I was first attracted to this miniseries because of the wonderful Paul Smith cover. And then when I saw that he was doing the interior art as well, I was sold on it. Unfortunately, Smith’s art was heavily inked by Vince Colletta which managed to smother Smith’s great pencils.

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John Byrne's Alpha Flight was a comic book about characters that was disguised as a team book. Unlike other team books where the heroes would gather each issue and battle the latest world-threatening menace, an issue of Alpha Flight focused on one team member while it kept the team story alive as a subplot.

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The Mighty Thor of the early 1980s wasn't all that mighty. Roy Thomas, one of Marvel Comics' strongest writers, had enjoyed a successful run on the title, but he moved on to other projects. Unfortunately for Thor fans, Thomas left behind a hole that wouldn't properly be filled for three years. Several writers, like Doug Moench and Alan Zelenetz, tried to establish new directions for the Norse Thunder God, but their efforts never quite caught on.

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Cloak and Dagger made their first appearance in Spectacular Spider-Man #64. After a few sporadic appearances in that title, the powers that be at Marvel decided that it was time to try them on their own. The four issue miniseries was clearly setting the stage for a ongoing series.

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Paul Smith will always be one of my favorite X-Men artists despite having only drawn eleven issues. His unique style, that oddly seemed both simple and detailed, captured defining look for the X-Men. Bob Wiacek’s inks were well balanced with Smith’s pencils and their end product rivaled the work of John Byrne and Terry Austin. Paul Smith’s relatively short run on The Uncanny X-Men revitalized the series and sparked Chris Claremont’s storytelling and creativity as writer.

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The year started off inconspicuously without any hint of what would be coming our way in a couple of months.

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