#xmen136

[stevenwilcoxartist]

Uncanny X-Men #136, page 14, scripted and co-plotted by Chris Claremont, co-plotted and penciled by John Byrne, inked by Terry Austin, lettered by Tom Orzechowski and colored by Bob Sharen. 1980

Byrne had this to say about this sequence on his forum, "There were a lot of annoyed fans, I can tell you, when X-MEN 136 came out, and there was no confrontation between Dark Phoenix and the Surfer.

This is a good example, as a matter of fact, of just how much impact the writer can have, for those who still wonder what Stan did, vs what Jack did. I was heavily plotting the book by this point, and that page of reactions shots was something I tossed in as I was drawing. Chris, unfortunately, chose to script it as if the Surfer was going to head off and intercept Phoenix -- but that didn't happen. After all, by the time I saw the finished issue, I'd already drawn about 4 issues beyond it!

Years later, a writer showed up at Marvel who had impressed Shooter, and Shooter asked me if there were any "plums" that could be given to that writer for specials or graphic novels. I mentioned this "untold tale", and Shooter asked me to write up a plot, which I did. For some reason, the project did not go any further than that, tho years later I found a copy of my plot (written on a typewriter!) and pitched it to the X-Office. Again, we were all set to go, and then somehow the energy just trailed off . . ."