Carmine Infantino – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Carmine Infantino & Pablo Marcos — Way Of The Wookie!

May 28, 2024 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars Weekly #95 (Marvel UK), December 1979

Marvel Comics 1979 Star Wars original comic book art by Carmine Infantino and Pablo Marcos from the collection of Greg Goldstein.

Here’s a terrific 1979 Star Wars splash page from Carmine Infantino; like a few other stories from the same era, it was originally exclusive to the Star Wars UK weekly.

I’ve never seen a definitive answer on this, but I suspect writer Archie Goodwin wrote several stories as “placeholders” until Lucasfilm gave Marvel some indication on the storyline/ direction of Empire Strikes Back. No one at Marvel could have been possibly known when that would be. So, Archie and Carmine kept going with “isolated” storylines, until they were brought into the loop.

(The ESB embargo date must have changed a few times too. Marvel advertises the adaptation at the end of #37 for the very next issue — which ends up as a filler story — because Empire doesn’t start till #39.)

Lovely brushwork from Pablo Marcos nicely compliments and enhances Carmine’s “loose” pencil work. (As Carmine aged, his styled became looser and looser. Check his 80s return to DC’s original Flash series a few years later.)

Another quirk about this story. It ultimately appeared in color (from Marie Severin) in a Marvel US paperback collection of “new” Star Wars stories. Cropping on the panels is inconsistent because the pages had to fit the odd format. (See below.)

Darwyn Cooke — Once Upon A Time

November 22, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Recreation/ reimagination, undated, both approximately 2008

The late, great Darwyn Cooke would have turned 60 last week. Not sure what I can say that hasn’t already been said here —or more likely elsewhere — but he was arguably the greatest talent of his generation, and the work and the man are missed.

Legend has it that Darwyn and I got into some pretty heated debates during the course of our business relationship, and I confirm that is a fact. But I always knew that those arguments came from his deep passion for the craft, and, as they say, I never took it personally. The last time we saw each other was at the 2015 Comic-Con and we had a fun — but all too brief — chat about Parker, DC superheroes, and a few other odds and ends before we both needed to move on.

Like I said pal, you are missed. Catch you on the other side.

*I just discovered that Sandy Jarrell @sandy_jarrell has taken all the great Darwyn recreations he can find and colored them. Love it!*

Pete Poplaski — A True Classic

October 18, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Batman: The Silver Age Dailies and Sundays, Volume #1, March 2014

As noted a few years back, Pete Poplaski has been called an “artist’s artist” by many creators. His name might not be known as well as other artists, but his talent is unquestionable.

Pete, who broke into comics in the 70s underground community, ultimately became Kitchen Sink Press’ art director, and among many accomplishments helped give some of Robert Crumb’s projects just the right design touch.

Kitchen had the rights to reprint the DC Batman and Superman comic strips in the early 1990s, and Pete created brand new covers that evoked the classic style of those strips.

When we acquired those reprint rights at IDW in 2012, we went back to Pete to see if he would be interested in picking up where he left off, and fortunately he was.

Wayne Boring. Dick Sprang. Al Plastino. You name a classic artist, and Pete can replicate the style.

This, of course, is his amazing cover to Batman Silver Age Vol.1. It not only evokes the classic 60s Carmine Infantino revamp of the Dynamic Duo, but also the opening animation of the classic (beloved, and often hated) 60s Batman TV show. (Which is why these newspaperstrips exist in the first place, but, as always we digress.)

Pete takes his Black and White Art, photocopies it and hand colors it to create a color guide.

Rodney Ramos — Flashbacks (Flash Rerun)

June 28, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

The Flash of Two Worlds — DC Comics Classics Library, 2009

Continuing our celebration of the Fastest Man Alive with a few classic “re-runs” — pun absolutely intended— from the early days of the blog. Today’s post, along with the next two, features “The Flash of Two Worlds.”

Flash #123, “The Flash of Two Worlds” is one of the most important comic book milestones of DC’s silver age, establishing the DC multiverse and paving the way for countless crossover storylines that ultimately lead up to 1985’s Crisis on Multiple Earths. It’s 1961 cover follows as one of the most iconic images of the era.

But, when DC went to reprint the earliest Flash crossover stories in a special collection, the original art and layout and didn’t quite work within the new cover design.

So, the editors turned to the talented Rodney Ramos to recreate (and slightly reconfigure) the iconic imagery, in the Infantino/ Murphy Anderson “style.”

He pretty much nails it.

(As seen below, the final published piece crops the image significantly, and also digitally manipulates the two Flashes closer together.)

Carmine Infantino — History Calling (Flash Rerun)

June 23, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Flash #112, May 1960

Continuing our celebration of the Fastest Man Alive with a few classic “reruns” — pun absolutely intended— from the early days of the blog.

Some of the most talented superhero storytellers in comics couldn’t figure out what to do with the narrative and exposition elements that move the story along when no one is wearing spandex or a cape.

Many older comics were filled with pages and pages of standard medium-angle shots of talking heads. Six panels per page. Rinse. Repeat.

Not Carmine Infantino’s pages. His innovative sense of panel composition and design, and use of varying camera angles, made the “yada yada” part of the story much more engaging than most of his peers.

