Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery
Panels and Pages… Art and Artists… Creators and Conventions… Musings and Memories…
Infinity Abyss #4, September 2002
“We are considering turning the universe inside out.”
Jim Starlin delivers a classic and trippy page from his Infinite (figuratively, and sometimes literally) cosmic series featuring Adam Warlock, Gamora, Thanos, et al.
Starlin. Cosmic. Trippy. Nuff said.
Well, almost…
If you told me when I was a kid that we’d have Warlock Happy Meal toys someday, I would have called the drug overdose hotline on your behalf. Trippy indeed.
Columbia University, April 2023
Happiness is a terrific graphic novel library.
Pictured is just one tiny part of the incredible collection at Columbia University curated by my pal, Karen Green, part librarian, part force of nature. From three books a few years ago — to three full rooms(!) of some of the best material published in the medium thanks to her tireless efforts. (Not to mention the acquisitions of personal papers and ephemera from some of the best-known names in the industry.)
Here we can see some of the shelves dedicated to the oversized material, including many of the original art “Artist Editions” titles I was fortunate enough to publish during the halcyon days at IDW Publishing. These of course were edited and curated by another pal, editor par excellence Scott Dunbier.
I cannot tell you how pleased I was to see the scope of this collection at my Alma Mater.
(Illustration of Karen below from Columbia Magazine by Nick Sousanis)
The Beatles Yellow Submarine Graphic Novel, 2018
At IDW, we made an enthusiastic and energetic effort to publish this Beatles Yellow Submarine Graphic Novel. Gave it the “college try” as the old cliché goes. Or “full court press” to employ another common phrase.
But it wasn’t meant to be. Titan picked up the rights (Maybe it was the British connection) and ended up with a fun graphic novel, brilliantly and lovingly penciled by Bill Morrison and inked by Andrew Pepoy and Tone Rodriguez.
This page features all four Beatles, the sub itself (multiple times), and key protagonist “Old Fred.” Minus a blue meanie or two, what’s not to like?
Commission, based on artwork from The Yellow Submarine, (originally February 1969)
Coming up faster than I would like to acknowledge is the 55th anniversary of the (1968) release of the wild and wonderful Beatles’ Yellow Submarine animated feature film.
Gold Key (Western Publishing) published the adaptation of the film and charged 35 cents(!) for a copy, partly due to size (64 pages), and partly due (I assume) to steep licensing fees. It was the most I ever paid for a new issue of a comic book at the time. (Marvel and DC annuals were 25 cents.)
Jose Delbo nailed the film’s psychedelic aesthetic perfectly; I’ve never seen an actual original page from the adaptation, so I assume the pages were either destroyed or ended up in a Beatles archive somewhere, waiting to be rediscovered.
In the meantime, Jose’s great commission (undated, probably early 2000s) will do quite nicely.
Formerly Known As The Justice League #3, November 2003
Mary Marvel beats the nuclear daylights out of Captain Atom in this innovative, and terrific action page, by Kevin Maguire.
Everything about this page works for me: Storytelling, composition, movement, and the absolute rage on Mary’s face.
She’s pissed.
Of course, since it’s comics, and we know Mary is an otherwise lovely person, she’s clearly under some sort of mind control. Everything will eventually be fine, yes? Well, in this reunion of the classic 80s JLA creative team (Writers J.M. Dematteis and Keith Giffen, Maguire, and inker Joe Rubenstein) who can say?
Or maybe she’s just upset that the collection of this Eisner-winning series is unavailable. That annoys me, too.
Marvel Value Stamps: A Visual History, by Roy Thomas, 2023
Marvel Value Stamps: A Visual History took me by surprise as one of the most intriguing books on the history of comics publishing this year.
I never clipped out the 1970s stamps; I was savvy about collectible value at that point, and I certainly didn’t have the budget or inclination to buy two copies of every comic, especially titles I would have never collected in the first place. (Just for the record — A few years earlier, I had made a DIY scrapbook of Marvel covers by cutting up the house ads for new issues. So, I wasn’t always “savvy.”)
