Five straight weeks in the Spring of 1968. Five comic book issues drawn by the legendary John Buscema:
Sub-Mariner #3
Avengers #53
Sub-Mariner #4
Avengers #54
Silver Surfer #1 (38 pages)
Gems. Every single one. (And yes, I might be biased, because these comics are from my newsstand-era sweet spot — 1967-1973 — but I’m not wrong.) My guess is that only Jack Kirby ever had an achievement similar, or greater.
This Sub-Mariner page featuring Namor and Triton is the best Buscema superhero page I’ve ever owned, and unless an amazing opportunity comes my way, will likely remain that way.
Superman: Blood of My Ancestors is an unusual project. Gil Kane was the original penciller, but he passed away before he could finish it, and then John Buscema took over the penciling, and did manage to finish it — before his passing shortly thereafter.
So, when the book finally see print in 2003, both pencillers, giants in the industry were gone.
Kevin Nowlan provides finishes for both. (And as a bonus, because Kevin inked Gil’s pages, they won’t fade away like so many of the other Kane “marker era” pages from his latter DC comics career.)
Not a ton of Superman in this one-shot since much of the story revolves around an early ancestor of the House of El. In fact, most of the Buscema pages look like a classic barbarian tale. Kal-El’s distant relative is a dead ringer for Conan.
Who knew?
Gil’s depiction of Superman in flight made the back cover of the one-shot as well. It reminds me a lot of this great house ad for Gils underrated run on Superman in the early 80s, just prior to John Byrne’s overhaul of the character and the mythos.
Man-Thing (Seriously, what kind of drugs to you take to come up with a name like that?) makes his first color comic book appearance in this terrific Ka-Zar story illustrated primarily by John Buscema.
Part of the story was slated to appear in the B&W Savage Tales #2 which did not see the light of day, so it was cleverly re-worked here. Because of the re-mixing, credits on this issue read like an all-star line-up, and include Buscema, Neal Adams, John Romita and Dan Adkins.
Writer Roy Thomas somehow made sense of it all, creating the framing story around Len Wein’s original tale.
Bonus: Man -Thing’s first overall appearance in Savage Tales #1 includes this glorious splash (below) by Gray Morrow.
The legendary John Buscema took over the regular art chores on The Avengers a few issues prior to this one, and quickly makes the series his own.
In this second part of the story that introduces the Red Guardian to the Marvel Universe, we present a terrific action page that pretty much captures the melee madness of the cover.
(Spoiler alert: Turns out the Black widow wasn’t really a widow. But, as always, we digress.)
Welcome to the 60th anniversary (!) of the Avengers, who debuted as a team in 1963.
Roy Thomas returns to Conan for the first time in 10 years, and partners with superstar artist John Buscema, pretty much picking up where the pair left off in terms of innovative and exciting Conan stories.
In addition to astonishing talent, Buscema could be very productive in terms of his total output — in this stretch of Conan he is providing layouts and rough pencils only, freeing him up for other projects. Here Tony DeZuniga provides some nice finishing touches for John. (I think here you can see John’s obvious handiwork, which was not always the case with DeZuniga inks.)
Lots of ink — as it were — has been spilled on who was Buscema’s best embellisher on Conan. See here, here, and here for illustrative discussions.
My opinions have varied over time, and sometimes from issue to issue. The debate itself is fun.
And the talking skull? Spoiler alert: It belongs to King Kull’s arch nemesis Thulsa Doom. (In fairness, Thulsa eventually gives Conan much grief as well.)
Ant-man has made much news lately with talk about the villain Kang (The Conqueror), who would be a cool choice as the next “big bad.” Time travel is his bag, and we know how that topic has already a few twists in Avengers Endgame.
Kang has given time-twisting headache to the Avengers and the Fantastic Four in the comic book pages. He could be an obvious thread to introduce the FF into the MCU.
Or not.
Marvel has no shortage of interesting antagonists.
Because I devour time travel stories, Kang was a favorite among many great villains. Even when his story was, how shall we say? A bit convoluted.
In this 1986 story arc by writer Roger Stern, The Avengers have to contend with multiple versions of Kang, because, well, you know — time travel, the multiverse, alternate realities, that sort of thing.
Legendary penciller John Buscema had returned to Avengers a few years prior, and, although he only provided breakdowns in most stories, Tom Palmer’s lush inks make this run visually compelling.
VERY compelling.
The Avengers lineup at the time includes Captain America, The Wasp, Black Knight, Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau version) and both Sub-Mariner and Hercules, the clothing-optional pair of the Marvel Universe. They all appear on this cool end page.
Of course, that’s just the East Coast Avengers. The 1986 West Coast branch includes an ever-changing line-up featuring Hawkeye, Tigra, Iron Man, and others.
But as always, I digress.
Next up this week: Ant-Man, The Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel…
See you soon.
Get your scorecards out: Rama-Tut, Kang, Immortus and the Scarlet Centurion are all alternate versions of each other. Or not. Or both. You can look it up.
Joe Sinnott, easily one of the greatest comic book inkers of all time, and a terrific person to boot, passed away a few days ago. He was 93.
Joe drew the very first sketch I ever owned (and still do, BTW) in my convention program at my very first NYCC, 1972.
Reed Richards — Mr. Fantastic — was an appropriate choice, because Joe’s legendary inks on both Kirby and then John Buscema (and ultimately others) provided a polished, consistent look for “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine.”
