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.

Mike Mignola — On The Road To Hellboy

October 31, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Bram Stoker’s Dracula, #3, December 1992

Happy Halloween! Today we wrap up our two-week series celebrating the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

Here’s a sweet page from Roy Thomas and Mike Mignola’s adaption of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film, Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Fun Fact: All the pages in this adaption are “sweet.” There’s not a miss in the bunch. In fact it’s one of the best looking of any film adaptations ever done in comics. (Top of mind, only Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson’s Alien graphic novel is in the same league.)

It’s also fair to say that while the film itself is fine (mixed reviews when it was released), the comics adaption itself is actually better.

Fun Fact: Coppola liked Mike’s art so much he hired him to provide illustrative material for the film itself, and Mike’s work is credited in the movie.

Fun Fact: The title was the launch project for Topps Comics, and was in development prior to the hiring of an actual Editor-In- Chief. (Jim Salicrup.)

Fun Fact: John Nyberg inked the series in spectacular fashion— it’s astonishing how anyone but Mike could make it so “Mignola-like,” but John nails it. The brilliantly effective coloring is by Mark Chiarello, who later colors the first full Hellboy series, Seed of Destruction. (Hellboy himself appears for the first time just a few months after Dracula concludes in an SDCC giveaway comic book.)

Fun Fact: For many years, Dracula was a lost classic — one of the few major Mignola projects not in print — for more than 20 years. I personally chased those reprint rights for 10 of those 20. Sometimes, insane tenacity pays off.

Fun Fact: It’s the first comic book I ever worked on professionally, and its reprint was one of the final projects published prior to my departure from IDW. (I will have to figure out a way to bring another version to my next publishing home. Ha.)

Fun Fact: Despite one of the best looking comic book series ever, it’s unlikely there will ever be an “artists edition” style book. The originals are scattered to the wind, and only occasionally offered for sale. I consider myself fortunate to own this one.

First story appearance of Hellboy, SDCC comic, July 1993
First color appearance of Hellboy, script by John Byrne,
December 1993
First full issue of Hellboy,
March 1994

Jack Kirby — The Devil You Say

October 29, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Satan’s Six #1, Original Cover Production Art, Kirby File Copy, 1978 / 1993

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

Here’s an oddity about an odd Jack Kirby comic featuring a bunch of oddballs.

Kirby’s Satan’s Six was developed as part on an unrealized “Kirby Line” of comics in 1978, shortly after Jack’s final tenure at Marvel had ended.

Jack drew a cover and eight story pages, plus a character concept and design page. Mike Royer was hired to ink some of those pages as samples, but when the concept for a “Kirby Line” dissipated, the pages sat in a drawer unused for nearly 15 years.

Enter Topps Comics, the fledging publishing line from the trading card and confectionary giant. Topps signed a deal with Jack in 1992 to produce comic books based on new, and (primarily) previously unused concepts. It was essentially a second chance for a “Kirby Line.” With the King in declining health, however, others would have to create content around Jack’s ideas.

Topps editor Jim Salicrup called his old friend Todd McFarlane and asked Todd if he would like to have a chance to work on a Kirby project. I’m pretty sure Todd said yes before Jim finished the question.

Of course, Todd was busy with his own series, a small Image title called Spawn, so Todd could only commit to inking a cover. And the only Jack-penciled cover was issue #1, previously inked by Royer, but on photocopies or overlays. So Todd re-inked the cover. You can read Todd’s own recollection about that here.

And now, this production art has re-surfaced, complete with the original “Marvel style” trade dress, and Royer’s original inks, just in time for Halloween.

What became of Satan’s Six? Tony Isabella’s stories based on Jack’s high concept of a lovable group of misfits too mischievous for Heaven but not evil enough for Hell seemed wackily appropriate enough, but the art definitely was a challenge from issue one.

Especially issue one.

Kirby’s eight original pages are scattered throughout the full story with the rest of the art from John Cleary, making for a dizzying juxtaposition of styles.

And Cleary’s “contemporary” (1993) art here, and through the remaining three issues, was simply not enticing enough to sustain interest. The book was cancelled with issue #4. You can read a complete illustrated overview of the series here.

Satan’s Six has yet to return to comics. They remain in… Limbo.

Gabriel Hardman — Like A Demon

October 27, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Cursed Comics Cavalcade #1, October 2018

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

Jack Kirby’s Demon — despite a short-lived original run of 16 issues — endures 47 years after his first appearance in 1972.

Talented creators have reinvigorated, and in some cases outright reinvented, Jack’s supernatural character in the ensuing decades. It’s an all- star list that includes Matt Wagner, John Byrne, Garth Ennis, John McCrea, and many others.

