This was requested a bit earlier today, and it was practically the first comic I pulled out of the first box I opened in my ongoing trip down memory lane tonight. So that's fate talking right there, and I got down to scanning it.

Barry Windsor-Smith is one of roughly eight thousand highly talented artists of the eighties (or in his case, 70's and 80s) who couldn't or could no longer keep up a monthly pace. You've got Windsor-Smith, Art Adams, Dave Stevens, Mike Mignola (to the point that he just writes now), Bill Willingham (ditto)...I'm sure I could come up with more given some time (Brian Bolland, Bernie Wrightson...) I think the common denominator is that they were all unwilling to produce substandard work and would take as long as it took to get it right. So they were worth tracking down even if you never knew what odd anthology or mini-series would next feature their work.

After first being exposed to Windsor-Smith's art in X-Men #186 I made a point of buying everything he did from that point onward and worked backwards too, at least until I saw what his old Conan issues from the 70s were going to cost me. Marvel Fanfare #15 was only a few months old at the time, though, so I scooped up a copy of Barry's take on the love/hate brotherly relationship between the Human Torch and the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing, and the pranks they play on each other.

Seven pages of nineteen. Astute readers will notice that the file names here start at "2", because I had to throw out one great page at the beginning even after severe triage while following the one-third rule. Even at that I skipped the epilogue and prologue that show the double- and triple-cross setups, plus it broke my heart to cut out the spring-loaded pancakes.

( IT'S WAKIN' UP TIME! )