MARVEL PREMIERE #48 unpublished COVER

As I recall, this was another cover that was rejected due to the fact that the hero was shown as defeated on the cover.  The E.I.C. really favored this character and wanted him to always be on the winning side of things, even though this particular scene actually appears in the story. Because of the cover deadline, while inking the interiors of this title, Dave Cockrum wound-up doing the published version.

MARVEL PREMIERE #47  COVER recreation

I convinced Gary Hart, one of my best art patrons and long-time fans, to allow me to recreate the original to the very first appearance of the Scott Lang Ant-Man A side note: few people know that John Byrne only contributed blue pencil layouts for me on those two issues. Even though John's layouts were tighter than most, it was a little daunting for the fledgling inker I was in those days.

IRON MAN #142 (First Space Armor) cover recreation

I always hated the printed version of this cover, mostly because the Dreaded Deadline Doom forced me to crank it out very quickly.  I didn't have the time to put everything I had into this very first, ever variant Iron Man armor.  So, I recently went back to it and created this version,  which I feel better reflects my original intent.

IRON MAN #225 VARIANT cover recreation

This Armor Wars cover was commissioned by Steven Berry of New Britain, CT.

He had the notion of having Iron Man tussling with the Titanium Man and the Crimson Dynamo as the main focus of the piece.  In some ways, I like it better than the published version. I really enjoyed creating this new version of that cover for him--since it was done as his birthday present.

THOR #356 COVER RECREATION

My ol' pal, Gary Hart of St Pete, FL , as part of a four cover commission deal I made with him, requested this recreation of a fill-in issue of Thor that Jackson Guice and I did for a vacationing Walt Simonson.

This particular cover was named by Wizard Magazine as one of the top 100 comic book covers of all time.

POWER MAN & IRON FIST #57 cover recreation

I've been very surprised that no one has asked me to do a recreation of Power Man & Iron Fist until this month.  I was not only was the cover artist on that series for quite a while, but I was actually slated, at one time, to take over the helm of the series as writer/inker with Denys Cowan as penciller. But, I never got a chance due to being drafted to fill-in on  Marvel's Secret Wars.

X-O MANOWAR #1  VARIANT  RECREATION

Once in a while, I like to do something that keeps the organic inking style that Barry Windsor-Smith taught me in form. In a moment of inspiration, I went back to the beginning and did this version of the very first X-O Manowar cover, utilizing that organic rendering technique.

GLADIATORS IN BATTLE

Daniel Serna is a HUGE ancient-history buff. So much so, that, the only TV he watches is the History,  A&E, and the Discovery Channel.
Being an aficionado of Roman gladiators, Daniel asked if I would consider a commission that wasn't "super-hero" in nature. Actually, I found the research for this drawing to be very informative. Thanks for giving me an opportunity to broaden my horizons, Dan.

IRON MAN #47 cover recreation

It's no secret that I consider Gil Kane to be one of my major influences and one of the greatest illustrators in comics history. As it just so happens, I started this recreation for a fan a few months ago, only to find that I had gotten the issue number of the cover he wanted wrong. Oops!

CHARLIE X'S ANGELS

As part of that four cover deal for my pal,  Gary Hart, he came up with this charming concept of doing a Charlie's Angels parody with the female members of the classic X-Men era.  I loved the idea and this is what I came up with.

AVENGERS #203 UNPUBLISHED SCRIPT

ALIEN BAR ROOM with HERCULES AND THOR

This was a fun (although time consuming) commission from my pal and boblayton.com regular letter writer, Larry Clay. He suggested some sort of contest between the God of Thunder and my boy, Herc. Here's what he got from me. By the way, for those of you who may be curious, Herc wins this bout of  arm wrestling.