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.

Dan Spiegle — The Last P.O.W.

Original Art and The Artists

Sgt. Rock #382, November 1983

We’ve used the phrase artist’s artist here a few times. Simply put, it’s an artist that other members of the craft more than admire and appreciate; they are often awestruck by the talent.

Dan Spiegle was one of those artists. 

Talented, speedy, and reliable. Did I say talented again?  It’s worth repeating.  He did a lot of terrific work for Gold Key (Space Family Robinson, Doctor Spector, Korak, etc.) and a ton of licensed material including a well-regarded run on Maverick (James Garner’s TV series), only occasionally finding time for DC and Marvel.

So I’m fortunate that he did manage a few DC war stories, including this one from 1983. It’s a typical example of Spiegle’s talents —creative storytelling and great spatial arrangements, inventive camera angles, and, of course, detailed and clean draftsmanship.

From a fan perspective, his lack of consistent work on “mainstream” titles often meant less recognition than he deserved: An underrated talent if there ever was one  — except by the people that knew his work.

John Severin — The Bloody Flag

Original Art and The Artists

Our Army At War #272, September 1974

The single greatest compliment I ever heard abut John Severin’s art — and there were many others — came from Jack Kirby, via Mark Evanier:

“Jack used to say that when he had to research some historical costume or weapon for a story, it was just as good to use a John Severin drawing as it was to find a photo of the real thing.”

Severin’s lavish attention to detail caught my eye early. The line-work was so precise and polished. It was amazing stuff, especially considering that those details needed to reproduce on cheap, pulpy newsprint running on industrial web presses.

As a kid, especially remember his pitch-perfect inking on Herb Trimpe’s pencils for The Incredible Hulk. I also loved John’s pairing with sister Marie Severin on some of the earliest issues of Kull. John’s had one weakness was that occasionally his realistic line work could come off as stiff and inking Marie’s more dynamic layouts solved that issue.

Severin was best known for three non-superhero genres:  Westerns, humor, and war. He was a pro at all three, and everything else he touched as well.

As Evanier wrote, “They don’t make ’em like that anymore.” 

Indeed they don’t.

(These two pages, along with others, were especially selected for the exhibit “War No More” at the Words & Pictures Museum in Northampton, Mass. in 1993.)

John Severin’s first published war story appeared in EC’s Two Fisted Tales; inks by Will Elder and layouts by Harvey Kurtzman.
Early issues of Kull The Conqueror featured pencils (& colors) by Marie Severin and inks by brother John.

Russ Heath — The Devil For Dinner

Original Art and The Artists

G.I. Combat #131, September 1968

Roy Lichtenstein never met a DC war stories artist he didn’t like — including Russ Heath.

More accurately, Lichtenstein probably never met a comic book artist he didn’t like.

Lichtenstein, the legendary “Pop” modern artist of the 60s referenced much of his work from contemporaneous romance and war stories. The critics raved, and art fans swooned, but hardly anyone paid much attention to the original source material.

That changed, but only (and slowly) over time. To this day, there’s never been an official Lichtenstein catalog that identifies all the source comics. In many cases, the works are only occasionally acknowledged.

There is a great website about all this, although the author is reluctant to share the specific issues and dates. Still with all the examples visually presented, it is pretty mind blowing. It’s nearly impossible to find an original Lichtenstein without a corresponding comic book reference.

But as always, we digress.

Behind Joe Kubert, Russ Heath is probably the single artist most identified with DC’s classy war books of the silver and bronze age. 

He was a terrific artist, who could accomplish inventive storytelling, polished lines and wonderful detail. 

And he was quite the character too. But those are stories I will save for another day… Except…

When Russ was dealing with some health and financial issues the Hero Initiative stepped in and provided some much needed support. In return, Russ created this special strip below to pay tribute to that support.

Sounds good. Except…

Heath choses to reference Lichtenstein’s “Whaam” a DC war panel that was actually created by Irv Novick. Russ’ art is the inspiration for “Blam” an equally powerful, but lesser known painting. (Both are originally from the same issue of Men of War.)

That is an odd one.