The book offers a comprehensive history of the program’s evolution, which originated from a similar gimmick in the UK. Roy Thomas, the author, walks us through Stan Lee’s “seat-of-the-pants “approach to developing and executing the program, which was typical of Marvel.
For me, the book’s most compelling aspect is how it focuses on art and its transformation and re-purposing. The book is detailed and captivating, presenting the original source art for each stamp alongside the full letters page, which is where the published stamp appeared.
On some of my favorite pages, we see art for the original covers as well as the altered reprints.
My only quibble? I wish the trim size was the same as an actual comic book. (It’s smaller.) Makes it hard on the eyes in places, especially the letters pages. And let’s face it: The prime audience for this title is well into the reading glasses phase.
Priced at $29.95, the book itself is a bargain, regardless of whether you collected the stamps – or not.
Painting for Topps Mars Attacks re-launch, 1994, used later as cover for Mars Attacks: Classics Obliterated (IDW) #1, June 2013
In 1994, to celebrate and promote the return of Topps Mars Attacks with its first series of comic books, and a brand-new series of Trading cards, we commissioned the legendary Earl Norem to create a “Classic” movie style painting of Mars Attacks as if it were a 50s SF poster painted by Reynold Brown or Joe Smith.
We immediately used the image on the back of a Topps convention staff t-shirt at SDCC, and other marketing materials as well. It was designated to appear on one of our comic books, but kept slipping through the cracks, until ultimately it remained unused through the series run. (It may have appeared on a bonus card or promo card though.)
As the owner of the original painting, I hadn’t forgotten about it, and when IDW acquired the Mars Attacks rights, it finally made its way as a cover for the “Classics Obliterated” one shot. It was only 18 years. Better late than never indeed.
Jurassic Park: Raptor’s Attack #1, March 1994
As noted previously, I’m a giant (pun intended) fan of Michael Golden’s dinosaur covers and portfolio plates for our Topps Jurassic Park comics.
Here’s one I haven’t posted before: Poor Ellie (Laura Dern) about to become a hors d’oeuvre for a group of velociraptors. I love the unique point of view on this one.
Originally designated as the cover for Jurassic Park: Raptor’s Attack #1, it was also reused for the cover of the newsstand exclusive JP comic, Jurassic Park Adventures #3.
Happy 30th Anniversary, Jurassic Park!
Lady Rawhide #5, June 1997
Lady Rawhide was introduced in the pages of Zorro as a “good girl/ bad girl” supporting character. After all, we had to keep with Vampirella, Dawn, Shi, Lady Death, et al, no?
She ended up with two of her own min-series, this second one with art by the legendary Esteban Maroto.
Unfortunately, as the series launched, it was becoming apparent that Topps’ passion to stick around in the comic book business was waning. The comic book sales implosion that followed the early 90s explosion was brutal.
I had left the company prior to the series solicitation, and EIC Jim Salicrup left prior to its conclusion. And, seeing the handwriting on the wall, Topps management published the final two issues of this series without coloring them to save money.
But, as always, we digress.
Topps comics may have concluded its run, but Lady Rawhide lived on at Dynamite Entertainment — at least for a while. (And they added a Lady Zorro for good measure.)
Dracula Versus Zorro #2, November 1993
Dracula vs. Zorro.? For about a millisecond, this one sounds a bit odd, and then you say, wait a minute…
In the hands of writer Don McGregor and artist Tom Yeates (inks by Rick Magyar), you get a fun Topps Publishing two-parter, with Don’s smart writing and Tom’s magnificent storytelling — on giant art boards, no less.
A few notes:
• ˜The book came out just shy of 30 years ago.
• Dracula (The Francis Ford Coppola adaption kind) was Topps very first comic book; Dracula vs Zorro appears just before the launch of Topps’ Zorro solo series, also featuring stories by McGregor. (The crossover wasn’t originally planned as the character’s introduction— it just sort of happened, following the smash success of the Drac adaptation…)
• It’s only two monthly issues but features a whopping 61 pages of content — which leads me to believe we may have originally intended the story to total three issues. Perhaps we scaled back after the numbers came in for issue #1. Although we collected it in a prestige format comic in 1994, there are definitely not enough pages for a full trade collection. That was an era when we didn’t always plan for collections.
