Jurassic Park – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Gil Kane & George Perez — Dinos, Bigger And Better

June 9, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park #4, August 1993

Here are two great pages from the final issue of the 1993’s Jurassic Park adaptation, penciled by Gil Kane and inked by the George Perez. As I noted previously, the key Dino action takes place in issue #4 which covers half (or more) of the film. (Thanks a lot, Universal.)

Fun fact: Universal had a giant launch party for the JP licensing and marketing program at New York City’s Museum of Natural History in February 1993 (at the annual Toy fair event) and Topps received several invites. So what happens when I hop out of the Subway to walk to the museum? I run into George Perez, and we make our way in together. I had a great time, but George was even more thrilled. It was clear he was absolutely delighted to be a part of this.

Fun fact #2: Topps also had a few invites to the NY premiere of Jurassic Park at the Ziegfeld Theater and Walter and Louise Simonson were able to accompany us to the theater, and a swell time was had by all. But, apparently, the final version of the shooting script had not made it from Universal / Amblin to Topps to Walter, so naturally he immediately noticed that his script and the Final Cut differed in a few places. (Fortunately, only a few.)

Oh well…

Gil Kane & George Perez — 30 Years of Jurassic

June 6, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park #3, July 1993

Jurassic Park opened thirty years ago June 11, so it seems like an ideal time to present some more great Jurassic Park pages from 1993’s adaptation drawn by Gil Kane and George Perez this week. (I still can’t believe it’s been thirty years.)

Here’s a terrific splash from issue three, with George’s telltale detailed inking mostly only evident in the original art; the color obscures many of those fine details in the published page.

Fun fact: Because of licensing restrictions (including embargo dates) and publishing schedules, the film’s script and the four-issue comic breakdown are somewhat uneven. Not that much happens in Issues #1 and #2. Issue #3 has this cool opening, and some cool T-Rex action in the second part, but most of the exciting Dino action happens in issue #4. (Writer Walter Simonson did a terrific job balancing the script under those challenging restrictions.)

For more on that, check back in on Friday.

Michael Golden — Dinosaur Snack

April 25, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park: Raptor’s Attack #1, March 1994

As noted previously, I’m a giant (pun intended) fan of Michael Golden’s dinosaur covers and portfolio plates for our Topps Jurassic Park comics.

Here’s one I haven’t posted before: Poor Ellie (Laura Dern) about to become a hors d’oeuvre for a group of velociraptors. I love the unique point of view on this one.

Originally designated as the cover for Jurassic Park: Raptor’s Attack #1, it was also reused for the cover of the newsstand exclusive JP comic, Jurassic Park Adventures #3.

Happy 30^th Anniversary, Jurassic Park!

John Byrne — “Gronk” (Jurassic Park Rerelease)

June 11, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park: The Devils in the Desert #1, January 2011

NYCC, about six years ago: I had previously heard a lot about John Byrne’s house and all the various art and collectibles that made up some of the décor, but hadn’t had a chance to get up to the wilds of Connecticut to check it out.

This time I was determined.

So, one rainy day at the end of convention hours Chris Ryall and I trudged our way through monsoon-like rain (seriously, no exaggeration) to Grand Central Station, and headed up north.

After one missed connection (rain again), we eventually made it up to Byrne’s town.

We dried off during a nice meal with John at a local Chinese restaurant, and headed back to his house.

It was everything as described. Great collectibles and memorabilia, and some great art hanging in his studio by comic book legends John admired. (No surprise, lots of Jack Kirby.)

Chris had already a working relationship with John, and in fact had been to his house previously. But I had actually not seen Byrne since the early 90s, and he had no memory of our meeting, nor should he.

As many colleagues can share, John can be reserved at times. Regardless, he was gracious, and he definitely warmed up a bit as we discussed art in detail while I enjoyed the tour. (Or, he was just being polite to his publisher. Ha.)

At the end of the night, he pointed us to his flat files of art and told us to each take something. These files were a potpourri of recent projects, pieces he had yet to give to his art representative to sell for him.

Chris found a page from DC’s OMAC series that John was especially proud of. I was a bit more interested in something that we had published at IDW, and after some deep digging, I came up with this great Jurassic Park double-page spread from the mini-series John created for us.

He was delighted that I admired it, and I, of course, was delighted with his generosity. It is a great piece, and to date, I walk past it every day and smile.

