Dazzler as Grace Jones by John Romita Jr.

According to Wikipedia:

"Dazzler was originally a project commissioned by Casablanca Records in the mid-to-late 1970s to be a cross-promotion in the mold of KISS, who had two successful comic book tie-in super-specials by the end of 1977. Marvel Comics would develop a singing superhero, while Casablanca would produce a singer. The two companies would then work with Filmworks and produce a tie-in motion picture; Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter wrote a treatment for the project.

The character was originally conceptualized as "The Disco Queen" with the power to make people tell the truth. Initially, no one wanted anything to do with the project. Marvel Comics appointed former Archie Comics writer Tom DeFalco to the character and he developed some changes to the character, namely suggesting light-based powers. Roger Stern conceived of the character's name, Dazzler, while John Romita, Jr. provided pencils."

"Artist John Romita, Jr. originally intended for the character to resemble model, actress, and singer Grace Jones, as seen in early depictions.However, representatives from Filmworks – wanting to promote model and actress Bo Derek – insisted on design changes to reflect Derek's features.

To promote Dazzler, Casablanca wanted it cross-promoted within several key Marvel Comics titles: The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man in particular[citation needed], with Dazzler debuting in The Uncanny X-Men because she was a mutant character. However, Casablanca continued to request conceptual changes to the character's appearance and personality, leading to several cancellations of the project. Eventually, Casablanca Records backed out of the Dazzler project altogether due to financial concerns. Marvel Comics, left with a much-publicized new character, decided to launch the project as a monthly series.

According to writer Tom DeFalco, Dazzler was canceled "five or six times" prior to its launch in March 1981. At the time, Marvel Comics was looking for other filmmakers to invest in a Dazzler cross-promotion. However, Jim Shooter and Stan Lee decided to launch the series without such a partnership because of their "faith in the character.""

Stan The Man

Scott Edelman's blog has some detailed character descriptions believed to be written by Stan Lee in the 1970's.  Scott was an assistant editor at Marvel Comics at the time, and he did print these in an issue of FOOM.  For more information, check out his post: http://www.scottedelman.com/2012/02/11/did-stan-lee-think-cyclops-should-sound-like-anthony-perkins/

Apologies for the scans, but with my secretary on vacation, I was unable to provide a transcript.  However, you can click on the image for a larger version.  Also, I know how much my readers appreciate rare X-Men art, so I have included a dose of John Romita Sr. to keep you from going through withdrawl symptoms.

Citizen Cain

Professor H has traveled in his wayback machine all the way to 1965 to bring us this glimpse of the Juggernaut's original design by Jack Kirby and Alex Toth.  

The image was found in blue line under the original art.  Alex Toth used blue line pencils while Kirby usually did not, so it's unclear who actually came up with the final design for Juggernaut.  The article accompanying the image also mentions that the notes on the border of the artwork imply that Kirby intended to have Juggernaut be the one to cripple Professor X.  Kirby didn't yet realize that Stan had revealed that Lucifer crippled Professor X just three issues earlier, since that apparently wasn't part of Kirby's original plot for that issue.  Juggernaut's real name, Cain Marko, was most likely an allusion to the biblical Cain who invented murder by killing his own brother.

The complete article appears at the Kirby Museum:

http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/effect/the-best-laid-out-plans/

And as always, Professor H's marvelous wayback machine can be accessed via the link that follows:

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/