Artist Dave Cockrum passed away in 2006. Cockrum was best known for creating what most consider the modern X-Men team members of Wolverine, Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler was actually a character that Cockrum had created for the Legion of Super Heroes when he was working for DC Comics.

This week Marvel Comics is releasing X-Men: Odd Men Out, a one-shot featuring two new never-before-published tales drawn by Cockrum and written by Roger Stern and Michael Higgins with a new cover by Eric Nguyen.  In the first story, the history of the X-Men is recounted by Professor X and his old friend, former FBI Agent Fred Duncan. Then, the New Mutants - Rictor, Boom Boom, Cannonball, Rusty, Skids, Sunspot and Wolvesbane - face off against the Mad Thinker.

Click here for a link to a Comic Book Resources article on the book with five pages of artwork from X-Men Odd Men Out and recent tributes from fellow creators Alan Davis, John Romita, Jr., Jae Lee, Billy Tan, Walt Simonson, Louise Simonson, Rick Leonardi, and Tom DeFalco who knew Cockrum and worked with him or followed him after his run on X-Men.