Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Bernie Fuchs — Sting Like A Bee

Original Art and The Artists

Muhammad Ali, Alternate Cover, TV Guide, May 10, 1975

A 20th century hat trick — in one piece of Bernie Fuchs art:

• A terrific illustration — by a talented illustrator, whose well-known commercial work was among the best of its era.

• A magazine, that in its day, was among the most widely read, and a staple in many American households, mine included.

• An astonishing boxer and cultural icon who, when he self-identified as “the greatest” made a nearly impeccable case for that title with his actions. My admiration for Muhammad Ali’s ability, tenacity and courageousness of his convictions remains off the charts. 

This illustration is one of a few that Fuchs created for the TV Guide cover. Like the final published image, it’s simple, but amazingly powerful — and instantly recognizable.

Muhammad Ali caught the last train out nine years ago today, June 3, 2016. He was 74.

Ron Frenz & Tom Palmer — “He’s Got A Lightsaber!”

Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars #71, May 1983

Here is a very dynamic page from a very dynamic art duo (sorry, couldn’t resist) of Ron Frenz and Tom Plamer. Following the terrific run by Walter Simonson and a few fill-in issues from Gene Day, Frenz took over as regular penciller; Palmer stayed on as inker, once again providing a smooth consistency to the art.

As for the story? Don’t let the cover blurb fool you. The quest For Han Solo most definitely did not end here; he wasn’t able to return to Marvel’s Star Wars series until a few months after the release of Return of The Jedi. (Issue #81, to be precise.) And again, Marvel’s creative team did a heckuva job with the little information they had ahead of ROTJ.

Cam Kennedy — Star Wars, Expanded

Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars: Dark Empire II #1, December 1994

Hey Disney — if you had simply adapted and updated material from the Thrawn Trilogy (“Heir to The Empire.”) by Timothy Zahn, and the Dark Empire Trilogy (Tom Vetch) you would have had a sequel film series that people would still be talking about — favorably.

The Star Wars expanded universe was on fire in the early 90s, and these Dark Empire comics are among the standouts. Pretty much every painted page by Cam Kennedy is a masterpiece, and I’m glad to finally add one to my collection. Luke, Lando and the now ultra-essential Mon Mothma are featured here, along with that ridiculously cool war machine.

That was the Star Wars experience we deserved — then and now.

Walter Simonson & Tom Palmer — Yoo-Hoo!

Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars #58, April 1982

Ah, to have been a fly on the wall at a Marvel Comics- Lucasfilm meeting, about 9 months or so before the release of Empire Strikes Back in 1980:

Lucas: “So, guys, let us tell you— the next film is going to end quite dramatically: Han Solo will be in suspended animation, in the ship of a bounty hunter, on his way to the clutches of Jabba The Hutt. Chewie, and a new character, Lando, will appear to be going after them, and Luke, clearly not a Jedi yet, will remain with Leia and the droids in the rebel fleet.

Marvel: “Great, what happens next?”

Lucas: “That’s it, that’s the end of the film. It’s a cliffhanger.”

Marvel: “And we don’t know what transpires until the next film?”
Lucas: “Correct.”

Marvel: “For three years?

Lucas: “Also correct.”

Marvel: “Ok. That’s about 36 issues. You’ll give us the broad strokes of how the next film opens so we can create scenarios and plots with the remaining characters accordingly?”

Lucas: “Er, we don’t have all the details yet, but we will figure it out.”

All credit to Louise Simonson, Archie Goodwin, Walter Simonson, David Michelinie and an hefty all-star group of talent for somehow making the challenge work.

And, of course, extra credit to Tom palmer, who, as always, made it visually come together, regardless of who penciled the book: Simonson, Ron Frenz, Gene Day, Kerry Gammill, et al.

Oh, and they recycled an unused Carmine Infantino John Carter of Mars story during this period as well.

Seriously, look it up.

Adam Hughes — Star Wars Photo Op

Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca #2, July 2022

This fun Star Wars cover from Adam Hughes brings a giant smile to my face.

It reminds of the pre-digital age of photos, when we all used film cameras (with some notable exceptions thanks to Polaroid). We took the roll of film into a processor (Fotomat* anyone?) and never knew what we would find in return. 

Didn’t quite frame all the subjects the way we planned? Oops, too bad. I had a few of those photos. Probably more than a few. 

The focal point of Adam’s composition, of course, is to highlight the Millennium Falcon, something more obvious in the original art. The detail in the ship is just great, as is the clever cropping. (Much of the Falcon’s detail is obscured in the published color version.)

If it weren’t for the tiny ship in background flight, by the way, It looks like Han and Chewie visited Star Wars Galaxy’s edge at Disneyland and couldn’t quite get the selfie right. I think I may have one of those pictures myself.

Happy Star Wars month — more to come, of course. And of course, Happy 45th, Empire Strikes Back, as well.

*Odd fact of the day: Fotomat processing centers peaked in scope in 1980, with 4,000 locations, at about the release time of ESB.

Fun covers all around: The Hughes variant and the “main” cover, courtesy of Phil Noto.

Jaime (Xaime) Hernandez — ?!?!?

Original Art and The Artists

Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy #4, December 1987

All-star creator Jaime Hernandez delivers a great cover — full of quirky fun — for the short-lived Fantagraphics humor publication, Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy.

Coincidentally, this cover appeared at the same time (December 1987) as one of Jamie’s best-known Love & Rockets covers, #24, which, among other swipes and homages, has been purloined by a number of musical acts for posters.

(That original published Jamie image remains iconic — It’s still available as a t-shirt, nearly forty years later.)

