X-Men No. 137 Cover by Byrne & Austin

It had been an incredible run, making stars of Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin. The trio had first worked together on a memorable Star-Lord tale in Marvel Preview No. 11, but it’s X-Men they’re most remembered for. No. 137 is a standout issue in a standout series, and there’s been controversy about it ever since it came out due to the editorial battle between the book’s creative team and then-editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. The creative team wanted Phoenix to live, Shooter made sure she died.

The cover is one of the most iconic in the series, but – holy crap – whoever came up with the marketing banner THIS MARVEL® COMIC COULD BE WORTH $2500 TO YOU (DETAILS INSIDE) should have been shot then, and over and over again on the anniversary of this book coming out.

The most-important cover of this run, and its thunder was stolen by a big-ass shitty cover line. Fans have never forgotten.

Thankfully, I finally came across a scan of the original art, and I’m pretty damn happy about being able to work with this one – the only issue of X-Men I ever bought off the newsstand. And it was because of the cover.

As published

Scan found on the web

Contrast adjusted, bleeds extended and UPC box removed

Re-created trade dress (minus that freaking huge marketing banner) added

Original colour re-created

New colour version