Panels and Pages… Art and Artists… Creators and Conventions… Musings and Memories…
Author: Greg Goldstein
Greg Goldstein is a veteran publishing and media executive; most recently, he was the Chief Operating Officer, President and Publisher of IDW Publishing, managing all aspects of the company’s book and games business from 2008 to 2019.
Throughout his career, Greg has developed creative and profitable publishing programs for dozens of the world’s best-known entertainment brands including Star Wars, Transformers, Star Trek, James Bond, TMNT, Spider-Man, Batman and Godzilla.
In 2013, Greg led IDW’s acquisition of Top Shelf, an independent publisher best known for Congressman John Lewis’ March trilogy, which has become the most lauded non-fiction graphic novel series in the history of the medium.
In 2011, Greg won an Eisner award for his editing on the first-ever collection of Bob Montana’s Archie newspaper comic strips. (Published under IDW’s Library of American Comics imprint.)
Prior to joining IDW, Greg was VP of Entertainment and Gaming for Upper Deck, responsible for the company’s blockbuster slate of games, including Yu-Gi-Oh, World of Warcraft and The VS Superhero system. During his tenure, he created Marvel Ultimate Battles, the first-ever trading card game that focused exclusively on Marvel’s popular mass media characters.
As VP of Brand Development for Activision from 2000-2002, Greg established strategic partnerships with the largest Hollywood studios, and worked closely with Marvel Entertainment to successfully develop Spider-man into one of the biggest blockbuster licensed videogame brands in interactive history.
Greg’s career has also included a successful stint at Topps, where he helped launch and manage Topps Comics in the mid 1990s.
Additionally, Greg serves as an adviser for to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBDLF). He is also a frequent guest lecturer at San Diego Sate University and has presented at dozens of panels and conferences throughout the US.
He is also a well-known collector of original comic book art and rues the day he sold his collection the first time around in the late 1990s.
After a five-year hiatus, the legendary Jack Kirby original art presentation returns with nearly 1,000 high-res images* featuring some of the King’s most important pages and covers. Join myself, the legendary Walter Simonson, the incredible Scott Dunbier (at least 80(!) IDW Publishing Artist Edition collections under his editorial belt — I’ve lost count) for a Kirby tribute unlike any other.
Baltimore Comic Con 9/8-9/10, exact time and panel room location TBD.
(*Yes, nearly 1,000. It’s an hour-long presentation, so if you blink, you’ll miss a few.)
In the meantime, I’m fortunate enough to personally own a few pages of Jack’s original art and have covered most of them previously in the blog, but here they are in one place for the first time.
If you want to see them and much more, simply enter “Jack Kirby” into the blog search bar.
It was my turn to chat with Comic Art Fans (CAF) moderator Bill Cox this past Tuesday. We ended up talking about lots of interesting comic book publishing history… plus some great art. You can watch it directly through the link below:
And speaking of comic book history…
In celebration of 50 years of the creation of the comic book specialty distribution market, Milton Griepp of ICV2 is featuring a series of interviews with early “pioneers” in the business. The day before this past SDCC, my interview (video and print) appeared. If you’ve got some down time (Ok, if you’re bored with pretty much everything else on-line at the moment), please join me down the rabbit hole.
Good timing on the publication of the interviews; I am personally celebrating 40 years of professional contributions to the popular entertainment arts (Topps, IDW Publishing, Activision, et al) in one media format or another.
Teenage Greg (photo is October 1975, at Phil Seuling’s monthly Comic Book Marketplace show in New York City) would be very amused, if not startled.
Live from the Voodoo Ranger Pirate Ship, Saturday July 22, 2023 — The Nerdin’ Out Podcast featuring Ravey, Cameron, Courtney, the rest of the great cast and crew, plus… pirates, parrots, a monkey and.. beer!
What does this have to do with comic art and/or graphic novel history?
Marion Copeland and David HedgecockDave McKeanDustin NyguenWith Jimmy PalmiottiRyan OtleyAndrewPepoy and Joe PruettNorm RapmundWhilce PortacioSteve McGarryTed Adams and Beau SmithMichael UslanBrian Walker, Karen GreenTom Zahler
Mike Burkey (“Romitaman”), Jimmy Palmiotti, Scott DunbierMitch Gerads, Tom KingBen StenbeckEric PowellMike and Christine Mignola, Joyce Chin,Dan FragaScott MorseMilton Griepp, Maggie Thompson, Bill Schanes, Mike Richardson
In celebration of 50 years of the creation comic book specialty distribution market, Milton Griepp of ICV2 is featuring a series of interviews with early “pioneers” in the business. Yesterday, my interview (video and print) appeared. If you’ve got some down time (Ok, if you’re bored with pretty much everything else on-line at the moment), please join me down the rabbit hole.
