Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tom Mandrake — Dark Detective

Original Art and The Artists

Detective Annual #5, 1992

This past Saturday (September 18) was DC’s annual  “Batman Day.” Although not exactly a national holiday, DC and Warner have used the occasion to commemorate the caped crusader and launch and market new products around the event.

So, as in the past two years, we continue to honor the celebration with the rest of the month’s posts devoted to The Dark Knight….

This Tom Mandrake Batman page was among the first pieces of original art I acquired when I re-entered collecting again about 15 years ago.

In many ways, it’s the perfect Batman page. It’s dark and moody, and Batman is actually “detecting”, something his many writers occasionally forget is actually one of his primary skills.

Mandrake delivers some knockout art in this issue. And Sam Kieth’s terrific cover is the cherry on top.

Detective in the first panel, and Dark Knight mysteriously swooping over the wrecked car in the last.  Yes, definitely pretty perfect.

Eduardo Risso — A Dark Night

Original Art and The Artists

Dark Night: A True Batman Story, August, 2016

Today, Saturday, September 18, is DC’s annual  “Batman Day.” Although not exactly a national holiday, DC and Warner have used the occasion to commemorate the caped crusader and launch and market new products around the event.

So, as in the past two years, we continue to honor the celebration with the rest of the month’s posts devoted to The Dark Knight… and a special doubleheader today from a unique Batman story.

In more than eighty years of Batman stories, there is nothing quite like Paul Dini’s Vertigo graphic novel, based on a brutal mugging that happened to him personally in 1993: Batman and the rogues gallery become imaginary voices helping and hindering Dini’s state of mind as he attempts to physically and emotionally recover from the horrific beating.

Listening to Paul describe the incident in detail on a podcast at the time of the book’s publication was harrowing.

And the art pages, while gorgeous from start to finish, took an initial emotional toll on the Emmy-winning writer. As he told the Hollywood Reporter in 2015:

“When I first downloaded the pages from the attack, I looked at them very quickly once, horrified. Then I put them away for a week,” Dini recalls. “I burst into tears. I couldn’t look at them.”

The two-page sequence here, which I acquired last year, is a critical part of the story. (The pages are even specifically called out on Wikipedia). The  “imaginary” Joker taunts Dini’s misery, until Batman shows up in the final panel of the sequence, and dispatching the clown prince of crime, tells Dini to stop feeling sorry himself, and get back to work.

Fortunately, for him (and us), get back to work he did.

JH Williams III — Pulp Hero

Original Art and The Artists

Batman Annual #21, July 1997

As noted previously, DC’s annual “Batman Day” is tomorrow Saturday, September 18. Although not exactly a national holiday, DC and Warner use the occasion to commemorate the caped crusader and launch and market new products. 

So, as in the past two years, we continue to honor the celebration with the rest of the month’s posts devoted to The Dark Knight….

Despite its initial appearance, this page is not from a lost Shang-Chi/Batman crossover. (Nor is it Batman in the world of Big Trouble in Little China. But as always, we digress.)

It’s from a pulpy crossover in DC’s annuals back in 1999. A clever editorial idea that produced a handful of fun stories, including this one from Doug Moench, who appropriately, had written an acclaimed eight-years worth of Master of Kung-Fu (Shang-Chi) comics for Marvel.

The key note about this page of course is that’s it’s a terrific looking example from the criminally underrated JH Williams III. (Promethea). I overpaid for it (at least it was a part of a trade) but I don’t focus on that. It’s beautifully rendered, and like much, if not most, of Williams work, Mick Gray, his traditional inking partner, gorgeously embellishes it to boot.

That closeup panel of Batman is pretty much perfect. Who would want to argue with that guy?

Frank Miller — The Dark Knight, Forever

Original Art and The Artists

Preliminary Art, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, 10th Anniversary Edition, 1996

The annual Batman Day is this upcoming Saturday, September 18. Although not exactly a national holiday, DC and Warner have used the occasion to commemorate the caped crusader and launch and market new products. 

So, as in the past two years, we honor the celebration in our own way with the rest of the month’s posts devoted to The Dark Knight….

Kicking off…. with a prelim sketch of Batman and Robin from The Dark Knight Returns 10thAnniversary edition by the legendary Frank Miller.

In the ”art coincidence” department, I acquired this piece early this year, and apparently, at about the same time, the finished original (see below) also changed hands separately.

There is of course, nothing I can say or add about DKR that hasn’t been covered elsewhere. 

I did only discover recently that Dark Knight returns became the catchall for the original series only because it’s the technical title of issue #1. Each issue of the four-issue comic book series has its own “title:” 

Issue #1 — The Dark Knight Returns

Issue #2 — Dark Knight Triumphant

Issue #3 — Hunt The Dark Knight

Issue #4 — The Dark Knight Falls

Given its influence on the Batman mythos in all media, The Dark Knight Forever is most definitely not hyperbole.

Back here on Friday.

(Wikipedia has a ton of good DKR trivia assembled in one place here.)

Frank Miller created new art for the 10th Anniversary edition of The Dark Knight Returns, and some of it has made its way into other collections as well. Directly above is Frank’s finished original art.

Joe Staton — Magic and Madmen

Original Art and The Artists

The Batman and Robin Adventures Annual #2, November 1997

Batman saves the Zantana in this wonderful splash page by the ultra-talented and versatile Joe Staton. (It’s a sequel story to the Zantana episode of Batman Animated.)

