Recreation, Superman #199 Cover, 2005 (Original By Carmine Infantino, August 1967)
I read, and re-read, a handful of comics over and over again as a little kid. Avengers Annual #1 and #2 both come to mind, as do a few other annuals and specials. The first JLA/JSA crossover I discovered (JLA #56 and #57) was a favorite story, and I remember both Batman #200 and Superman #200 fondly.
But Superman #199? That was definitely my most frequent go-to. It doesn’t hurt that Carmine Infantino’s cover (Murphy Anderson on inks) is definitely my favorite (non-Neal Adams) DC cover of all time.
Fast-forward to about 15 years ago, just when I started getting my toes wet in the original art collector’s market again. My pal, Pete Koch (art collector/dealer/aficionado) and I are about to complete an art swap when I see that he has this stunning cover recreation by Rober Quijano in a stack of pages.
Trade completed.
Thanks, Pete.
Not-so-fun Fact: The scanned image doesn’t do the art justice, because I couldn’t remove the art from the frame without destroying it. Sad!
DC was apparently still planning on using the “Go-Go Checks” trade dress on books this month, but pulled it at the last minute.
“Tarzan In Savage Pellucidar,” Graphic Novel, 1975
This beautiful Russ Manning splash page has never been published in the US, or in English at all, for that matter.
A foreign publisher hired Manning and his team to create a series of graphic albums for the European markets in the mid 70s. Manning, having beautifully illustrated the Tarzan comic strips, as well as some of the Gold Key comics, was a perfect choice.
A few years back, Dark Horse reprinted two of those graphic albums, but I assume sales were not significant to continue. (Unless it simply fell through the cracks. Not a likely scenario, but it does happen occasionally.)
Another original art page from this story appeared in auction last year, and it too is a beauty.
I would really love to see the whole thing. I haven’t been able to find a foreign edition. But I will, eventually. Trust me on this.
Tarzan in Savage Pellucidar appeared in many languages — except, strangely, in English.
From the dept. of nearly naked women and trippy 70s posters: Neal Adams art for Warp precedes Russ Manning’s poster for Tarzan by a few years. Phantasmagorical indeed.
Our third annual Halloween tribute continues now through October 31.
1986 was arguably DC’s finest year. In fact, it may be one of the most of critical years in any company’s history. (DC’s entire two-year period of 1985-1987 is unmatched in terms of quality projects.)
Watchmen. The Dark Knight Returns. The Superman reboot by John Byrne, Man of Steel. Not too mention Crisis the year earlier, Batman: Year One a year later. Etc. Etc.
Occasionally lost in all of these amazing titles is the astonishingly gorgeous Deadman mini-series by Jose Garcia Lopez (Written by Andy Mangels). Every page looks great, and some are breathtaking. (A word, I rarely, rarely use, at least as far as comic art is concerned.)
Don’t trust my word here. Read the series, finally collected in the recent Deadman Omnibus. (Which also collects most of the Silver and Bronze Age Deadman material including the earliest stories by Neal Adams.)
It’s just beautiful wok by Lopez, who is often referred to as an artist’s artist. Ask just about any professional artist to name the top talents in the industry and Lopez’s name is invariably near the top of the list.
I’m grateful I acquired this cool page earlier this year.
Frank Brunner pencils and Mike Gustovich inks, along with the Brunner prelims on separate paper.
Guest column from friend of the blog, Mike Gold:
It all started about 31 years ago with Jim Steranko. Or so I’m told.
There was this advertising mad man who became producer/business manager for Chicago’s prestigious Organic Theater (sic) Company run by director Stuart Gordon. His Organic was to theater what Marvel was to comic books circa 1961: in-your-face energy, on-your-feet stories, and actors who might eat the popcorn out of your lap.
Today, Stuart’s ensembles look like a Who’s Who of American entertainment: Among the great many who made their marks at the Organic were actors John Heard, Joe Mantegna, Dennis Franz, William J. Norris, and André De Shields and playwrights David Mamet, Ray Bradbury, and John Ostrander.
That’s heavy street cred. I was an early and constant fanboy.
Among their many soul-conflagrations was a three-part heroic science fiction play called Warp. This was a risk as it went up midway between the cancellation of Star Trek and the release of Star Wars. Warp ran in three-parts, performed in repertory, two episodes each night. After the initial year’s run they closed with a Warpathon: all three in sequence, each act and chapter separated by an exquisite course provided by world-class master chef Louis Szathmary.
I have been privileged to attend four astonishing entertainment events: the original Woodstock Festival, the Comic Relief benefit at Radio City Music hall, the Chicago Blackhawks / Detroit Red Wings outdoor hockey game at Wrigley Field, and both of the Organic Theater Company’s Warpathons. That list wasn’t in order of preference.
