Editing Neal Adams (section)

===First Marvel Comics work===
[[File:X-Men63.jpg|thumb|''X-Men'' #63 (Dec. 1969). Cover art by Adams and [[Tom Palmer (comics)|Tom Palmer]].]]
While continuing to freelance for DC, Adams in 1969 also began freelancing for [[Marvel Comics]], where he penciled several issues of the [[Mutant (Marvel Comics)|mutant]]-[[superhero]] team title ''[[Uncanny X-Men|X-Men]]'' and one story for a [[horror comics|horror]] anthology title.  The Marvel "[[Bullpen Bulletins]]" column of ''[[Fantastic Four (comic book)|Fantastic Four]]'' #87 (June 1969) described Adams as having "one foot planted in our Marvel doorway. We're guessing your ecstatic comments, when you see the way he illustrated our latest ''X-Men'' bombshell, will transform him into a Marvel madman from head to toe." Such freelancing across the two leading companies was rare at the time; most DC creators who did so worked pseudonymously.<ref>{{cite web|author-link=Mark Evanier|last=Evanier|first=Mark|url= http://www.newsfromme.com/iaq/iaq05/|title=An Incessantly Asked Question #5|publisher= P.O.V. Online (column)|date= April 14, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126083524/http://www.povonline.com/iaq/IAQ05.htm|archive-date =November 26, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> Adams recalled in 1976:

{{blockquote|The first time I got away from DC was when I went to Marvel to do the X-Men. It didn't stop me from working at DC; they were a little annoyed at me, but that was a calculated plan. ... If people saw that I would do such a thing, then other people might do it. Beyond that, it seemed like working for Marvel might be an interesting thing to do. It was, as matter of fact. I enjoyed working on the X-Men. [The company was] more friendly, a lot more real and I found myself delighting in the company of [[Herb Trimpe]], [[John Romita Sr.|John Romita]] and [[Marie Severin]]. I found them to be people who were not as oppressed as the people at [[DC Comics|National]] [i.e., DC Comics] were.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Neal Adams Treasury|last=Adams|first=Neal|publisher=Pure Imagination|year=1976|volume=1|location=Detroit, MI|page=12|asin=B0006WZB2E}}</ref>}}

