Okay, this was the alternate cover for Dark Avengers #2. It depicts Moonstone as the New Ms. Marvel, and I really wanted to get into the character of Moonstone, given that I was such a huge fan of Ellis and Deodato's Thunderbolts.

So, researching the character further I discovered that along with her appropriately Ms. Marvel-y powers, her main MO is to use her mastery of psychiatry and psychology to manipulate people into doing as she wants, like pieces on a chess board. This was very effectively illustrated in Thunderbolts, and I thought it would be continued into Dark Avengers.

So I came up with the STUPENDOUSLY BRILLIANT idea of having her alter-ego of Moonstone almost as a puppet- master literally pulling the strings of marionette dolls in the form of the new Dark Avengers, as a metaphor for her manipulations. When it all came together I was very proud of myself, if I may say so. I really believe that 90% of a penciler's job is what they do before they put final pencil to paper, and it's when I feel like I've applied a good amount of thought, imagination, and characterization on a piece when I do allow myself a little ego masturbation.

But then I saw the cover of Ms Marvel #20.

Crap.

In a time where EVERYONE is throwing around accusations of swipes, you kind of have to cover your butt on anything that comes close. It's a shame that as soon as I saw this cover, I started really not liking my cover, even though the sources of the ideas were completely unrelated.