Uncanny X-men 173, with the cover by Paul Smith, was the very first X-men book that I ever got. I had some early exposure to the X-men with the cartoons, but this was the book that fully brought me in.

The cover with its black background really got me focusing on Wolverine and Rouge with the urgency that something was about to get torn up.   At that time it elicited a “wow!” from my lips. It looked as if Logan was going to leap off the page. He looks mad and bad and tough and in my 13 year old mind at the time, this was cool! I bought this issue which was the final one of that current story arc and, because of the wonderful days of spinner racks, it didn’t take me long to find the preceding issues so that I knew what was going on.

This was one of the few books from back then that I managed to hold on to. So, it’s no surprise that 30+ years later, I felt myself fortunate to have gotten both Herb Trimpe and Chris Claremont to sign my book. Still hoping one day I can get Paul Smith but, this book was instrumental in bringing me into the world of mutants.