Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Category: Original Art and The Artists

John Byrne — WandaVision

Original Art and The Artists

West Coast Avengers #42, March 1989

John Byrne takes over The West Coast Avengers with a storyline entitled “Vision Quest.” The Vision is missing — the government is secretly reverse engineering him — and when it’s all done, we witness the introduction of the “White Vision.”

Sound familiar? Many of these ideas and threads (and of course many, many others) appear in Disney’s WandaVision.

Byrne makes the visual most of an exposition page here. (The dreaded “talking heads” scenario.) Nearly all of the Avengers are represented, and John uses multiple angles (medium vs. close-up shots) and characters’ points of view to keep the page visually interseting.

Nice detailed inks from Mike Machlan, who used a very fine line — much easier to discern in the original art than in the printed page.

I don’t recall how often we caught a glimpse of the full exterior of the West Coast headquarters, but it reminds me of a Santa Monica luxury hotel. 

California Dreamin,’ indeed.

Yes, there’s a Damn problem!
Can’t imagine that the entire comics-loving’ world hasn’t already seen this, but just in case…

George Perez — Infinity… And Beyond

Original Art and The Artists

Infinity Gauntlet #3, September 1991

George Perez delivers what George Perez does best: Multiple characters with terrific detail, and imaginative “camera angles” on this great page from the original Infinity Gauntlet mini-series.

It’s almost impossible to believe that this week marks the 2-year anniversary of Avengers Endgame, which wrapped up the Gauntlet saga, and the “early” phases of the MCU. Except for the December 2019 Spider-Man: Far from Home flick (which although in the greater MCU, is a SONY production) no Marvel films in two years just seems… wrong. Thanks, pandemic.

The good news is that we’ve had two quality TV series in recent months, with another one launching in a month.  And if my math is correct, because of delays and rescheduling, there are four Marvel films to debut this year, and four more scheduled for next year.

Whew.

The bad news — if there is any — is that Marvel is setting up so many potential storylines at this point that we are going to have to keep a character encyclopedia and Gantt chart with us at all times.

Dark Avengers?

Thunderbolts?

Young Avengers?

House of M?

Kree Skrull War?

Secret Invasion?

A Multiverse thread in both Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, at a minimum.

Plus, Kang as the next “big bad?”

Like I said… whew.

It’s one thing to accomplish all of this in 80 or so monthly comic books. It’s another to do it in filmed media. But if anyone can, I think Marvel and Disney might pull it off.

Fasten your seat belts…

Despite the comics inclusion of many characters that are not in the MCU version of Infinity Gauntlet / Endgame, this Perez page does highlight three of the films’ most important heroes: Iron Man, Captain America and Spider-Man.

Dale Keown — Hulk Vs… Pitt

Original Art and The Artists

Hulk / Pitt #1, December 1996

Concluding our series on Hulk vs.… The Universe.

Hulk vs. Pitt? I love this idea. 

Not so much because it feels like a reasonable balanced match-up. (Although it does, with Pitt likely the tougher combatant.)

More so because Dale Keown made his bones with a terrific version of the Hulk on writer Peter David’s long run in the very early 90s, and then went off and created Pitt as his own character and title for Image Comics.

So Hulk vs. Pitt is actually… Dale Keown vs. Dale Keown. 

On this page, the Hulk and Pitt beat the living daylights out of each other. Knockdown, drag ‘em out close-in battling, executed by a pro. (With lovely detailed finishes by the versatile and talented Dan Panosian.)

I would love to see more regular comics work by Keown, but, based on his total output the last 20 years, I have a feeling that’s not in the cards.

I would love to be wrong.

Dale’s first cover for Incredible Hulk, followed by the published version and original art for Pitt #1.

Steve Rude — Hulk Vs… Superman

Original Art and The Artists

Incredible Hulk vs. Superman, July 1999

Steve Rude delivers a terrific action page of Superman vs. Hulk, as we continue to pay tribute to Hulk vs. heroes in other universes this week.

Superman vs. Hulk seems quite a bit more logical than Batman vs. Hulk.  Theoretically, Superman would ultimately win, but at least he would be winded.

And come to think of it, Golden Age Superman, as originally conceived by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, might still win, but it would be pretty close to a draw.

Early Silver Age Superman, who could move planets around, not so much.

Rude, who worships at the alter of Jack Kirby, and shows reverence for Shuster’s Superman as well, is the perfect artist to illustrate this pairing.

And Granny’s expression in the middle panel? Nothing like a bit of offbeat humor to lighten the mood of a titanic fight, albeit very briefly.

Rude is perfect for that, as well.

Technology gets better (and less expensive), and fans apply their creativity accordingly.

José García-López — Hulk Vs… Batman

Original Art and The Artists

DC Special Series #27, September 1981

Late April is the time of year when we are typically revved up and ready for the upcoming summer movie blockbuster season. 

Definitely not this year. June perhaps? (Fingers crossed, and all that.)

So here at the blog this week, we present the big blockbusters you will never see on the big screen anyway — crossovers featuring the Incredible Hulk with characters from other universes, starting with…

…Hulk vs. Batman. 

This was the second character crossover between Marvel and DC, following the successful pairings of Spider-man and Superman a few years prior. At the time Superman was DC”s most important and recognizable character worldwide, so despite the power inequity, that original pairing made commercial sense. Of course, Batman vs. Spider-man is a fairer fight.

