Uncanny X-Men 173 Redux

Here's a modern day take on the classic cover for Uncanny X-Men, by the original artist Paul Smith.

Adam Hughes Homage to Uncanny X-Men 173

Here's Adam Hughes' cover for the X-Men Classic reprint of Uncanny X-Men 173, with Rogue out in front, and Wolverine behind.

Uncanny X-Men 173 Week

Here's an unused cover sketch for Uncanny X-Men #173 by Paul Smith.

Update:  Gerry Turnbull has informed me that this piece is a convention sketch, and not an unused cover!

And here's the final cover that saw print.

Wolverine by Art Adams

'Nuff Said

Crystar

Crystar was a short lived comic in the early 1980's, with great covers by Michael Golden.  This issue featured Nightcrawler accidentally teleporting to the world of Crystar in an attempt to boost sales.

The Unpublished X-Men Logos

Comic book letterer and logo designer extraordinaire Todd Klein has a fascinating blog about comic book logos.  Here is a preview of my favorite of the many unused logos designed by Rian Hughes in 2006.  Ultimately, Marvel decided to use a logo more in line with Jim Steranko's classic design.

(Note that the issue number and creative team don't actually correspond with the cover art for Uncanny X-Men 477.)

Here are links to Todd Klein's entire series of articles on X-Men Logos:

(The above logo can be found here in part 9)

X-MEN Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Update

Also, you can check out his blog for many more discussions about logos, comics, and life in general!:

http://kleinletters.com/Blog/

Gene Colan

Here's a rare treat!  This X-Men print by the late, great Gene Colan represents one of the few times he drew the X-Men.  The image is courtesy of Giant-Size Geek:

http://www.giantsizegeek.com/2011/06/gene-colan-commissions-flash-wonder.html

Not Brand Echh

Not Brand Echh was Marvel's humor magazine during the late 1960's, publishing satires of Marvel Heroes as well as the Distinguished Competition.  Tom Sutton is believed to be the cover artist.

Dave Cockrum Addendum

Apologies for the lack of posts in the last week, but many alternate realities interfered with my time in this universe!  However, here's a look at another character design from Dave Cockrum that was destined to be excluded from the X-Men!  According to the blog for Sean Howe's book: "Marvel Comics: The Untold Story", Silkie was originally intended to be introduced as a new X-Man in issue #150.  However, Dave Cockrum ultimately decided to retain ownership of his latest character designs, and Silkie would debut several years later in his creator owned Graphic Novel: "The Futurians".

You can check out Sean Howe's blog here:

http://seanhowe.tumblr.com/

And for more information on The Futurians, take a look at this site:

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/f/futurian.htm