Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Jack Kirby

Jim Starlin — Superman Among The Gods

Original Art and The Artists

Death of the New Gods #7, May 2008

We continue to celebrate Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with a special two-week look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 2021 is the Fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth World storyline. *

Superman (with Mr. Miracle’s help) gets into it with the Infinity man in this great splash page and well-crafted mini-series by Jim Starlin.

Starlin of course created Thanos, the not-quite knock-off of Darkseid, who became one of the most popular super-villains in the Marvel Universe, and ultimately the ultimate “Big-bad” of the MCU. So it’s fitting to have him play in the Darkseid’s  sandbox as well.

Ironically, it took Darkseid a bit longer to achieve the same level of popularity in the DC Universe, but his own crown as DC’s ultimate super-villain has been amplified by his inclusion in the Zach Snyder “cut”of Justice League.

As for the series title? Let’s just say that reports of the New Gods’ deaths are greatly exaggerated.

*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.

Darkseid and Thanos, not as similar as you might think. (Darkseid doesn’t need a cosmic cube to be a god — he already is one.)

Eddy Barrows — Darkseid At World’s End

Original Art and The Artists

Earth 2: World’s End, June 2015

Darkseid dispatches a number of earth’s greatest heroes in this great looking title page of the final issue of Earth 2:World’s End.

If you like your superhero universe grim and gritty, (as per our last post), this series, set in an alternate universe, should do nicely. 

Darkseid is inarguably Jack Kirby’s greatest legacy at DC comics.  Although his “fourth world” books didn’t last long at DC, Darkseid untimely became the “big bad” of the DC Universe. Shockingly, before Jack’s era, there was no over-arching multi-title super villain. This, despite the fact that by 1970, Marvel had at least a few. (Doctor Doom, Galactus, Kang, The Super Skrull, et al.) 

Marvel had focused on continuity well before DC figured it out.  In fact, Jack’s fourth world books, introduced the first cross-title continuity to the DC Universe.

But, as always, we digress.

Brazilian Artist and DC mainstay Eddy Barrows regularly combines quality draftsmanship and creative storytelling into a highly compelling story. Another Brazilian artist, Eber Ferreira, known for his detailed and meticulous brushwork, typically inks Eddy’s pencils.

More on Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC in the next few posts.

Doug Hazelwood — Kirby, Redux

Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four #69 Cover Re-creation, 2014

Doug Hazelwood has been doing some great re-creations of Jack Kirby Marvel Silver Age covers, and Fantastic Four #69 is a terrific example of Doug’s work on these.

Typically, I don’t collect exact cover re-creations illustrated by anyone other than the original artist, but I made an exception here, because, well, its one of my favorite covers from that era.

And a nice way to close out our first tribute to the 6oth anniversary of the Fantastic Four.

The published cover To FF#69 along with a fun retro portrait of Jack by by Brendan Tobin.

Ken Steacy — This Man…

Original Art and The Artists

Marvel Portraits #2, April 1995

The masterful Ken Steacy transforms an important scene from the one-shot story “This Man… This Monster!” (Fantastic Four #51) into a dramatic painting for the inventive Marvel Portraits mini-series in 1995.

That’s not actually Ben Grimm, but rather a villain who ends his own life with this heroic act near the end of the offbeat tale.

Peter David wrote the excellent commentaries for these re-creations of classic Marvel moments in this specific issue, so I think will let him finish telling the story below.

George Perez — Shock Endings

Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four #167, February 1976

Continuing our multi-part tribute to the 60thanniversary of the Fantastic Four — and the “Marvel Age of Comics.” 

Hulk vs. Thing? Think about it. The Thing can give the Hulk a run for his money, I suppose, but in the end Hulk wins. No contest, really.

The “shock ending” here is that after quite a few matches during the years, The Thing takes pity on Hulk and joins forces with him to fight the army and the Fantastic Four (or more accurately, three), and anyone else who might be persecuting the Hulk at that moment.

George Perez, aided by the amazing Joe Sinnott, delivers a great looking action page featuring both characters. Pages from this issue rarely turn up and I’m fortunate that I found one. This is one of my favorite issues from the late bronze era, and it doesn’t hurt that it features a terrific cover by Jack Kirby, one of his earliest from his “return” to Marvel a few months prior.

That said, about the scale accuracy of the Gateway Arch Monument (St. Louis) vs. the occupants as depicted here? The less said, the better.

The Thing vs. The Hulk, becomes the Thing AND The Hulk — vs. everyone — at the end of FF #166.

John Romita Jr. — Stan’s Fantastic Farewell

Original Art and The Artists

The Last Fantastic Four Story #1, October 2007

Stan Lee, nearly 85 years old at the time, returns to the Fantastic Four for one last tale.

