Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

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Bernie Wrightson — Legend In Progress

Original Art and The Artists

Witching Hour #5, November 1969, “The Sole Survivor”

Today we launch a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

It’s difficult to attend Baltimore Comic Con without thinking about Bernie Wrightson, who hailed from here, and made his final convention appearance here six months prior to his death in 2017.

Wrightson’s professional comics career began in DC’s mystery anthology titles just six months before this art was published, 50 years ago this month.  

This page, therefore, is very early Wrightson, and although it’s still a few years away from his artistic peak, the talent, and signature detail, is already unmistakably there. His art hooked me early on, and I remain hooked.

Those DC mystery and horror comics, many edited by EC legend Joe Orlando, often showcased star artists like Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Neal Adams, Gil Kane, and others, including occasionally Orlando himself.

Of course, like other anthology comics, you never knew what the line-up was going to be from title to title, issue to issue. These series were indeed like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates: You never know what you’re going to get.

So of course they were always the titles I tried to skim through urgently on the candy store spinner racks, before that crusty proprietor Mr. Wurman would inevitably glance my way and say: “You gonna buy those? This is not a library.”

Bernie painted this beautiful cover for the short-lived Web of Horror magazine in the same timeframe as his early DC work — He was 21 years old.

Cliff Chiang — A League of His Own

Original Art and The Artists

Green Arrow / Black Canary #11, October 2008

Green Arrow is back on the air (CW) for its eighth and final season, so before the emerald archer fades into the TV sunset, we’re focusing a few posts on Green Arrow originals.

This impactful Cliff Chiang cover comes to us courtesy of a somewhat short-lived Green Arrow series — written by Judd Winick — prior to the “New 52.” It has plenty of action throughout, but the stories also focus on the interpersonal relationships that pierce the heart (sorry) of Team Arrow.

Cliff’s art (he was the interior artist on the first seven issues) is full of energy and features a bold, clean style, that manages to capture the angst of the modern Green Arrow, with less traditional rendering than many of the veteran Arrow illustrators (Neal Adams, Mike Grell, Jim Aparo, et al). 

Cliff’s career, of course, has rocketed since that Green Arrow run. His Paper Girls series (with writer Brian K Vaughn) is phenomenal, and I was pleased to hear at New York Comic Con that he is returning to DC superheroes with a Black Label title in the near future.

Michael Cho — Hip To Be Square

Original Art and The Artists

Justice League of America: The Silver Age Vol. #3, 2017

Green Arrow is back on the air (CW) for its eighth and final season, so before the emerald archer fades into the TV sunset, our next few posts will feature a few Green Arrow originals.

Green Arrow, in his original incarnation was definitely not a cool cat. As Neal Adams points out, he was basically a poor man’s version of Batman, complete with a young ward sidekick (Speedy) and an “Arrow car”, his own version of the Batmobile. (Probably a souped-up Corvair. Look it up.)

Still, as noted by pretty much all fans of comic book history know, the entire DC universe of the early silver age — especially when compared to upstart Marvel Comics — was “square.”

And I say, so what?  Lots of things in the Kennedy era were “square,” but simultaneously, super cool.

This JLA trade collection cover, by the incredibly talented Michael Cho, captures the exuberant spirit of “The New Frontier.” Green Arrow takes the lead with his fellow Justice League teammates right beside him. Here they can take on anything the world throws at them — and have fun doing it.

(This cover line-up represents the brief period in team history — Justice League of America #14 – #30 — after the Atom had joined, but before Hawkman had come aboard.)

This cover also embodies the energy and spirit of the late, great creator (and Michael’s good friend) Darwyn Cooke, while still very original in its own right. 

I have yet to see a Michael Cho cover that I didn’t enjoy. And I doubt I will.

  • Printed Cover
  • Published Print

Above: Covers and Interior Title Splash Pages For The First Appearances of Green Arrow and The Atom in JLA.

NYCC 2019

New York Comic Con Con, Javits Convention Center, October 3-6, 2019 And finally… you can’t make this up:

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Howard Chaykin — Atlas, Shrugged Off

Original Art and The Artists

Scorpion #1, February 1975

Atlas/Seaboard announced its 1974 entry into comic book publishing with plenty of talent and plenty of marketing. Founded by former Marvel Comics publisher Martin Goodman and featuring marquee names like Neal Adams, Steve Ditko, Wally Wood and many up-and-comers, it seemed the possibilities for the new company were endless.

But… those possibilities ended just 23 issues later (no individual title lasted more than four) in late 1975. Many of the titles had rebooted midstream, providing a capricious and confounding publishing strategy.

Howard Chaykin’s Scorpion was easily one of the better Atlas titles — so naturally, after two issues, Seaboard canned Chaykin, hired Alex Toth, and never actually published the pages Toth produced.  (They turned up later, elsewhere.) 

Not one to waste a great character, Howard quickly transformed Scorpion into Dominic Fortune at Marvel, where he has lived on and off for the last 40 years.

This great page captures Chaykin inventive and dynamic sense of storytelling. Literally “thinking out of the box,”  Chaykin flies the airplane right through the outer panel walls, and somehow Atlas’ production dept. made it work — years before full bleed pages were practical in comic book printing.

(Related — there are a few videos available on-line on the short history of Atlas/ Seaboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzhcYa23PI0 ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJn7NlnjLy8)

And, as Luke narrates in the recent Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker trailer, “No one’s ever really gone.” To wit, Atlas just made another comeback of sorts:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ghost-rider-producer-buys-atlas-comics-library-teams-paramount-1211185

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/who-owns-atlas-comics-1212677