Frank McLaughlin – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Gil Kane & Neal Adams — Face To Face

July 12, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Savage Tales #4, May 1974

Thanks to artist Ken Landgraf, I finally get to see the original prelims and pencils — and partial (Neal Adams) inks — to this great Conan page from Savage Tales #4. And as a bonus, we solve one mystery and create a new one. (Ken owns photocopies of Gil’s pencils from this story and others.)

Gil Kane pencilled the story (pretty loosely in some places), and Neal Adams inked some of it as well, supported at a minimum by Vince Colletta, Frank McLaughlin, and Pablo Marcos. (Credits supplied by Roy Thomas in Savage Sword of Conan #2). Marcos also provided the wash tones on the story, necessary to add depth to a black and white, and also provide some consistency to the art style.

Neal, of course, was a pro at collaborative art creation. His “Crusty Bunkers” a group of (ever-changing) artists at his Continuity Studios, filled in many times during deadline crunches for Marvel, DC, Charlton and others during the 70s.

(The specific inking credits here are listed as Diverse Hands, and this appears to reference the fact that some others outside Continuity also worked on the project.)

And now the mystery; when the story is reprinted for the first time in color in a Marvel Treasury Edition, two faces that weren’t in panel three in the Savage Tales version now appear. Turns out they were originally pencilled by Gil — but inked over in the final art, probably to give it more depth for B&W.

Which means — Either Roy, Gil or someone else had to remember that change and go back and pull it from inked copies for the color version.

Wild.

Gene Colan — Rumble

August 15, 2020 Greg Goldstein 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.*

Gil Kane / Neal Adams — Night Of Diverse Hands

January 25, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Savage Tales #4, May 1974

Conan celebrates its 50th anniversary in comics this year, and we conclude our anniversary recognition with our final of three Conan-themed posts.

Night of the Dark Gods is a great example of Roy Thomas’ ability to adapt an Robert E Howard story without Conan, into one.

Given the artistic talent that worked on the story, clearly some deadline problems ensued. Not surprising, since at this point in Marvel’s 70s expansion, (comic books and “mature magazines”) deadlines were whizzing by a the speed of light.

Neal Adams assisted Gil Kane on the pencils, and inked some of the story as well, supported by Vince Colletta, Frank McLaughlin, and Pablo Marcos. Marcos also provided the wash tones on the story, necessary to add depth to a black and white, and also provide some consistency to the art style.

The inking credits are listed as Diverse Hands, and this appears to be the only time that the credit is employed, meaning it’s likely that this specific group of professionals never contributed jointly again on one story.

It’s easy to be fondly nostalgic about something you missed entirely, but, based on everything I’ve heard, it sounds like a hoot. Stop by, ink some pages, spot some blacks, and make your deadline, head to the pub. (It was probably much more stressful than that, but I digress.)

The story is ultimately also printed in color, in a Marvel Treasury Edition, and although the coloring itself is okay, many of the inking and wash details are obscured, likely in an effort to get the job done quickly.

(And see below for the mystery of the extra face.)

Night of the Dark God, in glorious black and white, and a bit later on in color. But wait a moment…

…Where did the extra face in the color version come from? It balances the panel a bit more, I guess, but still…
I wish had the time right now to compare every panel of this story to see what other “Where’s Waldo” attributes I can find.

Frank McLaughlin — Charlton’s Atomic Age Ends

January 16, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Captain Atom # 89 (1967), Re-creation By Frank McLaughlin, 2012

Concluding our series on the roots of the Watchmen characters.

Charlton’s haphazard and often erratic publishing strategy certainly didn’t help sustain its line of superheroes. (Or “Action Heroes,” since technically, superhero is a joint trademark of Marvel and DC. But I digress.) Captain Atom #89 is the final issue of that series, and within a year all of the (mostly short-lived) action heroes were toast.

They wouldn’t return until about seven years later, when Charlton deciphered the burgeoning fan market. The company endorsed the superhero-themed Charlton Bulletin in 1975, a fanzine that included among other things, Steve Ditko’s unpublished penciled story for the cancelled Captain Atom #90. They asked a young Charlton freelancer by the name of John Byrne to ink it.

Byrne is among many talents with early careers at Charlton. Others include Dick Giordano, Jose Garcia Lopez, Jim Aparo, Bob Layton, Denny O’Neill, and Mike Zeck, Also on that list: Inker (and Charlton Art Director) Frank McLaughlin, who inked Ditko’s original #89 cover and re-created this version above.

As for Captain Atom? DC purchased him and the rest of the Charlton superheroes from the financially struggling Charlton in 1983, and they made their first DC appearance in Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985). Since then, he (and the rest of the gang) ultimately lived on in the pages of DC, of course, which was the point of Editor Dick Giordano not letting Alan Moore use those exact characters for Watchmen.

Alan, as we have discussed, was not deterred, and created his own versions of the characters.

Ironic, since those original Charlton characters could barely raise an eyebrow, and yet we are still talking about Moore’s Watchmen today.

*The original and published art for Captain Atom #89. Frank’s red-do is faithful, but makes a few changes.*

*The first and last pages of Steve Ditko’s Blue Beetle re-do, from a backup story in captain Atom Atom #83.*

*The introduction of Nightshade. 1966 or not, the handling of the character earns an “ouch.”*

Thunderbolt makes an entrance, and exits a short time later. He precedes the re-dos of Captain Atom and Blue Beetle in 1965. (And he takes over the Son of Vulcan title, who is never truly considered part of the Charlton main superhero universe.)*Meanwhile, the rights reverted back to creator Peter Morisi, and Thunderbolt now has a home at Dynamite Publishing, where he feels a lot like… Ozymandias.*

The Peacemaker steps up and Captain Atom celebrates his new uniform and power abilities. And The Question makes his final appearance in Blue Beetle #5 (1968), which inexplicably appears on the newsstand nearly a year after issue # 4.

Final tally Watchman —

Nite Owl 2 – Blue Beetle 2
Silk Spectre 2 – Phantom Lady/Black Canary/Nightshade
Comedian – Peacemaker/Shield
Dr. Manhattan – Captain Atom
Rorschach – The Question
Ozymandias – Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt