Kang The Conqueror – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tony Harris — Divine Time

August 17, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Marvel Knights 4 #16, May 2005

Tony Harris delivers a terrific cover for one of the oddest–logoed titles in Marvel History.

The title is not “4”, but actually “Marvel Knights 4”, as the publisher decided to give an edge to the FF by incorporating them into the Marvel Knights brand. (Of course this assumes you know that MK stands for Marvel Knights. And that you’re certain that “4” refers to the FF.)

It’s a puzzler how they ended up there.

And speaking of puzzlers — this storyline deals with time travel and Ramades, son of Ram-Tut, who makes his first appearance the issue prior.

Rama-Tut, of course, is also Kang AND Immortus, and also ultimately retconned to be Nathaniel Richards. Reed’s father. The Time Variance Authority and the Time-Keepers are also involved.

Frankly, as mentioned previously, I could never keep any of this straight, and even the very-detailed Wikipedia page can’t help my brain get around the various iterations of this character. (Not blaming them, though — it’s probably just me.)

Great cover art, though, and Tony colored it himself — adding the background texture as well.

(As for Ramades? He has yet to reappear since this storyline was completed in issue#18.)

Bob Powell And Wallace Wood — Buddy Movie

January 23, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Strange tales #134, July 1965

The Human Torch and Thing buddy comedies of the early 60s come to an end in this cool penultimate page by Bob Powell and Wallace Wood.

Torch solo stories started in Strange Tales #101 (hey, it worked in the Golden Age) and within a few years, the Thing was added to the strip as well. An ever-changing group of creators, and frankly, some second-rate stories and villains, didn’t apparently do much for sales, and our Fantastic two get bumped by Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. in the very next issue.

Meanwhile, this amusing story features time travel, The Watcher, Merlin the Magician, and Kang the Conqueror, who is apparently about to play an important role in the MCU. (It’s only his third appearance as “Kang” at this point, following two run-ins with the Avengers.)

Because I love time travel stories I can forgive all of it — except maybe Powell and Wood’s execution of the Thing. They are not alone though in rocky renditions of Ben Grimm. Flipping through these old Strange Tales stories, very few artists other than Jack Kirby seemed to figure out how to successfully make anatomic sense of a character made from rocks.

It’s clobberin’ time, indeed.

The Silver Age gets retro-golden very quickly in these early Torch Strange Tales stories. (Although, for the record, that’s an imposter pretending to be Captain America. But you wouldn’t know it until you bought the issue, or stood around reading it at Dave’s Luncheonette until he kicked you out.)

John Buscema and Tom Palmer — The Once And Future MCU

October 5, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Avengers #268, June 1986

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.