Neal Adams delivers a terrific Spectre action page from his third issue on the series, and the second he wrote, penciled and inked himself. I love the looks of terror and fear on the faces, especially in that last large panel.
(DC jammed quite a few creative changes through those brief 10 issues of the silver age Spectre, so it was apparently a good place to give Neal a shot at writing a “superhero” title.)
Of course, it’s nearly Halloween, so it’s time we take our annual visit with the ghouls, monsters and apparitions of the comic book art pages.
30 years ago, I had the good sense to snap this fantastic photo of Jack Kirby and Gil Kane at the 1993 San Diego Comic-Con. (Jaunty Jim Salicrup, the Topps Comics EIC, is the happy fella in the middle.)
Fantastic, but, as it turned out, bittersweet: This was the final time these two legends had a chance to greet each other. (Jack passed away the following winter.) I’m not sure they were both scheduled at the Topps booth at the same time, so it may have been a very happy coincidence.
I’ve discussed Topps Comics (and trading cards) numerous times in previous posts — it was a wild ride with many great moments. This was one of my favorites.
And did I say good sense? Hardly. If I did, I would have handed off the disposable camera to someone else and jumped in the photo as well.
Kane and Kirby both delivered for Topps; we launched the “Kirbyverse” with unused and under-utilized concepts from Jack’s files, and Gil Kane drew the Jurassic Park adaptation and prequel. And both provided art for our massive Star Wars Galaxy series, which featured more than 400 cards — with art from nearly that many individual creators.
Spider-Man and Sub-Mariner need a few pages of bantering and brawling in this early issue of Marvel Team-Up before they figure out that they left on friendly terms just two years prior. But that’s often the classic (sometimes cliché) formula. Characters meet, fight, and then figure out who the real enemy is and join forces to stop them. (In this case Tiger Shark and — I kid you not — the Aquanoids.)
Gil Kane provides, as always, dynamic and dramatic pencils and composition — although finding regular inkers for him on this series seems challenging. Here the enigmatic Wayne Howard takes a stab at Gil’s unique styling with mixed effects throughout the issue. (Although I like the results on this specific page.)
Great cover too, with inks by Frank Giacoia. (Although the Marvel trade dress is out of control with not much room for the main imagery.)
For more on the first Sub-Mariner / Spider-Man crossover, see this fun article below:
Ten years ago, I purchased this terrific Avengers double page spread by Walter Simonson and Scott Hanna from Scott’s art representative at New York Comic-Con. Scott was at the convention, but I never managed to track him down. Walter was there, so he signed it before I returned to California, but since it was inks over blue-line printed pencils, it definitely needed Scott’s signature as well.
Problem was, I kept forgetting about it during my convention travels.
Finally, coming out of the pandemic two years ago, I see that Scott will be at Baltimore Comic-Con, so I pack it up, fly back East and… he needs to cancel. That’s not on him — a lot of creators cancelled in 2021, many because Covid had started raging again and travel stunk.
Flash forward to a few weeks ago, he’s an announced guest at BCC, so I bring it again, and voila, I catch up to him. Signature acquired.
And as a bonus, when I remind Walter about the piece, writer Brian Bendis happens to stop by, so I end up with a cool bonus signature as well. (He was genuinely delighted to see the original art — writers often don’t see the originals before they make their way back to the artists and/or disappear into the collectors’ market.)
If you’re counting, that’s 12,500 miles of travel for that piece of art.
I should have signed it up for a frequent flyer account.
Billy Tucci, Alex SaviukRon RandallMaryanne Marlowe, Tim LenaghanJoe PradoGreg Goldstein, Afua Richardson Mark WaidMike MckoneNikkol JelenicTony Fleecs, PL ForstnerArt BaltazarTom MandrakeWalter & Louise Simonson w/ Beta Ray BillCraig Rosseau, Dan BreretonMarty BaumannDave JohnsonJose Luis Garcia-LopezTony HarrisDean HaspielGlen Hauman
Once again, HUGE thanks and congrats to all the terrific folks who made this past weekend’s Baltimore Comic-Con just as perfect an event could be.
As noted in previous years, It’s easily one of my favorite conventions — an absolute delight to attend. I had a blast catching up with old friends and colleagues, making some new acquaintances, and hosting some fun panels.
I’m exhausted, but it’s a happy exhaustion, and once again, I miss all of you already.
Ron Garney, Walter SimonsonJamal IgleMike Grell, Mike Gold, John Workman, Steve RudeCully HamnerTerry Kavanagh, Howard MackieLouise Simonson, Chris Claremont, Walter SimonsonMike HawthorneDavid MackScott Dunbier, Joseph MelchiorBob Greenberger, Barry KitsonRichard Pini, Wendy PiniJoe StatonGreg Goldstein and Howard Chaykin with a super fan!
I was a huge fan of the Planet of the Apes Franchise, and when I first saw the promo image (The Comics Reader, probably) for the cover of issue #1, I became miffed.
Why would Jack rip off POTA? Was the King finally out of original ideas?
Ah to be that young and foolish again. Kamandi quickly became a favorite. And little did I know that the Statue of Liberty “end of human civilization trope was already a SF trope by the time Rod Serling incorporated into his brilliant POTA screenplay. (See below.)
And, if you’re going to end human civilization with one breed of animals develop advanced intelligence, why not do it with all of them.
Heh.
That’s why the King is the King.
And, it gets better. Turns out Jack was incorporating some similar ideas he had previously used in a short story in Alarming Tales, 15 years prior to Kamandi. (Also, see below.)
So, what did I know? Not much, apparently. Like I said, to be that young and foolish again.
This page is the final issue Mike Royer inked, and the first that D Bruce Berry (working apprentice style) had a hand in. He took over solo the following issue. Tom Kraft of the Jack Kirby Museum believes both worked on this specific page.
Kamandi, apes and tigers — all on one page. What more could I ask for?
Now, or then.
A post apocalyptic and buried (land or water) Statue of Liberty had appeared at least three times prior to the first POTA film. (I’m not exactly sure when the reprint of After The Rain first appeared, but the cover art is much stronger this time around.)A destroyed Statue has appeared countless times since Planet of Apes.Before and after comics; the dreadful Mighty Samson (1965) & John Byrne’s Doomsday + 1 (1975) cover that pays homage to Kirby and POTA.Kirby’s original tale (pun intended) of advanced animal species fighting. with each other in a post apocalyptic world first appeared in Harvey’s Alarming Tales #1 (1957.)
After a five-year hiatus, the legendary Jack Kirby original art presentation returns with nearly 1,000 high-res images* featuring some of the King’s most important pages and covers. Join myself, the legendary Walter Simonson, the incredible Scott Dunbier (at least 80(!) IDW Publishing Artist Edition collections under his editorial belt — I’ve lost count) for a Kirby tribute unlike any other.
Baltimore Comic Con 9/8-9/10, exact time and panel room location TBD.
(*Yes, nearly 1,000. It’s an hour-long presentation, so if you blink, you’ll miss a few.)
In the meantime, I’m fortunate enough to personally own a few pages of Jack’s original art and have covered most of them previously in the blog, but here they are in one place for the first time.
If you want to see them and much more, simply enter “Jack Kirby” into the blog search bar.
