In this shot, it all flows together. Very nice.

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Eye of the beholder? I drew Scott here the same as I usually do.

+++++

So you were feeling pretty good on this day, eh JB?

Maybe it's because these are MY X-Men and Avengers from '78-80 vintage...but this commission has what feels like an extra-ordinary resonance for me. Great job.

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Thanks, but that would also be in the eye of the beholder.

I do find it fascinating, tho, what people can "read into" drawings.

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GUK!!

Side Note: What would be the earliest mention of parallel universes in the Marvel canon? I suppose on some levels the Negative Zone might count, altho that was originally called "sub-space" and Stan evidently forgot that the "negative zone" was the dome of black energy Maximum placed over Attilan. (Or maybe he just like the name better!)

I recall a story in which Ben Grimm found himself in a parallel world in which it was Reed Richards who had become the Thing, while that world's Ben had picked up the powers of both Mr. Fantastic AND the Human Torch. (Written by Archie Goodwin, but not one of his shining moments, imho. Just too much mangling of what I consider important "lore". And more would follow.)

There was also an Avengers story in which the team found themselves on a parallel Earth, and even wondered, upon "returning", if they had really found their way back to their starting point.

But what was the first? Strictly Marvel here, remember.

Leaving aside for the moment the possibility of such stories from the Atlas era, I believe the Squadron Supreme's first appearance in 1971 is the earliest established parallel world in Marvel's canon.

The Squadron Sinister predated them in 1969, but they were simple creations of the Grandmaster.

Going back further, Avengers Annual 2 established the first parallel timeline in 1968, introducing the Scarlet Centurion as an alternate version of Kang and Rama-Tut who encourages the earliest line-up of the Avengers to defeat all the other heroes and take over the world. He was later said to hail from the same world as the Squadron, if I'm not mistaken.

Getting back to this commission, I found the battle between Kurt and Wanda to be thematically appropriate as a witch versus a demon. Even though I knew of Nocturne's character, somehow I don't think I knew Wanda was her mother... Too weird. What's the connection there? They're both European mutants? Did they just happen to run into one another during that time in their lives when they were on the run, sort of the way Ororo just happened to run into T'Challa while crossing Africa as a teen?

I'm reminded of Wild Thing from the MC2 Universe whose father is Wolverine and, although she projects a psychic bladed weapon from the back of her hand just like Psylocke, her mother is Elektra... Wha...?

Very nice.

Love the match ups. My favorites are Wolverine vs The Vision and Captain America vs Cyclops. Great shot of the Beast trying to stop them.