Original Art and The Artists – Page 9 – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Gil Kane — Titanic Team-Up

September 26, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Marvel Team-Up #14, October 1973

Spider-man art by Gil Kane. From the collection of Greg Goldstein

Spider-Man and Sub-Mariner need a few pages of bantering and brawling in this early issue of Marvel Team-Up before they figure out that they left on friendly terms just two years prior. But that’s often the classic (sometimes cliché) formula. Characters meet, fight, and then figure out who the real enemy is and join forces to stop them. (In this case Tiger Shark and — I kid you not — the Aquanoids.)

Gil Kane provides, as always, dynamic and dramatic pencils and composition — although finding regular inkers for him on this series seems challenging. Here the enigmatic Wayne Howard takes a stab at Gil’s unique styling with mixed effects throughout the issue. (Although I like the results on this specific page.)

Great cover too, with inks by Frank Giacoia. (Although the Marvel trade dress is out of control with not much room for the main imagery.)

For more on the first Sub-Mariner / Spider-Man crossover, see this fun article below:

Sub-Mariner #40 (August, 1971)

Walter Simonson, Scott Hanna & Brian Bendis — Red Hulk, Frequent Flyer

September 22, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Avengers #28, September 2012

Ten years ago, I purchased this terrific Avengers double page spread by Walter Simonson and Scott Hanna from Scott’s art representative at New York Comic-Con. Scott was at the convention, but I never managed to track him down. Walter was there, so he signed it before I returned to California, but since it was inks over blue-line printed pencils, it definitely needed Scott’s signature as well.

Problem was, I kept forgetting about it during my convention travels.

Finally, coming out of the pandemic two years ago, I see that Scott will be at Baltimore Comic-Con, so I pack it up, fly back East and… he needs to cancel. That’s not on him — a lot of creators cancelled in 2021, many because Covid had started raging again and travel stunk.

Flash forward to a few weeks ago, he’s an announced guest at BCC, so I bring it again, and voila, I catch up to him. Signature acquired.

And as a bonus, when I remind Walter about the piece, writer Brian Bendis happens to stop by, so I end up with a cool bonus signature as well. (He was genuinely delighted to see the original art — writers often don’t see the originals before they make their way back to the artists and/or disappear into the collectors’ market.)

If you’re counting, that’s 12,500 miles of travel for that piece of art.

I should have signed it up for a frequent flyer account.

Scott Hanna with his original art from Avengers #28.(2012). Page and photo from the collection of Greg Goldstein.

Walter Simonson with Brian Bendis and original art from Avengers #28.(2012). Page and photo from the collection of Greg Goldstein.

Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 4 Of 4

September 19, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023

Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 3 Of 4

September 18, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023

Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 2 Of 4

September 15, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023

Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 1 Of 4

September 14, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023

Once again, HUGE thanks and congrats to all the terrific folks who made this past weekend’s Baltimore Comic-Con just as perfect an event could be.

As noted in previous years, It’s easily one of my favorite conventions — an absolute delight to attend. I had a blast catching up with old friends and colleagues, making some new acquaintances, and hosting some fun panels.

I’m exhausted, but it’s a happy exhaustion, and once again, I miss all of you already.

Walter Simonson, Ron Garney — Ron Garney, Walter Simonson

Jack Kirby — Gorillas, Tigers, The Apocalypse, Oh My!

August 22, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Kamandi #16, April 1974

I didn’t react well to Kamandi… at first.

I was a huge fan of the Planet of the Apes Franchise, and when I first saw the promo image (The Comics Reader, probably) for the cover of issue #1, I became miffed.

Why would Jack rip off POTA? Was the King finally out of original ideas?

Ah to be that young and foolish again. Kamandi quickly became a favorite. And little did I know that the Statue of Liberty “end of human civilization trope was already a SF trope by the time Rod Serling incorporated into his brilliant POTA screenplay. (See below.)

And, if you’re going to end human civilization with one breed of animals develop advanced intelligence, why not do it with all of them.

