Fantastic Four 71 Unused Cover Mock-up

Pen and ink on 12 x 16 bristol board, inked with a Hunt 102 nib, brush, and Rapidograph pens over light-boxed pencils. Digital color using the vintage Marvel palette from the 1960s. To view more examples of my work, please visit: jefftamplin.com

Does anyone have any ideas on why Stan Lee rejected Kirby's seemingly superior cover pencils for FF 71 and used pasted-up stats instead? Was it too similar to the previous issue's cover, with a large central image of the android? Did he think sales would be lower if readers confused it with the previous issue? Or was the background too distracting because it interfered with the title logo? I lightened up the Kirby dots in the title area to reduce competition with the background. They may have used a different blurb if not using the stat cover, but I put it on anyway to maintain consistency with the published version. The story title is, "...So It Ends..." but Marvel often used different blurbs on the cover from the story title during this era.