13 X-COVERS: A PAUL SMITH Birthday Celebration

The respected artist turns 68…

Paul Smith — born Sept. 4,  1953 — is one of those comics artists who wasn’t wildly prolific like many of his contemporaries. That said, what he did create is a body of work that today remains highly respected and influential.

Among his most notable titles was Uncanny X-Men in the early ’80s; he was the artist who devised Storm’s punk look, which debuted in 1983’s Issue #173:

Pencils by Smith, inks by Bob Wiacek, script by Chris Claremont

So with Smith’s birthday upon us, it’s time for a 13 COVERS salute — featuring his Uncanny X-Men fronts, as well as a few from X-Factor of the late ’80s.

Dig it.

MORE

— INSIDE LOOK: Dave Cockrum’s X-MEN Artifact Edition. Click here.

— INSIDE LOOK: John Byrne’s X-MEN Artifact Edition. Click here.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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6 Comments

  1. No mention or covers from Dr. Strange? His work there certainly looked better than those X-Factors covers. This post needs an edit

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  2. C’mon, where’s the Leave it To Chance love? Or Nexus? Or The Golden Age, or any of his covers at DC? Or any of his indie stuff at Valiant & elsewhere? Or even his other Marvel work like the aforementioned Dr Strange? My man Smitty was a LOT more versatile (&, frankly, interesting) than his X-Men work…

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    • Thanks for stopping by Steven! You’re probably not that familiar with the site, so welcome! 13 COVERS is a regular feature and generally speaking each installment is just a snapshot of a creator’s production. Unless we explicitly set out to do so, we couldn’t possibly boil someone’s work down to just 13, so for birthdays we always pick a theme and change it up each year. For this year, it was X-books. Next time? Who knows? But you’re 100 percent right — “your man Smitty” has created much more than X-books and I could have clarified that, remembering that not all of our readers are familiar with the feature. Either way, welcome!

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  3. Love it! Paul Smith’s artwork was my gateway drug to comics. A friend of mine from school let me borrow X-Men #173 and I was hooked. X-Men #175 might still be my favorite issue of a comic ever!

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