It’s not a groundbreaking story by any means. And it’s not meant to be. Is the dialogue corny in places? Certainly.  Is the plot surprising? Nope. An all-powerful big bad (The “Adjudicator”) comes to destroy Earth and pretty much everyone is helpless to stop him. Its up to Reed Richards to figure something out, which ultimately involves the previous almost all-powerful big bad, Galactus.

The entire issue could definitely be an unused story from Lee and Kirby’s FF heyday in the 60s.

Who cares? Not me. Great art from John Romita Jr. (inks by Scott Hanna) make this a fun tribute to the “old days.” Stan works in most of the great supporting characters from the original run, including Doctor Doom and the Silver Surfer. 

This page of course features both of them, along with the entire FF. Plus, it’s signed by the entire creative team, because, for once, I had the presence of mind to remember to get that done.

Definitely a keeper.

John Byrne — Powered Up

Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four Commission (20x 30), 2003

As discussed previously here, John Byrne does (or did?) some amazing commissions. The reason I’m not confident on my verb tense here is that I hear John stopped creating them when he put his artistic efforts behind his X-Men “fan-fiction” project.

One of most interseting facts about these commissions is that John has done them as large as 30×40. That’s slightly bigger than a movie poster! 

This terrific one here is 20×30. I’m the second owner, as the first one sold his entire collection all at once. Right place, right time for me; I’m a big fan (no pun intended) of the Super-Skrull.

I commissioned Len O’Grady to color the piece for me, and he did a terrific job. If I recall correctly, we sent it over to JB, who approved it as well.

(And if my recollection were incorrect about that, it would not surprise me to hear about it. John is not shy about offering his opinion.)

Some of the many additional Byrne Fantastic Four commissions in the hands of fans and collectors.
The first appearance of the Super-Skull, followed by an issue of Thor where I first encountered him as a young Marvel reader.

    Bruce Timm — Fantastic Four-Ever

    Original Art and The Artists

    Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Comics Magazine #8, September 2001

    “What if Stan Lee and Jack Kirby concluded their historic run on FF with one last wild adventure?”

    Bruce Timm and other all-star creators showcase their love and admiration for Jack Kirby in this fun 2001 mini-series. 

    And when we say “other,” we mean it. This terrific title page features layouts by Erik Larsen, pencils by Ron Frenz and Inks by Timm. Other creators in this issue alone include Bill Wray, Rick Veitch and Terry Beatty. Others in the full series include Keith Giffen, Al Williamson, Joe Sinnott, and Paul Ryan, to name just some of the cast.

    The story itself takes between issues #100 and #101 of the original Fantastic Four run. It took Marvel 10 years before they finally collected it, and its now available in both hardcover and trade paperback. If you’re a fan of that amazing Lee Kirby FF run, this series is a must-own.

    And if you’re not a fan of that classic, my sympathies. 

    The Larsen/Frenz/Timm splash immediately called to mind the classic opening to FF #49.

    Dan Jurgens And Bob McLeod — Flashback

    Original Art and The Artists

    Domination Factor: Fantastic Four #1and #2, December 1999

    Dan Jurgens has some fun with time travel in this clever interlocking mini-series featuring the FF and The Avengers.

    The part of the story that takes place in the contemporary era (1999) sees Dan storytelling in his traditional artistic style. But when time travel is involved, Dan and inker Bob McLeod purposely ape Jack Kirby. (And Joe Sinnot.) As you can see from the pages below, Dan and Bob re-do the top panel from FF 94, 30 years prior. And then the story takes a turn — literally — as The Thing realizes that Dr. Strange’s time spell has worked.

    Bonus points: The pages are hand-lettered by the talented John Costanza. Although John came on board at Marvel too late to work on the original Lee and Kirby Fantastic Four run, he did in fact letter the Lee and Kirby “reunion” Silver Surfer graphic novel. Close enough in my book to at least earn a no-prize.

    • Kirby Original
    • Jurgens and McLeod

    Paolo Rivera — Origins

    Original Art and The Artists

    Mythos: Fantastic Four #1, December 2007

    I don’t own another page like this one. In fact, I’m not certain I can recall seeing another page like this one.

    I’m pretty sure there must be some out there, but four vertical page-length panels is definitely an atypical layout.

    And here, it’s perfect. Four astronauts — Sue Storm, Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm — blasted by cosmic rays, and, well, you know the rest: They become… fantastic.

    This page is an example of great visual storytelling by the terrifically talented Paolo Rivera. I love the character reactions and facial expressions here. Even though the team will shortly have superpowers, it certainly looks like a painful origin process to get there. 

    And for one member of the team, those powers might be more curse than blessing. 

    After all, his moniker is the Thing.

    Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s original cosmic origin of the Fantastic Four in 1961.