Add to that list Gabriel Hardman, who, on this splash, provides an iconic and frightening image of the classic character. Gabe’s use of deep black inks and the off-setting lightning and breaking glass create a haunting and dramatic page. (I think the art looks more impressive in black and white than in published color, but regular readers of this blog probably already guessed that.)

Hardman’s main professional work is creating storyboards for films, a list that includes Spider-Man, Batman, Logan and much more. He’s terrifically talented, and much sought after in Hollywood, so we don’t get enough of his work in comics, which is a definite pity for comic art aficionados.

In the meantime, we can likely look forward to yet another artistic interpretation of Kirby’s character sometime in the future.

After all, we all have our Demons.

**An atmospheric storyboard from Logan. Even if Gabe were permitted to part with it, he couldn’t — he does most of his storyboards fully digital.**

Greg Hildebrandt — “Monsters, Girls and Rockets”

October 25, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

War of the Worlds Poster, Preliminary Concept, 2019

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

Greg Hildebrandt turned 80-years old this year, and from his creative output, enthusiasm, and energy, you would absolutely not know it. He can run circles around many creators half his age.

Any age, actually.

Greg’s striking painted covers for Marvel Comics, and his retro-but-contemporary American Beauties pin-up series are just a few examples among the many recent works that prove the point – with an exclamation mark. One of the world’s best-known and accomplished fantasy artists continues to dazzle.

Among the many, many projects he is developing involves film posters. Greg is taking horror and SF movie classics he loves, and reimagining their posters as if he had painted them in the first place. War of the Worlds (1953) is one of those, and this piece is one rough concept (color pencils) for his painted version, date TBD.

And of course, Greg knows a few things about movie posters. He and his late brother Tim painted one of the most iconic posters in movie history — The “B” Poster for Star Wars. (Greg reimagined that poster solo last year.) More on that next month.

I had the good fortune to spend time with Greg at NYCC and Baltimore Comic Con this year and he anecdotally summed up his amazing career:

“As an eight-year old, I loved to draw monsters, girls and rockets — and I still do.”

Sing along with Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns and Money” and swap out the words. You may never get that earworm out of your head.

!953 Original Poster
1954 Original Poster
Hildebrandt Reimagination

Footnote: Ok, so I know that the reimagining of a classic film poster is not actually original comic book art, but War of The Worlds has a solid legacy in comics ...

Footnote Extra: War of The Worlds will be forever linked with Halloween — On October 31,1938 Orson Welles broadcast a live radio dramatization, treating the HG Wells classic as a breaking news story out of New Jersey. It scared the daylights out of radio listeners, especially New York metro area residents. Fake news for real.

**Greg Goldstein, Greg Hildebrandt, Bob Budiansky, Jean Scrocco at New York Comic Con**

Baltimore 2019 — Quite A Run

October 24, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Baltimore Comic-Con wrapped Sunday, and once again I’m reminded why I enjoy this show so much: The focus is nearly 100 percent on comics and directly related product. Fans are enthusiastic, cosplay is imaginative. Crowds are manageable, even at peak times. Top creators who don’t do many conventions can often be found at this one, engaging with their fans — and each other. Staff is friendly and organized. It’s old school done well.

(Even with the Baltimore Marathon creating some logistical havoc on Saturday, as far as I could see, everything ran as smoothly as possible.)

I’ve posted some photo highlights below, and the entire group of pics can be found on the BCC page here. It’s an all-star line-up of accomplished creators and some clever cosplay.

See you in 2020!

Gene Colan & Tom Palmer — Shadows and Light

October 23, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Tomb of Dracula #54, March 1976

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

The monsters returned to Marvel in 1972.

But this time, the giant behemoths were mostly relegated to reprint titles. Thanks to a loosening of guidelines by the dreaded Comics Code Authority, new comics featured creatures of the night like werewolves, zombies and of course, vampires.

Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula, written by Marv Wolfman (you can’t make that up) and drawn exquisitely by Gene Colan for 70 issues, is a masterpiece of that era. And, it’s not only a legendary horror series, but also one of the great comic book runs, period.

Colan, the “painter with a pencil, “ made his bones at Marvel on classic superheroes like Iron Man, Captain America, and most notably Daredevil. When Marvel expanded into the horror genre, though, no artist could have been more suited to bring life to the undead Dracula.

The stylist who had mastered the art of shadows and light, was now illustrating the character who hid in those very same shadows.

This moody and dynamic action page is typical of the series. Tom Palmer, who inked all but a handful of early issues, is one of the few who could ink Colan without diminishing — or (ahem) burying altogether — Gene’s pencils.

