Paul Smith (born September 4, 1953) is an American comic book artist, known for his work on The Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, American Flagg!, Nexus, GrimJack and his creator-owned book, Leave It to Chance. During his 1983 run on The Uncanny X-Men, Smith's work on issue 173 of that series would prove influential in two ways: It featured the debut of the punk look for the X-Men leader Storm, and Smith's cover of that issue would influence both a latter comic book cover and a best-selling poster and retailer standee by artist Arthur Adams. Early life Smith was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but only lived there three days. His father was a U.S. Naval aviator, and the family moved several times during his childhood. As a young comics fan, Smith particularly admired the work of Steve Ditko on The Amazing Spider-Man and Neal Adams on Batman. Career Smith had no formal art training aside from some courses in airbrushing. He began his career as an animation artist on Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings. In the early 1980s, he filled in on a variety of Marvel Comics titles, including Marvel Fanfare #4, cover dated September 1982, doing the final chapter of an X-Men story. He became the regular artist on Doctor Strange starting with issue #56, cover dated December 1982, but left after just two issues so that he could work on The Uncanny X-Men. Marvel entered into an agreement with Smith for him to take over the art duties from Dave Cockrum on The Uncanny X-Men, then the biggest selling US comics series, for one year. Smith had emigrated to the East Coast with dreams of drawing Spider-Man and Conan, and realized that his performance on X-Men would determine the future of his career. During his run on the series, which lasted from issue #165 – #175, he designed the punk look, complete with black leather outfit and mohawk haircut, for the X-Men leader Storm that debuted in Uncanny X-Men #173 (October 1983). The change in appearance was inspired by the decision of colleague Walt Simonson to shave off his beard and mustache while on vacation with his wife, X-Men editor Louise Simonson. Upon their return, Simonson's daughter, Julie, upset at her father's new appearance, ran from the room, a reaction that would be mirrored in X-Man Kitty Pryde's reaction to Storm's new appearance. When the book's editors