wolverine font. Just amazing! I cannot post the image here, but if you guys want to research, look for "Wolverine Arma X Panini Comics" and you will find it!
The subplot you mention about the Prof reporting to someone larger was actually supposed to be a future story based on the Claremont idea that Apocalypse was responsible for Weapon X. It was supposed to imply that it was Apocalypse of his organization that the prof is talking to.
It is a shame that story never got finished.
Jim’s “shame” rant will never get old. Mostly because its true!
I loved Marvel Comics Presents. BWS is always a treat and this story is one of my favorites. Thanks for sharing guys. You rock.
I became obsessed with BWS Storyteller when it came out. I got the two TPB of Freebooters and Young Gods, which had unpublished chapters. The Paradoxman TPB never came out, another in a long line of unpublished BWS projects. I hope you guys cover these one day. I'm excited that his Monster GN is finally going to see the light of day.
The last issue makes sense especially in light of the overall colors in the open for interruption ambiguity. Additionally, Marvel was really just presenting visual tasty treats that's why the redundancy of it doesn't translate in a trade paperback. They hit their target audience young boys growing up on video games etc. Awesome time to be alive- growing up in the 80s/90s was the peak for childhood nostalgia I can't imagine any generation that had a cooler time to transverse.
I first read this in late winter 1992. I had been reading the Wolverine series and had to find these issues. I gotta say it messed with my head. I read all the issues on a Sunday morning laying on my top bunk with the radio playing and it just hit me.
He wrote his Thing April Fool's Day story in Marvel Fanfare #15 which came out in 1984 so Weapon X is not his first script.
Good job bros👍,still remember when I first found these comics as a kid,lost my damn mind!,I can easily say that the WEAPON X series TRULY made me the huge WOLVERINE fan I am today,THANKS!
The Lady you talk about who helped BWS with the colors could be Linda Lessman (now Lessman-Reinholds)
Awesome stuff, now I wanna buy these. I still love Red Nails though.❤
It's no competition. Enjoy both.
The solid background looks great, really frames the books - the other one is a bit busy. Love the channel, great job!
You talked about Kent Williams..... Could you please do "Wolverine & Havok: MeltDown" some time in the future? Love that art and writing! By the way, good job! And greetings from Brazil :)
Meltdown is so amazing!
Guys I discovered your channel today and as comic books and their craft addicted I'm totally in love with what you do!
"SHAME!!!!" Damn right on that lackluster logo! You guys rock! I'm so glad I came across you guys.
Barry Windsor Smith is releasing a new graphic novel after 15 years and that is 35 years in making.
360 pages!
His magnum opus.
@@Mort7an Cool
This was awesome. Gonna head over to my local comic store to pick these up.
BWS work is so beautiful and inspiring. This definitely my favorite comics short series and I'm working on putting the set together.
Looking through Kayfabes that I've missed and this one delivered! Having read the Swedish translation I realize the edited out a lot of things. If I remember correctly, this was followed up with a Wolverine story where he's an X-man deciding to go on a solo mission to dig out what was real and what the true story of Weapon X really is. Nice one!
I loved Barry Winsor Smith's works!!! I did not know about this stuff... thank you.
To hear Jim be as mad at them over that trash cover on the TBP reprint as me was so cathartic thank you. I spent quite some time looking at that cover in anger and disgust until i was able to locate a first printing
I have all these in a graphic novel and it's sitting on my book shelf, I will definitely check it out.
I saw a photocopy of Jim Lee's pencils for the X-men/Lady Deathstrike sequence you mention in this video. There's a notation by Jim on one of those pages in the pencils to the effect of 'This is my tribute to BWS'.... So, yeah, you're seeing it in Jim's stuff bigtime.
What a treat! Thanks for covering such an incredible comicbook 👌🏻👌🏻
I really like the visual presentation of your channel and of your content like this. It's a really simple but fitting style that is true to the medium your discussing - comic books - but also the perfect visual language for the medium you are using to share your ideas and discussions - ie youtube. I have respect for anyone who can stay minimal while being original and still standing out from the pack. And for anyone who doesn't think the quality of their content is directly tied to the number of post-production hours spent in After Effects
After watching this video I was inspired to go back and re-read this work. I opted to but the individual issues of MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS from Comixology as opposed to the trade collection because I wanted all the other stories that JIm and Ed mentioned (Captain America by Steve Ditko, Daredevil by Marshall Rogers, etc.). BUYER BEWARE: the individual issues on Comixology are $.99 each but ONLY contain the Wolverine parts!
Next review X-Men #205, greatest X-Men issue ever!
this is peak Marvel comics content.
I got these issues recently, found them quite cheap at my LCS two weeks ago.
I remember reading in a BWS interview, that he had 60 extra pages for Weapon X that didn't make it into the comic.
Jim Rugg ringing the "Shame" bell!
I bought 5 issues of weapon x from a garage sale in like 1991 for a buck a piece when I was like 10. That's what got me started reading comics.
Barry Windsor-Smith magic through and through.
The Werewolf by Night vs Sabertooth story in this series was also amazing
that ending adds so much more depth to the story. great sci fi story!
Videos like this remind me why I love this channel.
Jimmy going all Feral Wolverine on the bad graphic design on the trade cover is priceless... & I agree with every word & sentiment he expressed.
