Colossus by Art Adams

You can just make out some of the changes from the original sketch in this inked Colossus drawing by Art Adams.  From Marvel Comics of the 1980's.

http://marvel1980s.blogspot.com/2013/09/1987-x-men-sketches-by-art-adams.html

Rick Leonardi Week - New Mutants 38

James Henry, a fellow connoisseur of unpublished X-Men art, was kind enough to send this scan of his recently acquired New Mutants 38 cover art.  This cover by Rick Leonardi and Bill Sienkiewicz is similar in concept to the published cover by Art Adams.  Along with the published cover, I've included the cover art for New X-Men 27 by Paco Medina - a homage to the original.

Hulk 181 Commissions

Here are a few artist commissions for The Incredible Hulk #181, starting with Art Adams:

This commission by John Byrne also has a color version:

Here's a fairly straightforward reproduction of the original by Herb Trimpe:

And finally, this sketch cover for Wolverine #1 features Herb Trimpe doing a homage to Incredible Hulk #181 and #340 at the same time!

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Although it's not unpublished, this Art Adams X-Factor cover was only used on Overstreet's price update, and I'm willing to bet not many people have seen it before.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

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.

Unused X-Men Movie Script

Marvel had been trying to produce an X-Men movie for many years before the film finally reached theaters.  There are many unused scripts out there, including this one by Andrew Kevin Walker, who worked on Se7en and Fight Club.

http://www.moviescriptsource.com/movie-script.php?id=1

X-Men Movie Special cover by Art Adams

Merry X-Mas!

Happy Holidays to all the readers of Unpublished X-Men!  Today we bring to your attention Marvel Holiday Special #1 from 1991, which featured a short story by Scott Lobdell and the late, great Dave Cockrum.  The best part is that this story leads directly into the splash page for the now classic Uncanny X-Men #98 by Cockrum and Claremont!

Marvel Holiday Special also features a cover by Art Adams, also posted for your holiday enjoyment.

Classic X-Men Week - Art Adams

Here's an interesting look at the evolution of a cover:  The original version of Classic X-Men #1 by Art Adams.

The prelim sketch below was credited to John Romita.  Was he teaching Art how to tighten up his layout?

Below is Adams' second prelim, based on John Romita's poses, perhaps.

And here we have the final Classic cover!

Along with a recolored version.

Finally, we have a recent commission showing how Adams would attack this composition today!

Most of the images come from Marvel Comics of the 1980s:

http://marvel1980s.blogspot.com/2010/09/1986-classic-x-men-covers.html

Wolverine by Art Adams

'Nuff Said

Rarity Wednesday 3 - Art Adams

This is just an awesome rendition of the X-Men by Art Adams!  'Nuff Said!

All New, All Different...

Welcome to The Unpublished X-Men, a collection of rare X-Men art.  While this site will feature a lot of unpublished material, it will also show promotional art, commissions and material not published in the main X-Men books.  I had planned on starting with Giant-Size X-Men #1 from 1975, and working my way forward, backward, and sideways throughout the history of the X-men.  To begin with, I would like to feature a number of covers based on the design of Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum's popular cover:

Here's the original iconic design by Gil and Dave.

This What If? cover turns the formula around by featuring the original team.

This Marvel Age cover does the same, but they left out Jean Grey,

since her return from the dead was supposed to be a big surprise

for X-Factor #1.  Note the costume designs, which would change

before that issue came out.

Uncanny X-Men Annual #10 featured Art Adams designs for the

New Mutants, who had to come to the rescue of the X-Men.

Uncanny X-Men 254 by Jim Lee featured the X-Men supporting cast defending Muir Island from the Reavers.

Excalibur 45 shows the Technet as the "N-Men" by Alan Davis.

X-Men 45 by Andy Kubert shows the X-Babies reinvented for the 90's.

This Carlos Pacheco cover shows the new mutants who joined

the team all to briefly in X-Men 70.

X-Statix #1 by Peter Milligan shows old and new members of the ever changing roster.

X-Men Deadly Genesis by Marc Silvestri shows the team of

Giant-Size X-Men #1 as skeletons, an eerie foreshadowing of

the story of Professor Xavier's recruiting a new team of X-Men 

who were destined to die.

Giant-Size X-Men #3 by Dave Cockrum and John Cassaday, sadly,

may be Dave's last X-Men work.  After Dave did this cover, he 

became too sick to complete the interior story.  That story was

 completed by Neal Adams out of respect for Dave.

X-Men Legacy 233 has a comical Deadpool variant cover.

The cover of the Uncanny X-Men Omnibus features a painted version of the original cover by John Watson.

Astonishing X-Men 32 gives us a Marvel Superhero Squad

variant cover.

X-Men Giant-Size shows the very first X-Men in their original

costumes.  The story takes place in the past and the present.

Giant-Size Defenders #1 may be the only cover on this list not X-Men related.  There are many other covers and parodies of the original cover, and they will be featured in later posts.  For now, I've concentrated on covers produced by Marvel Comics.  Add a comment if you know of any that I've missed!