Classic X-Men 111

This pinup appeared as the last page of the last issue of Classic X-Men.  If the next issue had been published, it would have reprinted Uncanny X-Men #207, which included this battle between Wolverine and Phoenix over the fate of the Black Queen.  The Terry Dodson art below was most likely intended to be the cover for what would have been Classic X-Men #111.

Vintage Rogue

Art Adams, circa 1991

Art Adams X-Factor

Although it's not unpublished, this Art Adams X-Factor cover was only used on Overstreet's price update, and I'm willing to bet not many people have seen it before.  

Color art from Mycomicshop.com:

http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=171811

The Hall of the Shadow King

I think it's safe to assume this unfinished piece by Art Adams was intended to be the frontispiece for Classic X-Men 23.  The printed version is included below for comparison.

Polaris

Polaris commission by Neal Adams.

Fourth Line-Up

Kirk Jarvinen and Josef Rubinstein did this version of the X-Men for The Marvel Universe Masterworks Edition.

Uncanny 2000

Enrique Breccia produced two versions of the cover to Uncanny X-men 2000 before the final painted version.

Number One by John Byrne

John Byrne has done several versions of X-Men #1.  The first features the Original X-Men as they appeared when he drew the title, while the second is a version of the original cover if viewed from a different angle.  I've also included a color version of the second commission.

Number One Revisited

Here's a look at some Non-Marvel homages to X-Men #1, starting with IDW's Transformers #12.

This FF version is by Mike Allred.

Mikey Zou did this painted version.

Dan Scanlon did this minimalist version for the Covered Blog:

http://coveredblog.blogspot.com/

Finally, a Harry Potter mashup by Blair:

http://drawblairdraw.tumblr.com/post/948398278

Number One

This week we'll be paying homage to the image that started it all, the classic X-Men #1 by showing art and homages published by Marvel.  First we have the original cover by Kirby and Sol Brodsky.  Sol is also attributed as the logo designer. (The art shown here is from Marvel Masterworks.)

Note the grass in the background and the lines coming from Marvel Girl's head.  While these were removed from the final cover of X-Men #1, they were left on the art stat used for this reprint.

Alex Ross did a painted version for X-Men Omnibus #1.

Dave Cockrum did the first homage cover when the All-New X-Men met Magneto.

And finally, Art Adams and Al Williamson paid homage to the homage when Classic X-Men #12 reprinted X-Men 104.

I also wanted to add that the Marvel Milestone Edition featured the reprinted version of the cover with the grass in the background, as well as lighter colored stripes on Magneto's force field.

JG by JML

Joseph Michael Linsner's version of Jean Grey.

X-Men Classics

Some time ago, I asked readers to name X-Men works by Mike Zeck.  Nobody guessed the correct answer, but I'll be featuring the covers to X-Men Classics anyway!  This was issue #1 of a three issue series that reprinted Neal Adams classic X-Men run with new covers and front pages by Zeck.

What If Magneto Formed The X-Men?

While still working on Uncanny X-Men Chris Claremont and John Byrne came up with an idea for a new story:  What if Magneto Had Formed The Original X-Men?  While this issue was never produced, several pages of character sketches exist.  However, John Byrne has just completed a commission of what the cover might have looked like!

The first page of the issue, a tribute to X-Men #1, was completed.

Jean Grey's codename was Psyke.  Dani Moonstar of the New Mutants originally had the codename Psyche.

While Cyclops is unchanged here, other sketches have different versions of the visor.  Jean Grey's costume is also slightly different here.

Beast had arm gauntlets with retractable claws, and Archangel was to have a flaming sword.  Angel's name would be changed to Archangel later in X-Factor.

 Both Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were to be part of this team.

The Photoshopped  image below was going to be the cover piece for this article until John Byrne came to the rescue with the excellent commission at the top of the page.

For more information about this story, check out John Byrne's Forum:

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43669&PN=1&totPosts=103