Captain America #42 Cover

(click image to enlarge)
Marvel's September solicitations are here, featuring Captain America #42. Here's how Marvel describes the issue -

CAPTAIN AMERICA #42
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils & Cover by STEVE EPTING
The final chapter of the epic "Death of Captain America" saga is here! The New Captain America, the Falcon, the Black Widow, Sharon Carter - all in a final showdown with the Red Skull and his minions for the future of America!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99

Comparing the cover featured in the article to the one above you'll notice that:

A) The cover on Newsarama is unfinished.

and

B) I changed the background at some point during the painting.

Not my favorite cover, but not my least favorite either. After all, it does have Arnim Zola on it.

UPDATE: Just for comparison's sake, and a little peek at the work in progress, here's the cover as posted in the solits-



You can see my pencils on the two main figures of Cap and Red Skull with flat color underneath them. The smaller figures below are more finished, but there was still work to be done on them. I liked the graphic appeal of the star, but the dominant blue field behind it merged too much with the blue of Cap's costume and made him recede into the background. Cap (and the Skull) needed to be the focal point and the cool blues of his costume contrasted much better against the warm red and white stripes.