Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: DC Comics

Gil Kane — Green Anniversary

Original Art and The Artists

Green Lantern #14, July 1962

Green Lantern celebrates two anniversaries in 2020. 

The original Green Lantern (Alan Scott) first appeared in 1940, and the Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, gained his own DC comic book series in 1960, shortly after first appearing Showcase #22 the year prior.

During the first 75 issues of GL’s own Silver Age comic, Gil Kane is the artist most associated with this run.

In these early issues Gil is not quite GIL KANE yet. The art is very solid, slick, and polished, in DC tradition, but it would take a few years before Gil’s trademark style would fully break through the conservative confines of the scripting and editing.

By the time Gil finishes his 10-year run with issue #75, Green Lantern is not a giant commercial success, but Gil Kane is most certainly GIL KANE. Reading through collected editions of the series, you can clearly see the metamorphosis of his storytelling capabilities and artistic style.

As for issue #76 in 1970 (Another anniversary, now that you mention it) Denny O’Neil and DC shake things up a bit by adding Green Arrow to the mix — and artist Neal Adams takes the reigns.

The rest, as they say, really is history.

Green Lantern milestones: The first appearance of Alan Scott in 1940; the first appearance of Hal Jordan, 1959; The first Silver Age issue of the Jordan GL, 1960.

Alex Toth — Out West

Original Art and The Artists

All American Western # 121, August 1951

Living in the West, this is probably the time of the year that reminds me most of… living in the West.

Warm, sunny afternoons, dry cold nights, cool mornings; just the way I pictured the climate watching dozens, if not hundreds of western films as a kid back in the cozy confines of the New York City metro area.

Ironically, I never read many western comics as a kid. (I guess I had my fill on TV.) So I never caught up to the classic western comic art until much later on.

Some of that great art that included Johnny Thunder by Alex Toth. Toth, an Eastern transplant himself, had a visual storytelling style perfect for those 50s Thunder stories. 

But then again, Toth’s amazing talent was perfect for just about any genre: Romance, horror, SF, war, and the all-too rare superhero story.

I had only read a handful of Johnny Thunder stories when this original was offered for sale, but coincidentally enough, it was from a terrific story I had in fact remembered. It appears in the DC’s collection of greatest comic book stories of the 1950s 

Can’t argue with the editorial choice one bit. 

This classic Johnny Thunder story appeared 30 years later in DC”s collection of greatest comic stories from the 50s, with some revised coloring throughout.

    Jack Kirby — Hello and Goodbye, Rinse, Repeat

    Original Art and The Artists

    DC Graphic Novel #4 – The Hunger Dogs, June 1985

    Jack Kirby’s tenure at DC was ultimately a mixed bag — for both Jack and DC. 

    The Fourth World saga was one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted in comics at that time; yet, the books were cancelled well before they had a chance to fully realize Jack’s vision.

    And yet…  there was something about those characters and premises that continued to resonate.

    Jack’s Post DC career included a three-year return at Marvel (Think Eternals, et al), his own creator-owned comics (Captain Victory, Silver Star) and a home at animation house DePatie-Freleng studios and then later Ruby-Spears.

    And then, another opportunity arose at DC to finish his New Gods saga. DC would reprint the original series in “deluxe” format and give Jack a chance to end the saga with new material.

    But, unfortunately Jack wanted to end the saga in a way that would kill off the main characters, and by then DC had grown accustomed to having them in the line-up. 

    So, Jack was again denied the chance again to finish it in his vision. And somehow the end of the saga morphed into a standalone graphic novel, Hunger Dogs, which also didn’t bring the story to a satisfactory conclusion.

    And the graphic novel itself was a mess on the production end. Pages intended for the standard comic books were reworked for the graphic novel using photocopies, corrections, new “border” art and a host of other techniques to turn standard size pages into graphic novel pages.

    Fortunately, Jack did create brand new large art pages for the GN, and they are pretty terrific in terms of page layout and composition, as evidenced here.  They are his final work for either of the “big two” publishers.

    As for the New Gods? They lived on, and more importantly, Darkseid arguably became the most important villain in the DCU. Jack shared in some of that commercial success, and his family continues to share in that success today.

    A fitting ending after all.

    Jack Kirby — Goodnight, Santa Claus

    Original Art and The Artists

    Best of DC #22, March 1982; originally Sandman #7, February 1976 and Kamandi #61, November 1978 (Both unpublished)

    Here is some big goofy fun from Jack Kirby (inks by Mike Royer) with a story involving the Sandman and… Santa Claus. (You can’t make this up.)

    Even goofier than the actual narrative itself, however, is the fact this story fell victim to cancelation, not once, but twice, before finally seeing print nearly six years after it was completed.

    Kirby’s Sandman series was cancelled after issue #6, although this story for issue #7 had already been completed. It sat in inventory for two years, until it was slotted to appear as a back-up in Kamandi #61, and then that comic, along with dozens of others fell victim to the “DC Implosion” and was cancelled as well.

    It finally saw print in Best of DC #22, a digest-sized publication, that hit the stands shortly before Christmas 1981.

    Which means… It did not actually appear in traditional color comic book format until DC collected it in 2011 in the Jack Kirby Omnibus — 35 years later!

    Jack Kirby — The Future Is Now

    Original Art and The Artists

    Omac #3, January 1975

    “Technology is fire in the hands of children, and (Jack) Kirby easily foresaw what the world would look like with wealth, corporations, and technology operating simply for human profit and power, without accountability to any Rule of Law.” — Rob Walton, Slings and Arrows Graphic Novel Guide.