My involvement with Stuart went beyond that of a mere fan and patron. We produced a comic book, Weird Organic Tales, as a subscription device for the company. By “we” I mean Joe Staton, Bruce Patterson, Chuck Fiala, Paul Kupperberg, and myself. I believe the print run was somewhere north of 200,000 copies.
So when Warp was revived for what turned out to be another year-long run (ending in the second Warpathon), this time at a larger venue, the aforementioned mad man, Rick Obadiah, contacted me about getting the comic book community to adopt the show and help spread word-of-mouth. I asked Rick how he thought of me, and Rick responded it was Jim Steranko’s recommendation. So Steranko was a grandfather to First Comics.
After the initial Chicago run, the first part of Warp played Broadway for a brief time. The provincial uptights of the 1973 Broadway world couldn’t deal with on-stage heroic fantasy in a science fiction milieu: it was all childish crap to those well-insulated Morlocks. The New York comic book community supported it to the gills, but that wasn’t enough.
I figured those long-suffering comics folk were still lusting to see the second part of Warp, even though it was almost eight years later. Coincidentally, the annual Chicago Comicon, of which I was a sponsor, was going to be happening at the time the second chapter was set to debut. I suggested we hold a special showing for the comic book industry – the writers, artists, editors, and publishers. We supported it with a panel at the convention and all the publicity we could muster, which was considerable. At that time, the Chicago Comicon was almost as large as the San Diego show, which had yet to be discovered by Hollywood.
Rick and I were well aware that, after seeing that second play, he would likely get an offer from Marvel, DC or both for the comics rights. I signed on as Rick’s consultant and, lo and behold, at the post-play reception both DC’s Paul Levitz and Marvel’s Jim Shooter made that very suggestion. Rick agreed to go to New York within the month, and he and I set down to work.
First, pun intended, I told Rick that we would make more money if we did it ourselves. There was no magic to producing a comic book if you can get good talent; Weird Organic Tales proved that. I detailed how the direct sales distribution system worked and revealed the proliferation of dedicated comic book stores across the nation. Rick thought I was nuts. OK, so that wasn’t a particularly original observation. He thought it be best if he were to just license it to people who ostensibly knew what they were doing. I said fine, and I proceeded to show him the business of the comics business.
I suggested he schedule the DC meeting first. “Why?” Rick asked. “Because Jim Shooter is simply going to say he’ll match DC’s offer and up the ante with the truism that they are Marvel Comics so the book would sell better.” Then I outlined ten things to watch out for at his DC meeting.
Obadiah was overwhelmed. He refused to believe what I said. “These are professional businessmen,” Rick declared. “They’ve been in business for decades!” Yes, I responded, but it has a mom’n’pop Depression-era mentality. Mind you, I had already spent a couple years as a marketing executive of DC Comics. Nonetheless, Rick still didn’t believe me. Fine; we proceeded with our efforts and the producer flew out to New York.
Rick called me after his DC meeting.
I told him what happened. I had a lot of friends on DC’s staff, and they had ears, so with barely concealed snark, I asked how close I came with my top ten list. Rick let out a sigh.
“You were nine for ten.” Hmmm. The industry was making a some progress. “I’m going to meet with Marvel tomorrow, but I think we’re going to take your publishing suggestion a lot more seriously.”
When Rick called back he told me Jim said he’d match DC’s offer and he noted the book would sell better at Marvel Comics. We agreed that the meeting we scheduled upon his return to Chicago would now be a much longer meeting.
When Rick came to my office – I was editing a home video magazine that, not coincidently, largely employed comic book writers and artists as its freelance staff – we began our real work. I started with the basics needed to run a comic book company and I noted that even with a minimal staff in order to be profitable we had to publish the maximum number of titles the staff could produce. It made no economic sense to simply publish Warp.
And thus First Comics was born.
I came up with a publishing plan and brought in talented friends who were also visionaries and risk-takers: Joe Staton as both a contributor and our art director, Bruce Patterson as a contributor and production manager, and writers and artists Howard Chaykin, Mike Grell, Martin Pasko, Peter Gillis, Jack C. Harris, and Steve Ditko. Our staff was rounded out with Rick Felber as business manager, Rick Oliver as associate editor (if you wanted a job at First Comics, it helped if your first name was Rick), Kathy Kotsivas as office manager, and Ken Levin and Ralph Musicant as directors and advisors. Production artists and art directors Alex Wald, Doug Rice and Paul Guinan later joined us.
