Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Odds & Sods

Original Art and The Artists

June 2023

Some photos from the LA Comic Art Show this past June 4.

Veteran comic art retailer Bechara Maalouf runs the focussed convention twice a year in LA (Redondo Beach) — typically May and November — and also one in the SF Bay area in February.

As always, it featured a great selection of original art —- plus a fun group of guests this time around. Pictured: Andy Kubert, David Mack, Mark Texeira, and yours truly with Andy.

If you blinked you missed it department:

I recently raised a glass to our friends at Dollar Bin Bandits (podcast, video) in honor of their second-year anniversary. Much more importantly, they used the occasion to announce that they had joined forces with the gang at Tomorrows Publishing. The fine folks there do a stellar job of publishing books and mags on the history of comics and pop culture.

It’s like combining peanut butter and chocolate: “Two great tastes that taste great together.” Very much looking forward to their joint efforts.

https://www.youtube.com/c/DollarBinBandits/videos

https://dollarbinbandits.buzzsprout.com

Last, and maybe least:

There are at least 10 million opinions about recent comic book superhero films out there (the on-line universe is obsessed with this art of thing) but I will add my own three cents anyway. (Spoiler- free, and ranked in order of my personal preference:)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse:

• A landmark in animation.

• A landmark in comic book stories on film.

• A landmark in cinema, period.

Haven’t yet seen the film and think’s that hyperbole? Check it out — and let me know if you think I’m wildly off base.

Guardians of The Galaxy 3:

Enjoyed it very much, and kudos to the filmmakers and their marketing efforts that managed to tell us what the film was about — without spoiling the story. The efforts worked, because pretty much every internet rumor about the film prior to the release was wrong. (Some just laughable.)

Caveat — I know the High Evolutionary’s animal experiments were needed for the story, but I do wish they had used a little more finesse in the editing room to tone some of it down.

The Flash:

Between the changes in WB studio ownership / management and Ezra Miller’s well-publicized troubles, this was a cursed project that still somehow delivers a fair and occasionally fun superhero product, especially if you are familiar with the Flashpoint storyline.

Yes, the special effects needed a bit more work, but I barely tolerate most CGI anyway, so it didn’t annoy me as much as other fans apparently. As for the cameos?  My only real reaction is where is TV Flash Grant Gustin? (The inter webs have plenty of thoughts on that, too.)

Tony Daniel — Out Of Time

Original Art and The Artists

Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #12, July 2007

“Just like that… It’s just gone.”

We complete the hat trick of Flash time travel stories with this knockout double page spread by Tony Daniel from writer Marc Guggenheim’s Flash run in 2007.

What happens when you lose the speed force? Nothing good, apparently. Although we did a great looking piece of art out of the deal.

Brett Booth — Time Won’t Let Me

Original Art and The Artists

Flash #40, May 2015

“I only made everything worse.”

Barry Allen arrives from the future to present day and makes a mess of things.

Like Stephen King wrote in 11.22.63, you try to change the past, the past fights back.

I can’t wait to see the Flash film with its similar theme, but truth be told, that’s primarily because Michael Keaton is reprising his role as Batman.

Oh, and it goes without saying, this is a great splash penciled by the terrific Brett Booth and inked with gusto by the equally terrific Norm Rapmund.

Sean Chen — Rogue Salvation?

Original Art and The Artists

Salvation Run #1, January 2008

“Stop gabbing and fight!”

After quite a few fits and starts, The Flash feature film is making its way into theaters this week, so naturally here’s a great Flash page… minus the Flash.

But all the classic Flash rogues are here in a story which focusses specifically on them. If you’re a fan of the classic Silver Age Flash (guilty) this splash by my pal Sean Chen is definitely the pen and ink version of comfort food.

As far as I can tell from the trailer, The Flash movie will be light on the rogues, so this is good way to get our fix.

Rogues, nothing but rogues. Comic book professional and historian Peter Sanderson — as a fan — wrote an amazing summary with pros and cons of each character, which Julius Schwartz published in Flash #174

Gil Kane & George Perez — Dinos, Bigger And Better

Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park #4, August 1993

Here are two great pages from the final issue of the 1993’s Jurassic Park adaptation, penciled by Gil Kane and inked by the George Perez. As I noted previously, the key Dino action takes place in issue #4 which covers half (or more) of the film. (Thanks a lot, Universal.)

Fun fact: Universal had a giant launch party for the JP licensing and marketing program at New York City’s Museum of Natural History in February 1993 (at the annual Toy fair event) and Topps received several invites. So what happens when I hop out of the Subway to walk to the museum? I run into George Perez, and we make our way in together. I had a great time, but George was even more thrilled. It was clear he was absolutely delighted to be a part of this.

