JB,
I just stumbled across this file on the net and I'm wondering if you could shed some light on it for me. This is what the owner says:

"This is John Byrne's original pencil and inked version of the Cover to X-Men # 113 circa 1978. This was John's first attempt at an X-Men Cover. There are noticeable differences in character placement from the published version. The published version was penciled by John and inked by Bob Layton"

Is this true? I find it strange you would ink a piece so close to the original and it be rejected.



Best,
Simon

I was snet a sketch on which the X-Men were tiny, so I made them bigger. Shooter went thru the roof. "Never change the sketches!!" He made me redraw the cover as published.

A while later I was sent a MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE cover sketch that was dull and boring, but I drew it as it was. Shooter gave it to Walt Simonson to ink, and took great delight in point out to me all the changes Walt made to "improve" my dull and boring version.

Sure hope no one expects to sell the version above, tho. Not now it's been raped by whoever inked it.

I'm glad that wasn't your inks. Look at Cyclops. Ugh...

Thanks for setting the record straight!

Cheers,

Simon

Boy! I'm glad JB wrote something about that being inked by someone else! I was going to say that it looked like afake before he pointed that out.

But, I do think JB's initial idea to make the characters larger makes more sense.

One of my all-time favorite comic covers .. simply brilliant. Don't know who owns that piece that kicked off this thread .. but I thought you guys would get a kick out of seeing the final original cover art .. it's owned by a buddy of mine who has it displayed in his Lowry Gallery at comicmuseum.org ...



http://www.comicartmuseum.org/comicart/cal-display.asp?LowryMemberID=888&LowryGalleryID=4745


Mike

Looking at that lineup it's difficult to imagine that team being beaten too often. What a bunch of powerhouses. I need to track down some more of those old stories...

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You are a god among insects. Never let anyone tell you different.

Looking at that lineup it's difficult to imagine that team being beaten too often. What a bunch of powerhouses. I need to track down some more of those old stories...

********

You invoke here a dim echo of one of the most frustrating things Chris and I used to encounter from the fans. We'd do a story in which the heroes get whupped by the badguy, then rally and clean his clock for him. Invariably the mail in response to the first half would be "Hey! Howcum So-and-So beat the X-Men? I thought they were tough!" Then could come the response to the second half: "So the X-Men beat So-and-So? Guess he wasn't so tough after all."


AHHH-RRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!