I got into comics in the mid-’90s reading X-Men and I recall the day I bought my first comic (of that era). It was in the autumn of 1995 now that I check and it was X-Men #45. Later that week I snatched up Uncanny X-Men #325 and I was exposed to the utterly-spectacular art of Joe Madureira. Comics had come a long way from the ones I’d read in the ’80s as a kid and the art was incredible. While I read several comics over the next few years, Joe Madureira style has always been my all-time favorite.
Joe Mad’s run on the X-Men didn’t last too much longer and I anxiously awaited his new creation, Battle Chasers in 1998. Issue #1 was all I had hoped for. It seemed that Madureira (who is just one year my senior) had the very same tastes as me. The fantasy sword & sorcery tone was mixed with a steampunk futuristic mech deal and his penciling was leagues beyond his peers (IMHO). Issues 2 and 3 came soon but the delay between them only grew. The publication history of my new favorite comic was chronicled everywhere. It’s great, but waiting 2-3 months or more kind of ruined any momentum.
Canceling issue #10 in 2001 meant merely nine issues over more than three years. Not a very good track record. I followed Mad through his cover work for other comics and whatever else he did but my interest in comics waned. I played both Darksiders games, never finishing the second. I even met him in 2003!
Me & Mad – 2003
So, now, 2015…the remnants of Vigil Games and we have not only a three-issue arc completing the original Battle Chasers storyline but also a potential Battle Chasers Game?!?! My excitement is evident but let’s just say one thing here…I’ll believe it when I see it. Two issues a year he was going at a decade+ ago.
However, I shouldn’t be so jaded! This is fantastic news and while I don’t know how many die-hard BC/Joe Madureira fans there are after all this time but I’m on board with the comics and the game! In fact, I don’t think I’ve purchased a comic since 2001 or so – but hell yeah I’m getting BC #10 or whatever they call it.
I’ve actually been thinking about the X-Men lately and picked up an issue and flipped through it. Not entirely sure if I care to start up that affair with comics again. If it’s a Madureira series though? You won’t be able to keep me away! Now…we wait. Hmm…feels awfully familiar! :)
Excessive? Nah!
Wargolem
Classic Mad!
BA!