Longshot by Art Adams

1985 - Longshot corner boxes

1985 - Anatomy of a cover - Longshot #1

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=82720

Here's the published version:

And here are some unused versions.

http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/17adams.html

X-Men & New Mutant Original Character Designs

1984 - Corner Box Art for Longshot #4 and #5

Corner box art for Longshot #4 and #5 by Art Adams.

1987 - X-Men by Marc Silvestri

1987 - Anatomy of a cover - Uncanny X-Men #218

Thanks to Ferran Delgado for the heads up on this one! 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1029664&GSub=145629

  

Here's another version by Adams, inked by Perez.

 

http://stormantic.com/3193/comics/storm-sunday-arthur-adams-part-vii

Here's the published version:

 

And here's a recent, recoloured version:

 

 

 

1985 - Longshot - The Original Carl Potts design

Grabbed from the Fans of Arthur Adams Facebook page:

1990 - Art Adams' Marvel Cards

Art Adams' Longshot and Spiral

Marvel Comics' April 2013 Solicitations - 1980s Goodness

Here are the 1980s highlights for Marvel's April 2013 releases:

INCREDIBLE HULK: CROSSROADS TPB
Written by BILL MANTLO
Penciled by SAL BUSCEMA, ALAN KUPPERBERG, BRET BLEVINS & MIKE MIGNOLA
Banished to the mysterious and dangerous Crossroads by Dr. Strange, the Hulk fights his way back from the edge of insanity; battles the U-Foes, the N’Garai, Klaatu, the Puffball Collective and more; fights alongside newfound friends like the Lady of Life in the City of Death; and comes face to face with three aspects of his own shattered psyche as Bruce Banner struggles to reassert control over his savage alter ego and come to terms with his haunted past! Plus: The story of Banner’s birth, and how his tragic childhood shaped the monster within, is revealed! And longtime INCREDIBLE HULK artist Sal Buscema wraps up his decade-long run! The Jade Giant is truly at the crossroads of his life! Collecting INCREDIBLE HULK (1968) #301-313 and ANNUAL #13, and ALPHA FLIGHT (1983) #29. 384 PGS./Rated T ...$39.99

AVENGERS: HEART OF STONE TPB
Written by BILL MANTLO, JIM SHOOTER, STEVEN GRANT, ROGER STERN & DAVID MICHELINIE
Penciled by JOHN BYRNE, ARVELL JONES, SAL BUSCEMA, GEORGE PÉREZ & DON NEWTON
It’s a cornucopia of classic Avengers action as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes travel to Russia to face the Elements of Doom, and then battle the WWII-era Arsenal robot and learn its shocking ties to Iron Man’s family! Meanwhile, an out-of-work Hawkeye takes a security job and clashes with the vicious alien princess Deathbird! Plus: The Avengers are called before Congress, battle the stone-faced Grey Gargoyle, face the new Inferno and deal with the meddling machinations of government liaison Henry Peter Gyrich! But when the team investigates a cry for help from a mental hospital, they discover a deadly new foe: Who is the terrible Taskmaster? And how can the Avengers hope to stop him when he can match every single fighting move they have to offer? Time to get creative! Collecting AVENGERS (1963) #188-196 and ANNUAL #9. 216 PGS./Rated T ...$24.99

ESSENTIAL DEFENDERS VOL. 7 TPB
Written by J.M. DEMATTEIS, PETER B. GILLIS & ANN NOCENTI
Penciled by ALAN KUPPERBERG, SAL BUSCEMA, DON PERLIN & MIKE ZECK
The age of the New Defenders begins here! The Beast assembles the infamous “non-team” into a real super-group featuring members both old and new — from Gargoyle and Valkyrie to fellow ex-X-Men Iceman and Angel — and now the newly focused heroes must face some of their greatest challenges! Can the Defenders, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. stop the Secret Empire’s Professor Power before he takes revenge on Professor X — and starts World War III? Plus: Iceman takes on the villainous Void in a time-traveling existential adventure! Beast and Dazzler vs. Doctor Doom and a mutant fight club! The menace of Manslaughter! The power of Odin! The redemption of Moondragon! The attack of...Frog-Man and the Walrus?! And more! Collecting DEFENDERS (1972) #126-139, ICEMAN (1984) #1-4 and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1984) #1-4. 528 PGS./Rated T ...$19.99

X-MEN: LONGSHOT TPB (NEW PRINTING)
Written by ANN NOCENTI
Penciled by ARTHUR ADAMS
Meet Longshot. He’s a man without a past who possesses an uncanny lucky streak...and he’s on an existential quest through the Marvel Universe. But as Longshot deals with the quirkier aspects of American society, he must learn the secrets behind his enigmatic identity and accept his destiny as a hero. Along the way, he meets a crazed militiaman, demons from his mysterious otherworldly home, a daring stuntwoman named Ricochet Rita, ram-headed Quark, and Marvel heroes Spider-Man, She-Hulk, and Dr. Strange. As Longshot digs deeper, he rediscovers more about himself — and must come to terms with his past along the way. Because only Longshot and his friends can stop the media-addled Mojo from taking over Earth and remaking it in his own warped image. Collecting LONGSHOT #1-6.
208 PGS./Rated T ...$19.99

