We interrupt our multi-part look at Spider-Man vs. Mysterio in honor of today’s “Batman Day” (9/21) celebration. Our regularly scheduled programming will continue tomorrow.
Neal Adams first Batman story appeared more than 50 years (!) ago in World’s Finest Comics #175. The art blew my mind then, and still does today. Happy Batman Day, Neal, and thanks for all of it!
Tomorrow, we conclude our multi-part look at Spider-Man vs. Mysterio with none other than “the Dude” — artist Steve Rude.
Continuing a multi-part look at Spider-Man vs. Mysterio in honor of Spider-Man: Far From Home landing on digital streaming platforms this week.
Scott Koblish as a person?: Engaging. Upbeat. Energetic. Witty. Et al.
Koblish as an artist?: Engaging. Upbeat. Energetic. Witty. Et al.
Rarely does a creator’s artistic style so match his personality. Hell, there are great cartoonists, past and present, with lively and bright art aesthetics, who are darker personally than Van Gogh on a bad day. (No I will not be naming names. That’s what the rest of the Internet is for.)
Scott’s mostly zany artistic approach to Deadpool is perfectly on point for the character. (And that’s not taking anything away from Ed McGuinness, a fantastic artist whose work I absolutely love — or any other Deadpool illustrator for that matter.)
In this “flashback” issue of Spider-Man/Deadpool, Scott draws the entire issue in classic “Steve Ditko” style. It’s clearly done with affection and reverence, and the finished issue, complete with simulated old-school coloring, “bad” printing (out-of register) and aged paper, is old-school fun.
How “classic” is the art style here, you ask? Review the middle panel on this page. It is most definitely… Classic Ditko! (In fairness, the rest of the issue features more original Ditko interpretations as well. Koblish was clearly having a bit of extra fun here.)
Spider-Man Adventures #5, Unused Cover, April 1995
Spider-Man: Far From Home landed on digital streaming platforms this week, so the next few posts feature — who else? — Spider-Man and Mysterio.
Spider-Man Adventures, a ‘90s comic book title, existed mainly to support Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which ran on Fox Kids from 1994 – 1998. In fact, the first thirteen issues of the comics are direct adaptations of the first-season episodes.
The episodes themselves are adapted (albeit loosely in some cases) from original Spider-Man comic books.
So…
Issue #5, featuring Mysterio, is an adaptation of Episode #5 of the TV series, which in turn, is adapted from Mysterio’s very first comic book appearance — by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko — in Amazing Spider-Man #13. (1964).
A comic book adaptation…. of a TV show adaptation… of a comic book story. That trick definitely trumps anything up Mysterio’s sleeve.
Alex tells me that his original cover was rejected because the editors wanted more emphasis on Mysterio —and for the character to be more “dramatic and menacing,” and I think he delivered. (See below.) Still, I like Alex’s original take, especially with that iconic Spidey image.
Alex’s creative spin on the wall-crawler has lasted more than 30 years. He drew the Web of Spider-Man comic book for seven years, and then the full Spider-Man Adventures run, and then the Spidey newspaper strip from 1997 to its end earlier this year.
Nothing mysterious about that longevity — Alex’s passion for, and understanding of, the Spider-Man character is obvious anytime he puts pencil to paper.
Fan art of a Far From Home Poster that looks a LOT like the unpublished cover. It appears Alex was well ahead of his time.
Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Wally Wood only teamed up for six issues of the short-lived Hercules Unbound. Garcia-Lopez moved on, and Walter Simonson took over with Issue #7. (Wood only stayed on for one additional issue.)
Walter’s art style, like many of his generational peers (Chaykin, Wrightson, etc.) is very distinctive. Manhunter. Thor. X-Factor. Ragnarok. Et al. Typically, when you see a Walter Simonson penciled page, you know it.
Not here though. As noted earlier, Wood’s inks typically put so much lush polish on the pencils, It’s not that easy to sort out the penciller’s own style. When I first scanned this issue, I didn’t immediately catch that Garcia-Lopez was off the book. (Once you know, and compare against the earlier issues, you can definitely see some differences.)
Here’s an extra cool thing about this great Herc page. I luckily acquired it at a convention where Walter was a guest of ours at IDW Publishing, and I asked him to inscribe it. It reads:
“Another bucket list check mark — my layouts — Wallace Wood inks!”
Footnote — More creative shuffling: After two issues inked by Bob Layton, Walter provided both pencils and inks on the final two issues. As evidenced below, Walter’s work again looks like… Walter!
Hercules Unbound #4, May 1976 (Pencils by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez)
Gerry Conway and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez — an artist’s artist if there ever was one — launched Hercules Unbound in 1975. But the real news was that Wally Wood would be inking the book.
Wally’s lush art had graced just a handful of DC superhero titles in the late ‘60s, when I had first started actively reading comics. My first exposure to his stellar inking was likely in 1968’s Captain Action. (He also penciled issue #1 of that short-lived series.)
By the time he returned to DC in the mid ‘70s, I was not only familiar with much of his oeuvre (EC, Marvel, Warren, Tower, etc.), I was pretty much obsessed with his art, as both penciller and inker.
If his work at DC was going to be inking only, so be it, because typically it didn’t matter who was penciling — Wood’s dramatic and distinctive inks make everything look mostly like… Wood. That includes hall-of-fame stylists like Steve Ditko and Gil Kane. And frankly, some of those artists’ styles were more fluid and dynamic than Wally’s to begin with.
This page is no exception, featuring dynamic action and storytelling by Garcia-Lopez, who had only recently broken into DC, and would rapidly become one of the industry’s most respected artists. At this point in the series, the art team was most definitely firing on all cylinders.
