IDW Artist's Editions – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Joe Kubert — Sure Shot

November 11, 2025 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Our Army At War #145, August 1964

Joe Kubert likely drew more pages of war combat than any other artist in the history of comics.

And you would be hard-pressed to find any of his covers or stories that glorified combat.

Gritty? Yes. Realistic? Absolutely. Action-oriented? Of course. Suspenseful? Nearly every time.

But Kubert’s stories — typically collaborating with writer Bob Kanigher — focused on the horrors and tragedies of war. And his distinctive, roughhewn art, was a perfect fit for the genre.

If anyone created a “War Artists Hall of Fame” the inaugural class would likely feature Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Wallace Wood, and Russ Heath.

And Kubert should absolutely be at the top of that list.

Happy Veteran’s Day, 2025.

Today sees the arrival of a new reprint series: DC Finest — War, The Big Five Arrive, joining others that include the DC War Artist’s Edition a much earlier reprint, America at War. All four volumes of a DC archive collection reprinting Sgt. Rock are long out of print, and naturally, much sought after.

Doug Wildey — Wildey Wild West

April 8, 2025 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Gunsmoke Western #57, March 1960

How much of a perfectionist was the great Doug Wildey? He knew there was no chance the printed comic books of 1960 could capture the fine details in his draftsmanship, but he drew them anyway.

This is the second Wildey Atlas western title splash I’ve managed to acquire, and like the first, it’s a beauty. In fact, even more stunning.

By chance, this page was only display and offered for sale a few moments during last year’s San Diego Comic Con when I happened on it. I’m sure it would have been gone had I come by an hour or more later.

As I noted previously, Doug Wildey was an amazing storyteller and draftsman. Don’t just take my word for it — ask Stan Lee.

Back in about 2010, we visited Stan in his Beverly Hills office to get some pages signed for the first John Romita Spider-Man Artists Edition from IDW Publishing. Stan’s “people” were kind enough to let us bring some personal items to get signed as well, so I brought a few pages of original art with me.

Stan, who was telling stories and singing while he was signing (Yes, singing, not a typo for signing. Story for another day.) stopped dead in his tracks when he saw this page of art.

He stared at it quietly for a few moments — given the speedy pace of our morning, it seemed like an eternity — and you could see pleasant memories wash over his face. And then the big Stan Lee smile:

“Doug Wildey. Wow. He was great. So terrific. I loved his stuff. I wish we had a chance to do more together.”

He handed the page back to me, still beaming, still examining it up and down as he slowly passed it back. I had seen Stan sign thousands of items; many of them with fond remembrances, but nothing quite like this.

I’m sure he would have had the same reaction to this page as well.

***Bye bye details in the sheriff’s face, shirt, et al. Wildey had to know the cheaply-printed page would lose all the great detail and craftsmanship, but he included it in his original anyway.***

Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 1 Of 4

September 14, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023

Once again, HUGE thanks and congrats to all the terrific folks who made this past weekend’s Baltimore Comic-Con just as perfect an event could be.

As noted in previous years, It’s easily one of my favorite conventions — an absolute delight to attend. I had a blast catching up with old friends and colleagues, making some new acquaintances, and hosting some fun panels.

I’m exhausted, but it’s a happy exhaustion, and once again, I miss all of you already.

Walter Simonson, Ron Garney — Ron Garney, Walter Simonson

Jack Kirby — Encore Presentation

August 18, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Baltimore Comic-Con, September 8-10, 2023

After a five-year hiatus, the legendary Jack Kirby original art presentation returns with nearly 1,000 high-res images* featuring some of the King’s most important pages and covers. Join myself, the legendary Walter Simonson, the incredible Scott Dunbier (at least 80(!) IDW Publishing Artist Edition collections under his editorial belt — I’ve lost count) for a Kirby tribute unlike any other.

Baltimore Comic Con 9/8-9/10, exact time and panel room location TBD.

