Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Luis Dominguez — Blowing Up the Cover

Original Art and The Artists

Jonah Hex #19, Unused Cover, December 1978

No contest — this Luis Dominguez unused Jonah Hex cover is much nicer than the final published version. 

The main problem appears to be that the unused version doesn’t match (no pun intended) the editorial narrative of the story. In fact, spoiler alert, the cover actually suggests the complete opposite. Based on the story (see below) Hex isn’t really interested in saving our explosive friend at all.

It’s fascinating that this cover was completely ready to go, with DC production logos and type fully pasted up when it was changed. Equally fascinating is that DC changed formats (reducing page count and lowering price) of the issue before the final version was printed, apparently at the last minute

Which leads me to wonder if it was cart before horse:  

“Hey Luis, we have to redo the cover anyway, so how about you make the art better match the story. Sorry about any confusion. Also, we need it yesterday.”

All idle speculation, of course. But to reiterate the main point: The unpublished version is much better, and a keeper.

Welcome to our second annual “Out West” week. See you on Thursday.

Erik Larsen — Marvelous Melee

Original Art and The Artists

Defenders #11, January 2002

Erik Larsen (With help from Sal Buscema and Kurt Busiek) has some fun with the Defenders on this frenetic splash, as they clobber the undersea warlord Attuma and his feckless fish men. The Defenders are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

I only learned recently the reason that Doctor Strange replaced Silver Surfer between their first “unofficial” appearance in Sub-Mariner, and their official launch in Marvel Feature later in 1971. Apparently, Stan Lee was feeling precious about the Surfer, and didn’t want anyone else to write stories featuring him.

Eric solves that line-up problem here by including both of them, along with original stalwarts Hulk and Sub-Mariner.

(Many of the latter members of the group — Nighthawk, Valkyrie, et al — are along for the ride as well.)

All in all, a fun 20-year-old mini-series that has yet to be collected as far as I can tell.

Paul Ryan & Al Williamson — Eternals, Avengers, Oh My!

Original Art and The Artists

Eternals #12, September, 1986

This “sequel” Eternals series couldn’t have gone quite as planned.  

Peter Gillis launches as writer, but Walter Simonson takes over mid–stream. Sal Buscema starts us off on pencils, (ands in some case, inks) but the art team shifts a few times too with a variety of Bullpen artists from the era, until we finally get here, the double-sized last issue, with pencils by Paul Ryan and inks (mostly) by Al Williamson, with assists fromSam de la Rosa.

All pretty odd stuff for a limited-series.

That aside, this is dynamic page featuring Eternals and Avengers working together to defeat their common foe. And hey, based on the film trailers alone, it’s obvious the Eternals exist in the greater MCU, so a crossover like this down the road is not the craziest idea you’re going to hear today. (It’s still early, so trust me on this.)

Eternals opens in theaters on Friday. (Well, technically tonight in many locations.)

Who’s Who in the Eternals? Convenient scorecard presented above.

John Romita Jr. — The Coming Of The Celestials

Original Art and The Artists

Eternals #1, August 2006

Jack Kirby’s Celestials walk the earth, courtesy of Neil Gaiman and John Romita’s 2007 mini-series, as detailed previously here.

And finally, after a year or so of pandemic-related delays, they (presumably) walk on the big screen this Friday.

Early buzz on the film is quite good, but if I’m guessing, regardless of story and cast performance, Kirby fans will judge the film on whether the cinematic realization of the Celestials matches — or even amplifies — Jack’s giant vision.

In a few days, we will all see for ourselves

Oddly enough, Arishem (the greatest of the Celestials, apparently) appears on the final page splash in many of the first few issues as the tease for the following issue. The only hiccup is that he doesn’t typically appear in any of the following issue’s action.

Wayne Howard — The Master’s Disciple

Original Art and The Artists

Midnight Tales #18, May 1976

Wayne Howard studied as an assistant under Wally Wood and then went full-on Wood with his creator driven book Midnight Tales which lasted 18 issues in the early mid -70s.