He teamed with writer [[Roy Thomas]] on ''X-Men'', then on the verge of cancellation,<ref name=ss>{{cite web|author-link=Steve Stiles|last=Stiles|first=Steve|url=http://stevestiles.com/adams.htm |title=The Groundbreaking Neal Adams|date=n.d. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008040452/http://www.stevestiles.com/adams.htm | archive-date=October 8, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> starting with issue #56 (May 1969).<ref>{{cite journal|last = Schumer|first = Arlen|title = Neal Adams: The Marvel Years|journal = Comic Book Artist|issue = 3|publisher = TwoMorrows Publishing|date =Winter 1999|location= Raleigh, North Carolina|url = http://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/03adams.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110514004553/http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/03adams.html|archive-date= May 14, 2011|url-status=live|access-date = May 12, 2013}}</ref> Adams penciled, [[colorist|colored]], and, according to Thomas, did most of the plotting, including the entire plot for issue #65.<ref>{{cite news | last = O'Neill | first= Patrick Daniel | date = August 1993 | title = '60s Mutant Mania: The Original Team | work = [[Wizard (magazine)|Wizard]]: X-Men Turn Thirty | pages = 74–77}}</ref> In that issue, his final work on the series, Adams and writer [[Dennis O'Neil]], in one of that creative team's earliest collaborations,<ref name="GCDDennyNeal">{{cite web|url= http://www.comics.org/search/advanced/process/?target=sequence&method=icontains&logic=False&keywords=&order1=date&order2=series&order3=&start_date=&end_date=&title=&feature=&job_number=&pages=&pages_uncertain=&script=O%27Neil&pencils=Neal+Adams&inks=&colors=&letters=&story_editing=&genre=&characters=&synopsis=&reprint_notes=&story_reprinted=&notes=&pub_name=&country=us&pub_notes=&brand_group=&brand_emblem=&brand_notes=&indicia_publisher=&is_surrogate=&ind_pub_notes=&series=&series_year_began=&series_notes=&tracking_notes=&issue_count=&is_comics=&format=&color=&dimensions=&paper_stock=&binding=&publishing_format=&issues=&volume=&issue_title=&variant_name=&is_variant=&issue_date=&indicia_frequency=&price=&issue_pages=&issue_pages_uncertain=&issue_editing=&isbn=&barcode=&rating=&issue_notes=&issue_reprinted=&is_indexed=|title= Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams collaborations|date= n.d.|publisher= Grand Comics Database}}</ref> revived the [[Professor X]] character.<ref>{{cite book|last1 = Sanderson|first1 = Peter|author-link = Peter Sanderson|editor-last1= Gilbert |editor-first1= Laura |chapter= 1970s|title = Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History|publisher = [[Dorling Kindersley]]|year = 2008|location= London, United Kingdom|page = 145|isbn =978-0756641238|quote= Writer Dennis O'Neil revealed that it was not Xavier who had perished but a shape-shifter called the Changeling. ... This epic tale provided an appropriately grand finale for the work of legendary artist Neal Adams."}}</ref> While working on the series, Adams was paired for the first time with [[inker]] [[Tom Palmer (comics)|Tom Palmer]], with whom he would collaborate on several acclaimed Marvel comics; the duo's work here netted them [[Alley Award#1969|1969 Alley Award]]s for Best Pencil Artist and Best Inking Artist, respectively. Thomas won that year for Best Writer. Though the team failed to save the title, which ended its initial run with #66 (March 1970), the collaboration here and on the "[[Kree-Skrull War]]" arc of ''[[The Avengers (comic book)|The Avengers]]'' #93–97 (Nov. 1971 – May 1972) produced what comics historians regard as some of Marvel's creative highlights of the era.<ref>For example: Hill, Shawn, [http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/113999555670149.htm "''Essential Avengers'' v4" (review)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123125057/http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/113999555670149.htm |date=November 23, 2008 }}, ''Comics Bulletin'', February 15, 2006, re: the "Kree-Skrull War" arc: "This story set the standard for years to come, even if it has since been surpassed"; and Sanderson, Peter. ''Marvel Universe''. New York City: Harry N. Abrams, 1998, {{ISBN|978-0-8109-8171-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8109-8171-3}}, p. 127: "Running nine issues, much of it spectacularly illustrated by Neal Adams, the Kree-Skrull War had no precedent in comics. ... With this story ''The Avengers'' unquestionably established its reputation as one of Marvel's leading books"; and Stiles, Steve, [http://stevestiles.com/adams.htm "The Groundbreaking Neal Adams"], re: ''X-Men'': "Even knowing that the book was slated for the axe, Adams poured out some of the finest, most innovative work of his career".</ref><ref>{{cite book|last = Thomas|first = Roy|author-link = Roy Thomas|author2=Buscema, Sal|author3= Adams, Neal|author4-link = John Buscema|author4= Buscema, John|title = Avengers: The Kree-Skrull War|publisher = Marvel Comics|year = 2000|pages = 208|isbn = 978-0785107453|author2-link = Sal Buscema}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last = Daniels|first = Les|author-link = Les Daniels|title = Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics|publisher = [[Abrams Books|Harry N. Abrams]]|year = 1991|location= New York City|page = 150|isbn = 9780810938212|quote= This wild tale ... attempted to tie together more than thirty years of the company's stories ... More than any previous work, 'The Kree-Skrull War' solidified the idea that every comic book Marvel had ever published was part of an endless, ongoing saga.}}</ref><ref>Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 150: "Unprecedented in Marvel history, this epic spanned nine issues of ''The Avengers''. The saga began in ''The Avengers'' #89."</ref> Adams also wrote and penciled the horror story "One Hungers" in ''[[Tower of Shadows]]'' #2 (Dec. 1969), and co-wrote with Thomas, but did not draw, another in ''[[Chamber of Darkness]]'' #2 (Dec. 1969).<!--Note: ''Thor'' #180, his only collaboration with Stan Lee, was cover-dated September 1970; needs to go in later in chronology, with ''Avengers''. The Green Lantern/Green Arrow run comes in-between--> Thomas and Adams collaborated again along with scripter [[Gerry Conway]] and penciler [[Howard Chaykin]] to introduce the series "[[The War of the Worlds]]" and its central character, [[Killraven]], in ''[[Amazing Adventures]]'' vol. 2 #18 (May 1973).<ref>Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 159: "Roy Thomas conceived the initial idea of an alternate-future Earth sequel to H. G. Wells' classic science fiction novel ''The War of the Worlds'' ... Neal Adams plotted the first story with a script by Gerry Conway and art by Adams and Howard Chaykin."</ref>