Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Defenders

Dale Keown — Mind Games

Original Art and The Artists

Incredible Hulk #371, July 1990

Previously, on the blog…

Our 12 Days of Hulk special has featured some great splash paged from the likes of Gabe Hardman, Gary Frank, Ed McGuiness and others.

To change things up a bit, day six features a terrific panel page form Dale Keown, who imaginatively utilizes a variety of panel sizes and “camera angles” to keep things fresh for writer Peter David — and the audience.

I love this page — in addition to the feature listed above, it uses lettering and sound effects to maximum effect. Also, it features some terrific lighting, especially on that first panel of a freaked out Hulk.

Plus, a Defenders reunion.

David’s astonishing 12-year run on the Incredible Hulk title featured great art from the likes of Todd McFarlane, Jeff Purves, Liam Sharp and others, but I confess a certain bias towards Keown’s work on the title. As evidenced here, he has an artistic wit that complemented David’s stories perfectly.

Back here on Tuesday… with Day 7 of “12 Days of Hulk.”

Erik Larsen — Marvelous Melee

Original Art and The Artists

Defenders #11, January 2002

Erik Larsen (With help from Sal Buscema and Kurt Busiek) has some fun with the Defenders on this frenetic splash, as they clobber the undersea warlord Attuma and his feckless fish men. The Defenders are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

I only learned recently the reason that Doctor Strange replaced Silver Surfer between their first “unofficial” appearance in Sub-Mariner, and their official launch in Marvel Feature later in 1971. Apparently, Stan Lee was feeling precious about the Surfer, and didn’t want anyone else to write stories featuring him.

Eric solves that line-up problem here by including both of them, along with original stalwarts Hulk and Sub-Mariner.

(Many of the latter members of the group — Nighthawk, Valkyrie, et al — are along for the ride as well.)

All in all, a fun 20-year-old mini-series that has yet to be collected as far as I can tell.

Frank Brunner — A Separate Reality

Original Art and The Artists

Doctor Strange #2 (1974) Re-creation, 2003

Frank Brunner’s run (with writer Steve Englehart) on Doctor Strange is among my favorites. In fact Jim Starlin and Brunner were (consciously, or otherwise) competing for the trippiest  “superhero” stories published at the time.  And I was the right age to eat up that stuff.

Comic book storytelling on acid. Side effects not included.

Brunner beautifully recreates his original cover for issue #2 of the 1973 series. In fact, the line work and cross-hatching appears more precise than the original. Overall impression — it is a knockout

Done correctly, Strange was always a fascinating character whose stories could combine magic, fantasy, SF and horror into a mind-bending mix.

So when I heard Sam Raimi was on tap to direct the Doctor Strange film sequel, the only word that jumped to mind? 

Perfect.

Raimi is a very talented director — and good guy — who I had the pleasure of briefly working with during the filming of the original Spider-Man movie way back in 2001. As fans know, despite his Spidey pedigree, he has a love for the supernatural and the weird.

I’m really looking forward to his take on the good doctor.