Good timing on the publication of the interviews; Today is the first day of San Diego Comicon, and although I won’t be behind a table, and it won’t be as musty,I will indeed be celebrating more than 50 years of contributions to the popular entertainment arts (Topps, IDW Publishing, Activision, et al) in one media format or another.
Teenage Greg (photo is October 1975, at Phil Seuling’s monthly Comic Book Marketplace show in New York City) would be very amused, if not startled.
Visible on the table stacks: OMAC #1, Savage Sword of Conan #1, Iron Jaw # 1, all purchased through Seagate Distributors, the pioneering comic book distribution company launched by the legendary Phil Seuling.
I’ll be attending the convention all four (five, really) days this week. As always, feel free to reach out — or track me down primarily in the original art pavilion.
As advancements in computer animation technology take video game development to ever-more impressive heights, ASIFA-Hollywood will look back at the early days with these pioneers of video game animation. Actor and writer John Omohundro (Bravest Warriors, Tokyo Revengers) will go back in time with Kevin VanHook(Bloodshot, Valiant Comics), Greg L. Goldstein (CEO, Four Color Arts, formerly Activision, Acclaim, IDW Publishing), E. Daniel Arey (Creative Director at Niantic, VisionArey Entertainment), and other animators and game developers to explore the challenges and celebrate the accomplishments of classic video games, such as “Myst” and “Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.”
In 1988 Topps released a dinosaur-themed card series that sacrificed scientific accuracy for over-the-top action, violence, and gore. Fans of B-movies and dinosaurs were never the same! Series creator Gary Gerani (writer, film historian), Greg Goldstein (IDW Publishing, Topps), and Matt Corrigan (the Launchpad Podcast) discuss their favorite cards from this memorable set while Dr. Ashley Poust (paleontologist for San Diego Natural History Museum) separates fact from fiction. Matt and Greg will also show off original art produced for the series 35 years ago!
Saturday 7/22/23 7:30pm – 8:30pm Room 29CD
Lots of friends and colleagues appearing throughout the convention, but I would like to specifically point out that my pal Beau Smith is a Comic-Con Special Guest this year. His spotlight panel on Sunday, hosted by another pal, Ted Adams, is must-attend event!
Thanks to artist Ken Landgraf, I finally get to see the original prelims and pencils — and partial (Neal Adams) inks — to this great Conan page from Savage Tales #4. And as a bonus, we solve one mystery and create a new one. (Ken owns photocopies of Gil’s pencils from this story and others.)
Gil Kane pencilled the story (pretty loosely in some places), and Neal Adams inked some of it as well, supported at a minimum by Vince Colletta, Frank McLaughlin, and Pablo Marcos. (Credits supplied by Roy Thomas in Savage Sword of Conan #2). Marcos also provided the wash tones on the story, necessary to add depth to a black and white, and also provide some consistency to the art style.
Neal, of course, was a pro at collaborative art creation. His “Crusty Bunkers” a group of (ever-changing) artists at his Continuity Studios, filled in many times during deadline crunches for Marvel, DC, Charlton and others during the 70s.
(The specific inking credits here are listed as Diverse Hands, and this appears to reference the fact that some others outside Continuity also worked on the project.)
And now the mystery; when the story is reprinted for the first time in color in a Marvel Treasury Edition, two faces that weren’t in panel three in the Savage Tales version now appear. Turns out they were originally pencilled by Gil — but inked over in the final art, probably to give it more depth for B&W.
Which means — Either Roy, Gil or someone else had to remember that change and go back and pull it from inked copies for the color version.
John Cassaday’s great art from Captain America seems like a good way to celebrate Independence Day.
And that makes me Captain Obvious, so that’s all I have to say about that.
Have a great 4th of July! (And if you see me, yes I will be wearing My Captain America shield shirt.)
I don’t know if this is an apocryphal quote or not from Captain America’s co-creator, and don’t much care, because from what I know about Jack he certainly could have said it. Like they say: “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
