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.

Ron Frenz & Sal Buscema — Family Ties

Original Art and The Artists

Amazing Spider-Man Family #1, October 2008

Here is a great action page from Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema, one of my favorites superhero art teams of the 21st century.

The story is set in the “Spider-Girl” universe (Earth-982) but May Parker is only a baby in this timeline as Spidey comes out of “retirement” to deal with Curt Connors turning into the Lizard again.

Story is by Tom DeFalco, completing the creative trifecta from the long running solo Spider-Girl title.

Not so fun fact: Normally I’m a fan of painter Avi Granov’s work, but this specific cover? Ooof. Nuff said.

Will Conrad — Drowned in Thunder

Original Art and The Artists

Cover, Spider-Man Novel, Brazilian Edition (Novo Seculo), 2014

Ah, superheroes on a rooftop. Perched on a gargoyle… or other ornamental edifice. At night. In the rain. Or snow. I promise an entire post on the subject in the future.

In the meantime, we have this great cover by Will Conrad, who most definitely has a penchant for rain-soaked superheroes. Terrific mood and detail, some of which is obscured by the coloring of the published cover. (See below.)

Someone get that man a towel.

Steve McNiven — Brand New Day

Original Art and The Artists

Amazing Spider-Man #547, March 2008

Spidey takes a cue from his pal Captain America and shatters some (a lot, actually) glass in this dynamic splash from Steve McNiven.

It’s from the second issue of the Brand New Day storyline, the controversial reboot in which the world has forgotten Spidey’s secret identity, and he himself has forgotten his marriage to MJ. Following the Mephisto-led events of “One More Day.”

Of course, some version of this storyline is now destined for the MCU — and, as noted previously, I still think Mephisto (or Nightmare) is secretly behind much of the events of Spidey 3, Doctor Strange 2 and the Vision and Scarlett Witch TV series.

Apparently, I’m determined to stick with that crazy idea until at least phase 7.

Ron Garney — Hero Worship

Original Art and The Artists

Amazing Spider-Man #537, February 2007

Here’s a key splash page from Marvel’s Civil War. Captain America has convinced Peter that the resistance is on the “right” side of this epic crossover conflict.

When the conversation is over in this tie-in , Garney treats us to an epic splash of Spidey swinging into action.

Birds, and all.

Cynthia Martin — Flashback To Ditko

Original Art and The Artists

Web of Spider-Man Annual #4, August 1988

Cynthia Martin flashes back to the first appearance of the Vulture form Amazing Spider-Man #2 with with this great opening splash page from 1988.

This August of course is a big milestone for everyone’s favor web slinger. He turns 60 this month with the anniversary of his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15.

We previously celebrated this anniversary with some great Spider-Man pages, and coming up are a few more to add into the mix to round out the month of August.

J.H. Williams III — I Knew Him When

Original Art and The Artists

Son of Superman (Graphic Novel), January 2000

Here’s a beautiful Superman page by the super-talented J.H. Williams, inked by his long-time collaborator Mick Gray. It’s an “Elseworlds” (imaginary, out of continuity) story when DC still published those.

Original art pages are artifacts of course, and fortunately, and this one relies on traditional inking methods, lettering and sound effects as opposed to digital enhancements to provide the final result.

I love Williams’ note to Gray in the top margin, explaining how he envisions the final look of the page. (It’s interesting that the colorist chose to reduce the dynamic splash effect in the water in the second panel. To each his own, I guess.)

Thaboom indeed!