Guardians of the Galaxy Issue #4 Cover Prelim and alternate unused cover designs

This was a spur of the moment purchase, but I am glad to have added it to my collection. I am guessing I will probably never own a published Guardians of the Galaxy cover by Arthur Adams. Additionally, I may never get an opportunity to acquire a comparable commission due to a range of factors. Thus, I figured this might just be the next best thing.

The art piece titles this as Cover #5, but it was not used for cover #5 and alternatively was used for cover #4. At the time of purchase, the prelim for cover #5 was also available but was listed as cover #4. Thus, it looks like there was a swap with these two covers after the layouts were submitted. Also, of note is the fact that cover A was the cover that was ultimately decided upon for issue #4.

I chose to pick this up for two reasons. First off, Groot and Rocket Raccoon made it onto the final published cover. With that being said, the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy for this series made it on the final cover as well. Secondly, was the fact that cover C looked like a decent rough prelim of Rocket Raccoon. I mean who wouldn’t want an Arthur Adams rendition of Rocket Raccoon aiming a gun at the viewer? I absolutely love it. Additionally, I can count myself lucky with two other alternative cover options as well. They were recently pointed out as great commission opportunities, which I plan to explore sometime down the road.

I totally understand that these are a little light due to the blue pencil and are a bit rough throughout most of the layouts. However, to me they are a piece of history and a connection to yet another Guardians of the Galaxy series I have yet to collect. Additionally, they represent Arthur Adams’ contributions to the bodies of work, which define the Guardians of the Galaxy. The evolutionary process of the characters, which my collection is meant to define. I am absolutely thrilled to own this.