Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Greg Goldstein

Mike Deodato / Andrew Pepoy — Family Feud

Original Art and The Artists

Pencil Commission, Undated (Inks, 2019)

Continuing our countdown to Star Wars:The Rise of Skywalker, opening December 20, and concluding, apparently, the Skywalker saga.

I discovered this dynamic undated commission by Mike Deodato a few months ago. Something about it — the composition, Luke’s face, the overall “loose” style — reminded me of Carmine Infantino’s enjoyable run on the original Marvel series 40 years ago.

When I acquired the piece at NYCC, it was pencils only, and although it looked great, my gut told me to get it inked.  (Sadly, my guts often have opinion.)

Fortunately, my pal Andrew Pepoy, the talented inker, happened to be nearby. Turns out, he always wanted to ink the late Infantino, and well, maybe this is the next best thing…

He nailed it — keeping the looseness intact, while adding polish and more depth to make it pop. (Look at Luke’s Lightsaber against Vader’s cape for instance.) This is especially impressive because the pencils were created on an odd thin paper stock, nothing like the more typical Bristol board artists employ. Definitely not an easy task.

Carmine’s run comes during the period leading up to to Empire Strikes Back, and I’m sure Lucasfilm was giving Marvel and writer Archie Goodwin fits, keeping them from, well, just about any story element that would spoil the film. Which is… well…. just about everything. Nerveless, they manage to have a few confrontations between Luke and Vader. Even if, of course, nothing is what it seems.

As for this Deodato piece? Mike’s modern Star Wars (see below) art looks nothing like this commission — someday I hope to get the backstory on the art. Until then… stay tuned.

  • Detailed pencils… but it still needed finishes.
  • Deodato’s modern take on Vader
Classic Carmine Infantino Star Wars pages from the late 1970s. Check out the length of Luke’s hair in the middle page. Yikes!
A fan favorite Infantino cover… in original and published form.

Kevin Eastman — In A New York Minute

Original Art and The Artists

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, 30th Anniversary Reprint, July 2014 (SDCC)

Continuing a celebration of the TMNT 35th anniversary, with a look back at the 30th.

One Minute Later. 30 Seconds Later. 10 Seconds Later. It doesn’t really matter. If a comic book cover is a snapshot of a moment of time, the idea here was to illustrate what the characters on an iconic cover would be doing just after that moment. Kevin and I spitballed this idea for a few minutes and he ran with it. If the Turtles were ready for action on the original cover, they would be jumping into action a moment later.

They are, after all, the Turtles.

IDW offered two versions of the comic book at SDCC that year. A color version that was penciled by Kevin and inked separately by co-creator Peter Laird on a lightbox copy. (Look carefully to see some subtle but interesting differences.) The second version, more limited, is this one, featuring Kevin’s tight pencils only and printed in black and white. I might be biased, but I think it’s a beauty.

For a look at the all the versions and re-do’s of the original cover, check out this great article. Ironically it omits this specific cover, but hopefully catches all the rest.

Printed Version
Color Version, Inked by Laird
Issue #1, 1984, art by Eastman

Mike Mignola — On The Road To Hellboy

Original Art and The Artists

Bram Stoker’s Dracula, #3, December 1992


Happy Halloween! Today we wrap up our two-week series celebrating the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

Here’s a sweet page from Roy Thomas and Mike Mignola’s adaption of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film, Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Fun Fact: All the pages in this adaption are “sweet.” There’s not a miss in the bunch. In fact it’s one of the best looking of any film adaptations ever done in comics. (Top of mind, only Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson’s Alien graphic novel is in the same league.) 

It’s also fair to say that while the film itself is fine (mixed reviews when it was released), the comics adaption itself is actually better.

Fun Fact: Coppola liked Mike’s art so much he hired him to provide illustrative material for the film itself, and Mike’s work is credited in the movie. 

Fun Fact: The title was the launch project for Topps Comics, and was in development prior to the hiring of an actual Editor-In- Chief. (Jim Salicrup.)

