Rachel Summers Phoenix - Alan Davis

You can't be everywhere at once at a convention, and that's always the harshest reality at the opening rush. I missed out on all of the good prelims last time Alan was in Baltimore, and unfortunately that happened again this time. Completely my choice/fault, you roll the dice and prioritize what booth you want to hit first. However, this time I was able to get into one of Alan's sketching sessions, thankfully.

I really respect and appreciate that Alan sticks to these straightforward headshots in pencil so that he can satisfy as many fans as possible. I'm sure there would be more revenue maximizing options for him, but I appreciate that he prioritizes pleasing as many folks as possible.

Excalibur was a huge book for me when I first started reading comics. I started with the Cockrum/Byrne reprints in Classic X-Men and after several months of that I continued reading Classic but also started picking up Uncanny. The difference was shocking at the time, I still liked Uncanny but I wanted to see my friends Nightcrawler and Kitty, and the LCS owner directed me to Excalibur and I stuck with it for close to a decade I suppose.

I love all of the original core members equally, but opted for Rachel. Hopefully I can complete the set over time! It was a real pleasure getting to sit with Alan for a while and watch him put this sketch together, and he shared a story about the design of the classic red leather costume. Thanks also to Paul for being an excellent helper to Alan and the fans, and for making the line go smoothly and for the pleasant chat while we were in queue.