X-MEN: FALL OF THE MUTANTS VOL. 2 TPB
Written by LOUISE SIMONSON, PETER DAVID, ANN NOCENTI, MARK GRUENWALD & STEVE ENGLEHART
Penciled by WALTER SIMONSON, TODD MCFARLANE, JON BOGDANOVE, JOHN ROMITA JR., KIERON DWYER & KEITH POLLARD
The FALL OF THE MUTANTS continues as the members of X-Factor — the original X-Men — face tragedies of their own! Angel is dead, apparently by suicide. The Beast is slowly losing his amazing intellect. Iceman’s powers are out of control. Cyclops and Marvel Girl don’t know how to feel toward one another. And amid all this, a new generation of troubled mutant teens desperately needs help — especially when they’re targeted by the villainous Right! And if that’s not enough, X-Factor faces their deadliest challenge yet in Apocalypse and his Horsemen — including the new Archangel! Guest-starring Captain America, Daredevil, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four and Power Pack! Collecting X-FACTOR (1986) #18-26, INCREDIBLE HULK (1968) #336-337, POWER PACK (1984) #35, DAREDEVIL (1964) #252, CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) #339 and FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #312.
400 PGS./Rated T ...$34.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-6685-6

SQUADRON SUPREME TPB (NEW PRINTING)
Written by MARK GRUENWALD
Penciled by BOB HALL, PAUL RYAN, JOHN BUSCEMA & PAUL NEARY
On an Earth much like our own, the world’s greatest superhuman champions are confronted by a society in ruins. Faced with the possibility of a new dark age for mankind, they choose the only course available to them — and take control of the world’s governments themselves! Now, they have one year in which to completely restructure human society. Can their plan succeed? Will a renegade member bring about their downfall? And what will happen when this Earth’s mightiest heroes find themselves becoming instead its all-powerful, totalitarian overlords? Before Watchmen, before MARVELS, before Kingdom Come — there was Squadron Supreme, a deconstructionist parable of the super-hero paradigm in a real-world setting considered by many to be the late Mark Gruenwald’s finest work. Collecting SQUADRON SUPREME (1985) #1-12 and CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) #314. 352 PGS./Rated T ...$34.99

1987 - Art Adams' The X-Men

Happy New Year!

Grabbed from Art Adams' Facebook page.

And here's the coloured poster version:

Art Adams' Longshot and Spiral (2002)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4793788399115&set=o.125414195356&type=1&theater

1985 - Longshot unpublished page

(http://romitaman.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=9663&ArtistId=840&Details=1&From=Room)

1986 - Longshot commission

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=74405&gsub=9335

1984 - Longshot illustration pre-miniseries

Found over at Ferran Delgado's blog (http://ferrandelgado.blogspot.com/2010/08/ilustracion-antigua-de-longshot-obra-de.html?zx=68c78fe003ea9bfc)

Just a lovely piece and its colours are stunning.

1985 - Anatomy of a cover - Longshot #4

This is the first of a few Longshot posts. I'm a huge fan of Adams' 1980s art and loved this series. Not to mention that it was written by Ann Nocenti whose writing has always manage to connect with me. I know she's now writing DC's Green Arrow, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Has anyone else picked it up?

Looking at this cover, I can't help but see the lack of backgrounds, but for some reason it never bothered me. The dynamic of the action seems to almost imply that there's too much going on here to bother with backgrounds!


(http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=117502&gsub=17643)

1985 - Unused Longshot #1 covers

Here are a few unpublished versions of Longshot #1 by Art Adams. All three of them are interesting as their backgrounds are so busy compared to issue #4. I can't help but wonder if Adams was running behind on his art chores because of having to redraw it at least three times!

(http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/17adams.html)

And here's the published cover:

1985 – Longshot miniseries

Longshot #1-6 

September 1985 - February 1986

Writer: Ann Nocenti

Artist(s): Art Adams/While Portacio

An alien, with no memories of who he is, escapes from a group of mysterious captors and finds himself on Earth. He can't escape his past and learns that he's actually a synthetic human created as part of a slave race for an evil tyrant, Mojo. He recalls memories of his creator and how he was meant to help his fellow slaves rebel against Mojo. With the help of his human allies, Longshot drives Mojo from Earth and then returns to the Mojoverse to continue the struggle against Mojo.

Ann Nocenti juggles a few well-worn story ideas and manages to pull it all off in a refreshing fashion. Issues #1 through 4 seem abruptly different from issues 5 and 6. The early issues are written in a less traditional fashion and focuses on Longshot's exposure to a variety of different examples of humanity. He meets and learns from a paranoid survivalist, a glamorous movie stunt woman, and from a down and out husband who is ready to commit suicide. In the last couple of issues, the story line takes on a more traditional comic book form featuring a climatic battle between Longshot and his nemesis Mojo.

If you enjoy Nocenti's writing in this series, check out her run on Daredevil where her writing is better developed and she takes a more serious look at a variety of social issues.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot the art. :)

There's no much to say about the art except for wow! This series was Art Adams' first mainstream work and his art just got better and better with each issue. His intricate pencilled art really shined through in this series and set him up for work on a couple of the X-Men annuals as well as the New Mutants Special. Unfortunately, since Adams' style is so labour intensive, he could never keep up with the schedule that a monthly book would require.

Longshot's storyline would become intertwined with the X-Men as he would join the mutant team for awhile before returning to the Mojoverse and renewing his struggle against Mojo.

The group of kids Longshot befriended in issue #4 returned in the pages of Nocent’s Daredevil run.