Original X-Men Artwork Of The Summers Family’s Defining Tragedy Is Already Worth More Than Anyone Predicted
If The Fantastic Four is Marvel’s first family, then the Summers’ are definitely X-Men’s first family. Scott and Jean are already the power couple of the Xavier’s Institute, and then you have the future soldier himself, Cable, and his daughter Hope. Apart from the core family, there’s also Cyclops’ brothers Havok and Vulcan, and Jean’s clone Madelyne Pryor. And don’t even get me started on the alternate reality family. It’s safe to say that the Summers’ are a generational X-Men family.
However, things are never easy for them. Scott and Jean had to send their son away to the future for his own safety, where he grew up under the tyrannical rule of Apocalypse and became Cable. Then came the part where Scott couldn’t tell apart Jean and Madelyne, and you can bet that didn’t go down well either. However, this series of generational tragedies can be traced back to one particular moment in Uncanny X-Men #156, where Cyclops learns about what happened to his parents.
Original Art Of Cyclops’ Family Tragedy Is Going For A Surprisingly Large Amount
Over on Hake’s Auctions, the original artwork of the panels where Scott learns of what happened to his parents is currently going for $2,469. As fans will know, his father is Christopher Summers, a.k.a. Corsair, leader of the Starjammers. In the panels, he tells Scott about how the family came under fire by a Shi’ar vessel during a routine flight, prompting his parents to push Scott and Alex out the plane with the only parachute. With no word from them for years, the brothers assumed their parents were dead, until Christopher returned as Corsair.
While it is one of the defining moments in the Summers family’s long list of tragedies, it isn’t really among the most iconic moments in Marvel or even X-Men history. So, it’s pretty surprising to see that bids for the original artwork have reached almost $2,500, especially since the original estimate was between $700 – $1,000. Cyclops has always been an underdog since Sony’s X-Men movies pushed Wolverine to the front, so perhaps fans want to own this piece of his history to remember that things were always tough for him.
Besides that, the artwork by Dave Cockrum and inking by Bob Wiacek is absolutely stunning. The top panel, showcasing the intricacies of Corsair’s ship and the vastness of space behind them is beautifully done. The panelling itself is brilliant, with the bottom half of the page cut diagonally and split into five, with a bit of overlapping between the present day and the flashback.
Or maybe, just maybe, it’s so valuable because Corsair looks a lot like Ben Stiller’s character in Dodgeball.
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