Sadly, the Bumble-Puppy cover isn’t available as a t-shirt.

 Not yet, anyway.

Ashley Holt — In Good Company

Original Art and The Artists

Commission, April 2024

The art and the artist: Greg Goldstein and Ashley Holt

I discovered Ashley Holt’s terrific portrait illustrations a few years ago — via Howard Chaykin — and became an ardent admirer from day one. He’s depicted some of our favorite people in colorful and instantly recognizable form.

Now, I’ve joined the club.

Ashley is a pleasure to deal with. He sells prints and books, takes commissions, and has a lovely website that makes it easy to admire or acquire his art. 

Additionally, he has a well-written Substack column (“The Symptoms”), where he employs a lively — and occasionally biting — style that matches the spirit of his art. 

Follow / subscribe to everything he offers, and you won’t be disappointed.

Trust me on this.

As for Ash’s note about this illustration of yours truly?:

“Greg Goldstein, comics art connoisseur and former CEO of IDW Publishing, posing in front of a Jack Kirby drawing of a comics character who shall not be named for reasons of trademark law but who is definitely not riding a surfboard of any kind.”

Find Ashley here —

https://www.ashleyholt.com

https://thesymptoms.substack.com

From Top Left to Bottom Right: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, George Lucas, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, Jane Fonda (In Cat Ballou), George Carlin, Cary Grant, and Orson Welles. (All art © 2025 Ashley Holt)

Gray Morrow — Watching The Detectives

Original Art and The Artists

Swank Magazine, March 1975

Ah, irony. 

All these great detectives in this outstanding Gray Morrow illustration, and what I needed the most was some actual detective work to figure out where the piece was published. 

Despite the fact it looked like it could have appeared in any number of comic humor mags (Mad, Cracked, Sick, Crazy, et al) those pubs only featured black and white articles. And it didn’t fit with the vibe at National Lampoon. Also, the composition / design suggested a more conventional 2-page editorial spread, but it was too large and busy for TV Guide

After some relentless digging and some occasionally frustrating dead ends, I confirmed that the piece appeared in the March 1975 issue of Swank Magazine, an adult mag whose content often made Playboy seem like Reader’s Digest.

It’s a wonderful piece of nostalgia and a great DPS.

And, for better or worse, I’m old enough to have immediately recognized most of the cops here, without additional detective work.

Fun fact: I don’t own a physical copy of the mag yet, hence the lack of an image of the published piece to include with this post. It seems to be available for sale in a few places on-line, but they appear to be sketchy, and you can guess what might happen if give my credit card number and other personal info to an adult website.

A year prior to the publication of this piece, Gray had illustrated a one-shot “Super Cops” story in his more traditional and realistic art style.

Doug Wildey — Wildey Wild West

Original Art and The Artists

Gunsmoke Western #57, March 1960

How much of a perfectionist was the great Doug Wildey? He knew there was no chance the printed comic books of 1960 could capture the fine details in his draftsmanship, but he drew them anyway.

This is the second Wildey Atlas western title splash I’ve managed to acquire, and like the first, it’s a beauty. In fact, even more stunning.

By chance, this page was only display and offered for sale a few moments during last year’s San Diego Comic Con when I happened on it. I’m sure it would have been gone had I come by an hour or more later.

As I noted previously, Doug Wildey was an amazing storyteller and draftsman. Don’t just take my word for it — ask Stan Lee.

Back in about 2010, we visited Stan in his Beverly Hills office to get some pages signed for the first John Romita Spider-Man Artists Edition from IDW Publishing. Stan’s “people” were kind enough to let us bring some personal items to get signed as well, so I brought a few pages of original art with me. 

Stan, who was telling stories and singing while he was signing (Yes, singing, not a typo for signing. Story for another day.) stopped dead in his tracks when he saw this page of art. 

He stared at it quietly for a few moments — given the speedy pace of our morning, it seemed like an eternity — and you could see pleasant memories wash over his face. And then the big Stan Lee smile:

“Doug Wildey. Wow. He was great. So terrific. I loved his stuff. I wish we had a chance to do more together.” 

He handed the page back to me, still beaming, still examining it up and down as he slowly passed it back.  I had seen Stan sign thousands of items; many of them with fond remembrances, but nothing quite like this.

I’m sure he would have had the same reaction to this page as well.

Bye bye details in the sheriff’s face, shirt, et al. Wildey had to know the cheaply-printed page would lose all the great detail and craftsmanship, but he included it in his original anyway.

Jim Steranko — Full Of Fury

Original Art and The Artists

Nick Fury commission, undated

I was only a little kid (7.5 years — I checked) when I first discovered Jim Steranko in Strange Tales #159. (In fairness, I might have discovered him an issue or two sooner, but it’s Captain America’s appearance on the cover that stands out in my mind’s eye.)

This is right around the time that Jim became STERANKO — no first name or other reference required.  In subsequent issues of Strange Tales, and then his short-lived legendary run on the solo Nick Fury series, I most definitely didn’t always understand what he was doing, but I knew it was dynamic, wild and special. Looking back at the material today, it remains so.

Jim holds on to most of his published artwork, so a cool specialty piece like this one is a rare opportunity to have something of Jim’s in a collection. And when — and if — that published art ever comes on the market, there is so little of it, and it will be in such high demand, that affordability is going to be a challenge. 

A big one.

Those covers…
About 15 – 20 years ago, I discovered that the published cover to Strange Tales #159 was actually a revision to Jim’s original by John Romita, and possibly Marie Severin as well.