John Romita – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Joe Jusko — Spider-Icon

February 12, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Variant Cover, Art of Joe Jusko, 2013

A short history of a beautiful painting:

Joe Jusko originally created this homage to this classic and iconic John Romita Spider-Man cover (#50, 1967) for a project that ultimately didn’t reach fruition.

I was fortunate enough to see the original — and not mull, noodle, or otherwise hesitate before purchasing it — when it was first offered for sale back in 2007.

As serendipity would have it, a few years later I was at IDW, and we landed Desperado Press as an imprint. Part of that deal included bringing Desperado’s Joe Jusko art book back into print.

Not wanting to miss potential opportunity for Joe or IDW, I asked Marvel if we could license the Spider-Man image for the cover of an exclusive limited edition version of the book. They said yes, told me the fee, and, after some smelling salts revived me, I said yes as well.

We (deliberately) only made 100 copies, and, on a per capita basis, it remains the most expensive licensing deal I have ever made.

But it’s a stunning piece that absolutely deserved to be a cover. (And, importantly, everyone would make a bit of money, so there’s that.)

And what did John Romita himself think about Joe’s painting?

“I had this piece on display at a Baltimore Con one year and who walks by my table and sees it, but John, “ says Jusko.

“He studied it for a while and then told me how much he liked it. A lot of guys would say that just to be nice, but John never said what he didn’t mean. For the rest of the show I had people coming over to my table saying John sent them over, telling them they had to see the painting. I’ve seldom been more flattered!”

Gene Colan — The Widow’s Sting

May 12, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Daredevil #82, December 1971

By now, we should be in the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but unfortunately, we have a six-month delay. So, for the first time in a dozen years, no Marvel film to launch the summer movie-going season.

But, we won’t let that delay slow us down here — let’s take a look at some of characters from the next three scheduled films this week.

From the trailer(s) for the Black Widow film, now releasing this November, it appears that many elements from Natasha Romanoff’s 55-year comic book backstory will make into the film. (No surprise, as that has been the Marvel M.O. since day one).

Of course, an exception will be her relationship with Daredevil, which lasted a few years in the original comics. Not sure what the entertainment rights status is for Daredevil and the other Netflix Marvel characters (now since cancelled), but I’d fall right out of my seat if any of them showed up in the cinematic universe in the near future.

This very cool Daredevil page from the great Gene Colan comes from early in the relationship between DD and the Widow; in fact they don’t actually have a relationship at this point in the chronology, but they soon will, and ultimately team-up and move to San Francisco together.

In fact, the comic book changes its cover nameplate to Daredevil and The Black Widow for more than a year.

Let’s see: Matt Murdock suddenly ups and moves to Frisco. Daredevil — suddenly — is now fighting in the Bay Area. No one figures the connection out? Really?

*Amazing Spider-Man #86 serves as a “#0” recap and revamp issue (before they had those) for Natasha’s short-lived solo series in Amazing Adventures.* *Words and pictures by Stan Lee and John Romita.*

*Black Widow’s first solo series, her first appearance in Daredevil, and a recent collection of her earliest appearances — with a recolored cover drawn by the legendary Bill Everett.*

John Romita Sr. — Belated Birthday Bash (I)

January 30, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Kingpin (One-Shot), November, 1997

John Romita Sr. turned 90(!) the other day, and we would be remiss if we didn’t celebrate the amazing artist — even belatedly.

This great action page is from the one-shot Kingpin and it represents the final comic book story collaboration between Romita and Stan Lee (with help from Tom Delfaco and inker Dan Green).

What’s great about this story — and this page, specifically — is that it features three important Romita icons in one place:

Daredevil, Romita’s first pencil gig at Marvel after eight years of DC romance comics.
Spider-Man, the character that Romita will always be most associated with, and the one he brought to new heights of popularity.
Kingpin, the all-too-familiar super-villain that John co-created, and who will likely vex DD, Spidey and others for the rest of time.

This page is obviously not from the classic Romita era — in fact, it comes 30 years later, but it’s still a great example of Romita’s superb draftsmanship and storytelling.

And all it’s missing is Mary Jane Watson.

You can’t have everything.

Early key Romita comics: His first Daredevil action page (over Kirby layouts) from DD #12; the first Romita Spider-Man, crossing over with Daredevil in DD #16; and Kingpin’s first splash appearance (Amazing Spider-Man #51) from his multi-part debut.

Romita on his Spidey assignment:

“I was hoping against it, believe it or not. People laugh when I say this, but I did not want to do Spider-Man. I wanted to stay on Daredevil. The only reason I did Spider-Man was because Stan asked me and I felt that I should help out, like a good soldier. I never really felt comfortable on Spider-Man for years. … I felt obliged to [mimic] Ditko because … I was convinced, in my own mind, that he was going to come back in two or three issues. … I couldn’t believe that a guy would walk away from a successful book that was the second-highest seller at Marvel. … After six months, when I realized it wasn’t temporary, I finally stopped trying to [mimic] Ditko. … “

–From Alter Ego #9

Steve Rude — Card Tricks

September 22, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Upper Deck, Marvel VS. System TCG: Web of Spiderman,
Card #162 — Surrounded, 2004

Concluding a multi-part look at Spider-Man vs. Mysterio in honor of Spider-Man: Far From Home landing on digital streaming platforms this week.

Some of the most tantalizing art ever created for Marvel and DC characters is hiding in plain sight — on trading cards… and trading card games.

In fact, the Upper Deck Vs. TCG System, started in 2004, and lasting in its original incarnation through 2009, is home to hundreds, if not thousands, of original artworks by some of the industry’s leading talents.

Except for a handful of the key art pieces, which includes illustrations by Alex Ross and Drew Struzan, all the TCG images were printed at postage stamp size only. (Some, like this one, were cropped ruthlessly to fit the printed image area.)

Sigh.

Steve “The Dude” Rude illustrated number of cards in the various VS series, and this one, featuring Spider-man vs. multiple Mysterios, is a favorite.

Steve’s clean and dynamic superhero rendering typically feels like a fascinating cross between Jack Kirby and Joe Schuster — with storytelling influences from Alex Toth , and yet here, he channels some John Romita for good measure.

Most trading card is created at a relatively small size, but fortunately this Rude original is drawn on traditional comic board, with the live image area just slightly smaller than most standard modern art.

Just enough room for all those Mysterios.