Silver Age X-Men Watercolor by Colleen Coover (2011)

A self-professed comic nerd – she knows Tigra’s real name (Greer Grant), the Golden Age Green Lantern’s one weakness (wood), and the first appearance of Machine Man (2001: A Space Odyssey #8) – Colleen Coover has won the hearts of Marvel Comics fans with her work on featurettes in many of the publisher’s key titles.

Colleen’s art in X-Men: First Class and King-Size Spider-Man Summer Special #1 initially caught my attention and I was thrilled to find her work in more and more Marvel titles over time. She has a cartoony style with clean lines, expressive faces, and great energy that is perfect for the character-driven, interpersonal stories that she draws.

Colleen’s stories at the end of issues of X-Men: First Class were my favorites, so I was very pleased that she was willing to accept a commission of the X-Men. I asked her for a “class portrait” of the Silver Age team in costume and I’m thrilled with the finished product in ink and watercolors. Hopefully she’ll be up for more in the future!