(The Iron Man is the final story in the final issue of the series. No relation to Tony Stark.)

And, of all of Woody’s assistants, Howard made no bones about his referential approach to Wood’s style.

The comic was a unique creation at Charlton (or anywhere, actually) and featured nearly exclusive Howard-drawn stories. Charlton promoted Howard’s concept on the cover — and in the fan press and at conventions.

A young African American in an industry still mostly dominated by (older) white men, Howard himself was a unique member of the comics creative community. He was known to be somewhat shy, and he was also known for conservative views, again a striking contrast to many of his industry peers.

When Howard left comics, he rarely spoke about his work; He passed away at the much too early age of 58 in 2007.

Gabriel Rodriguez — Supernatural Talent

Original Art and The Artists

Locke and Key: Keys To The Kingdom #1, August 2010

Locke and Key has returned with a second season on Netflix this past week, and I’m looking forward to catching up to it shortly. As we wrote about previously, it was a long and tortuous road to get here, and I’m glad that the show performed well enough to get picked up for additional seasons.

Regardless, in this case at least, the graphic novel will never be improved upon by another medium and it remains one of IDW Publishing’s greatest achievements.

This cool page has Bode dealing with his transformation into a character that looks a bit like Calvin from the classic Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. Too much like Calvin in the original pencils, if I recall correctly.

But I digress.

Some of the page was created and edited digitally (see below) so the original art is clean and lean — and captures Gabe’s terrific storytelling and draftsmanship that makes the story so compelling. 

Ashley Wood — Bone Mechanix

Original Art and The Artists

Ghost Rider #20, December 1995

Our third annual Halloween tribute continues now through October 31. 

Ash Wood has accomplished much in his career, but I still miss his trippy interior comic art. As clearly exemplified here.

And Ghost Rider 2099? That was the easily the trippiest of the 2099 Universe, spearheaded by my long-time pal Joey Cavalieri.

Most of the 2099 material has yet to be collected, but given the passionate enthusiasm in 90s comic art material of late, it won’t surprise me if an omnibus or two is coming our way shortly.

(I’d buy the Ghost Rider material just to revisit the art — even if I’m still not entirely sure I could explain the narrative clearly.)

Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson — The Headless Superhero

Original Art and The Artists

Action Comics #406, November 1971

Our third annual Halloween tribute continues now through October 31. 

Remember that time hat Superman lost his head?

You don’t?

I do, and I was pleased to see this page come up at auction earlier this year.

I was mostly done with the Superman Family by the time this issue appeared in 1971, but occasionally something off the wall (pun NOT intended — this time, anyway) would grab my attention, and this was one of those issues.

It’s rare (although not impossible) to find a title page that has such a literal cover interpretation, and of course the fact that it was drawn by the great Superman art team of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson is a giant selling point for me.

Also rare: The cover is taken from the back-up story instead of the main feature. Obviously, someone at DC knew how to grab attention — at least mine, anyway.

Fun fact: On both Superman stories in this issue, the “Swanderson” art team gets top billing in the credits. They deserved it, as the art was light years ahead of the story material.)

Gabriel Hardman — Terror In The Public Domain

Original Art and The Artists

Project Superpowers: Blackcross #6, November 2015

Our third annual Halloween tribute continues now through October 31. 

Gabe Hardman creates an image of The Black Terror, that’s… well… pretty terrifying.

Launched in the Golden Age, the character has since fallen into the public domain, and has appeared in numerous titles and incarnations. This most recent version of The Terror spins out from the Project Superpowers project, the clever Alex Ross-driven series from Dynamic Forces that combines a number of PD characters into one universe.

As noted multiple times previously, I find Hardman’s work among the best in modern comics art.

I just wish for more of it.

The Black Terror’s launch and subsequent iterations from Alex Ross and Alan Moore / Chris Sprouse.