Among the hyperbolic winners in our comic group's informal chat sessions: best comic with the worst cover. As opposed to many issues of Rom: Space night that had great covers and regrettable interiors, or plenty of other issues with solid interesting Cockrum covers and, again, generic interiors.
#1 on the list, always, was Avengers Annual #10, the utter tour de force from Michael Golden and Armando Gil, a comic where, literally, every page was a stunner and a new lesson in how to do Marvel comics. Introducing Maddy Pryor and Rogue, it turned into a lynch pin of understanding the New X-men as well. Amazing. And it was saddled with this cover.
Don't get me wrong, I love Al Milgrom. As I've said, he was one of the two biggest influences on my inking and it is to my current regret that i've not met him in person to thank him. But this was not his best work. It honestly looks like something knocked out at the last minute in the office when another cover didn't work and the deadline was, well, passed most likely.So I've honestly no idea where this piece came from, other than it might be a commission by a fan for Golden to do what would have been his take on the cover. The style says to me that its fairly recent, but your could try to convince me otherwise. Either way, its beautiful, and i'm psyched that someone went to the trouble to get the correct trade dress for the art. Enjoy the comic that might have been.
