In working to track down a nice piece from Jae's X-Factor run, I also took the time to reexamine his run on Namor - and boy am I glad I did, as it helped unearth this baby!
I referenced this page when talking with Jae, and he said that while he didn't have it anymore, he knew who did, and could put me in touch with him. (An artist knowing where a page he sold is? This has NEVER happened to me before!) Some emails and math, and the rest was history.
Here we have a cover-quality splash of Doom in closeup that, in my mind, is reminiscent of the classic Daredevil 38 cover. Either way, this is one of the very best pages from Jae's first run as the regular artist of an ongoing series.
Sure, Doom is more of a FF vlilain - but the nice thing is, like all great mainstay villains from the Marvel U, he's crossed paths with the X-Men at least a couple times!
While a lot of people know Jae from his more recent work on books like Dark Tower (which I am also a fan of), I will always have a fond place in my heart for his work in this era. When Jae emerged at Marvel on superhero books, he brought a style unlike anything I'd ever seen before.
I am enormously grateful to previous owner for working out a deal with me on this stellar piece. It is a real jaw-dropper in person. Beyond that, this is without a doubt my favorite published Jae Lee image of all time.
There is a small finger-dent or something comparable in the top left corner of the black inked bar. Nothing that takes away from the piece in any discernible way, but I always try to note these things as a matter of record.
