Fred Hembeck – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Jack Kirby — Fantastic 4Ever

August 12, 2026 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four #100, July 1970

A few days ago marked the 65th publication anniversary of Fantastic Four #1, which hit the stands in August 1961. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby went on to produce 102 consecutive issues together, plus annuals — arguably the greatest sustained superhero family soap opera in comics history.

My first Fantastic Four off the stands was #63. After that, thanks to the usual childhood complications of schedules, availability and, mostly, money, I bought the book intermittently until somewhere around #98. From there, I don’t think I missed an issue for about 20 years.

And yes, I eventually went back and completed the run, as quickly as budget would allow.

Of course I did.

Fantastic Four #100 was also the first big Marvel anniversary issue I ever bought new, soon followed by Amazing Spider-Man #100 and Avengers #100. Triple-digit issue numbers felt like very serious business when you were a kid.

Which brings me to this page of original art.

I missed it the first time it came up for sale and figured I had blown it. Then, through an odd twist of fate, it became available again.

Couldn’t believe my luck.

Kirby pencils. Joe Sinnott inks. The whole team is here, along with Crystal, plus “Kang.”

Well, technically an android pretending to be Kang.

But I digress.

I also remember looking at the cover of #100 in 1970 and pretty much guessing the premise before I even read it.

Which tells me that, even at that age, I was already reading way too many damn comic books.

***The original cover — plus the Fred Hembeck cover I commissioned some years back, with recent coloring by Frank Cuonzo.***

Fred Hembeck — Gil Kane, Meta Human

May 5, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Atom #36 Re-creation, May 1968 (original), 2010

Continuing our multi-week celebration of the 80^th anniversary of the Justice Society of America, with each new post featuring a different classic JSA character.

I’m pretty sure this wasn’t the first meta cover to break the fourth wall, and it is most definitely not the last. But it is definitely my favorite.

My young brain exploded when I first saw this amazing Gil Kane cover at the candy store in 1968. I appreciated its cleverness immediately. That’s one helluva punch.

Ultimately, as I later began to differentiate artists and art styles, I came to recognize this specific punch composition as a Kane trademark. Given Kane’s voluminous published output, there must be dozens, if not hundreds of similar examples. The issue itself features the same composition in its interior, with the Atoms reversed.

As always, Fred captures the spirit of the cover perfectly in his trademark re-do style. He tells me this was the first time he took a stab at this one.

Not sure when/if the Kane original will be offered for sale again, and in all likelihood out of my budget range regardless. So… the Hembeck recreation will do nicely.

*The first appearance of the Atom on the cover of All-Star with his “modern” Golden Age costume, and… oops, it goes back to the earlier sleeveless version when he reappears in the Silver Age.*

Fred Hembeck — The King Makes His Move

January 2, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four #100 (Jack Kirby), July 1970, Re-creation by Fred Hembeck, 2010

50 years Ago, Marvel Comics celebrated its first ever milestone issue, with Fantastic Four #100, redrawn here 10 years ago by the very talented and affable Mr. Hembeck.

But the milestone proved bittersweet — because 50 years ago, one of the biggest stories in comic book history shook the industry: Jack Kirby was leaving Stan Lee and Marvel Comics to head to DC.

In March of that year, Jack turned in the pages for FF #102 and told Stan he was out. The most accomplished creative team in comics history was done. In comic book fan circles, it was as if the Beatles had broken up.

Which, actually, they had, with Paul making the announcement official just a few weeks later.

A dramatic beginning to a new decade of pop culture.

More on Jack and the move to DC later on; In the meantime, Happy New Year, and welcome to 2020!