Analyzing Arthur Adams’ Classic X-Men #1 Cover

in All That's Awesome/Comic Books/Entertainment/Inspirations/News & Rants

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a fan of comic book artwork. One of my favorite comic book covers of all time is Classic X-Men #1 by Arthur Adams. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I learned about the history behind this timeless comic artwork by Art Adams. It turns out that the classic art that we all know and love was not the first draft for the cover. Below is the initial image that Arthur Adams had created for Classic X-Men #1

Arthur Adams - Classic X-Men sketch 1

Rumor has it that, after showing the initial draft to John Romita Sr, John Romita suggested that he make the group dynamic tighter by getting eveyrbody closer together. This lead to the following sketch from John Romita Sr:

Classic-X-Men-John-Romita-Sr-sketch

Art Adams reworked the sketch and produced the second sketch, which would be used to create the final cover for Classic X-Men #1 and the rest is history. Below is the second sketch along with the final artwork for Classic X-Men #1:

Arthur Adams - Classic X-Men sketch 2

Arthur Adams - Classic X-Men sketch 2a

Arthur Adams - Classic X-Men final

Classic X-Men #1 - Adams - recoloured

What’s even more amazing is that Art Adams went back to this classic piece of Marvel history and redrew the cover the way he would have done it now. Now, don’t get me wrong, the new art is nice but nothing tops the original work. Check out the reworked art below along with Ron Lim’s take on this classic piece or art.

Arthur Adams - Classic X-Men final remastered 2012

Ron Lim - Classic X-Men sketch

Mifty Yusuf is a Montreal-based software developer who enjoys playing with new web technologies as well as comic books and illustrations. He beleives that, no matter what the question is, the answer is always Batman!

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