And Hulk vs. Superman? That seems fairer — More on that later.

Meanwhile, despite the improbability of the match-up, Jose Garcia Lopez presents a master class in comic book storytelling in 48 pages.

It’s an astonishing piece of work, by an artist’s artist. Both visual imagination and draftsmanship are superb here. Many of the pages are top of class, and very few are anything less than terrific.

I prefer Lopez inking himself, but Giordano does a terrific job, and despite the mismatch of powers, it’s a fun ride. 

But seriously, Batman “vs.” Hulk? (Eventually, of course, as illustrated here, they team up.) It may have been a fun ride, but realistically, it should have been a very short one.

Keith Giffen — Beyond The Fourth World

Original Art and The Artists

O.M.A.C. #1, November 2011

We conclude our celebration of Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with one more look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 

Keith Giffen gets an opportunity to play in the DC Kirbyverse with O.M.A.C., based on Jack’s short-lived series at DC about a future that was closer than we realized. Critically acclaimed, it was cancelled after just eight issues. (Coincidentally, Jack’s original series was cancelled after eight issues as well.)

“OMAC was my favorite title of DC’s initial New 52 relaunch, but being based on a Jack Kirby character that’s more obscure than Kamandi and Devil Dinosaur combined probably didn’t help when it came time for DC to trim its first wave of underperforming titles. The fact that it was written by fan rage magnet DiDio made for marketplace kryptonite. You could’ve lined the interior of the book with 20-dollar bills and nobody would’ve bought it.”—Tom Scioli, writer, artist and author of Jack Kirby: The Epic Life Of The King Of Comics.

Giffen, a legendary Kirby fanatic, also wrote and drew a Forever People series and the first issue of the Kamandi Challenge, all with co-conspirator DiDio, who happened to be DC’s publisher at the time.

*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.

Steve Rude — Love Letter To The King

Original Art and The Artists

Mister Miracle Special #1, April 1987

We continue to celebrate Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with a special two-week look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 2021 is the Fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth World storyline. *

Jack Kirby super-fan Steve Rude pens this artistic love letter to Kirby’s Fourth World, in this one-shot from 1987. Along for the tribute are Jack’s best-known collaborators at DC, writer Mark Evanier and inker Mike Royer.

On this inventive and powerful splash page — the best in the issue — Rude cleverly uses a “trapped” Miracle as the backdrop for other Fourth World characters including The Forever People, Lightray of the New Gods, and Big Barda.

Rude and Evanier would reunite again for another Kirby tribute years later with a 1999 Jimmy Olsen story in Legends of the DC Universe # 14. (Inked this time by Bill Reinhold.)

*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.

Jim Aparo — Miracle #19

Original Art and The Artists

Brave and Bold #112, May 1974

We continue to celebrate Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with a special two-week look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 2021 is the Fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth World storyline. *

Mister Miracle makes his first appearance outside of the Jack Kirby DC universe in this cool Batman team-up story in the Brave and The Bold, penciled and inked by the legendary bat-artist Jim Aparo.

Ironically, Kirby’s own Mister Miracle title had been cancelled the month previously, effectively ending the Jack’s interconnected Fourth World, a little more than three years after it started.

Think of it as the 19th Bronze Age issue of Mister Miracle; it would take another three years for an actual issue #19 — without Jack’s involvement — to see the light of day. 

(The bat team of writer Bob Haney and artist Aparo effectively weave Mr. Miracle into the greater DC Universe, and the two escape artists will team up again in issue #126 as well.)

*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.

The final issue of Mister Miracle (#18) is also the final issue in Jack Kirby’s New Gods saga until he returns to it briefly about 10 years later. But hey, miraculously, our great escape artist shows up right on publication schedule —- albeit as a guest star in a Batman book.

Alex Ross — Mr. Kirby’s Wild Ride

Original Art and The Artists

Lithograph, 1999

We continue to celebrate Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with a special two-week look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 2021 is the Fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth World storyline. *

Alex Ross recreates one of Jack’s best-know splash pages from New Gods in his exquisite photo-realistic painted style for a lithograph and Giclee.

Jack Kirby. Alex Ross. Not much more to add here. Different art styles. Different art mediums. Different generations. Both masters of their respective forms.

*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.

As is often the case, the original color (below right) seems more true to form than the digital re-color, above.

Jim Starlin — Superman Among The Gods

Original Art and The Artists

Death of the New Gods #7, May 2008

We continue to celebrate Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with a special two-week look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 2021 is the Fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth World storyline. *

Superman (with Mr. Miracle’s help) gets into it with the Infinity man in this great splash page and well-crafted mini-series by Jim Starlin.

Starlin of course created Thanos, the not-quite knock-off of Darkseid, who became one of the most popular super-villains in the Marvel Universe, and ultimately the ultimate “Big-bad” of the MCU. So it’s fitting to have him play in the Darkseid’s  sandbox as well.

Ironically, it took Darkseid a bit longer to achieve the same level of popularity in the DC Universe, but his own crown as DC’s ultimate super-villain has been amplified by his inclusion in the Zach Snyder “cut”of Justice League.

As for the series title? Let’s just say that reports of the New Gods’ deaths are greatly exaggerated.

*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.

Darkseid and Thanos, not as similar as you might think. (Darkseid doesn’t need a cosmic cube to be a god — he already is one.)