Fun fact #2: Topps also had a few invites to the NY premiere of Jurassic Park at the Ziegfeld Theater and Walter and Louise Simonson were able to accompany us to the theater, and a swell time was had by all. But, apparently, the final version of the shooting script had not made it from Universal / Amblin to Topps to Walter, so naturally he immediately noticed that his script and the Final Cut differed in a few places. (Fortunately, only a few.)

Oh well…

Gil Kane & George Perez — 30 Years of Jurassic

Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park #3, July 1993

Jurassic Park opened thirty years ago June 11, so it seems like an ideal time to present some more great Jurassic Park pages from 1993’s adaptation drawn by Gil Kane and George Perez this week. (I still can’t believe it’s been thirty years.)

Here’s a terrific splash from issue three, with George’s telltale detailed inking mostly only evident in the original art; the color obscures many of those fine details in the published page.

Fun fact: Because of licensing restrictions (including embargo dates) and publishing schedules, the film’s script and the four-issue comic breakdown are somewhat uneven. Not that much happens in Issues #1 and #2. Issue #3 has this cool opening, and some cool T-Rex action in the second part, but most of the exciting Dino action happens in issue #4. (Writer Walter Simonson did a terrific job balancing the script under those challenging restrictions.)

For more on that, check back in on Friday.

Al McWilliams — Reborn In Battle

Original Art and The Artists

Savage Combat #1, February 1975

Alden (“Al”) McWilliams might have drawn this beautiful splash page form Atlas’ 1975 Savage Combat Tales partially (or entirely) from personal memory. He served in WWII and won the bronze star for his actions during the D-Day invasion in 1944.

He of course is among many comic book artists and cartoonists who went from depicting battles with pen and ink to participating in them with actual flesh and blood.

(Story by Archie Godwin, who had previously edited the brilliant Blazing Combat mag from Warren.)

As noted previously, The Atlas/ Seaboard books have never been reprinted, and that will likely remain that way because of rights issues. I’m hearing of late that demand is now much greater than supply on many of these short-lived and mostly obscure titles.

Al Williamson — Return Of… Return Of The Jedi

Original Art and The Artists

Return of the Jedi, #2, October 1983

Forty years ago, today — 

On a warm sunny day in NYC, my friends and I restlessly stood on a movie theater line, a line like many others that day, that wrapped around the proverbial city block. But did it matter that much? We had waited three years for this. What’s another three hours? (For the record, the theater, now gone, was the Loew’s 34th Street Showplace, near Second Ave.)

Return of the Jedi was opening that day, and we figured the Star Wars saga would reach its dramatic — and inevitable — conclusion. End of the story. (How naïve — but we were young and foolish.)

Somehow, I had the discipline and willpower to avoid opening Marvel’s ROTJ magazine adaptation which I owned for about two weeks prior to the film’s release date. (I did not have that same willpower three years prior for ESB, but that’s a story for another day.)

An original piece of art from that graphic novel adaptation, by the legendary Al Williamson, is a prized possession. Here’s my original 2019 post about the art:

Lush brushwork. Clear storytelling. Impeccable detail. Accurate anatomy and likenesses.  Al Williamson’s page from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi adaption speaks volumes about realizing potential in adapting other mediums to comics.

George Lucas had the power to choose the artist to draw the Marvel Empire Strikes Back adaption and he had the good sense to choose Al Williamson.

Al’s gorgeous art on classic EC science Fiction stories as well as Flash Gordon had clearly made an impression.

Fortunately for us, Williamson agreed to also illustrate the Star Wars newspaper strip (after Russ Manning’s untimely passing), and he ultimately came back for Return of the Jedi adaption as well.

On all three projects — plus a handful of stories in the regular comics — Al delivered. It’s some of his finest work.

Williamson kept much of his Star Wars related art, and his estate now owns it.  Nearly all the originals that have come on the market are those once owned by his assistants or inkers.

This great page from ROTJ has a more interesting provenance. Superstar inker Mike Royer received it from Al (see inscription) shortly after publication. It remained in his collection for many years.

So, it’s not only a great piece of original art, but it also has a great story behind it as well.

And it’s a cornerstone of my collection.

Yes, we waited in line. (That’s me, Star Wars sartorial in a bootleg “REVENGE” of the Jedi t-shirt.) I have a feeling the line on the other side of town was more interesting.

Jim Starlin — Cosmic Schizophrenia

Original Art and The Artists

Infinity Abyss #4, September 2002

“We are considering turning the universe inside out.”

Jim Starlin delivers a classic and trippy page from his Infinite (figuratively, and sometimes literally) cosmic series featuring Adam Warlock, Gamora, Thanos, et al.

Starlin. Cosmic. Trippy. Nuff said.

Well, almost…

If you told me when I was a kid that we’d have Warlock Happy Meal toys someday, I would have called the drug overdose hotline on your behalf. Trippy indeed.