Colan’s unique style can be polarizing. His fans (and I obviously count myself among them) can be passionate to a fault about Gene’s inventive and atmospheric storytelling. Gene’s singular artistic approach made no attempt to mimic the styles of Marvel’s other star artists, and that represented a challenge to some readers, especially on superhero stories.

But to us, it didn’t detract, or distract, from what Kirby, Romita and Buscema brought to the party. Hell, they were the party. Stan Lee understood from the beginning that Gene’s art would stand on its own. And we appreciated that.

It’s like being an obsessive devotee of art impressionism, and also an enthusiast of Picasso’s cubism. It’s not a contradiction to enjoy both — is it?

Eric Powell — Monster Mash

October 21, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Marvel Monsters: Where Monsters Dwell #1, December, 2005

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

Marvel Comics has only recently fully embraced its monstrous heritage; giant creature stories that dominated its publishing line just prior to the “Marvel Age of Comics.”

When it came to oversized behemoths (home grown or alien) terrorizing Earth’s inhabitants, no one could hold a candle to these giant-size oddballs from 1959 -1963.

And I do mean odd: Oog, Orrgo, Ulvar, Rombu, Rorrg, Goom —and his offspring Googam (I kid you not) — are only a few of the dozens of beasts, lizards, robots, and aliens that walked the earth. (And of course, our pal Groot from Guardians Galaxy was originally a planet-wrecking alien conqueror way back in 1960.)

Obviously inspired by the pop culture of the day (Godzilla, et al) Stan Lee, along with co- creators Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Dick Ayers Larry Lieber and others, took a monster-sized football and ran with it.

Eric Powell created all four covers for this series of modern one-shots in 2005, plus he provided interior art for the Devil Dinosaur issue. I’ve shared my thoughts about Eric previously. The creator of the Goon is a terrific talent, and his art style blends reverence and satire perfectly on these covers.

The Where Monsters Dwell issue specifically features three main characters: Bombu, Monstrollo and Manoo. The covers of their original appearances, along with Eric’s three other covers, are shown below.

Lee Weeks — FOOM!

October 19, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Incredible Hulk #78, April 2005

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

Lee Weeks drawing the Incredible Hulk? Excellent.

Lee Weeks drawing a Hulk splash in which our hero is about to be clobbered by Lee and Kirby’s Fin Fang Foom? Feels like a must-have page.

Weeks… Hulk…Fin Fang Foom… Monster Island. Not much more to add here about this cool and surreal page. It’s from the Peter David multi–issue story “Tempest Fugit”, that seems very influenced by the “Lost” television show, which was then in its first season.

This story arc, marking David’s return to the character, definitely has some detractors (spoiler alert — it’s essentially a dream story) but Weeks art, with inks by the amazing Tom Palmer, definitely transcends whatever story issues might exist.

Fin Fang Foom, one of the many great giant creatures created at the dawn of the silver age, appeared just shortly after the birth of Fantastic Four #1, whose debut would ironically herald the end of the age of Marvel Monsters.

He resurfaces from time to time — including a one-shot with the Hulk shortly after this story — but his appearances are too infrequent for my own taste.

Fun fact: His surname became the name of the Marvel -run fan club magazine in the 70s. Friends of ‘Ol Marvel indeed!

Weeks signing at Baltimore Comic-Con, (yesterday), October 18, 2019

Welcome To Baltimore

October 18, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Baltimore Comic-Con, October, 18-20, 2019

Bernie Wrightson — Legend In Progress

October 17, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Witching Hour #5, November 1969, “The Sole Survivor”

Today we launch a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

It’s difficult to attend Baltimore Comic Con without thinking about Bernie Wrightson, who hailed from here, and made his final convention appearance here six months prior to his death in 2017.

Wrightson’s professional comics career began in DC’s mystery anthology titles just six months before this art was published, 50 years ago this month.

This page, therefore, is very early Wrightson, and although it’s still a few years away from his artistic peak, the talent, and signature detail, is already unmistakably there. His art hooked me early on, and I remain hooked.

Those DC mystery and horror comics, many edited by EC legend Joe Orlando, often showcased star artists like Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Neal Adams, Gil Kane, and others, including occasionally Orlando himself.

Of course, like other anthology comics, you never knew what the line-up was going to be from title to title, issue to issue. These series were indeed like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates: You never know what you’re going to get.

So of course they were always the titles I tried to skim through urgently on the candy store spinner racks, before that crusty proprietor Mr. Wurman would inevitably glance my way and say: “You gonna buy those? This is not a library.”