Epic – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Howard Chaykin — ‘Round About Midnight

March 19, 2024 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Midnight Men #4, September 1993

Howard Chaykin, Original Art page from Midnight Men #4, from the collection of Greg Goldstein

Never let a great idea go to waste.

Howard Chaykin turned an unused Batman pitch into an imaginative new series for the extremely short lived “Heavy Hitters” imprint from Marvel/Epic in 1993.

I’ve seen most of the original art for this title, and each page is beautiful: Great storytelling, terrific draftsmanship, and a generous use of deep India ink and screen tone for depth and effect. He worked his ass off on these pages, and it shows.

Bonus: Great lettering, as always, by John Workman.

Honestly, the only thing I don’t like about the series is the coloring (not by Howard), but hey, it was the 90s.

The four-issue series has never been collected, but individual issues typically turn up in dollar bins, and are worth seeking out.

Remember, you can’t kill the Midnight Men.

*I’m sure I’ve used this photograph elsewhere, but, we are pals, and I like it. Sue me.*

Jim Starlin — Magical Mystery Tour

July 21, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Dreadstar #2, January 1983

Jim Starlin’s Marvel work had a big impact on me back in the day: Space Opera. Philosophy. Offbeat humor every so often, just enough to keep us from focusing too much on the end of… well, everything.

So it was no surprise that I was more than curious about Dreadstar, his creator owned project that launched form Epic (Marvel’s creator line) in 1982. Sure enough, it did not diverge from Starlin’s established interests — or my taste. I enjoyed his entire run on the series.

(It’s always so odd when a creator leaves a creator-owned book. But it happens frequently. And I digress.)

This page is actually one of two I acquired about 10 years ago. The other page had Vanth Dreadstar on it (although minimally) but I ended up keeping this one (and trading the other) because it sums up the classic Starlin style. To me, only Steve Ditko did space and time magic with the same trippy flair.

(Crazy neon coloring by Glynis Oliver Wein on the published piece as well.)