Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

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.

George Evans — Happy Veterans Day

Original Art and The Artists

The World Around Us #30 — Undersea Adventures, February 1961

A salute to all veterans, past and present. Thank you. Happy Veterans Day.

(This cool page is from a a multi-issue story on D-Day that ran in this Classics Illustrated sister title. Which is how you end up with a a back-up story on paratroopers in a book titled “Undersea Adventures.” Lovely pencils and inks by the talented Evans.)

Baltimore 2022 — Back To The Future (Part 1 Of 3)

Original Art and The Artists

October 28-30, 2022

Big thanks and congrats to all the folks who made this past weekend’s Baltimore Comic Con just as perfect an event could be.

It’s easily one of my favorite conventions — an absolute delight to attend. I exhausted myself catching up with old friends and colleagues, making some new acquaintance, and trying (ultimately not quite succeeding) to see all the great comics-related material in the room.

I miss all of you already.

Keith Williams
Bill Morrison
Bill Cox with Scott Dunbier
Garth Ennis with a delighted fan
Mike McKone
Jon B Cooke and Mike Gold
Craig Rosseau
Scott Hanna
Jamal Igle
Dean Haspiel
John Beatty
David Armstrong, Mitch Hallock, Howard Chaykin

Dan Jurgens & Bill Sienkiewicz — Doomed, Again

Original Art and The Artists

Superman: Day of Doom #3, January 2003

Marking the 10th anniversary of the Death and Return of Superman, Dan Jurgens and Bill Sienkiewicz tackled a four-issue retrospective mini-series titled, appropriately, Day of Doom.

Bill’s unmistakable inks make the situation even more horrific this second time around. (This is one of the best pages in the series, as it features all four Superman characters who “returned.”)

Happy Halloween indeed — and welcome to the 30th anniversary of the Death of Superman.

How did that happen?

Cam Kennedy — The Wire

Original Art and The Artists

Batman / Judge Dredd: Vendetta in Gotham, January 1994

Earlier this week, we posted a beautiful page from one of two Batman / Punisher crossovers. Today we have a terrific Cam Kennedy action page from the second of four Batman / Judge Dredd prestige format comics by writers Alan Grant and John Wagner.

The complete list as follows, thanks to our friends at the Grand Comic Database — GCD. (This blog would be lost without them.)

Batman / Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham (DC, 1991 series);
Batman / Judge Dredd: Vendetta in Gotham (DC, 1993 series);
Batman / Judge Dredd: The Ultimate Riddle (DC, 1995 series);
Batman / Judge Dredd: Die Laughing 1,2 (DC, 1998 series).

Now all we need is Punisher / Judge Dredd crossover and we’d be all set. Unfortunately, Marvel doesn’t do crossovers anymore. Sigh.

Pete Poplaski — A True Classic

Original Art and The Artists

Batman: The Silver Age Dailies and Sundays, Volume #1, March 2014

As noted a few years back, Pete Poplaski has been called an “artist’s artist” by many creators. His name might not be known as well as other artists, but his talent is unquestionable.

Pete, who broke into comics in the 70s underground community, ultimately became Kitchen Sink Press’ art director, and among many accomplishments helped give some of Robert Crumb’s projects just the right design touch. 

Kitchen had the rights to reprint the DC Batman and Superman comic strips in the early 1990s, and Pete created brand new covers that evoked the classic style of those strips.

When we acquired those reprint rights at IDW in 2012, we went back to Pete to see if he would be interested in picking up where he left off, and fortunately he was.

Wayne Boring. Dick Sprang. Al Plastino. You name a classic artist, and Pete can replicate the style. 

This, of course, is his amazing cover to Batman Silver Age Vol.1. It not only evokes the classic 60s Carmine Infantino revamp of the Dynamic Duo, but also the opening animation of the classic (beloved, and often hated) 60s Batman TV show. (Which is why these newspaperstrips exist in the first place, but, as always we digress.)

Pete takes his Black and White Art, photocopies it and hand colors it to create a color guide.
The published cover — entirely hand drawn except fo the DC logo in the upper left corner.

Tim Levins — Bringing Down The House

Original Art and The Artists

Batman Gotham Adventures #39, August 2001

Here’s a cool “Batman-animated” style page from Tim Levins that captures the fun and the flair of the 90s animated series.

The best art pages have no words — therefore, no word balloons needed. (And therefore, no missing word balloons on original modern art, 98% or more of word balloons are digitally added later.)

I realize its a bit of a cliche — but I always do get a kick out of Batgirl’s signature action move.

And, yes, I likely deserve one myself for employing that pun.