Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: DCU

Michael Cho — Happy Days

Original Art and The Artists

Superman: The Golden Age, Volume 2, Fall 2016

Michael Cho delivers one of the best images this century of the Golden Age Superman.  

Superman. In action. Happy and upbeat.

You’d be happy too if you were the most powerful human on earth — even if you had some serious crime to fight.

I’ve gone on the record that a grim and gritty, introspective (even mopey) Superman is not for me. In other words, most of the modern versions of the character.

Call me old school.

Michael says this early era of Superman is his favorite. It’s certainly among mine as well.

It’s a Superman week here on the blog as we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the debut of the amazing Paramount Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons. Those wonderfully produced animated shorts were the very first time Superman hit the big screen.

In a few days, the most recent filmed version of the character will appear in the re-edited “Snyder cut” of Justice League on HBO.

Don’t take any bets on which version I prefer.

Printed cover, digital prelim, and full-bleed litho version.
George Reeves and Christopher Reeve both knew it was (mostly) cool to be Superman.

Tom Derenick — At Long Last, Wonder Woman

Original Art and The Artists

Wonder Woman: Come Back To Me #5, 2019

Tom Derenick helps us celebrate that, at long last, Wonder Woman1984 opens today in theaters and starts streaming on HBO Max.

Probably not a Christmas film per se, it is still something of a Christmas Miracle that the film, completed in time for a Holiday 2019 release, will finally see the light of day.

I’m looking forward to it, especially since I’ve already completed most of my Christmas film rituals, including watching Die Hard last night.

Happy Holidays!

Liam Sharp — Green Reunion

Original Art and The Artists

Green Lantern #8, August 2019

“Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp’s The Green Lantern is imaginative, surprising and just plain weird. And one of the most fearlessly unique comics currently on the stands.” –Rosie Marx

Liam Sharp reunites Green Lantern and his old teammate Green Arrow for a trippy alien drug ring story written by Grant Morrison.

Sharp has been a stellar artist since he broke into the industry in the 80s with work at 2000 AD, but in my opinion, his storytelling and draftsmanship get (ahem) sharper all the time.

I loved his contemporary work on Wonder Woman as well, but many of those originals were drawn at 18×24, and I hate to say it, but space is finite.

The GL pages — at least from this issue — are drawn at standard art size, and therefore a bit more manageable.

And of course, terrific.

  • I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the Green Lantern series on HBO Max. Managed well (and budgeted accordingly) it has astonishing potential.

Scott Kolins — Fearsome

Original Art and The Artists

Wonder Woman #600, June 2010

Concluding for now our celebration of Wonder Woman, in anticipation of the much anticipated (and delayed) superhero film, Wonder Woman 1984.

Scott Kolins creates a fierce “in-action” pin-up of Wonder Woman using only graphite. (The page is colored and published directly from the pencils.)

DC has created some terrific celebratory issues and this one is no exception. Plenty of other pinups in the oversized issue from 2010, featuring art by Adam Hughes, Jock, Ivan Reis and many more.

We will back with one more Wonder Woman post, whenever the film finally opens.

Whenever.

Gene Colan — Rumble

Original Art and The Artists

Wonder Woman # 295, September 1982

Continuing our celebration of Wonder Woman for the next few posts — no matter when the new film finally releases.

Gene Colan delivers an outstanding splash in an offbeat story involving t video-game mania. Well, it was 1982. Think Atari 2600. Only here we have a cast-off villain –General Electric — from Jack Kirby’s Sandman (I kid you not) who uses a kind of mass hypnosis… oh never mind.

As mentioned previously, I’m a passionate fan of Gene’s work and picked up nearly everything he did at Marvel. By the time he jumped ship to DC I was less interested in superhero comics in general and paid little attention to his work on Wonder Woman. (Batman was another story, as I thought he was a great choice for the dark detective.)

Turns out it was a short but memorable run on WW (artistically at least) and Gene is actually responsible —under the direction of publisher Jeanette Kahn — for her very first costume re-design, replacing the eagle on her chest with the “WW.” (Not including a brief stint in “mod” civilian attire in 1968- 1973.)

The exact new design may have been a work in progress, because the halter on this original has an art patch on it.