Permanent collection, for certain.

Getting it back to California from New York wasn’t easy, but that’s a story for another day.

Thanks again, JB!

*I love the way the covers link up, especially issues #1 and #2.*

Michael Golden — Monstrous Mayhem (Jurassic Park Rerelease)

June 9, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park Raptor’s Hijack #1, July 1994

Perhaps best known for his work on Micronauts and The Nam, Michael Golden is simply put, a superstar artist.

And perhaps some of his most fascinating art, and possibly least known by anyone other than hardcore Golden fans, are his covers (and portfolios) for Topps’ Jurassic Park series.

Beautifully detailed, wonderful compositions, these covers transcended the JP sequels and side stories that we published at Topps. They are simply stunning. While some are better than others, there’s not a bad one in the bunch.

Michael did 18 different covers, and added two new ones to two separate portfolios. Interestingly, until I looked it up, I didn’t realize that Image actually published the portfolios, which are long out of print and challenging to find on the secondary market place.

(I have no memory of how we were able to swing that with Universal, but I’m glad we did.)

This beautiful piece? Dinosaurs. Gorillas. Mad scientists. It’s like some crazy Republic movie serial. Only with a better budget.

Gil Kane — Jurassic Jeopardy (Rerelease)

June 7, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park #4, August 1993

In honor of Jurassic World: Dominion opening this Friday, we’re featuring a “Summer Rerelease” special this week of three of our best earlier Jurassic Park posts.

Gil Kane and George Perez teamed up on artistic chores for the original Topps Jurassic Park film adaption. (With writing by Walter Simonson). It was a unique pairing suggested by Topps EIC Jim Salicrup, and for the most part, worked very well. All four issues came out on the predetermined schedule, not an easy feat, especially in those days with newsstand distribution considerations. But the schedule was… tight. (OK, harrowing.)

I was delighted to pick up the original art for Gil’s and George’s variant cover for issue #4 a few years ago at auction.

The scene is from the climax of the film where our young heroes are menaced in the commissary kitchen by the crafty velociraptors. It’s a cool composition that captures the terror of the moment.

Here’s the rub — Is that a chubby raptor missing a neck? Or a deformed T-Rex? I mean, what kind of dino did Gil actually draw?

You can’t tell from the scan, but there’s an art patch on the dino’s face. Clearly some of it absolutely, positively needed to be altered to be approved overnight. But someone in Universal’s licensing department must have ultimately taken pity on our harrowing schedule, and us, because the final version is definitely not on model.

Since this is technically not the “main” cover, which is by Dave Cockrum, maybe they gave us a pass. (I don’t remember who did the art patch — George, our production department, or, for that matter, Gil.)

Ah, Gil. We sent him lots of photo reference. I can’t recall if we sent this exact scene specifically, but regardless, he had reference. Like I said, lots of it.

Only problem is, as I found out later on, Gil didn’t have much use for reference.

It doesn’t matter. He was one of the best. I consider myself fortunate to know him professionally, albeit briefly. Stories about him were legendary by the time I met him in 1993.

And, I got at least one “Greg, my boy…” out of him, so I could cross that off the list. Whew.

*Dave Cockrum’s cover features raptors that are more on model, while Gil’s raptor might need some Ultra Slimfast.*

*Raptors are lean, mean, fighting machines as seen in reference stills from the film.*

Tom Yeates — Cowboys And Dinosaurs

April 18, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park #5, 2010

The first series of Jurassic Park comics in nearly 15 years is, unfortunately, nothing to write home about. Or write about here, for that matter. Neither the writing the art (especially) the art were up to snuff of the other licensed books we published at IDW. The less said, the better.

But… the covers were pretty terrific. Frank Miller, Bernie Wrightson and many others contributed to those covers. Included in the group is this one, wonderfully executed by the terrifically talented — and often criminally underrated — Tom Yeates.

Tom channels some Valley of Gwangi with his cowboys vs. dinosaurs scene depicted here.

If you’re not familiar with this film, give it a try. It’s not like we all don’t have a bit of extra time on our hands these days, unfortunately. Might as well dive into classic dinosaur films.

As Ray Bradbury had said, who doesn’t like dinosaurs?

Or great dinosaur art for that matter.

Tom’s cover immediately reminded me of the 1969 film, Valley of the Gwangi, which had its own comic book adaptation. Also pictured above is the original film concept art, which actually reflects the dino to cowboy scale a bit more accurately.