(*Yes, nearly 1,000. It’s an hour-long presentation, so if you blink, you’ll miss a few.)

In the meantime, I’m fortunate enough to personally own a few pages of Jack’s original art and have covered most of them previously in the blog, but here they are in one place for the first time.

If you want to see them and much more, simply enter “Jack Kirby” into the blog search bar.

Jack Kirby New Gods Hunger Dogs Graphic Novel

Jack Kirby Marvel Fantastic Four Original Art

Jack Kirby Skymasters Original Comic Strip Art

The Art Of The Library

May 16, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Columbia University, April 2023

Happiness is a terrific graphic novel library.

Pictured is just one tiny part of the incredible collection at Columbia University curated by my pal, Karen Green, part librarian, part force of nature. From three books a few years ago — to three full rooms(!) of some of the best material published in the medium thanks to her tireless efforts. (Not to mention the acquisitions of personal papers and ephemera from some of the best-known names in the industry.)

Here we can see some of the shelves dedicated to the oversized material, including many of the original art “Artist Editions” titles I was fortunate enough to publish during the halcyon days at IDW Publishing. These of course were edited and curated by another pal, editor par excellence Scott Dunbier.

I cannot tell you how pleased I was to see the scope of this collection at my Alma Mater.

(Illustration of Karen below from Columbia Magazine by Nick Sousanis)

Dollar Bin Bandits

February 7, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

I’m the guest on last week’s Friday (2/3) episode of the terrific comic book industry podcast Dollar Bin Bandits, available on your favorite podcast platform — and on YouTube. (Links below.)

We covered quite a bit of ground: State of the industry, Topps and IDW days, comic book history, gaming and much more.; maybe something for everyone — or at least anyone who cares about these topics.

They picked a “classic” photo for marketing (as seen above — full version on my “About Me” tab), so don’t’ be too surprised if you watch on video, and well, I don’t look exactly the same. (Must have been the lighting.)

Thanks to Oren Phillips and crew for a very enjoyable hour, and an excellent series all around!

https://www.youtube.com/c/DollarBinBandits/videos?app=desktop

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dollar-bin-bandits/id1576289731?i=1000597848080&fbclid=IwAR39RLXRY_ELHVulTHxDd2caqP7VgzwOAdNzzBHj_lSon2Y6HNl22lgvPVQ

Walter Simonson — Mighty, Indeed

April 19, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Thor Artist’s Edition, Original Art Cover “Remarque” Limited Variant, 2011/2012 & Sketch, 2012

Here are two terrific Walter Simonson Thor pieces with equally terrific “origin” stories.

First up: IDW Artist’s Edition Editor Scott Dunbier developed a unique concept with one of his earliest volumes — A blank cover that the artist could then draw on, making a limited amount of copies of the book true originals.

A challenge for the printer, but mission accomplished, at least with this volume.

Walter and Scott agreed on a price, and Walter drew approximately a dozen of these covers. I say approximately, because of some confusion about whether it was going to be 10 or 15 of them, and Scott ultimately chose to offer them privately to some well-known original art collectors in a addition to a handful of IDW’s senior management team. I have no recollection how many were actually ultimately created. And I’m not positive all the completed drawings were scanned.

(Yes, that is the way comics works sometimes, folks.)

In addition to the piece I own, I’ve seen about four others, and like this one, they are all terrific. The only challenge is figuring out a creative way to display one properly and safely. If anyone has solved that puzzle, feel free to chime in.

The second Walter piece is looser, but extra special. Walter generously drew it in my office after SDCC while I was tied up in a meeting elsewhere, with the plan to personalize my “regular” edition of the Artist’s Edition.

It was only after the art was completed that I noticed it was the book was damaged printer’s proof version, instead of my actual personal copy.

A bummer, certainly, but a solution presented itself with the help of a handy X-Acto blade. I removed the page, trimmed it to a more precise 11×17 size, and framed it.

Voila. Now I can view it all the time, instead of just upon opening the book.