Wonder Woman gets an updated halter, logo and creative team, as previewed in DC Comics Presents #41, and ultimately launching in Wonder Woman #288.
Gene’s work at Marvel looked nothing like the other “bullpen” artists, yet somehow fit in perfectly. Where he went, I typically followed.

Chris Sprouse and Karl Story — Sensational

Original Art and The Artists

Sensation Comics, (digital) #26, (print) #9, June 2015

Continuing our celebration of Wonder Woman for the next few posts — no matter when the new film finally releases.

Plenty of reboots. Rebirths. New universes. New timelines. Old characters return. New characters die. Old characters becomenew characters.

Rinse. Repeat.

And yet somehow, through all of this, the dynamic duo art team of Chris Sprouse and Karl Story are not illustrating a mainstream superhero comic book on an ongoing basis.

The ONLY —and I mean ONLY – reason this should be possible is speed. Plenty of talented art teams have trouble with long-term monthly output. (As they say, I have the gray hair to prove it.)

But that can fixed with some long-term creative planning and execution.

Meanwhile, even if it’s a rare sighting, it’s definitely a welcome one.

Like this Wonder Woman splash, from a “digital First” Sensation Comics series featuring multiple creative teams.

The pages have to work in both digital and print format, and that’s certainly not a problem here. Good, clean storytelling from a fun tale featuring Diana and Lois Lane.

More, please.

Aaron Lopresti — Nouveau

Original Art and The Artists

Print, 2016

Continuing our celebration of Wonder Woman for the next few posts — no matter when the new film finally releases.

As noted previously, I’m a passionate admirer of Alphonse Much and the Art Nouveau period of the late 19thand early 20th century.

Aaron Lopresti captures the style flawlessly with his print “Warrior Nouveau,” — Wonder Woman as if developed during the Nouveau period.

In addition to the print, Aaron is using the graphic on his personalized convention banner as well. (I wonder — only half-kidding — if he will sell it to me when he’s done with it.)

Not much to add here other than I’m certainly glad I happened upon the original when I did. It’s one of those pieces that typically disappears deep into a collection, not to be seen again for a long time, if ever.

A work in progress: Rough and finished pencils.
Alphonse Mucha’s renderings are astonishing, even if his ladies are less battle ready than Wonder Woman.

Jim Lee — Rescue

Original Art and The Artists

Superman #211, January 2005

Continuing our celebration of Wonder Woman for the next few weeks — no matter when the new film finally releases.

Jim Lee’s 12-issue run on Superman, “For Tomorrow”, is classic. Even though the story itself is not as highly regarded as his Batman “Hush” storyline, the art and storytelling start off pretty great and quickly proceed to spectacular.

Comic Book Resources summed it up:

“Superman: For Tomorrow” is an uneasy mixture of introspection, lamentation, and explosive action (think “Hamlet” mixed with “Godzilla”), Lee’s art only increases in spectacle as the story unfolds.”

Case in point, this issue featuring Wonder Woman: Epic action, glorious detail, creative and dynamic storytelling. Do you get the sense I like the art?

Inks on this page are provided by the talented Sandra Hope, filling in for Scott Williams. Based on high quality of the finished story, I’m certain there were some deadline struggles along the way.

Re-reading the entire story today, it’s also better than I realized the first time around. That said, the Absolute Edition is definitely worth owning for the art alone.

David Finch — Iconic

Original Art and The Artists

Wonder Woman #48, March 2016

Continuing our celebration of Wonder Woman for the next few weeks — no matter when the new film finally releases.

David Finch provides us with a beautifully illustrated, classic splash page of Wonder Woman in flight. An iconic pose, it could easily be used in a DC licensing style guide. 

She’s wearing her “2011” costume, which disappeared with much fanfare in issue #41 — and then mysteriously reappeared, without explanation, a few issues later. (The interim issues had featured a brand new costume design by Finch and his writing partner and wife, Meredith.)

Finch’s detailed and lush artwork speaks for itself, of course. He is easily one of the most well regarded artists of the 21stcentury.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing quite a few of his originals from his inkers (this piece is inked by the terrific Scott Hanna) and their art reps. 

All great.

Wonder Woman media costumes through the ages.