Heh.

That’s why the King is the King.

And, it gets better. Turns out Jack was incorporating some similar ideas he had previously used in a short story in Alarming Tales, 15 years prior to Kamandi. (Also, see below.)

So, what did I know? Not much, apparently. Like I said, to be that young and foolish again.

This page is the final issue Mike Royer inked, and the first that D Bruce Berry (working apprentice style) had a hand in. He took over solo the following issue. Tom Kraft of the Jack Kirby Museum believes both worked on this specific page.

Kamandi, apes and tigers — all on one page. What more could I ask for?

Now, or then.

Planet Of The Apes Statue of Liberty Scene

A post apocalyptic and buried (land or water) Statue of Liberty had appeared at least three times prior to the first POTA film. (I’m not exactly sure when the reprint of After The Rain first appeared, but the cover art is much stronger this time around.)

*A destroyed Statue has appeared countless times since Planet of Apes.*

*Before and after comics; the dreadful Mighty Samson (1965) & John Byrne’s Doomsday + 1 (1975) cover that pays homage to Kirby and POTA.*

Jack Kirby Alarming Tales pre-Kamandi Story — *Kirby’s original tale (pun intended) of advanced animal species fighting. with each other in a post apocalyptic world first appeared in Harvey’s Alarming Tales #1 (1957.)*

Jack Kirby — Encore Presentation

August 18, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Baltimore Comic-Con, September 8-10, 2023

After a five-year hiatus, the legendary Jack Kirby original art presentation returns with nearly 1,000 high-res images* featuring some of the King’s most important pages and covers. Join myself, the legendary Walter Simonson, the incredible Scott Dunbier (at least 80(!) IDW Publishing Artist Edition collections under his editorial belt — I’ve lost count) for a Kirby tribute unlike any other.

Baltimore Comic Con 9/8-9/10, exact time and panel room location TBD.

(*Yes, nearly 1,000. It’s an hour-long presentation, so if you blink, you’ll miss a few.)

In the meantime, I’m fortunate enough to personally own a few pages of Jack’s original art and have covered most of them previously in the blog, but here they are in one place for the first time.

If you want to see them and much more, simply enter “Jack Kirby” into the blog search bar.

Jack Kirby New Gods Hunger Dogs Graphic Novel

Jack Kirby Marvel Fantastic Four Original Art

Jack Kirby Skymasters Original Comic Strip Art

Odds and Sods — August 2023

August 11, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

It was my turn to chat with Comic Art Fans (CAF) moderator Bill Cox this past Tuesday. We ended up talking about lots of interesting comic book publishing history… plus some great art. You can watch it directly through the link below:

Greg Goldstein at Phil Seuling New York Comic Book Convention 1975

And speaking of comic book history…

In celebration of 50 years of the creation of the comic book specialty distribution market, Milton Griepp of ICV2 is featuring a series of interviews with early “pioneers” in the business. The day before this past SDCC, my interview (video and print) appeared. If you’ve got some down time (Ok, if you’re bored with pretty much everything else on-line at the moment), please join me down the rabbit hole.

Good timing on the publication of the interviews; I am personally celebrating 40 years of professional contributions to the popular entertainment arts (Topps, IDW Publishing, Activision, et al) in one media format or another.

Teenage Greg (photo is October 1975, at Phil Seuling’s monthly Comic Book Marketplace show in New York City) would be very amused, if not startled.

Long, strange trip indeed.

SDCC Bonus — Ahoy, Maties!

August 8, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Voodoo Ranger, Nerdin’ Out and… a Pirate ship

Greg Goldstein with the crew from Nerdin' Out

Live from the Voodoo Ranger Pirate Ship, Saturday July 22, 2023 — The Nerdin’ Out Podcast featuring Ravey, Cameron, Courtney, the rest of the great cast and crew, plus… pirates, parrots, a monkey and.. beer!

What does this have to do with comic art and/or graphic novel history?

Not much… But it was Comic-Con.