Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

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

Original Art and The Artists

Kamandi #16, April 1974

Jack Kirby Kamandi Original Comic Art

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.

Jack Kirby Kamandi #16 Cover
Jack Kirby Kamandi #16 Page
Jack Kirby Portrait
Jack Kirby Kamandi #1 Cover
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
Jack Kirby Alarming Tales pre-Kamandi Story
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

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 DC Sandman Original Art
Jack Kirby Private Strong Original Comic Art
Jack Kirby and Steve Rude Superman Jimmy Olsen Original Comic Art
Jack Kirby DC OMAC Original Comic Art
Jack Kirby Skymasters Original Comic Strip Art

Odds and Sods — August 2023

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!

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.

Back When We Was Fab?

Original Art and The Artists

In celebration of 50 years of the creation comic book specialty distribution market, Milton Griepp of ICV2 is featuring a series of interviews with early “pioneers” in the business. Yesterday, 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; Today is the first day of San Diego Comicon, and although I won’t be behind a table, and it won’t be as musty,I will indeed be celebrating more than 50 years of 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.

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/54613/icv2-interview-greg-goldstein

Visible on the table stacks: OMAC #1, Savage Sword of Conan #1, Iron Jaw # 1, all purchased through Seagate Distributors, the pioneering comic book distribution company launched by the legendary Phil Seuling.

SDCC 2023 — See You There?

Original Art and The Artists

I’ll be attending the convention all four (five, really) days this week. As always, feel free to reach out — or track me down primarily in the original art pavilion.

Plus, I’m appearing on two panels:

Games: Pioneers of 1990s Gaming Animation

As advancements in computer animation technology take video game development to ever-more impressive heights, ASIFA-Hollywood will look back at the early days with these pioneers of video game animation. Actor and writer John Omohundro (Bravest Warriors, Tokyo Revengers) will go back in time with Kevin VanHook(Bloodshot, Valiant Comics), Greg L. Goldstein (CEO, Four Color Arts, formerly Activision, Acclaim, IDW Publishing), E. Daniel Arey (Creative Director at Niantic, VisionArey Entertainment), and other animators and game developers to explore the challenges and celebrate the accomplishments of classic video games, such as “Myst” and “Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.”

Friday, 7/21/23, 4:30PM – 5:30PM, Room 24ABC

Nothing Topps Dinosaurs Attack! Cards

In 1988 Topps released a dinosaur-themed card series that sacrificed scientific accuracy for over-the-top action, violence, and gore. Fans of B-movies and dinosaurs were never the same! Series creator Gary Gerani (writer, film historian), Greg Goldstein (IDW Publishing, Topps), and Matt Corrigan (the Launchpad Podcast) discuss their favorite cards from this memorable set while Dr. Ashley Poust (paleontologist for San Diego Natural History Museum) separates fact from fiction. Matt and Greg will also show off original art produced for the series 35 years ago!

Saturday 7/22/23 7:30pm – 8:30pm Room 29CD

Lots of friends and colleagues appearing throughout the convention, but I would like to specifically point out that my pal Beau Smith is a Comic-Con Special Guest this year. His spotlight panel on Sunday, hosted by another pal, Ted Adams, is must-attend event!

https://comiccon2023.sched.com/speaker/beau_smith.25cg2ffi

Gil Kane & Neal Adams — Face To Face

Original Art and The Artists

Savage Tales #4, May 1974

Thanks to artist Ken Landgraf, I finally get to see the original prelims and pencils — and partial (Neal Adams) inks — to this great Conan page from Savage Tales #4. And as a bonus, we solve one mystery and create a new one. (Ken owns photocopies of Gil’s pencils from this story and others.)

Gil Kane pencilled the story (pretty loosely in some places), and Neal Adams inked some of it as well, supported at a minimum by Vince Colletta, Frank McLaughlin, and Pablo Marcos. (Credits supplied by Roy Thomas in Savage Sword of Conan #2). Marcos also provided the wash tones on the story, necessary to add depth to a black and white, and also provide some consistency to the art style.

Neal, of course, was a pro at collaborative art creation. His “Crusty Bunkers” a group of (ever-changing) artists at his Continuity Studios, filled in many times during deadline crunches for Marvel, DC, Charlton and others during the 70s.

(The specific inking credits here are listed as Diverse Hands, and this appears to reference the fact that some others outside Continuity also worked on the project.)

And now the mystery; when the story is reprinted for the first time in color in a Marvel Treasury Edition, two faces that weren’t in panel three in the Savage Tales version now appear. Turns out they were originally pencilled by Gil — but inked over in the final art, probably to give it more depth for B&W.

Which means — Either Roy, Gil or someone else had to remember that change and go back and pull it from inked copies for the color version.

Wild.

Faces come, faces go…