Marie Severin: Proposed pencil cover for Marvel Comics' Francis, Brother of the Universe #1

I originally described this as a Marie Severin pencil prelim for the cover of Marvel Comics' Francis, Brother of the Universe #1 (a one-shot comic book published in 1980). But, upon further reflection, I decided this should be more accurately described as a proposed penciled cover that was rejected for whatever reason. The detail is certainly there, especially on the main Saint Francis figure, the wolf, the mandolin player, and even the figure sitting on the ground. This could have been easily inked and used for the published comic.

For whatever reason, Marvel had John Buscema re-do the cover, with Marie Severin inks (that duo also drew the comic's interior pages). And on the published version, this Saint-Francis-with-the-wolf image was apparently redrawn by someone for the upper left corner "Marvel Comics box." As much as I love John Buscema, I like this unpublished cover better. [The published cover image for this comic is included as an additional image.]

Note that Marie used part of the Man-Thing logo when mocking up this cover -- likely her sense of humor from someone who excelled at satire in Not Brand Echh and Crazy.