15 different artists from around the world have come together to recreate Jim Lee's X-Men #1 iconic cover. However, this homage has a bit of a twist to it. Instead of seeing your familiar 90s X-Men lineup like Wolverine, Cyclops, and Rogue up against the classic X-Men villain, Magneto, these artists decided it's time to let the "D-Listers" have their time to shine.
Artists Jamie Fay and Art of Lucas, who have collaborated in the past, pondered about collaborating once again. They wanted to do something much bigger this time around. Much like how Professor X recruited his new team of X-Men, using the powers of social media -- not telepathy, they recruited artists from around the world to participate. "We each chose a 'D-List' character that resonated with us and added them to the composition," revealed Fay. Artists chose X-Men characters like Joseph (Magneto's infamous clone), Hope, Doop, Maggott, and really scrapped the bottom of the barrel with the likes of Beak and Stacy X.
When it came to who they were going to go up against, they left it up to fans to decide. "We conducted a poll to determine which formidable adversary they would confront. To our delight, Mojo emerged as the clear winner, magnificently illustrated by Joel Furtado," Fay said. What better villain to go up against "D-List" characters than the D-List-iest X-Men villain there is, Mojo.
Amongst the artists involved is Marvel and DC Comics illustrator Luciano Vecchio. "This was a fun experiment. I did my part while House of X/Powers of X was being released, so I replaced Gay Icon Iceman with Rictor, itching to draw the costume only shown on previews back then. How I dared calling him 'D-List,'" Vecchio professed. You can also see Vecchio's work in the recent X-Men: Hellfire Gala issue.
"This piece would not have happened without Marcus Odoms who unifed our individual styles with his magnificent colors, " Art of Lucas admitted. Odoms was sent each artist's lines of their characters, and was tasked with laying them all out, adding lines for the background, and coloring the whole piece himself. He made sure each individual character popped, while also making sure it all flowed together.
Credit of artists:
1. Hope by Kyle Petchock
2. Joseph by Chahine Ladjouze
3. Beak by Gwen Cox
4. Doop by Nate Xopher
5. Shark Girl by Corn
6. Maggott by Art of Lucas
7. Meggan by Danielle St. Pierre
8. Dr. Cecilia Reyes
9. Stacy X by Jamie Fay
10. Rictor by Luciano Vecchio
11. Marrot by Matt Skipworth
12. Feral by Chris Willaims with inks by Jake Isenberg
13. Mojo by Joel Furtado
14. Background and colors by Marcus Odoms
This was recently completed just in time to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the X-Men. Though, X-Men fans probably won't see these characters headlining the next X-Men comic or star in an episode of X-Men '97, it's still good to see these characters get some spotlight. Tap the source to see the completed work.