    Jack Kirby brought his fertile imagination (back) to DC fifty years ago, and the results, while not always commercially successful, were typically fascinating.

    OMAC was one of my personal favorites. It felt vastly different than anything else Jack had done, with one wild futuristic technology idea after another thrown into the mix. (And of course, many of these technologies have come to fruition in the subsequent 50 years. But, as always, we digress.) Ultimately Jack never had chance to fully develop many of these ideas, as he jumped ship and returned to Marvel after just eight issues.

    This great “chapter splash” checks off many Kirby flourishes. (Many of Jack’s books had multiple chapters, meaning more great splash pages in each issue.)

    Why is this page great?

    It features the title character, a personal rocket ship, and the Kirby cosmos — in all its glory! (Earth’s atmosphere never looked this trippy.)

    It features the title character’s name prominently in a flashy hand-lettered headline.

    And, of course, it has great Kirby Crackle.

    We celebrate the King’s reign at DC all this week. Stay tuned.

    Mike Kaluta — Mr. Orlando’s Neighborhood

    Original Art and The Artists

    Secrets of the Sinister House #6, August 1972

    Joe Orlando brought his EC Comics horror sensibilities with him when he landed at DC in the late 60s.

    Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

    DC became a company where artists and visual storytellers (Carmine Infantino, Joe Kubert, Dick Giordano, et al) started moving into upper management and making editorial decisions.

    As Joe told writer Jon Cooke in the very first issue of Comic Book Artist in 1998:

    “…Many times we were asked to do impossible things by writer/editors who had no sense of the visual-to do things that wouldn’t work and have to argue our way out of it. We just thought that as artists, we would do a better job working with talent.”

    In just a few years, Joe turned around the moribund House of Mystery and the already-cancelled House of Secrets with tales of mystery, suspense and of course, horror. He and his team took advantage of the more-relaxed standards at the Comics Code, sometimes creating even more relaxed standards in the process. 

    (A few years later, Marvel would follow suit with a glut of horror titles that included vampires, werewolves and zombies. But, as always, we digress.)

    And sure enough, Joe’s comics nearly instantly became artistic showcases for veterans like Gil Kane and Orlando’s EC mentor Wally Wood, along with young Turks like Bernie Wrightson, Nestor Redondo, and Mr. Kaluta here.

    (Plus great covers often by Neal Adams. Definitely worth 12 or 15 cents.)

    By 1972, Joe had built yet another house in the neighbored, and this great Kaluta page featuring both DC horror hosts, Cain and Abel, is the delightful intro to Secrets of Sinister House #6.

    Classic.

    An early Joe Orlando EC horror tale, and Joe’s caricature rendered by Marie Severin at the 1953 EC Christmas party.

    Richard Corben — In The Swamp

    Original Art and The Artists

    Swamp Thing #20, December 2005

    I discovered Richard Corben’s art at about the not quite ripe age of 12. I can’t remember if I saw it in the Warren magazines or in the underground comics first, but doesn’t matter. I was hooked.

    (Undergrounds at age 12 or 13?  A longer story, for another day.)

    The late Harlan Ellison, award-winning author — and often-vocal critic  — had this to say about Corben:

    “It was obvious to anyone with the sensitivity of a doorknob that Corben was a rara avis, that right from the git-go he was first-rank, with a technique and an artistic sensibility wholly original, a technique and sensibility that created their own genre; and if there were to be imitators as there have been ⏤they were doomed forever to live in the shadow of the originator. It was as if Rich was born to illustrate my stories about the world of the hoverpaks and downunders.” 

    Many art fans feel the same way about Corben’s work, and original pieces are rarely offered for sale, so I consider myself fortunate to have this great splash page from Corben’s brief visit with Swamp Thing.

    Richard Corben turned 80 years old earlier this month. How in the heck is that even possible?

    Harlan Ellison’s post-apocalyptic SF, Vic and Blood, lavishly illustrated by Corben.

    Gil Kane — Face of Evil

    Original Art and The Artists

    Captain Action #4, April 1969

    Our ode to Halloween and the creatures of the comic books continues…

    Dr. Evil — a good looking villain with a terribly cheesy name, even by the standards of the 1960s.

    The character was the antagonist in the Captain Action “doll” product line, which launched in 1966. (More on that in a future post.)

    DC adapted the toys into a short-lived series and Kane drew much of it. Ironically, the toy sales themselves were rapidly waning by the time the comic series launched in late 1968.

    In this specific issue, Gil writes, pencils and inks the entire story — a first for him for either of the “big two” publishers.

    And speaking of cheesy and the 60s: That amulet. The Nehru jacket. Those sandals. It just doesn’t get any better than this.

    One very fashionably mod alien.

    One of these Dr. Evils turned out to be much more memorable and iconic than the other. Chances are there were some Captain Action toys floating around Mike Meyers house back in the day…

    Eric Powell — Justice League Of Bizarros

    Original Art and The Artists

    Action Comics #857, December 2007

    Our ode to Halloween and the creatures that often inhabit the comic book pages continues…

    Bizarro Doomsday, at the bidding of Bizarro Lex Luthor, destroys the newly created members of the Bizarro Justice League.

    Huh?

    Trust me, it’s a wild ride. You just have to read it for yourself. Written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner (Yes, that Richard Donner), the three-part story unravels (er, unfolds) in graphite, ink and wash-tone in perfect fashion by Eric Powell.

    Donuts not included.

    The first two appearances of Bizarro, and a collection that I re-read endlessly as a kid in 1968.