Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Mike Parobeck — Batman, Forever

Batman Adventures #7, April 1993

Kevin Conroy THE voice of Batman for millions of bat fans, has passed at at age 66. From Comic Art Fans:

“The Bat-signal will shine a little dimmer over Gotham City tonight as word has come down that Kevin Conroy, iconic voice of Batman for generations in the Bruce Timm-verse of cartoons, has passed at age 66. Just this past he added the credit of comics writer to his resume with a short story in the DC Pride 2022 anthology about how he related his secret life as a gay man in the 80s to the Dark Knight. 

“Kevin was a brilliant actor,” co-star Mark Hamill said in a statement. “For several generations, he has been the definitive Batman. It was one of those perfect scenarios where they got the exact right guy for the exact right part, and the world was better for it. His rhythms and subtleties, tones and delivery — that all also helped inform my performance. He was the ideal partner – it was such a complementary, creative experience. I couldn’t have done it without him. He will always be my Batman.”

 Our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and fans around the world.”

Posting this great Batman Animated page by the great Mike Parobeck, who also passed much too soon, to remind us that, fortunately, the work will always live on.

George Evans — Happy Veterans Day

The World Around Us #30 — Undersea Adventures, February 1961

A salute to all veterans, past and present. Thank you. Happy Veterans Day.

(This cool page is from a a multi-issue story on D-Day that ran in this Classics Illustrated sister title. Which is how you end up with a a back-up story on paratroopers in a book titled “Undersea Adventures.” Lovely pencils and inks by the talented Evans.)

Baltimore 2022 — Back To The Future (Part 1 Of 3)

October 28-30, 2022

Big thanks and congrats to all the folks who made this past weekend’s Baltimore Comic Con just as perfect an event could be.

It’s easily one of my favorite conventions — an absolute delight to attend. I exhausted myself catching up with old friends and colleagues, making some new acquaintance, and trying (ultimately not quite succeeding) to see all the great comics-related material in the room.

I miss all of you already.

Dan Jurgens & Bill Sienkiewicz — Doomed, Again

Superman: Day of Doom #3, January 2003

Marking the 10th anniversary of the Death and Return of Superman, Dan Jurgens and Bill Sienkiewicz tackled a four-issue retrospective mini-series titled, appropriately, Day of Doom.

Bill’s unmistakable inks make the situation even more horrific this second time around. (This is one of the best pages in the series, as it features all four Superman characters who “returned.”)

Happy Halloween indeed — and welcome to the 30th anniversary of the Death of Superman.

How did that happen?

Cam Kennedy — The Wire

Batman / Judge Dredd: Vendetta in Gotham, January 1994

Earlier this week, we posted a beautiful page from one of two Batman / Punisher crossovers. Today we have a terrific Cam Kennedy action page from the second of four Batman / Judge Dredd prestige format comics by writers Alan Grant and John Wagner.

The complete list as follows, thanks to our friends at the Grand Comic Database — GCD. (This blog would be lost without them.)

Batman / Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham (DC, 1991 series);
Batman / Judge Dredd: Vendetta in Gotham (DC, 1993 series);
Batman / Judge Dredd: The Ultimate Riddle (DC, 1995 series);
Batman / Judge Dredd: Die Laughing 1,2 (DC, 1998 series).

Now all we need is Punisher / Judge Dredd crossover and we’d be all set. Unfortunately, Marvel doesn’t do crossovers anymore. Sigh.

Pete Poplaski — A True Classic

Batman: The Silver Age Dailies and Sundays, Volume #1, March 2014

As noted a few years back, Pete Poplaski has been called an “artist’s artist” by many creators. His name might not be known as well as other artists, but his talent is unquestionable.

Pete, who broke into comics in the 70s underground community, ultimately became Kitchen Sink Press’ art director, and among many accomplishments helped give some of Robert Crumb’s projects just the right design touch. 

Kitchen had the rights to reprint the DC Batman and Superman comic strips in the early 1990s, and Pete created brand new covers that evoked the classic style of those strips.

When we acquired those reprint rights at IDW in 2012, we went back to Pete to see if he would be interested in picking up where he left off, and fortunately he was.

Wayne Boring. Dick Sprang. Al Plastino. You name a classic artist, and Pete can replicate the style. 

This, of course, is his amazing cover to Batman Silver Age Vol.1. It not only evokes the classic 60s Carmine Infantino revamp of the Dynamic Duo, but also the opening animation of the classic (beloved, and often hated) 60s Batman TV show. (Which is why these newspaperstrips exist in the first place, but, as always we digress.)