Michael Golden — Monstrous Mayhem

April 16, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park Raptors Hijack #1, 1994

Perhaps best known for his work on Micronauts and the Nam, Michael Golden is simply put, a superstar artist.

Perhaps some of his most fascinating art, and possibly least known by anyone other than hardcore Golden fans, are his covers (and portfolios) for Topps’ Jurassic Park series.

(I have no memory of how we were able to swing that with Universal, but I’m glad we did.)

You can see pretty much all of them at this link.

This specific piece? Dinosaurs. Gorillas. Mad scientists. It’s like some crazy Republic serial, gorgeously illustrated.

And for you Golden Micronauts fans? The terrifically talented and tenacious Scott Dunbier has somehow figured out a way to carve out a deal with Golden, Marvel and Hasbro to create an Artist Edition for later in the year.

I can’t imagine it will be anything less than great.

*Cover as it originally appeared, and then re-colored for a trade collection 15 years later.*

*Michael Golden’s portfolios of Jurassic Park art, both of which — especially volume 2 — are very scarce today.*

John Byrne — “Gronk”

April 14, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park: The Devils in the Desert #1, January 2011

I have no memory of how I acquired a few pieces of art. A chance dealer transaction at a convention perhaps … or possibly a last minute sweetener in a trade? Too much art probably, too many years definitely, and as they say…. hard drive almost full.

But this art’s provenance I remember very well.

NYCC about 5 years ago. I had heard a lot about John Byrne’s house and all the various art collectibles that made up some of the décor, but hadn’t had a chance to get up to the wilds of Connecticut to check it out.

This time I was determined. So, one rainy day at the end of the convention day, Chris Ryall and I trudged our way through monsoon-like rain (no exaggeration) to the train station, missed our connection, but eventually made it up to John’s town. After a nice Chinese meal, we headed back to John’s house.

It was everything as described. Great collectibles and memorabilia, and some great art hanging in his studio by comic book legends John admired. (No surprise, lots of Jack Kirby.)

Chris had already a direct working relationship with John, and in fact had been to his house previously. But I had actually not seen John since the early 90s, and he had no memory of our meeting, nor should he.

As many colleagues can share, John can be reserved at times. Regardless, he was gracious to his publisher, and he definitely warmed up a bit as we discussed art in detail while I enjoyed the tour.

At the end of the night, He pointed us to his flat files of art and told us to each take something. These file were a potpourri of recent projects, pieces he had yet to give to his art representative Jim Warden to sell for him.

He was delighted that I admired it, and I, of course, was delighted with his generosity. It is a great piece, and to date, I walk past it every day and smile. Permanent collection, for certain.

Getting it back to California from New York wasn’t easy, but that’s a story for another day.

Thanks again, JB!

Gil Kane — Jurassic Jeopardy

April 11, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Jurassic Park #4, August 1993

Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park novel turns 30 this year, so the next few posts pay tribute to the book that became a blockbuster film franchise.

Gil Kane and George Perez teamed up on artistic chores for the original Topps Jurassic Park film adaption. (with writing by Walter Simonson). It was an unique pairing suggested by EIC Jim Salicrup, and for the most part, worked very well. All four issues came out on the predetermined schedule, not an easy feat, especially in those days with newsstand distribution considerations. But the schedule was… tight.

I was delighted to pick up the original art for Gil’s variant cover for issue #4 a few years ago at auction.

The scene is from the climax of the film where our young heroes are menaced in the commissary kitchen by the crafty velociraptors. It’s a cool composition that captures the terror of the moment.

Here’s the rub — Is that a chubby raptor missing a neck? Or a deformed T-Rex? I mean, what the hell kind of dino did Gil actually draw?

Since this is technically not the “main” cover, which is by Dave Cockrum, maybe they gave us a pass. (I don’t remember who did the art patch — George, our production department or for that matter, Gil.)

Ah, Gil. We sent him lots of photo reference. I can’t recall if we sent this exact scene specifically, but regardless, he had reference. Like I said, lots of it. Only problem is, as I found out later on, Gil didn’t have much use for reference.

It doesn’t matter. He was one of the best. I consider myself fortunate to know him professionally, albeit briefly. Stories about him were legendary by the time I met him in 1993.

And, I got at least one “Greg, my boy…” out of him, so I could cross that off the list. Whew.