Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery – Page 59 – Panels and Pages… Art and Artists… Creators and Conventions… Musings and Memories…

Mike Mayhew — Fool’s Gold

December 14, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars: Lando, #1, September 2015

Mike Mayhew cleverly envisions Lando Calrissian’s ’s microsecond moment of glory in the Empire Strikes Back — interrupted by Vader and company.

Lucasfilm has not always encouraged more whimsical interpretations of its characters and storylines, so it was good to see this one approved to print.

Mike had submitted a few ideas (see below) for this variant cover and this one received the green light.

And Mike was kind enough to thank me for reminding him to file and back-up everything in his archive so that when art obsessives like myself come along, he has digital copies of the roughs and pencils to provide. You’d be surprised at how much comic art material will never see the publishing light of day again because no can find the files or scans.

Happily, here we can see the progression from thumbnail to sketch to pencils to finals, etc.

As for Lando? (Billy Dee Williams, a spry 82-years old.) I’m happy that he gets to make one final appearance in the Star Wars saga. But if he’s there just to make some grand sacrifice, I will be annoyed. (Ditto for Chewie. And the Falcon, too, for that matter.)

I think we’ve had enough of that.

*The production process: Concepts, sketches, pencils, colors and finally, the published copy, signed by Mr. Mayhew for good measure.*

Al Williamson — Jedi At The Drawing Board

December 12, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Return of the Jedi, #2, October 1983

Lush brushwork. Clear storytelling. Impeccable detail. Accurate anatomy and likenesses. Al Williamson’s page from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi adaption speaks volumes about realizing potential in adapting other mediums to comics.

George Lucas had the power to choose the artist to draw the Marvel Empire Strikes Back adaption and he had the good sense to choose Al Williamson.

Al’s gorgeous art on classic EC science Fiction stories as well as Flash Gordon had clearly made an impression.

Fortunately for us, Williamson agreed to also illustrate the Star Wars newspaper strip (after Russ Manning’s untimely passing), and he ultimately came back for Return of the Jedi adaption as well.

On all three projects — plus a handful of stories in the regular comics — Al delivered. It’s some of his finest work.

Williamson kept much of his Star Wars related art, and his estate now owns it. Nearly all the originals that have come on the market are those once owned by his assistants or inkers.

This great page from ROTJ has a more interesting provenance. Superstar inker Mike Royer received it from Al (see inscription) shortly after publication. It remained in his collection for many years.

So it’s not only a great piece of original art, it has a great story behind it as well.

And it’s a cornerstone of my collection.

*The complete adaptation was printed all at once in a Marvel special magazine — it appeared in Direct Market stores a few weeks **prior** to the film’s release. Imagine if that happened in 2019*.
*Covers for the magazine **and** the comics by Bill Sienkiewicz*.

Adam Hughes — Leia Nouveau

December 10, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Print, Star Wars Celebration IV and Star Wars Celebration Europe, 2007

Continuing our multi-part countdown to Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker, opening December 20, and concluding, apparently, the Skywalker saga.

This print, limited to 250, and now selling for as much as a nice page of original art, checks three great boxes for me:

Adam Hughes. Star Wars. Art Nouveau via the master, Alphonse Mucha.

(And a fourth actually — a wry sense of humor not seen often enough in Star Wars related content)

Stellar artist Hughes is supposedly keeping his original art for this giclee. Who can blame him? For an artist who generally sells all his originals, that probably tells you all you need to know.

*Some great prints by the Nouveau Jedi Master, Alphonse Mucha*.

*Adam also tackled “Slave Leia” earlier in this reprint of the Return of The Jedi adaptation.*

Mike Deodato / Andrew Pepoy — Family Feud

December 8, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Pencil Commission, Undated (Inks, 2019)

Continuing our countdown to Star Wars:The Rise of Skywalker, opening December 20, and concluding, apparently, the Skywalker saga.

I discovered this dynamic undated commission by Mike Deodato a few months ago. Something about it — the composition, Luke’s face, the overall “loose” style — reminded me of Carmine Infantino’s enjoyable run on the original Marvel series 40 years ago.

When I acquired the piece at NYCC, it was pencils only, and although it looked great, my gut told me to get it inked. (Sadly, my guts often have opinion.)

Fortunately, my pal Andrew Pepoy, the talented inker, happened to be nearby. Turns out, he always wanted to ink the late Infantino, and well, maybe this is the next best thing…

He nailed it — keeping the looseness intact, while adding polish and more depth to make it pop. (Look at Luke’s Lightsaber against Vader’s cape for instance.) This is especially impressive because the pencils were created on an odd thin paper stock, nothing like the more typical Bristol board artists employ. Definitely not an easy task.

Carmine’s run comes during the period leading up to to Empire Strikes Back, and I’m sure Lucasfilm was giving Marvel and writer Archie Goodwin fits, keeping them from, well, just about any story element that would spoil the film. Which is… well…. just about everything. Nerveless, they manage to have a few confrontations between Luke and Vader. Even if, of course, nothing is what it seems.

