Uncanny X-Men #138 page 18 (unused/deleted page commission)

Uncanny X-Men #138 page 18 (canceled/deleted/unpublished original version homage)

Asked my friend Scott Barnett for this commission as a recreation/homage of what would have been the original ending of #138, had Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin been allowed to publish their original ending to the Dark Phoenix Saga!

This page resonates with me for several reasons, including the fact that it was the intended original ending of one of the best stories in comics, the revelation of Logan’s feelings, the fact that it’s the only (few?) example of Byrne’s finished pencils or the mystery of the cut original art (until I found out why).

Scott took Byrne's original pencils’ scan as a blue line print, did his best Terry Austin homage on the inks and lettered it based on the notes in the margin from Byrne (I just added the 2 narration captions as I felt it would need to have Scott finish what he was telling from the previous pages; but being the opposite of the way he was feeling in #94 when Jean first left). The attention to detail from Scott is amazing, all the way to the clean version of the Austin panels, the clever edit in the first caption of those panels or the blue lines of the art board added to the bottom of the page.

Here are the proper credits for the page:
Panels 1 thru 5
Pencils- John Byrne (blue lines)
Inks, lettering- Scott Barnett
Script- João Vilela, Scott Barnett.

Panels 6 thru 8 (all printed on the board)
Pencils- John Byrne
Inks- Terry Austin
Lettering- Scott Barnett (Sorry, Tom O.)
Script- Chris Claremont

And thanks to Ferran Delgado, for the research on the whole matter.