Wolverine #70 p15 & 16 splash of X-Men McNiven rough (The secret of Old Man Logan revealed!)

It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while, I'm in the right place at the right time. Such was the case here. Seen here is McNiven's rough for Wolverine #70 p15 and 16, showing the aftermath of Wolverine's fight with the "villains", which in fact were the X-men disguised by Mysterio's tricks. So, Wolverine is shocked to discover that he just slaughtered all his friends. The detail on this thing is awesome. I have never seen a more detailed rough; pictures really don't do it justice. "Old Man Logan" has had a lot of super cool pages, but I think this DPS may just be my favorite so far. Being a fan of Wolverine, the "Old Man Logan" storyline, Mysterio, and everybody dies pages, I'm thrilled to have this one! The page also includes a list of the character's present (which has been folded over by the artist, so it's not visible in this image). The list in the margin is: "1. Cyclops, 2. Colossus, 3.Psylocke, 4.Havok, 5. Gambit, 6. Nightcrawler, 7. White Queen, 8. Longshot, 9. Storm, 10. Cannonball, 11. Iceman, 12. Forge, 13. Beast." Interestingly, the White Queen appears alive and well later in the story, so the published art was slightly modified making the dead woman stabbed in the back, Polaris instead of the White Queen. This change was made at some point after the final original art was completed though, as the final art shows the White Queen. Additional changes from the rough to the final art include: Wolverine's shadow is more of an element in the rough than in the final, the rough features a broken picture frame on the wall below Beast, while the published art has only the wall, Beast's left hand is still partially attached in the rough and is missing entirely in the final art, the top half of the column on which Beast is impaled is present in the rough and missing in the published art, Gambit's right hand is still partially attached in the rough but has been severed completely in the final art and the title of the book on which Iceman's severed head is resting is visible in the rough ("Altered Carbon" by Richard Morgan, a book which also deals with a dystopian future). Other than that though, the rough is almost identical to the final art, which can be seen elsewhere in my gallery. Have I mentioned that I really like this piece? :- )