As I’ve shared before, back in the late ’70s I wrote many 5- and 6-page back-up features for Marvel Comics. And as I’ve also shared before, I’ve recently been uncovering photocopies of ancient original art, some of which I’d even forgotten existed.

But today I get to combine the two!

Going through a box of papers, I discovered fading photocopies of pencils by one artist for a back-up story that was published as drawn by a second artist—and I had no memory of why this duplicate take on the tale had been created. You can compare the two versions below.

On the left, the published version of “The Coming of Captain Avenger” from Captain America #221 (May 1978) as drawn by Steve Leialoha (penciller) and Al Gordon (inker). On the right, the same story as pencilled by Mark Rice. [Click on any image several times to view at a more legible size.] It’s interesting to see the different ways in which the plot was attacked.

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