May 28, 2010

Avengers # 156 cover

The character walking through the wall in yesterday's post reminded me of the Vision in one of my favorite Kirby covers from the 1970s. Avengers # 156 (1977). A scan of the original art is below it. Notice the box for the UPC barcode (with Jack's signature inside) is smaller than in the published version, so there is a little bit of extra artwork at the bottom. Also the "Dr. Doom" blurb bottom-center is gone -- maybe originally a paste-up that was removed by the owner of the artwork. But looking at the published cover closely, it looks like an extra inch was added at the bottom of the art, so maybe there is a stat somewhere that has the entire published image, including the blurb.

Here's an image of Jack's Vision almost 40 years earlier, from Marvel Mystery Comics #13 (Nov. 1940). Ironic that the only reason Kirby revisited the character was because he was assigned to do the 70s Avengers covers.