As they say, it’s in the permanent collection.

It’s Thor’s 60^th anniversary this year, so we have a few more posts lined up to celebrate Marvel’s God of Thunder. (Of course, technically, the Thor legend is eon’s old, but, as always, we digress.)

Joe Kubert — Tarzan, Unvarnished

January 25, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Tarzan #234, January 1975

2022 is the 110^th anniversary of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ jungle icon, Tarzan.

This year has at least two-other important Tarzan-related anniversaries:

The first is 1932, the release year of the first Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan feature film. Tarzan existed on screen prior to the Weissmuller film, of course, but his 12 features likely did more to enshrine the character in the popular imagination than any other media representation.

The second is 1972, the year DC took over the comic book license from Gold Key and re-established Tarzan as a savage lord of the Jungle. Joe Kubert’s comic art work on the character was the first that took the sheen of the character and returned him to his literary roots.

Long before “reboot” became part of the pop culture vocabulary, Kubert’s Tarzan was a stunning new look for comic book readers.

DC, as part its licensing deal, had to provide all the original art to the Burroughs estate. It’s still there in the archives, in excellent condition, and we used it to create three beautiful Artist’s Editions volume at IDW.

Ultimately, thought, this means that Kubert Tarzan pages are among the rarest of the last 50 years. With the exception of a handful, none of them have ever been offered on the open market.

Joe originally gifted this splash, part of a DPS, to a friend.

I happened to see it the day it the day it came up for sale, and despite a lofty price, I acquired it then and there.

I knew I wouldn’t likely see another one.

Typically, Kubert’s full double-page spreads from this period could be broken up without ruining the art.

*Three different Tarzan anniversaries in 2022: DC’s Tarzan celebrates its 50th, Weissmuller’s film series celebrates its 90th, and the character himself celebrates his 110th.*

The final issue of Gold Key’s Tarzan series is almost as far from Kubert’s interpretation as The Batman 1966 TV series is from Christopher Nolan’s. Coincidentally, that issue also featured an adaptation of “Tarzan and the lion man.”

Joe Kubert — DC At War

May 4, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Sgt. Rock #14, July 1991

The legendary Joe Kubert “borrows” from himself to create an iconic cover image; one of the very few to feature both Sgt. Rock and Enemy Ace together.

It’s a beautifully rendered cover, and one my personal favorites.

Kubert’s covers graced so many DC war comics from the 60s through the 90s that occasionally seeing one from another artist is just… incongruous.

And as artist, editor and Publications Director, Kubert’s storytelling insight and eye for talent ensured that many of the interiors were terrific as well.

Ahead of Memorial Day later this month, we’re featuring a number of great pieces of art from DC’s war genre by some truly talented creators.

Stay tuned.

*Revisiting an iconic image to craft a new one, more than 20 years later.* *Check the eyes on both the original cover and the homage.*

*Sgt. Rock and Enemy Ace make their first appearances years apart in The Silver Age, and DC and IDW create two beautiful original art collections 50 years later.*

Mike Zeck — Will The Real Captain America Please Stand Up?

December 10, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Captain America #279, March 1983

Captain America vs.… Captain America?

The “impersonation” trope is one of my favorites in comics, and a long-standing tradition in Marvel’s history. In fact, the first time Captain America “appears” in the Silver Age in Strange Tales #114, it’s not Captain America at all. It’s a Human Torch villain, The Acrobat, in disguise.

And this trope was consistently employed throughout the early Marvel Comics. The Skrulls impersonate the Fantastic Four in issue #2, The Chameleon impersonates Spider-Man in ASM #1, and the Avengers are nearly defeated by the shape-changing Space Phantom in issue #2 of their launch title.

Stan was obsessed with this concept, apparently.

For the record, here on this terrific action page by Mike Zeck and John Beatty, the uniformed Cap is the “real” one. The clown impersonating Steve Rogers is Primus, The Mutate.

File that under: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”