"The Uncanny P-Men" ("X-2: X-Men United")
I remember when the realization first dawned on me: July 2nd, 2002.
A few months prior Tony and I received an e-mail from Marvel Comics regarding a picture I drew of Plight with "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends". Unfortunately, the letter was a cease and desist; although an extremely friendly and complimentary one. And while Marvel only took issue with the illustration itself, my amigo and I agreed on a self-imposed mandate to avoid any future legal troubles. No more drawings of Plight with Marvel characters ever again. A bit of a bummer but on the bright side, our decision would challenge us creatively.
Which brings us back to July 2nd, 2002. Tony, his better half, his darling kid, and I were catching an afternoon showing of "Men in Black 2". We arrived in plenty of time to watch the previews beforehand and one of the trailers happened to be for "The Hulk". Now, I had seen the promo before, so I was more concerned about the little kid sitting next to me being scared. But then it hit me. "The Hulk" was a Marvel Comics character. So was "Daredevil" as were the "X-Men". And all three at the time were scheduled to be released the following summer.
So, if you want to know when plans began on the 2003 gallery, the answer is when we still in the middle of the 2002 gallery.
After some brainstorming and our new mandate, Tony came up with the idea of a homage to the cover of the revamped "X-Men # 1" by Jim Lee. The only problem is the cover was in fact five different covers which formed one giant piece featuring two dozen characters. I made a few attempts with his suggestion, but it was obvious early on I couldn't pull it off. However, I liked the idea of a cover homage, and it had been a couple of years since I last tried doing one (ironically to "Daredevil #1"). So, I chose to start at the very beginning: the original "X-Men # 1" cover done in the late 1960's by the king of comics himself, Jack Kirby.
For years afterwards we half-expected another letter from Marvel Comics accusing us of something ridiculous like ripping off the Kirby estate or plagiarizing their copyrighted layout. Yes, we were naïve. But can you blame us for being paranoid? After all, it was our first cease and desist letter. - Jake