I own other art inked by him, but this one is extra special.
RIP Joe. Many thanks and salutes from all of us for your astonishing career.
Conan celebrates its
50th anniversary in comics this year, and we continue to celebrate the
anniversary with our second of three Conan-themed posts this week.
“This guy used to eat, sleep and breathe drawing. It didn’t matter what was going on around him. He would get bored with it and start sketching. … He just couldn’t stop drawing. [His back-of-board sketches were] better than some of the stuff that he did on the front. … He’d get a spark of inspiration and turn the page over and draw whatever was in his skull.” — Sal Buscema, speaking about his late brother John.
Roy knew that John’s artistic style and storytelling skills
(and interests) could perhaps best capture the Conan character —- and most
remind readers of the amazing eight Frank Frazetta covers that graced the
Lancer paperbacks of the last few years. Those images had helped Conan rapidly turn into
a phenomenon among fantasy readers.
But budgetary concerns forced Thomas to work with the mostly
unknown Barry Windsor Smith, and a different kind of Conan developed. Younger,
sleeker, a bit more handsome. And after a slow start, (it was nearly cancelled
after issue #7) the book caught fire, and inspired a sword and sorcery age in
comic books.
But Smith, frustrated by the deadlines of the comics periodical business, ultimately left Conan.
And so fate called again, and Roy got what he wanted the
second time around.
Under Buscema’s pencils, the burly, muscular, often-raging Conan ultimately epitomized by Arnold Schwarzenegger, emerged. This was an older Conan with more experience (and world weariness) under his belt.
Buscema has rightfully become identified with the character, rendering more than 100 stories each for both the Conan comic book and the more “mature” Savage Sword of Conan magazine.
I’ve owned and traded many Buscema Conan pages over the
years, and this splash remains one of my favorites. After a long fought series
of adventures and battles, Conan is taking a break, and celebrating his
victory.
Nothing wrong with that.
The story itself is an odd one. Michael Fleisher is the scribe, having come on board a just a few months earlier after Roy Thomas bolted for DC. Given the varying art styles of the story, the story length (46 pages) and the multiple inkers (Ernie Chan, Tom Palmer and Bob McLeod are all credited) it’s entirely possible it was originally destined to be a shorter story, and fleshed out when something else fell through.
If so, it’s a feat that John Buscema could pull off — while most others couldn’t even attempt it.
The printed page by Buscema, and the story-driven cover by Joe Jusko, who often cites Buscema as his most important influence.Had this story actually ever been reprinted in comic books, they would have added an undergarment. This was the height of risqué for Marvel at the time, although over at Warren Magazines, (partial) nudity had already crept in.
Eight images worth millions of words — the original Frank Frazetta covers on the Lancer paperback editions of Conan (starting in 1966). In a short time, both Conan and Frazetta would be embedded in the popular culture.
Conan celebrates its
50th anniversary in comics this year, and we celebrate the anniversary with
three Conan-themed posts this week.
Barry Winsdor-Smith was not the first choice to draw Conan. Legend has it that Roy Thomas knew that John Buscema was the idea artist for the job. But Publisher Martin Goodman nixed the idea, citing budget and schedule, and told Stan/Roy to find someone less expensive.
The solution? The young British-born Smith, who had been a
fill-in artist on a handful of super-hero titles with an unmistakable Kirby
influenced style, and who was both cheap — and available.
And so Barry drew Conan for 21 of the first 24 issues — and the comic book world promptly grew up.
Smith, one of the many “young guns” of similar age, and breaking in at around the same time, (Chaykin, Kaluta, Simonson, Wrightson among the many others) ultimately developed an inimitable style. Yes the Kirby influence was there, especially early on. But so is Steranko. And Alphonse Mucha, the best-known stylist of the Art Nouveau period (late 19th – early 20th century), provides much of the inspiration for the intricate designs and beautiful women that populate those early Conan stories.
Smith’s run on Conan is unlike any other in professional comics at that time. And Baby Boomers, who had grown up on the simple stories of DC, and had segued into the cosmic soap operas of Stan and Jack, were primed for these comics. The Boomers were growing older, and now, the comics were growing up with them.
Smith’s style developed rapidly over his three year run on Conan, culminating in the extraordinary “Red Nails” that first appeared in 1973/1974 in Savage Tales. And of course, the work was always best when Smith was inking himself, but both Sal Buscema and Dan Adkins did excellent work, and interestingly, both are credited on this issue. Sal is credited on this specific page, but without all 20 original pages together, it’s difficult to tell.
Either way, it’s a stunning page, and only a small harbinger of things to come.
Conan launches in comic books and the more “mature” Marvel magazines.
And early try-out story by Smith and Thomas features “Starr the Slayer,” published just a few months prior to Conan in Chamber of Darkness #4. Smith also developed a Kull Black and White proposal for a paperback graphic novel. (Similar to Gil Kane’s Blackmark) that ultimately was published (unfinished) much later in Savage Sword of Conan #3. Both prototypes look nearly identical to Smith’s Conan.
Smith’s early Marvel work on Avengers is pretty much straight from the Jack Kirby handbook — except for the wild Vision splash page (Avengers #66) which adds some Steranko and Alphonse Mucha into the mix; a sign of things to come.
