Art Adams is a legendary and prolific artist. While he is not often mentioned in the same breath as some of his more famous contemporaries -- Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee -- Art has drawn his fair share of iconic comic book covers. Art first began drawing for Marvel comics in the early 1980s while still a young man in his early 20s. He continues to draw for Marvel today, his career now entering, unbelievably, its fifth decade. Most famous for his cover art, let's talk about some of his most famous covers below!

Longshot #1 (1985)

Art is, of course, most famous for creating the X-Man, Longshot. Because he was still developing as an artist, it allegedly took Art eight months to pencil this Longshot #1.

Like many other X-Men-related books, this book exploded during the spring and summer of 2021.

Towards the end of 2020, a CGC 9.8 copy of this issue sold for approximately $225. Just seven months later, a 9.8 sold for a record $699. Then, in December, several 9.8s sold for just under $300, having lost nearly 60% of their value in just a few months.

If you're looking to invest in Art's signature book, this might be the time to do it.

Classic X-Men #1 (1986)

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Art's cover to Classic X-Men #1 is one of the top five X-Men covers of all time. It has a beautiful all-white cover with the first two teams of the X-Men drawn in Art's distinctive style. I just love the detail in Colossus's metallic skin, Angel's wings, and Wolverine's dynamic pose.

Some of the others in the top five might include X-Men #1, Giant-Size X-Men #1, X-Men #101, and Uncanny X-Men #141. In comparison to some of these other books, Classic X-Men #1 is downright cheap.

The FMV of a CGC 9.8 of this book is only $210. Of course, except for its cover, there's nothing inherently worthwhile about this comic, since it's just a reprint of Giant-Size X-Men #1. Nonetheless, for those of us who began collecting comics in the 1980s, this beautiful cover has a lot of nostalgic value.

Evolution: Young Allies to Monsters

Art's style has evolved throughout his four decades of drawing comic book characters. In comparison to his early artwork, which was drawn in painstaking detail, Art's work today has a much lighter, cartoonish feel -- as though it were influenced by anime.

A great example of this is Art's cover work for Young Allies #6, the 1 in 15 variant. Art has drawn Firestar with a highly idealized figure, but a round, almost child-like face.

With only 24 copies of this variant on the CGC Census, this book is rare and highly sought after. Back in September, a CGC 9.6 copy of this book sold for $999.

He drew a similar cover for Avengers: The Children's Crusade #3, another 1 in 15 variant, featuring the Scarlet Witch.

Later in his career, Art has become famous for his artwork related to monsters, including his depictions of Godzilla and cover art for the Trials of Ultraman series.

Although the Ultraman series just began its run last year, some of his covers have already become fan favorites and may become classics in the future. In particular, I enjoy Creature From the Black Lagoon-inspired cover for Trials of Ultraman #4, the 1 in 25 variant.

Are you an Art Adams fan too? If so, which is your favorite Art Adams cover? Please let us know in the comments section below!

*Any perceived investment advice contained within this blog is that of the freelance author and does not reflect recommendations from GoCollect