In this very early Flash story from issue #112, he even manages to innovate a phone call. Nowadays we take narrow “widescreen” (horizontal) panel layouts for granted, but in 1960? Less so. A page design like this is revolutionary 60 years ago.

Of course, superhero comics are ultimately about conflict and action, and re-reading these early Flash stories, his innovative style really jumps out. Those crazy speed lines that help give the illusion of 3D motion in a 2D medium. That sleek space age costume… designed before the space age really began.

And those amazing covers? Carmine gave up pencilling The Flash when he was promoted to DC’s art director. His innovative cover on the final issue of his 11-year run as Flash artist blew my mind as a kid in 1967 — and still does today.

What else would you expect from the lead designer of the Silver Age of Comics?

Rober Quijano — Infantino’s Great Race

June 18, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Recreation, Superman #199 Cover, 2005 (Original By Carmine Infantino, August 1967)

I read, and re-read, a handful of comics over and over again as a little kid. Avengers Annual #1 and #2 both come to mind, as do a few other annuals and specials. The first JLA/JSA crossover I discovered (JLA #56 and #57) was a favorite story, and I remember both Batman #200 and Superman #200 fondly.

But Superman #199? That was definitely my most frequent go-to. It doesn’t hurt that Carmine Infantino’s cover (Murphy Anderson on inks) is definitely my favorite (non-Neal Adams) DC cover of all time.

Fast-forward to about 15 years ago, just when I started getting my toes wet in the original art collector’s market again. My pal, Pete Koch (art collector/dealer/aficionado) and I are about to complete an art swap when I see that he has this stunning cover recreation by Rober Quijano in a stack of pages.

Trade completed.

Thanks, Pete.

Not-so-fun Fact: The scanned image doesn’t do the art justice, because I couldn’t remove the art from the frame without destroying it. Sad!

*DC was apparently still planning on using the “Go-Go Checks” trade dress on books this month, but pulled it at the last minute.*

Carmine Infantino & Gene Day — Leia & Luke, Buried Alive!

May 12, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars Weekly #109 (UK), March 1980

Here’s a classic era Star Wars page featuring pencils from Carmine Infantino with inks from Gene Day.

It’s from a Star Wars story written by fan-favorite Chris Claremont, which ended up without a logical place in the timeline, as Marvel couldn’t fully predict when Lucasfilm would permit story insight and scheduling approval related to events of Empire Strikes Back.

Infantino drew many of the Star wars stories that appeared in between New Hope and ESB, and many after as well, but this odd continuity duck” didn’t make into the U.S. comics.

Instead, it ends up in Marvels Star Wars Weekly, a combination of “new” and reprint material.

The weekly format featured shorter stories, more serialized, making them even closer in spirit to Lucas’ favorite SF, the classic Flash Gordon serials. Perfect for titles like “Molten Doom!” and “Buried Alive!”

And, except for a slot in an oddball licensed Marvel book collection, the story remained un-reprinted for more than 30 years, until Dark Horse included it in one of its Omnibus collections. (And now, it’s been reprinted twice by Marvel, so it’s a bit easier to find.)

Darwyn Cooke — Detective Duo

September 12, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Detective Comics # 338 and #356 Mashup Re-imagination, 2010

As noted last year, the late, great Darwyn Cooke produced a number of these reinterpretations and homages of classics during his all too short lifetime.

In this dynamic drawing, Darwyn combined two classic covers into one, taking the iconic “punch scene” from Detective #356 and fitting into the #338 layout. Carmine Infantino (pencils) and Joe Giella (inks) created both of the memorable original covers.

When you dive the detail of the re-imagination, you might notice that the crooks in the right frame now more closely resemble the hoods that populate the Darwyn’s astonishing Parker graphic novel series that we published at IDW. It’s a wonderful touch.

Definition of a comics geek?

When I saw this piece offered for sale, I recognized what Darwyn had done — without it being specifically noted in the item description. Issue #356 was one of the first Batman comics I remembered reading as a kid.

Pete Poplaski — Family Affair

September 8, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Batman: The Silver Age Newspaper Comics Vol. 3 (1969-1972), November 2016

Pete Poplaski has been called an “artist’s artist” by many creators. His name might not be known as well as other artists, but his talent is unquestionable.

Kitchen had the rights to reprint the DC Batman and Superman comic strips in the early 1990s, and Pete created brand new covers that evoked the classic style of those strips.

When we acquired those reprint rights at IDW in 2012, we went back to Pete to see if he would be interested in picking up where he left off, and fortunately he was.

Wayne Boring. Dick Sprang. Al Plastino. Carmine Infantino. You name a classic artist, and Pete can replicate the style.

And perhaps most astonishing of all is this giant wraparound cover for Batman Silver Age Volume 3. Featured on these covers are nearly everyone in the Bat family from that era. Good guys and villains alike. All the type is hand lettered.

And when I say giant, I’m not kidding. When combined, the two pieces are nearly four-feet wide.

I’ve never seen another piece of comic art quite like it.

September 19 is “Batman Day,” so we’re going to ride the Bat-train for a few weeks and post some additional theme-appropriate art. No “Bam or “Pow” included.

*Poplaski creates color guides by photocopying the original and, if too big, taping the pages together.*

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.