Despite the autobiographical strip’s premise, Russ created the inspiration for “Blam” above, not “Whaam”, below. Whaam, Blam… this stuff writes itself, sometimes.

Sam Glanzman — A Crew Divided

Original Art and The Artists

G.I. Combat #163, August 1973

Sam Glanzman tackles Archie Goodwin’s story set in the Yugoslavia during World War II with a scene that inspired the cover of the issue.

The “split-screen vibe” of the page artfully deals with the Yugoslav civil war, which quickly became a confusing round robin of divided loyalties and shifting allegiances. There were far too many examples of the “enemy of my enemy is my friend ” adage not working out very well. 

Fascists. Communists. Nationalists. Separatists. It was an indeed an extra challenging situation for the allies to sort out.

Like many artists of his generation, Glanzman, a stellar member of DC’s war stories crew, was also a veteran of WWII. Later on, he created a graphic novel memoir about his experience on the USS Stevens, entitled A Sailor’s Story.

One of the few WW II films to deal with the conflict in Yugoslavia, Force 10 From Navarone is a guilty pleasure of mine. It features a great cast and talented director (Guy Hamilton) exceeding the limitations of a so-so script and some goofy and groan-worthy cheesy moments.
 
Spoiler alert — the commandos accomplish their mission, but film has a terrific coda that is surprisingly witty and unexpected. 
 
Robert Shaw supplies the dialogue for the film’s pitch-perfect postscript.  And I would have listened to Robert Shaw recite a technical manual with rapt attention.

José García-López — Fear No Evil

Original Art and The Artists

Weird War Tales #44, February 1976

Weird War Tales wasn’t in my wheelhouse as a kid. I liked most of the DC war books, but I especially enjoyed the realistic stories, many, if not most, imbued with an anti-war spirit. 

Weird War, with its robots, ghouls and goblins, just didn’t do it for me.

Come to think of it, I wasn’t a Haunted Tank guy either. Like I said, realism was more my cup of tea in the war books. (Meanwhile I was a big fan of DC’s “conventional” horror titles like House of Secrets and House of Mystery. Go figure. And, as always I digress.)

But… as I became more fascinated by the visual aspects of comic book storytelling, I realized I had missed a few things, including some great art in that title.

Here’s a nice example from José García-López on a page that clearly inspired Joe Kubert’s cover. (And not too weird at this point in the story, yet.)

José García-López is just great in any genre.

Ric Estrada — Of Blood And Roses

Original Art and The Artists

Unknown Soldier #220, October 1978

Ric Estrada channels legendary artist Alex Toth in this short story about the Boer War. 

Estrada had previously worked with, and channeled Toth on a short-lived Hot Wheels series from DC in 1970. In fact, his style was so similar, that an original page from one of those stories was misidentified as Toth at least twice.

So no surprise that this story also feels like a “Toth.” The lettering (un-credited) definitely adds to the style.

Estrada, of course, was a talent in his own right (and under-appreciated by many) and an excellent storyteller.  He didn’t enjoy drawing super hero stories, and that may have impacted his “brand.” 

When he did draw capes and tights, his storytelling was typically creative and dynamic. His layouts are a terrific fit with Wood Inks on All-Star Squadron. His layout choices appear more inventive and less stiff than Woody’s. 

What? Heresy you say? Read those AS issues again and compare pages — Wood’s layouts vs. Estrada’s. 

I’ll wait.

(Author’s note — Wood is one of the all time greats, and one of my absolute personal favorites. In this specific case, I’m just calling it the way I see it.)

The published title page for the story, and an unpublished pin-up tribute to Toth.

Howard Chaykin — The Angel

Original Art and The Artists

Sgt. Rock Special #2, December 1994

DC salutes the 50th anniversary Battle of the Bulge (the final major German offensive of WW II; spoiler alert —they lost) with this clever 1994 one-shot of short stories.

Howard Chaykin is firing on all cylinders in comics during this period and this story, written by Chuck Dixon, features top-notch draftsmanship and storytelling. Much of the actual Battle of the Bulge is indeed fought in snowy, cold weather, and Chaykin’s use of whiteout over ink is extremely effective, and especially clear in the original art.