Fun Fact: John Nyberg inked the series in spectacular fashion— it’s astonishing how anyone but Mike could make it so “Mignola-like,” but John nails it. The brilliantly effective coloring is by Mark Chiarello, who later colors the first full Hellboy series, Seed of Destruction.  (Hellboy himself appears for the first time just a few months after Dracula concludes in an SDCC giveaway comic book.)

Fun Fact: For many years, Dracula was a lost classic — one of the few major Mignola projects not in print — for more than 20 years. I personally chased those reprint rights for 10 of those 20. Sometimes, insane tenacity pays off.

Fun Fact: It’s the first comic book I ever worked on professionally, and its reprint was one of the final projects published prior to my departure from IDW. (I will have to figure out a way to bring another version to my next publishing home. Ha.)

Fun Fact: Despite one of the best looking comic book series ever, it’s unlikely there will ever be an “artists edition” style book. The originals are scattered to the wind, and only occasionally offered for sale. I consider myself fortunate to own this one.

  • First story appearance of Hellboy, SDCC comic, July 1993
  • First color appearance of Hellboy, script by John Byrne,
    December 1993
  • First full issue of Hellboy,
    March 1994

Mike Mayhew — Inside Job

Original Art and The Artists

Green Arrow #7, February 2011

Green Arrow is back on the air (CW) for its eighth and final season, so before the emerald archer fades into the TV sunset, we’re focusing a few posts on Green Arrow originals.

Here’s a great panel page example by the phenomenal Mike Mayhew. 

Mike’s earliest regular work was at Topps, excelling at dynamic storytelling on Zorro (yes, Zorro) in the traditional pen and ink medium. After the comic book implosion of the mid- 90’s left many talented artists out of a job, Mike tried his hand at painting for a book cover assignment. The result? Mike quickly transformed from talented story artist to a premier cover painter.

These days, Mike’ schedule only occasionally allows for fully illustrated interior stories. Here he demonstrates his tonal skills on Green Arrow — creating a lush, haunting page. (GA is dealing with the apparent ghost of his dead mother, hence the haunting.)

When Mike introduces me to a third party, he often says I was his “first boss.” Technically, that would have been Jim Salicrup, who edited Topps comics during its brief heyday, from 1992-97. But I was the Director of Publishing… so why quibble? Mike’s a great talent and a friend. I’ll take it.

Andrew Pepoy — Wally World

Original Art and The Artists

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents 50th Anniversary Special (IDW), July 2015

No one today pulls off a tribute to the great Wally Wood quite like the very talented Andrew Pepoy. 

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents, IDW Publishing asked Andrew to illustrate a cover variant – an homage to the iconic Wood EC cover, Incredible Science Fiction #29. For our version, we substituted Wood’s astronaut with the sexy and villainous Iron Maiden, one of the main adversaries in Wood’s original T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents.

The detail is terrific (especially noticeable in its original B&W form), and while no one can actually replicate Wally Wood, this might be as close as it gets. Home run!

  • Pepoy Published Version
  • Original Wood Published Character
  • Original by Wood
  • Published Version by Wood

Al Williamson — This Date in History

Original Art and The Artists

X-9: Secret Agent Corrigan Volume 5, 2013

Truly one of the most talented comic artists ever, the late Al Williamson spent 13 years illustrating Secret Agent Corrigan as a daily strip. (With writing by the late, also great, Archie Goodwin.) Here from 1977, is the 8/29 strip, with Corrigan dealing with one of those startling revelations that happened… well… quite regularly back in the day.

It matters not.  Archie was a terrific writer of course, but Al Williamson could have illustrated a guide to Windows XP, and I would have devoured it anyway.

I miss Al’s work. I also miss newspaper adventure strips, but that’s a lament for another day.

The complete five-volume collection of Williamson’s Corrigan (Also referred to as X-9) is one of my favorite series form the Library of American of Comics, and one of my favorite projects at IDW Publishing. Yes, that makes me biased. So?