In the the Marvel Age of Comics, covers were continually tweaked and adjusted right up till the moment they were sent off to the printer. Both editor Stan Lee and publisher Martin Goodman had strong opinions as to what constituted a successful cover—which was considered the most important part of the magazine, the thing that would sell it to prospective buyers. Additionally, the Comics Code Authority would occasionally request changes to covers they considered too violent or salacious.

Archival stats were shot in most cases before these last-minute adjustments were made. These stats wound up often being used later for reprints or overseas editions of the books, allowing us to see what was changed and to conjecture about why.

On this first issue cover to X-MEN #1 by Jack Kirby and Sol Brodsky, a number of adjustments, large and small, were made so as to create greater clarity of the image, and to cleanly silhouette most of the characters. The grass line in the background was removed, as was Marvel Girl’s telekinetic bolt. Marvel Girl herself was enlarged and repositioned higher on the cover. A few of the motion lines around Angel were removed, and a portion of his wing was redrawn to make it larger and to avoid the bad tangent with the bottom of the X. The circle was removed from around the blurb comparing the issue to FANTASTIC FOUR, but a smaller box was placed around the 12 cent cover price. And a few other minor things were changed and simplified.