Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Keith Giffen — Beyond The Fourth World

Original Art and The Artists

O.M.A.C. #1, November 2011

We conclude our celebration of Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with one more look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 

Keith Giffen gets an opportunity to play in the DC Kirbyverse with O.M.A.C., based on Jack’s short-lived series at DC about a future that was closer than we realized. Critically acclaimed, it was cancelled after just eight issues. (Coincidentally, Jack’s original series was cancelled after eight issues as well.)

“OMAC was my favorite title of DC’s initial New 52 relaunch, but being based on a Jack Kirby character that’s more obscure than Kamandi and Devil Dinosaur combined probably didn’t help when it came time for DC to trim its first wave of underperforming titles. The fact that it was written by fan rage magnet DiDio made for marketplace kryptonite. You could’ve lined the interior of the book with 20-dollar bills and nobody would’ve bought it.”—Tom Scioli, writer, artist and author of Jack Kirby: The Epic Life Of The King Of Comics.

Giffen, a legendary Kirby fanatic, also wrote and drew a Forever People series and the first issue of the Kamandi Challenge, all with co-conspirator DiDio, who happened to be DC’s publisher at the time.

*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.

Steve Rude — Love Letter To The King

Original Art and The Artists

Mister Miracle Special #1, April 1987

We continue to celebrate Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with a special two-week look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 2021 is the Fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth World storyline. *

Jack Kirby super-fan Steve Rude pens this artistic love letter to Kirby’s Fourth World, in this one-shot from 1987. Along for the tribute are Jack’s best-known collaborators at DC, writer Mark Evanier and inker Mike Royer.

On this inventive and powerful splash page — the best in the issue — Rude cleverly uses a “trapped” Miracle as the backdrop for other Fourth World characters including The Forever People, Lightray of the New Gods, and Big Barda.

Rude and Evanier would reunite again for another Kirby tribute years later with a 1999 Jimmy Olsen story in Legends of the DC Universe # 14. (Inked this time by Bill Reinhold.)

*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.

Jim Aparo — Miracle #19

Original Art and The Artists

Brave and Bold #112, May 1974

We continue to celebrate Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with a special two-week look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 2021 is the Fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth World storyline. *

Mister Miracle makes his first appearance outside of the Jack Kirby DC universe in this cool Batman team-up story in the Brave and The Bold, penciled and inked by the legendary bat-artist Jim Aparo.

Ironically, Kirby’s own Mister Miracle title had been cancelled the month previously, effectively ending the Jack’s interconnected Fourth World, a little more than three years after it started.

Think of it as the 19th Bronze Age issue of Mister Miracle; it would take another three years for an actual issue #19 — without Jack’s involvement — to see the light of day. 

(The bat team of writer Bob Haney and artist Aparo effectively weave Mr. Miracle into the greater DC Universe, and the two escape artists will team up again in issue #126 as well.)

*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.

The final issue of Mister Miracle (#18) is also the final issue in Jack Kirby’s New Gods saga until he returns to it briefly about 10 years later. But hey, miraculously, our great escape artist shows up right on publication schedule —- albeit as a guest star in a Batman book.

Alex Ross — Mr. Kirby’s Wild Ride

Original Art and The Artists

Lithograph, 1999

We continue to celebrate Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with a special two-week look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 2021 is the Fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth World storyline. *

Alex Ross recreates one of Jack’s best-know splash pages from New Gods in his exquisite photo-realistic painted style for a lithograph and Giclee.

Jack Kirby. Alex Ross. Not much more to add here. Different art styles. Different art mediums. Different generations. Both masters of their respective forms.

*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.

As is often the case, the original color (below right) seems more true to form than the digital re-color, above.

Jim Starlin — Superman Among The Gods

Original Art and The Artists

Death of the New Gods #7, May 2008

We continue to celebrate Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with a special two-week look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 2021 is the Fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth World storyline. *

Superman (with Mr. Miracle’s help) gets into it with the Infinity man in this great splash page and well-crafted mini-series by Jim Starlin.

Starlin of course created Thanos, the not-quite knock-off of Darkseid, who became one of the most popular super-villains in the Marvel Universe, and ultimately the ultimate “Big-bad” of the MCU. So it’s fitting to have him play in the Darkseid’s  sandbox as well.

Ironically, it took Darkseid a bit longer to achieve the same level of popularity in the DC Universe, but his own crown as DC’s ultimate super-villain has been amplified by his inclusion in the Zach Snyder “cut”of Justice League.

As for the series title? Let’s just say that reports of the New Gods’ deaths are greatly exaggerated.

*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.

Darkseid and Thanos, not as similar as you might think. (Darkseid doesn’t need a cosmic cube to be a god — he already is one.)

Eddy Barrows — Darkseid At World’s End

Original Art and The Artists

Earth 2: World’s End, June 2015

Darkseid dispatches a number of earth’s greatest heroes in this great looking title page of the final issue of Earth 2:World’s End.

If you like your superhero universe grim and gritty, (as per our last post), this series, set in an alternate universe, should do nicely. 