It’s extremely cinematic — exactly the way any comic book story about The Battle of the Bulge should be. Or, actually, any World War II story. 

Or any war tale, for that matter.

I don’t own many complete stories, but very happy to have acquired the story from Howard himself. For a change, I was in the right place at the right time.

“Howard Chaykin — The Angel.”  This kind of headline practically writes itself.

The entire story, reprinted here for the first time anywhere, I believe. DC, please be kind.

Ken Barr — Mine Eyes Have Seen…

Original Art and The Artists

Star Spangled War Stories #169, April 1973

The late Ken Barr was a terrific painter. I’ve been fond of his work since his eye-popping Marvel Magazine covers jumped out at me from among the two gazillion mag titles at a typical newsstand.

Barr, Scottish, broke in professionally with art in British war comics. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to find an example of his pen and ink style that appeared in DC’s war stories, before his painted work became his primary focus.

Barr’s Wikipedia entry is sorely lacking, but fan Tim Janson provided a nice overview in his Amazon review of a small book collection of Barr’s paintings:

“Barr got his start in the early 60’s doing covers for British war comics such as Commando before coming over to the United States in 1966. Barr first came to notoriety with his work for Warren Publications on titles such as Creepy and Eerie. Over the next thirty-five plus years Barr would go on to work for both Marvel and DC Comics, do movie posters, book covers, trading card series, and even a collectible plate series for the Danbury Mint.”

You can also find a detailed tribute here, with links to other sources as well.

Fans loved Barr’s stunning comic, SF, and fantasy paintings. (I must confess that I like the prelim version of both the woman and the Hulk better than the finish.)
Some of Barr’s killer (pun intended, of course) cover paintings for the British mag Commando.

Dick Ayers (w/Joe Kubert) — One-Armed Soldier

Original Art and The Artists

Sgt. Rock #348, January 1981

When I acquired this great looking page years back, I remarked (to no one in particular): “Gee, who knew Dick Ayers could draw like Joe Kubert?”

Duh. Thanks to the amazing Grand Comics Database (GCD), and an interview with inker Ron Randall, I find out that there’s an excellent reason for the look and feel of the draftsmanship: Kubert drew some of the art as well. (And Ron is a graduate of the Kubert School.)

Official credits in the printed issue belong Ayers and Randall, inker, but given the many retouches and corrections on the page (and likely throughout the entire story) it should have been a bit more obvious to me that Joe had a hand in the art. From the Randall interview:

“My first comics work was a few short stories in the back of the old Sgt. Rock. Many, many years ago. What I most remember was the rare and priceless opportunity to work one-on-one with Joe Kubert himself as he took me through the steps of layouts, pencils and inks on these short tales. It was getting personal attention from a master. And the lessons I learned from those jobs have shaped my views on comics and storytelling to this day.” — Ron Randall

I’ve seen Ron at quite a few conventions over the years, so when cons come back, I can potentially put the rest of the puzzle pieces of this particular story together. (Like how Dick Ayers actually fits into this.) If Ron remembers, that is. 

(I know I seem remember things from 40 years ago. I just can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday.)

Ayers was a mainstay on Marvel’s war titles, including a 10-year run on Sgt.Fury.

Joe Kubert — DC At War

Original Art and The Artists

Sgt. Rock #14, July 1991

The legendary Joe Kubert “borrows” from himself to create an iconic cover image; one of the very few to feature both Sgt. Rock and Enemy Ace together.

It’s a beautifully rendered cover, and one my personal favorites.

Kubert’s covers graced so many DC war comics from the 60s through the 90s that occasionally seeing one from another artist is just… incongruous.

And as artist, editor and Publications Director, Kubert’s storytelling insight and eye for talent ensured that many of the interiors were terrific as well.

Ahead of Memorial Day later this month, we’re featuring a number of great pieces of art from DC’s war genre by some truly talented creators.

Stay tuned.

Revisiting an iconic image to craft a new one, more than 20 years later. Check the eyes on both the original cover and the homage.
Sgt. Rock and Enemy Ace make their first appearances years apart in The Silver Age, and DC and IDW create two beautiful original art collections 50 years later.