As for this Deodato piece? Mike’s modern Star Wars (see below) art looks nothing like this commission — someday I hope to get the backstory on the art. Until then… stay tuned.

*Detailed pencils… but it still needed finishes.*

*Classic Carmine Infantino Star Wars pages from the late 1970s.* *Check out the length of Luke’s hair in the middle page. Yikes!*

*A fan favorite Infantino cover… in original and published form.*

Tony Harris — The Phantom Limb

December 6, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars Special: C-3PO #1, June 2016

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in two short weeks, and the Star Wars Skywalker trilogy of trilogies (I can’t bring myself to call it a ennealogy) will apparently conclude, 42 years after it began.

In honor, the next two weeks of posts will feature original art from Star Wars, showcasing one or more of the “original trilogy” characters.

James Robinson and Tony Harris (Starman) reunite for a one-shot C-3PO story that explains the droid’s red arm in The Force Awakens.

Their Starman run was one of the great comic book series of the late 20^thcentury and it was nice to see them back together, even if only for a one-shot. And a pretty good one at that — a surprisingly moving tale about droid sacrifice.

The story is packed with eccentric droids in tight spots, and this splash is perhaps the best page in the book — a full image of C-3PO rendered with delightful and quirky detail by the talented Mr. Harris. He painted the striking “A” cover as well.

I love the final coloring, also by Harris, but as is often true, the art is especially striking in glorious black and white.

May the force… Well, you know.

A knockout wraparound cover from the hardcover collections of Starman Robinson and Harris stories.

Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema — A Different Spin

December 4, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Spider-Man Collectible Series #2, August 2006

Our celebration of Marvel’s 80^thAnniversary concludes with the publisher’s most iconic character in one of his classic stories.

The lead story in the original Amazing Spider-Man # 1(1963) finally gets its own terrific cover more than 50 years later, thanks to this unique reprint series published in 2006.

News America created The Spider-Man Collectible Series as weekly promotional supplements to Sunday newspapers. Each issue was printed on newsprint and contains half an issue of a classic Lee and Ditko Spider-Man comic, published in original order. Only 24 issues were produced, suggesting the series did not succeed as well as envisioned.

Since each original Spidey comic was split in half, every other issue of the supplements required brand new covers, depicting classic stories. For the most part, the covers are as dynamic as this one — if I could find them, I would attempt to acquire as many as possible.

Ron Frenz is a great visual storyteller (definitely influenced by classic Marvel artists), and Sal Buscema’s inks are always spot-on. (For more than 50 years!) I consistently enjoy their team-ups.

As for this Spider-Man story itself? It’s a classic that sets up storylines and characterizations for years, as Spidey saves J Jonah Jameson’s astronaut son — only to be blamed for sabotaging the rocket in the first place.

It’s a story I heard dramatized over and over again as a kid, because I was somewhat obsessed with the Golden Record recording of that classic issue. (See below).

And of course, it makes sense that the “back-up” story featuring the Fantastic Four is the original cover of Amazing Spider-Man #1 and all other subsequent reprints. Although the original published cover blurb has made me wonder if the astronaut story was actually intended as the cover and pulled. Why call out the cover story as an “extra attraction” if that’s the story we can already see? Hmmm.

Although the Fantastic Four make a great marketing hook, the lead story in issue #1 is actually the rocket rescue, and includes a re-cap of Spidey’s origin for those who missed or didn’t remember Amazing Fantasy #15

*No good deed goes unpunished…and becomes the defining thread in Spidey stories.*

Golden Records produced four “book and record” combos of classic stories in 1966 during the first Marvel Merchandising craze. Each of the four (Thor, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Spidey contained a straight reprint of the associated comic, minus only the cover price.

*Above — Some of the newly created covers for classic Spider-Man stories.*

Mark Bagley — Secret Origin

December 2, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Original Sin #3.1, August 2014

Continuing our ongoing celebration of Marvel’s 80^thAnniversary.

Tony Stark is forced to relive The Hulk’s origin — and his own potential culpability in the fateful gamma blast — in Original Sin, a clever 2014 crossover event by Mark Waid that introduces some new retcon elements into the Marvel Universe.

Re-imagining a classic scene is an interesting challenge for an artist, and Mark Bagley delivers on Bruce Banner’s transformation with inventive (and concise) storytelling and solid draftsmanship. Andrew Hennessy’s inking on Bagley’s pencils adds some nice polish.

The basics of Hulk’s origin haven’t changed much in the nearly 60 years of his existence, but the nuances have been modified many times. In the early days of the Silver and Bronze ages, a number of artists did different takes, as evidenced below.

Where did I first see the Hulk’s origin? On TV, of course, in the 1966 Marvel Super-Heroes Cartoons. (Courtesy of Jack Kirby’s art.)

Sing along to the theme song if you will:

(Lyrics by Jacques Urbont)

Doc Bruce Banner,
Belted by gamma rays,
Turned into the Hulk.

Ain’t he unglamor-ous!

Wreckin’ the town
With the power of a bull,

Ain’t no monster clown
Who is as lovable.

