Trying to find a specific panel from a 90s X-Men comic took me a full month

I was sure it was from X-Men #30, the one with the Phalanx, but I went through every issue from that year and came up empty. I finally found it in a random What If? one-shot from 1992, after asking three different forums and checking two long boxes. How do you guys even start looking for a single image you only half remember?

3 comments

3 Comments

alice_mitchell12d ago

Sometimes I just start sketching the panel from memory, even if it's bad. Posting a crude drawing of Cyclops' weird 90s shoulder pads or Jubilee's jacket can trigger someone's memory faster than any description. It's like visual charades for comic fans. I found a lost New Mutants page that way, because someone recognized my terrible drawing of Magik's sword.

bettym891mo ago

That sounds like a real nightmare. Actually, X-Men #30 is from the 90s, but it's the one with the Crimson Dawn, not the Phalanx. The Phalanx stuff was earlier, around issues 25 to 30 of the second series. For a single panel, I usually just start describing it in the dumbest way possible on a comic book subreddit. Someone out there always knows.

avery_fox931mo ago

Wait, you're totally right about the Crimson Dawn mix-up, bettym89. I always lumped those 90s X-Men stories together in my head as one big blur. Your breakdown actually makes me want to go dig those issues out of my long boxes now. The "describe it in the dumbest way" method is genius, it's like fishing for the one person who gets your weirdly specific memory. I tried that once looking for a panel where Wolverine was stuck in a giant ice cube and someone found it in like ten minutes.