It did not matter that I wasn’t quite sure how Hercules fit into the greater DC universe, or even if he did. I was going to be saving a small piece of my comics’ budget for Hercules Unbound.
What if EC Comics merged with the Archie line back in the ’50s and survived through the present day? Andrew Pepoy gives us the short answer with Betty and Veronica as Wally Wood-styled space girls on this cool variant cover for Archie #646.
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents 50th Anniversary Special (IDW), July 2015
No one today pulls off a tribute to the great Wally Wood quite like the very talented Andrew Pepoy.
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents, IDW Publishing asked Andrew to illustrate a cover variant – an homage to the iconic Wood EC cover, Incredible Science Fiction #29. For our version, we substituted Wood’s astronaut with the sexy and villainous Iron Maiden, one of the main adversaries in Wood’s original T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents.
The detail is terrific (especially noticeable in its original B&W form), and while no one can actually replicate Wally Wood, this might be as close as it gets. Home run!
I’ve always wanted to own an original cover painting by the amazing George Wilson, whose covers graced Magnus Robot Fighter, Turok, Doctor Solar and so many others, primarily for Gold Key and Classics Illustrated. In fact, the original art of my favorite painted cover — The Classics version of H.G. Wells Time Machine — appeared at auction just a few years ago. And rapidly escalated out of my price range.
Soon after, waves of other covers attributed to Wilson were also offered at auction. Many of these were selling at much more affordable prices. Vague provenance. Lesser titles. Later issues. Etc.
I glanced at many of the covers for sale, appreciated them, but pretty much overlooked them.
Then this one caught my eye — a cover for Twilight Zone. A subway scene creatively composed and nicely lit. Made me nostalgic for my New York City days. The “killer graffiti” concept seemed a bit out there, even by Twilight Zone standards, but, so what? Even if not actually “deadly,” graffiti was a giant problem during that period in New York… I remember it all too well.
I examined the painting closer. The train’s design is clearly based on an actual NYC subway car of that era, not a “generic” one. It’s the Number 7 train. Runs cross town Manhattan to Queens — a subway I had taken many times as a kid to comic book conventions at the landmark Commodore Hotel at Grand Central Station. The Commodore was the home of many historic fan conventions. Funny coincidence.
Date of the published comic book: July 1975.
July 1975? That was the final appearance of Phil Seuling’s New York Comic Art Convention at the financially struggling Commodore. It’s a convention I remember fondly. The Industry was still buzzing about Jack Kirby’s return to Marvel Comics, announced just a few months earlier, at Marvel’s ownconvention, also at the Commodore.
Ok, owning this painting was meant to be, whether Wilson actually painted it or not. The actual story in the issue mattered not at all, but this specific cover image, at this specific time and place, certainly did. Sold.
What ultimately became of the struggling Commodore Hotel you ask? Well… The young son of a very successful New York real-estate developer, looking for his first project he could call his own, persuaded NYC to give him a 40-year tax abatement if he renovated and re-opened the landmark hotel. Abatement in hand, he took the deal to the Hyatt corp., and convinced them to partner with him to make the deal a reality.
His name? Donald Trump.
And this is a story that could only happen…in the Twilight Zone.
Wrapping up our multi-part tribute to The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, in honor of the late summer weather at the California coast.
From time to time, an offbeat Archie mash-up idea burrows its way into my consciousness, and Dan Parent always delivers. In fact, this homage to the original battle scene by the legendary Bill Everett is one of my favorites among the many terrific ones Dan’s produced.
Dan is easily among the top tier of all-time Archie stand-out talents, joining a terrific group of cartoonists that includes Bob Montana, Dan DeCarlo and Harry Lucey, to name a few.
Incidentally, we matched the characters by overall appearance (Veronica/Namor, brunette and Betty/Torch, blonde) and, to some extent, personality. After all, Veronica is definitely the worse-tempered of the two, and Betty… does indeed carry a “torch” for Archie.
Our weeklong tribute to The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner continues, in honor of the late summer weather at the California coast.
“Cover-quality” is an overused adjective in the comic art-retailing world.
Typically it appears when a reseller is trying to grab attention on an unpublished commission for sale: “Gee, look, isn’t this as good as a published cover?”
Why do this? The short answer of course is marketing. Hyperbole (theoretically) helps support a higher asking price. Also, it adds the word “cover” to the item description’s metadata, meaning it appears in any on-line search for that word. Clever.
Here, however, “cover-quality” is no exaggeration for this richly detailed Sub-Mariner commission by Mike Deodato — a moody portrait of Prince Namor with the only human he truly pines for, the lovely Sue (Invisible Woman) Storm. Hell, it’s better than many published covers.
Who hasn’t marveled (sorry) at the evolution of Deodato’s artistic style? When he broke in professionally about 25 years ago, Mike’s art approach was much more similar to the “Image Comics” style of the day. Today, his storytelling blends similar dynamism with an often astonishing photo-realism into an accomplished, and enviable, form.
One previous owner of this piece did in fact describe it as an actual published cover, without evidence. But… so many retailer variants and limited exclusive covers have been published the last few years, anything is possible. I’m aware of multiple instances where a piece of art was indeed assigned — and executed — for a cover variant, but then cancelled last minute.
So… if anyone can provide evidence that this art was indeed professionally published. or solicited to be published, somewhere — anywhere — you will have my thanks, and a piece of original art as a finder’s fee.
I found a number of color versions online, adding a bit to more mystery to the provenance of the piece, but they appear to be samples by aspiring colorists.
