Comic Box 47 cover by Ed Mcguinness

A fantastic bad (pun intended) cover to the now defunct French magazine on comics which I loved (think French Wizard with less vapid hype or fabricated inflation and more true content).

This cover was exclusively pencilled by superstar Ed McGuinness for the cover of issue 47 (2007).

When it popped for sale at auction, I was excited and knew I would do my best to go for it. To my surprise, not only did I score it but for much less than I had anticipated an Ed McGuinness cover would go for in nowadays market. The description was vague as the seller didn’t know what it was used for (if at all) and my educated guess is that all the usual flippers (hi guys!) couldn’t verify it either (and mentally went with “unpublished” and/or “commission”). Delighted to have been at the right place and right time for this one ^^.

Now about the artistic merit of the piece.

First, Marvel’s first family is here and complete. My intuition is that the general idea is that this scene happens somewhere at the end of FF 55 when all four were worried for poor Norrin.

Ed has always drawn a fantastic Thing and this is no exception despite his not so dynamic position. Either Ben is worried or mumbling from his fight with the Surfer which would explain his stance and somewhat bummer face (he was also strongly scolded by Reed for the fight). Then Reed is obviously concerned about their new friend. Only he with his incredible intellect better understands his predicament. Sue seems the less affected here and Torch is ready to fight if needed as his youth would dictate (btw I also find that Ed draws a really great Torch).

The main incentive is the super dynamic Surfer who truly steals the show here. The tilted angle and over the top body position on his surf as he is soaring are excellent. Then there is a true sense of depth and height when we (unconsciously) compare him with the backgrounds. I find that Ed paid a great nod to Buscema’s version while remaining true to his own cartoony and muscular style.

Finally we have the super detailed NYC backgrounds (with the bonus of the Baxter building on which the FF are standing?) something we have not seen Ed draws too often.

And the pure pencil are a treasure of precision. I don’t know if Ed knew the piece would be shot and published from the pencils. Or if in contrary that’s because he didn’t know if it would be inked or not that they are this precise but they are splendid to contemplate in person.

In the end I’m delighted to have found another Mcguinness cover for the collection.

This is day 4 of my 2021 CAF b-day party.