And… that wraps up our week of posts celebrating DC superhero cartoons.

But it’s just the beginning of our Batman celebration — September 18 is the annual “Batman Day,” and the remainder of the month is devoted to the caped crusader.

See you on Tuesday.

Rich Burchett — Flesh and Steel

Original Art and The Artists

Superman Adventures #2, December 1996

As discussed previously, the Superman animated TV series, living in the shadow of its older, more popular brother, Batman Animated, never really garners the respect it deserves.

In fact, all the 90s DC “all ages” comics based on the animated series are not appreciated enough. 

Give the current interest and investment in YA and kids comics by nearly all publishers, those Superman and Batman series were likely, and unfortunately, too far ahead of their time. 

I hope someday it makes commercial sense to collect all the Superman and Batman material into complete collections.  They are delightful comics.

Also, similarly discussed, is the fact that Rich Burchett is a vastly underrated storyteller and artist. Pages like this are standard examples of his creative storytelling and imaginative use of composition and camera angles.

And Metallo? Finally something that is not underrated. He is a terrific member of Superman’s modern rogue gallery, especially the version that appears here, following up a classic episode on the TV series.

John Byrne featured a revamped scary Metallo as the first foe in his revamp of Superman — quite a different character than the earliest version that appeared way back in Action #252 (1959). Of course, hardly anyone remembers that Metallo was introduced in that issue, since it is upstaged (understatement) by the introduction of Supergirl in a separate story.

Butch Guice — Cartoon Hour

Original Art and The Artists

Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, #43, August 2006

Butch (Jackson) Guice and Tony DeZuniga could not have possibly drawn a page in 2006 that is more counterintuitive to their specific art styles than this one-of-a-kind opening splash featuring Aquaman as originally seen in the 1967 CBS cartoon. (“Tusky” the walrus is along for the ride.)

It’s part of a yet another revamp of the character that happened mid-stream when Aquaman became Aquaman, Sword of Atlantis a few issues earlier. Without getting too bogged down in the editorial minutiae, this page is self-aware, as it is a flashback for our protagonist recalling the little he knows about the Aquaman character.

September was typically the roughest time of the year for most kids with school days replacing summer break, but the new cartoon season helped salve the wounds — a bit, anyway. (I didn’t care that much about Aquaman, but Filmation managed to sneak some Justice League and Teen Titan cartoons into the show’s mix. And I thought that was the greatest thing since…. well, I was a little kid, so probably since… anything. At least until the next big thing came along.)

Fun Fact: The original art featured an outline for a title page logo that was ultimately not used in the published version.

Left: When The Aquaman cartoon launched in 1967. DC immediately added the tag “The King of the Sea is now the King of TV!” to the Aquaman comics. Right: Brian Bolland pays homage to the character’s classic design with this beautiful cover from the “final” issue of the 2003 Aquaman series prior to its “reboot.”

John Byrne — No Shrinking Violet

Original Art and The Artists

The All New Atom #3, November 2006

John Byrne pretty much wrapped up his 21st century run at DC with the launch of The All New Atom in 2006. Great art and storytelling, but John only drew the first three issues in the series (with nice finishes by Trevor Scott) before departing.

This might have been bad news for DC’s Byrne fans, of course, but, selfishly, it was good news for us at IDW Publishing. Byrne’s Next Men ultimately returned, and John found time for some additional Star Trek series and a fun Jurassic Park mini, among many others.

Gail Simone created the character and wrote this Atom series, and like all of Gail’s work, it was a fun take, with Ryan Choi as the Atom’s alter ego, replacing Ray Palmer.

Also, Gail is one of the liveliest and funniest (and prolific) comics creators on Twitter. 

Trust me on this.

See you back here next Tuesday. Have a safe and fun Holiday weekend!

Gil Kane — Not Shrinking Away

Original Art and The Artists

Legends of the DC Universe #29, June 2000

Gil Kane’s final completed work (published posthumously) is this fun two-parter featuring his two classic silver age characters, The Atom and Green Lantern officially teamed together for the first time. 

Written with affection by Steven Grant, and inked by Klaus Janson, this story confirms that Gil was able to deliver quality storytelling right until he headed to the big studio in the sky.

Gil was one of a kind as a creator (and a person) and as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I was happy to know him professionally — albeit very, very briefly.

Dick Dillin — Come Together

Original Art and The Artists

The Atom and Hawkman #45, November 1969

As discussed earlier this year, 1961 is an anniversary for both the Sliver Age versions of Hawkman and The Atom.
 
Neither character was ultimately commercially viable for his own comic book, so DC tried combining two titles into one.
 
Unfortunately that didn’t work long either, but as they say, it was fun while it lasted.
 
Dick Dillin was one of DC”s “B-team” artists who deserves more respect than he typically receives.
 
Although his draftsmanship may not have been up to the higher levels of some of his peers, his ability to draw with imagination and solid storytelling was pretty on point in my book.
 
He pretty much drew every issue of Justice League of America for 12 years starting with issue #64 (1968) and ending with his untimely death at #183(1980). Considering all the various JLA crossovers (JSA, Freedom Fighters, etc.), Dillin likely drew hundreds of different heroes and villains during that time. 
 
Just Atom and Hawkman? Piece of cake.

The final individual issues of the Atom and Hawkman, and the first issue of the “new” title, The Atom and Hawkman.