Darkseid is inarguably Jack Kirby’s greatest legacy at DC comics.  Although his “fourth world” books didn’t last long at DC, Darkseid untimely became the “big bad” of the DC Universe. Shockingly, before Jack’s era, there was no over-arching multi-title super villain. This, despite the fact that by 1970, Marvel had at least a few. (Doctor Doom, Galactus, Kang, The Super Skrull, et al.) 

Marvel had focused on continuity well before DC figured it out.  In fact, Jack’s fourth world books, introduced the first cross-title continuity to the DC Universe.

But, as always, we digress.

Brazilian Artist and DC mainstay Eddy Barrows regularly combines quality draftsmanship and creative storytelling into a highly compelling story. Another Brazilian artist, Eber Ferreira, known for his detailed and meticulous brushwork, typically inks Eddy’s pencils.

More on Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC in the next few posts.

Bryan Hitch — Happy (Mostly) Together

Original Art and The Artists

JLA #50, February 2001

I’m not the ideal audience for Zach Snyder’s vision of the DC Universe. 

I find it grim and dreary. Pretentious. Soulless. 

Ultimately pointless.

These “Elseworlds” versions of the characters are for someone, obviously, just not me.

The four-hour version (“Snyder Cut”) of Justice League isn’t as much as a movie, but a living collection of splash pages, complete with sound effects.

If you’re an art fan, especially, there are indeed some gorgeous images, many conveniently unfolding in slow motion so you can catch all the visual eye candy without pausing the stream.

But, like I said, as a movie, not for me.

Bryan Hitch’s great cover from 20 years ago (!) is the type of iconic image of the team I can embrace. Superman happy. Batman grumpy. Everyone else somewhere in between.

That seems about right.

Fun fact: The JLA has had dozens — if not hundreds — of incarnations during its 60-year run, but here, if you swap Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner version) for Cyborg, you end up with the modern Snyder team. 

A great image never goes to waste if you’re a smart publisher: Comic book cover, trade book cover, and full-bleed print.

Gabriel Hardman — The True King Of The Monsters

Original Art and The Artists

King Kong, Commission, 2014

Godzilla got most of the attention in the last few posts. But Kong needs some love as well.

So here’s a terrific commission by Gabe Hardman to provide a solution.

Between American and international film releases and re-releases, there is a ton of great movie poster art out in the world. Much of it is quite striking, and my favorites always involve the penultimate scene of Kong fighting the “air force” on top the Empire State Building. (Spoiler alert: he loses and plummets to his death moments later.)

So this piece is a no-brainer for my collection. (Plus, my dad loved King Kong, and he would have seen its original release as an 11-year old, so there’s that reason to own it too.)

And even though Kong “died” in the original classic, he came back 30 years later to fight — and apparently defeat — Godzilla in the original match between those screen titans.

I wonder who wins this time around. I guess we will find out tomorrow.

It took more than 30 years for the original King Kong film to receive a comic adaptation, but it when it did, it was a glorious 64 pages for a quarter. Cover by the incredible George Wilson.
A few interior pages from the end of the Gold Key King Kong adaption , and Marvel’s classic parody cover that somehow manages to combine Kong, The Marvel Universe, and Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.

Geof Darrow — Godzilla Forever

Original Art and The Artists

Godzilla (and Shaolin Cowboy) Commission, 2015

Geoff Darrow imagines the crossover (via commission) that you will never see anywhere else. Darrow’s own Shaolin Cowboy attacking Godzilla.

Geof’s intensely detailed line art is perfect to capture all the scales, fins and bumps on Godzilla’s figure.

Perfect.

And as mentioned previously, he is also one of the nicest and most entertaining creators you will ever meet.

Crossovers you are unlikely to see again include Godzilla vs. The Avengers and Godzilla vs… Charles Barkley?!
This student film made us laugh at festivals and midnight features every single time.

Mark Nelson — Shades Of Godzilla

Original Art and The Artists

Godzilla #2, July 1988

Godzilla’s origin generally begins with atomic testing and radioactivity. (You can catch up on all the versions of his origin here.)

So maybe he is getting ready for a nice atomic snack on this great cover by Mark Nelson.

Nelson executed the art on Craftint specialty paper, which used a chemical process to add an amazing level of tone and depth to the art. Artists like Roy Crane, Wallace Wood and Howard Chaykin are among the many who used the paper regularly (and well) to enhance their storytelling.

The paper was readily available to artists in the mid to late 20th century and ultimately discontinued in 2009 with more commercial artists switching to digital.

I believe Kevin Eastman (TMNT) purchased a large supply when he heard the paper was being discontinued. But, like a fine vintage wine, sooner or later, the supply will run out.

A lost art — although you can replicate the effect in Photoshop, and other similar digital programs.

But, unfortunately, at that point, you don’t get a great piece of art to hold in your hands.

The original (1962) King Kong vs. Godzilla featured a somewhat sketchy version of Kong, especially noticeable in the marketing material, but as a kid, I ate it up anyway.