Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Category: Original Art and The Artists

Marvel Cut-Ups

Original Art and The Artists

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.

Earl Norem — Mars Attacks, A True Classic

Original Art and The Artists

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.

Michael Golden — Dinosaur Snack

Original Art and The Artists

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!

Esteban Maroto — Lovely and Deadly

Original Art and The Artists

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.)

Tom Yeates — Dracula vs. Zorro?

Original Art and The Artists

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.

Dick Ayers and John Severin — The “Kirbyverse” & Savage Dragon, Too

Original Art and The Artists

Bombast #1, April 1993

Thirty years ago this month — April 1993 — saw the launch of Topps’ “Kirbyverse.” (I genuinely can’t remember who thought of that phrase – EIC Jim Salicrup or myself, so we will each take have to take co-credit.)

Although Jack was not directly involved in character or story development, he did enjoy being kept in the loop and, from the feedback we received, he enjoyed our efforts.

The challenge at the time of course, is that the consumer marketplace didn’t enjoy our efforts quite as much as he OR we did.  Four Kirbyverse titles launched in April 1993, plus a freebie. Total circulation of the group: About one million copies. (That is not a typo.)

But our titles launched purposely with retro styling, (see the ad below) and, at that moment, the market was mostly uninterested in classic styling. Younger readers gobbling up Image’s Youngblood and Spawn weren’t that versed or interested in Jack Kirby.

From the moment we launched, sales of the Kirby titles dropped each month. By the time we had reached 1994, we were sunk.

That said, it was a hell of a launch, and Jim managed to reunite the classic Marvel bullpen (or at least some of it) one last time.

And well-known Kirby superfan and Image co-founder Erik Larsen was kind enough to “lend” us Savage Dragon for the first issue of Jack’s Bombast one-shot.

So, there was that.

More on the Topps Comics “30th anniversary (albeit a few months late) in the next few weeks.

Did I manage to squeeze enough info into this one ad? Did the design team hand draw the “Kirby Crackle” in the background? Hint, those are both rhetorical questions.

Jack Kirby & Mike Royer — 30 Years Ago, Today

Original Art and The Artists

Production Art, Satan’s Six #1, April 1993

30 years ago? How is this even possible?

Jack 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 my old home, 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.

A few years ago, some Kirby production art re-surfaced, complete with the original “Marvel style” trade dress on the cover and Royer’s original inks.

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.

But still…Happy 30th anniversary to the “Kirbyverse!”

John Buscema — Ka-Zar, Man-Thing, Oh My!

Original Art and The Artists

Astonishing Tales #12, June 1972

Man-Thing (Seriously, what kind of drugs to you take to come up with a name like that?) makes his first color comic book appearance in this terrific Ka-Zar story illustrated primarily by John Buscema. 

Part of the story was slated to appear in the B&W Savage Tales #2 which did not see the light of day, so it was cleverly re-worked here. Because of the re-mixing, credits on this issue read like an all-star line-up, and include Buscema, Neal Adams, John Romita and Dan Adkins.

Writer Roy Thomas somehow made sense of it all, creating the framing story around Len Wein’s original tale.

Bonus: Man -Thing’s first overall appearance in Savage Tales #1 includes this glorious splash (below) by Gray Morrow.

Sean Chen — Savage Team-Up

Original Art and The Artists

Red Sonja Conan #1, July 2015

Red Sonja and Conan together again, as they say, on this great cover by my pal, the very talented Sean Chen.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Red Sonja made her first appearance in Conan #23, and appeared on the cover one month later in issue #24. Both issues feature glorious art by the legendary Barry Windsor Smith.