We gave Neal Adams right of first refusal on Warp: he had been involved in the Broadway production, producing the poster and Playbill art and reworking some of Cookie Gluck’s fantastic costumes. Neal was interested but realistic about his work schedule.
Being familiar with Neal’s workload, I already had an idea for the perfect Warp artist. Frank Brunner had recently quit Marvel over typically valid “publisher-treats-freelancer-like-shit” issues, and he had given a cover interview to The Comics Journal about how the business sucked. Frank’s style was perfect for the property, and his concerns were perfectly justified.
Joe’s property E-Man was next, followed by Mike’s Jon Sable Freelance and Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg!. I wanted to introduce some new talent under the cover of an already-established property between Sable and Flagg. Grell had done Starslayer at Pacific Comics and, while he was tied up on Sable he still wanted the property to continue. I brought in my friend of ten years, actor/playwright John Ostrander, and artist Lenin Delsol. Both were exceptional; eventually, Lenin succumbed to a bad case of Dreaded Deadline Doom and was succeeded by a guy I outright stole from TSR, the Dungeons and Dragons people guy; named Timothy Truman. Shortly thereafter, John and Timothy – with some help from Lenin – created GrimJack.
Along the way we picked up Nexus, The Badger, and Whisper and their creator/producers, Mike Baron, Steven Grant, Steve Rude, Jeff Butler and Norm Breyfogle. Then we went tits to the wind and produced our first original project by talent few had heard of: Mars, by Mark Wheatley and Marc Hempel.
Now it’s 30 years later. Damn near everything we did during my tenure at First Comics has been reprinted in album editions, and I remain close to just about everybody involved. It’s been the most gratifying experience of my career.
It all started right here, with Warp, the science fiction play written by Stuart Gordon and Bury St. Edmund, directed by Gordon, and performed by several casts of gifted actors. Doing it was a no-brainer; how could we go wrong?
We can reread the comic book but we can’t recreate that original stage experience. Such is the magic of theater. But Warp and Stuart Gordon turned a lot of comics and science fiction fans into theater fans, including myself. I will be forever grateful.
Mike Gold is a columnist and podcaster for Pop Culture Squad (popculturesquad.com), a political activist, and media metaphysician for arrogantMGMS. An-award winning editor for First Comics and for DC Comics, Gold received the Heroes Alliance Dick Giordano Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2011.
This essay originally appeared in the 30th Anniversary trade paperback edition of Warp, published by 1First Comics and is probably copyrighted by somebody so All Rights Reserved.
Neal Adams art for the Warp Poster and Playbill for the very short-lived New York run. Thanks to a loving Aunt, I managed to see the play during its brief Broadway run. (She was probably either confused or mortified, but she never said a word.)
Continuing a celebration of Green Lantern’s anniversary this week.
Joe Staton somehow manages to channel a bit of Gil Kane and a bit of Neal Adams on this dynamic Green Lantern action sequence from 1981.
I first started following Joe’s work (with writer Nicola Cuti) on the quirky E-Man from Charlton back in 1973 1975. (Funny enough, it lasted 10 issues, and I kept all 10, which is unusual for me. Guess I really liked it.)
Shortly thereafter, he took over art duties on the Justice Society in All-Star Squadron, a book I also enjoyed.
This page is from Joe’s first run on Green lantern with writer Marv Wolfman, and this story introduces the extraterrestrial superheroes, Omega Men. Joe later returned on the Green Lantern Corps with writer Steve Englehart.
When conventions finally return (mid-late 2021 is my guess) make sure you visit Joe wherever —and whenever — you find him. He is truly one of the humblest and nicest creators in the business. And obviously, very talented.
Green Lantern celebrates two anniversaries in 2020.
The original Green Lantern (Alan Scott) first appeared in 1940, and the Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, gained his own DC comic book series in 1960, shortly after first appearing Showcase #22 the year prior.
During the first 75 issues of GL’s own Silver Age comic, Gil Kane is the artist most associated with this run.
In these early issues Gil is not quite GIL KANE yet. The art is very solid, slick, and polished, in DC tradition, but it would take a few years before Gil’s trademark style would fully break through the conservative confines of the scripting and editing.
By the time Gil finishes his 10-year run with issue #75, Green Lantern is not a giant commercial success, but Gil Kane is most certainly GIL KANE. Reading through collected editions of the series, you can clearly see the metamorphosis of his storytelling capabilities and artistic style.
As for issue #76 in 1970 (Another anniversary, now that you mention it) Denny O’Neil and DC shake things up a bit by adding Green Arrow to the mix — and artist Neal Adams takes the reigns.
The rest, as they say, really is history.
