Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: DC Comics

J.H. Williams III — I Knew Him When

Original Art and The Artists

Son of Superman (Graphic Novel), January 2000

Here’s a beautiful Superman page by the super-talented J.H. Williams, inked by his long-time collaborator Mick Gray. It’s an “Elseworlds” (imaginary, out of continuity) story when DC still published those.

Original art pages are artifacts of course, and fortunately, and this one relies on traditional inking methods, lettering and sound effects as opposed to digital enhancements to provide the final result.

I love Williams’ note to Gray in the top margin, explaining how he envisions the final look of the page. (It’s interesting that the colorist chose to reduce the dynamic splash effect in the water in the second panel. To each his own, I guess.)

Thaboom indeed!

Pete Poplaski — Atomic Age

Original Art and The Artists

Superman — Atomic Age Sundays Volume 3, December 2017

As described in a earlier post, Pete provided all the terrific covers for our DC superhero strip reprints for The Library of American Comics.

Pictured is a typical great example where Pete emulates legendary artist Wayne Boring — with some Curt Swan thrown in for good measure.

Oversized — and beautiful.

Fun Facts: (From the marketing copy):

Written by Alvin Schwartz and Bill FInger and Illustrated by Wayne Boring

The Man of Steel stars in thirteen classic adventures as the 1950s “Atomic Age” comes to a close. Some of the stories are original to the newspaper strip, while others were alternate versions of tales that were simultaneously published in the regular comic books. One of the featured adaptations is “Superman Versus the Futuremen,” written by Batman co-creator Bill Finger, which retells Superman’s origin. This concluding volume of Superman’s Atomic Age Sundays reprints all strips July 1, 1956 to October 11, 1959.

Pete hand colors copies of his original art, and those color guides are then handed off to the digital colorist who completes the work for publication.
Meanwhile, over in the comics, Superman reminds us to read all his adventures.

Wayne Boring — Final Milestone

Original Art and The Artists

Superman #200, October 1967

This art is from Wayne Boring’s final new story for DC comics for more than 20 years.

Boring, one of Superman’s truly legendary artists, was part of a group of creators that asked for pay rate increases, benefits and other employment improvements. So, naturally, DC fired them all.

It’s an oddball imaginary story with the end spoiler right there on the (Curt Swan) cover for kids like me to see. I had only been reading Superman comics for a short while, but I knew his Kryptonian origin by heart from TV and other media. So, I was intrigued by this alternative vision of The Superman legend.

I acquired this page whenI first started collecting art again about 15 years ago, and I haven’t seen one since.

Curt Swan & Murphy Anderson — Superman In Space

Original Art and The Artists

Action Comics #407, December 1971

I rarely get into bidding wars over a specific piece of art. As a well-know art dealer intones: “There’s always more art.”

This time, though, I got carried away.

Superman in space. Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. Superman in every panel. A title page. An original Superman logo. And my peak era of buying comics from newsstands (late Silver Age, early Bronze age) without the benefit of comics conventions.

That is a lot of checkboxes. So, like I said, I got carried away.

Overpaid — but worth it.

Plus — and I love this — it has a Looney Tunes type joke in the monolugue. He made a wrong left turn a million miles ago? Seriously?

John Byrne — Look up…

Original Art and The Artists

Action #592, September 1987

John Byrne provides a terrific page from about the halfway point in his re-boot run of Superman.

(And no mainstream character was more in need of a reboot in the mid-80s than Superman.)

John of course provided nearly everything here: Story, script, pencils and inks. Keith Williams adds the background inks on buildings and such.

Byrne? Superman in every panel? That’s a keeper.

Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund— Infinite Supermen

Original Art and The Artists

Countdown #40, September 2007

Dan Jurgens drawing Superman? Excellent. 

Dan Jurgens drawing seven different Supermen on one splash page? Absolutely terrific.

I’ve lost the thread on the DC multiverse. Is it infinite these days or finite? Do all versions exist simultaneously, or at different points in the timeline? 

It doesn’t really matter. As a long-ago former CEO of mine would say, this kind of pondering can make you reach for the Excedrin. 

(And, trust me on this, he had the largest bottle of Excedrin I’ve have seen to this day. It must have been a special order. But, as always, we digress.)

Fun fact: In Dan’s and inker Norm Rapmund’s original art, the Superman just to the left of “our” Superman, looks a bit like Jimmy Olsen to me. The coloring clearly modified the face in the published version.

Chris Sprouse & Karl Story — Truth, Justice And…

Original Art and The Artists

Adventures of Superman #7, January 2014

….Happy Independence Day!

DC changed “The American Way” tagline a while ago, and I get that. Superman, more than 80 years after his debut, is an an international icon.

But Superman, like July 4th and summer, will always go together in my mind — I’m pretty sure some silver age Superman comics are the first ones I ever read with the help of my Aunt at the age of five on a July 4th family vacation. And the rest, as they say (ad nauseam, actually), is history.

This iconic Superman image is a “blue-line”: Karl inked the a scan of Chris’ pencils to save some time as deadline rapidly approached. (The print schedule is more powerful than a locomotive OR Superman. Trust me on this.) And I absolutely don’t care. It’s the printed cover, and, like I said, iconic.

More Superman posts during July. Stay tuned.

John Byrne — Happy Together (Flash Rerun)

Original Art and The Artists

Flash of Two Worlds, Commission, 2012

Today’s post concludes our special feature “The Flash of Two Worlds,” as well as our multi-part Flash series.

I look at this cool pinup of the two Flashes, and imagine a retro moment in original continuity when the two Flashes have already met, worked together, and appreciate the fact that in each of their respective multiverses, they are indeed the fastest man alive.

That said, I never asked John what he envisioned when he drew the piece. And, I don’t think I will. It’s easier to continue to imagine the backstory to fit in with my own vision of the “pre-Crisis” DC universe.

May the Speedforce be with you. 

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez & Dave Gibbons — Fast Friends (Flash Rerun)

Original Art and The Artists

DC Universe Legacies #4, October 2010

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 is part two, of the genre within a genre, “The Flash of Two Worlds.” 

Two legends team up, and tell the tale of two legends teaming up.

This fabulous story page comes to us courtesy of DC Universe Legacies, a 10-part 2010 series written by the late Len Wein that provides an overview of DC history (in contemporary continuity) through the eyes and life story of a one man. The series features an all-start line-up of DC art talent including Joe Kubert, Jerry Ordway, Dan Jurgens and many others.

The page here, showing the Flashes meeting for the first time, contains retroactive continuity (retcon), as both characters exist in the same universe — which is the established “post-Crisis” narrative. Also, in the original Flash #123, the Flashes have already met and teamed up when they get to the construction worker.

Garcia Lopez and Gibbons are a terrific pairing, and I was fortunate enough to find this great page before someone else did.