Grummett, Tom - Power Company #11 - Superboy Potential Cover Vote Winner!

Here is the story about this issue's cover.....

Leading up to The Power Company #11 (2003) was a campaign called "Power Boost".The primary element of this marketing push was an interactive online reader poll hosted on DC's official website. The poll asked fans to choose which established DC Universe hero should join the roster as the team's newest member. Readers were given five candidates to vote from: Batgirl, Booster Gold, Firestorm, Superboy and The Haunted Tank.

But legend has it that supposedly it was all a sham from the start! Supposedly, Kurt Busiek and Tom Grummett had already fully written and drawn the issue with Firestorm as the predetermined new teammate! Apparently, because the poll was a marketing gimmick, Busiek promised that if any character other than Firestorm won the vote, the winning character would get a mandatory guest spot in a future issue. Yeah, like that makes up for getting fans all excited enough to go vote online! Ultimately, the fans must have been pissed, because the poll received 78,710 votes and in a surprise upset, The Haunted Tank got the most votes, just slightly beating out Firestorm! 

But here's the thing. While there may be SOME truth to that legend, THIS piece of Superboy art indicates otherwise! This piece is evidence that the cover was specifically engineered for digital compositing so that any of the five candidates could be layered onto the right-hand side of the final image. The faint, penciled outlines of the main Power Company members visible on this Superboy board prove that Grummett & Rollins drew at least ONE of the voting options in case they got the most votes! But regardless of what the REAL story is, it is that very legend and this piece of original art proving the legend isn't quite as accurate as has been told over the years, that makes Power Company #11 and the art surrounding it such a great, fun piece  to add to any collection!