I was drawing for Marvel UK in the early 90's (around the time this story originally appeared in Marvel Comics Presents) & I had just finished one mini-series, quit my day job working in commercial illustration (based on the assurance that there was going to be no shortage of work at MUK) & was about to start work on my next book when the operation axed all new UK generated content & returned to a re-print only model. All us freelancers were all promised an 8 pager in 'Presents as a kind of sweetener & door opener to US Marvel. Fortunately for me, before my 8 pager came in I had already started work on US titles like THOR & The Avengers so I was ok.
We need a Stephen platt moon night run vid like this
How come there is no Black & White deluxe version of this story, I would love that !!!
I remember hearing of an oversize b&w version published in France a while back. I think we need a big book, like the monster-sized Marvel collections.
I had to google search to see if there was one. This needs either a new version with more true to original colors or Black and White version.
This book reads like a force of a nature. It's a brutal, primitive, but cognizant piece of work.
It was a set aside thing that came around when magneto ripped his Adamantium. It set the scene! It was a subtext!
Just picked up the graphic novel collection. Not read it yet, but Christ is the art gorgeous!
It's the best origin story.
This was the definitive Wolverine story. Finally gave backstory to Logan that kept up with the short pieces we got since the 70s. This is beautiful. The details are fucking insane.
His Iron Man issue would be worth an episode.
I loved Barry Smith artwork on Conan the Barbarian (as well as John Buscema). I have most of the books books but I don’t have Weapon X. Definitely going to seek out those comics!
I miss these books. Some of my favorite. I loved Excalibur too.
The white lettering done back in the day was usually done by lettering normally and then getting a reverse stat of it.
IT WAS ALL A DREAM! I used to read marvel magazines!
Weapon X color guide: barrywindsor-smith.com/studio/wxbio22.html
Wolverine is cool and all.... but I'm so fucking old I remember a Marvel Universe without him... Wolverine always was 2nd generation Marvel... your kid brothers favorite character... you know, Marvel Jr.,
LoL...
That being said, this has always been a favorite of mine. And it took BWS to get it done. If you think about it, the character is a lot like Conan, mysterious pass, likes to chop people up and all that shit...
Fucking great channel... keep this shit going... y'all have become a part of my day now...I'll apologize in advance....I can be a bit of a pain in the ass but that's just because I like you....
When ARE you going to do the Galacy 'Shanna'?
Some great Jim Rugg Shame! Hilarious!
The human anatomy is perfect in these drawings
36:46 that style of piping on the outside of the sleeve and pant leg of the soldiers is something that *everybody* copied going forward to this day
29:35 Love that Iron Man write up for page 17 "When multi-billionaire industrialistS Tony Stark..." lol, it's like the writer has a lisp.
Love the BWS love. He’s the best. A living legend. Gush
My understanding is Barry Windsor-Smith won't sign copies of the trade paperback reprints because he hates how the color looks on the glossy paper.
Can't blame him, looks like Willy Wonka's shit
I was looking into buying the tpb a while back and was appalled at that cover as well
Guys-- the recolor of the new version is not "reprinted from the original". It's a new digital job done from zero imitating the original coloring by BWS. The values and saturation are completely changed. They ruined the new version and that's the one future generation will have the most access into.
That Rugg rant on his trade paperback's bland cover design. Right on! 😂
32:20 great humanity discussion. hope you take on Astonishing Tales 25
I just bought the Paper back of the complete sage, was very confused about the ending until I watched the video.
His abduction scene is insane.
I really prefer the newsprint colours. The super-saturated colours are garish.
Wow I bought this MCP comic run 2 weeks ago. BWS rules.
Got this in a Walmart 7-pack last month reprint!
Very timely! A classic!
46:36 best part
9x12 ...thanks Mr Piskor. Scooby~Doo mystery solved.
100% agree with Jim's Cover Rant!
I have the TBP of weapon x, one of the jewels on comic book art
I think it's absolutely tragic that BWS has been so absent from Comics for so long. He is one of the giants and yet has been much less prolific than the other greats.
Awesome review. How about one on the Machine Man limited series/TPB by Barry Windsoe Smith. I love that one :-)
Great video, guys. Keep up!
i love these.. i have the 1st appearance in near mint
I can't believe there isn't a way to collect this in hardcover with the original colors.
Couple of thoughts...
First great work to put this together in your downtime from your day jobs!!
The colourist that you were been thinking of may well have been Linda Lessmann (other parts of the web note her as co founder of Gorblimey Press with BWS, and his girlfriend in that era).
With regards to the unusual short episodes format of the work, BWS will have grown up with that format as it was used in British comics, where the norm back in those days was weekly publishing with many short strips (some one or two page, often humour works, along with some more serious serials broken up over multiple issues) making up the whole issue. 2000AD followed a similar format.
In some ways this was a surprising way to release the work as Marvel at the time did have its "Graphic Novel Series" that started with Jim Starlin's Death of Captain Marvel in the early 80s and was still going when Weapon X came out in the early 90s.
Watching BWS's art style grow over the colour Conan series from the initial issues at the end of his "Jack Kirby drawing with his left hand" period to the end a couple of years later with "The Song of Red Sonja" is an amazing progression worthy of review whenever you have a spare episode.