As ever-lovin’ Hulk! HULK!! HULK!!

*The original “long-form” origin (Hulk is gray) by Jack Kirby first appeared in Hulk #1.*

*In Hulk #3, Kirby redraws the origin (as a flashback) in a succinct three pages — and retcons the Hulk into his green form. (This origin also appears as the lead story in Hulk Special #2.)*

*Origin revisited: Hulk #102 (1968) by Marie Severin and Rampaging Hulk #1(1977) by Walter Simonson and Alfredo Alcala*

*Advertising material for the 1966 Marvel Super-Heroes Cartoon*

Sal Buscema and Joe Sinnott — Fireworks

November 30, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four Annual #13, 1978

Continuing our ongoing celebration of Marvel’s 80^thAnniversary.

Sal Buscema and Joe Sinnott deliver an iconic (and terrific) image of the Human Torch in this celebratory opening splash page.

Celebratory in that the Fantastic Four had just gone through a quirky period editorially where they were essentially “broken-up”, and they have reunited in FF #200, on-sale at the same time.

At this point in the run, Joe Sinnott, acknowledged as one of the all-time greats, is pretty much the only consistent through line in the FF — the series was rapidly going through a number of mix and match creative teams. In a three-year period, Joe inks pencillers Sal Buscema, John Buscema, Keith Pollard, Rich Buckler, Ron Wilson, and of course George Perez, who does some of his best known work in this era. (Shortly after this issue is published, Joe adds John Byrne and Bill Sienkiewicz to this mélange.)

Sinnott’s credits, including this one, are often categorized as “finishes” during this timeframe, as many of the pencillers are providing breakdowns only. Doesn’t help enough with the schedule though, as a number of issues are reprints and fill-ins. Marvel, as others have noted, was going through some difficult times. The Fantastic Four themselves wouldn’t truly find their full footing again until a few years later, when Byrne fully takes over writing and art chores.

As for Joe and Sal? With the end of the Spider-Man newspaper strip this year, Joe officially retired from inking … at age 92. Sal (age 83) “retired” in 2000, but continues to be coaxed into working — sometimes by my former colleagues — to this day.

“Flame on!”

So many interpretations of the Human Torch, so little time.

In his earliest appearances, Johnny Storm, the Silver Age Human Torch looked a bit more like the Golden Age version (more flame, less body definition) ultimately evolving to his more familiar form. Meanwhile, the Golden Age Torch, who (with the help of some of clever retconning) eventually makes a comeback in the modern era, appears to look more like the silver age version.

Above: The first appearance of the Silver Age Torch, Johnny Storm, in Fantastic Four #1 (1961) followed shortly thereafter by his first solo outing in Strange Tales #101 (1962) and ultimately followed by a clash with the “original” Torch in FF Annual #4 (1966). The Golden Age Torch returns in Avengers #133- #135 (1975), and revives yet again to join the West Coast Avengers during John Byrne’s run. (Avengers West Coast #50, 1989)

Steve Rude — Crazy “Uncles”

November 28, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

World’s Finest #3, Fall 1990

Crazy uncles… are crazy 365 days a year. So why is it on Thanksgiving especially we argue with them over domestic politics, international relations, trade wars, e-mail server locations, or any number of myriad topics bound to interfere with all that good food? (Ok, maybe we actually don’t see them the other 364.)

Here’s my suggestion. Let’s keep politics out of the Thanksgiving holiday, and if you must argue/debate/parry over something, keep it to pressing and nerdy comic book questions, like —

Which super villain is smarter (Luthor), which one is crazier (Joker), which one causes more trouble (tie). Essential topics like that. (And be thankful that while your uncle might be yelling at the TV all day, he’s probably not scheming to take over the city/nation/planet etc.)

And please, be polite. The only time you should be Rude is when discussing Steve. (No debate here — that was a bad pun.)

Also, if you look around the table and can’t find the crazy uncle, it might actually be you.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Back soon with our continuing celebration of Marvel’s 80^thanniversary.

Darwyn Cooke — Breaking The Glass

November 27, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Redo of Tales of Suspense #59, undated (approx. 2008)

The late, great Darwyn Cooke produced a number of these reinterpretations and homages of classics during his all too short lifetime.

I asked him about this one time and he told me he did them to “relax.” Relax? Wow. Think Albert Pujols walking into the batting cage prior to a game. Bam. Home Run. Bam. Another. Bam. Another…

Chic Stone originally inked this milestone splash, one of Jack Kirby’s best known from his Captain America run. Darwyn’s version makes some tweaks — for the better. Most notable are the subtle changes to the face. Cap’s eyes now engage the reader more directly, and overall, his facial expression is clearer and more confident and feels more accurate to Kirby’s vision.

Once upon a time, Darwyn and Marvel talked about an origins series, sort of the Marvel version of his amazing New Frontier series at DC. That is definitely a project I’m certain would have been a classic as well.

For more about Darwyn and the New Frontier, click here.

For more about this classic Captain America tale, click here.