Green Lantern milestones: The first appearance of Alan Scott in 1940; the first appearance of Hal Jordan, 1959; The first Silver Age issue of the Jordan GL, 1960.
Joe Orlando brought his EC Comics horror sensibilities with him when he landed at DC in the late 60s.
Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
DC became a company where artists and visual storytellers (Carmine Infantino, Joe Kubert, Dick Giordano, et al) started moving into upper management and making editorial decisions.
“…Many times we were asked to do impossible things by writer/editors who had no sense of the visual-to do things that wouldn’t work and have to argue our way out of it. We just thought that as artists, we would do a better job working with talent.”
In just a few years, Joe turned around the moribund House of Mystery and the already-cancelled House of Secrets with tales of mystery, suspense and of course, horror. He and his team took advantage of the more-relaxed standards at the Comics Code, sometimes creating even more relaxed standards in the process.
(A few years later, Marvel would follow suit with a glut of horror titles that included vampires, werewolves and zombies. But, as always, we digress.)
And sure enough, Joe’s comics nearly instantly became artistic showcases for veterans like Gil Kane and Orlando’s EC mentor Wally Wood, along with young Turks like Bernie Wrightson, Nestor Redondo, and Mr. Kaluta here.
(Plus great covers often by Neal Adams. Definitely worth 12 or 15 cents.)
By 1972, Joe had built yet another house in the neighbored, and this great Kaluta page featuring both DC horror hosts, Cain and Abel, is the delightful intro to Secrets of Sinister House #6.
Classic.
An early Joe Orlando EC horror tale, and Joe’s caricature rendered by Marie Severin at the 1953 EC Christmas party.
Tim Bradstreet delivers a great Shadow cover that was, ultimately, unused.
Why are some comic book covers re-worked?
Subjective question. Subjective answers.
If it’s a licensed title, as in the case of The Shadow, maybe the licensor doesn’t like it.
Editorial decision, perhaps? Certainly a logical answer in many cases. Possibly not a strong enough image to “sell” the issue. Or perhaps the content doesn’t quite match the interior content.
And, in some cases, the artist himself finishes the piece and decides he doesn’t like it. Both Jim Steranko and Neal Adams have told me they’ve finished covers, changed their minds, and started from scratch.
That seems reasonable, even if time consuming. If your signature is going on the piece, you might re-think something you personally don’t like. Especially if you’re going to have to look at it — forever.
And in a pre-digital age, physical covers were lost occasionally. Trust me, it happened.
Whatever happened here –– definitely not the final possibility, of course — I think the unpublished version is cool. The puzzle pieces, skull included, are a nice touch. The published cover drops them in favor of a larger, more dramatic Shadow pose.
Bradstreet, of course, is a great choice for Shadow covers. Can’t go wrong, and for my two cents, I don’t think there’s anything wrong at all here.
X-Men: The Hidden Years # 17, April 2001 & #20, July 2001
John Byrne returned to the X-Men in 1999. Not his beloved X-Men of Wolverine, Storm, Colossus and Phoenix, however. This time it was the “original” X-Men — in the period between their cancellation and rebirth. The “Hidden Years.”
It’s an often overlooked series and shouldn’t be. John brought great energy — and closed some outstanding story loops — in the 22-issue series.
Inks are by the terrific Tom Palmer, which gave the series a
classic look, reminiscent of those great original Neal Adams issues, while still
keeping it clearly Byrne.
Lots of fun guest appearances in the series as well, including the Fantastic Four — inked in one issue by the legendary Joe Sinnott.
X-Men: Hidden Years #20 is a Byrne homage to Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four #1. It was the sixth (and final) Marvel-related FF #1 homage that John drew.
Batman of Arkham #1 (Elseworlds one-shot), June, 2000
When you think of homages — or outright swipes — to classic comic book covers, a few classic and obvious issues come to mind:
Action #1
Fantastic Four #1
X-men #141
But there’s an issue slightly less obvious that may be the record holder with the most homages, especially with the same character:
Detective #31 (1939) by Bob Kane is just the third Batman cover ever, and a great one. It inspired Neal Adams to create his own version about thirty years later, and at that point, the floodgates opened. See below for as near a complete gallery as I could assemble. (Some are looser than others, but they all aim to capture the spirit of original cover.)
Meanwhile, on this gorgeous original cover by Alcatena (why isn’t he doing more comic book work?!) third time was a charm for me. I was under-bidder when it came up at auction. Shortly thereafter, when a major art dealer had it for sale, I missed it, and it sold again.
But that owner only had the cover a short while before he sold (or traded) it back to the same dealer, and this time I quickly managed to stake my claim on this beautifully detailed cover.
