SDCC — With A Little Help From My Friends
San Diego Comic-Con, July 24-28, 2024
Tag: Klaus Janson
Klaus Janson — The Apprentice
Star Wars Annual #3, 1983
1983 was a busy year for Star Wars… and Klaus Janson.
Janson pencils, inks, and colors a terrific looking stand-alone Star Wars annual which releases in the summer. At the same time, he’s inking and penciling over Frank Miller’s layouts on Miller’s legendary Daredevil run. (Ultimately penciling and inking four issues on his own.)
On the Lucasfilm front, Return of The Jedi releases in May 1983, concluding the original trilogy — with the gazillion licensed products that follow suit. (The Jedi adaptation from Marvel is released as a separate series, in addition to the monthly Star Wars ongoing comic book.)
The first three pages of this Star Wars annual came up for auction late last year and fortunately, I snagged one.
Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 2 Of 4
Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023
Dinesh Shamdasani, Adam “Atom” Freeman
John Romita Jr. & Klaus Janson— Heroes Return!
Thor #1, July 1998
It’s the Avengers vs. the Destroyer in this great action page from the first issue of the underrated reboot of the Thor mythos. Dan Jurgens wrote the series and John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson provided the visual storytelling for the launch.
Cool bonus feature: Both artists signed the page the year the issue was published.
Marvel definitely floundered after the Image exodus in 1991, but by the late 90s stated putting the comic book pieces back together as evidenced here and in the launch of the Marvel Knights imprint, produced by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti. The Ultimate universe came along a few years later, and the rest, as they say is history.
John Romita Jr. — Deadly Knights
Punisher / Batman: Deadly Knights, October 1994
Batman. Punisher.
DC and Marvel crossovers.
Definitely a long time ago, in a galaxy that now indeed seems very far away.
Romita JR. Inks by Klaus Janson. Both characters on one page.
Nuff said.
Gil Kane — Not Shrinking Away
Legends of the DC Universe #29, June 2000
Gil Kane’s final completed work (published posthumously) is this fun two-parter featuring his two classic silver age characters, The Atom and Green Lantern officially teamed together for the first time.
Written with affection by Steven Grant, and inked by Klaus Janson, this story confirms that Gil was able to deliver quality storytelling right until he headed to the big studio in the sky.
Gil was one of a kind as a creator (and a person) and as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I was happy to know him professionally — albeit very, very briefly.
Gil Kane and Nick Cardy — Team Up
Teen Titans #24, December 1969
Late 1969 was apparently a great time for assassins on skis.
Making the biggest splash on the slopes were the bad guys in the latest James Bond flick, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (OHMSS.)
In fact, the skiing action scenes were considered the best thing about the Bond film, the first — and only — featuring George Lazenby as 007. (Replacing Sean Connery.)
Meanwhile, on the newsstand, The Teen Titans have the same problem, among others.
I’m not saying writer Bob Haney borrowed the idea from the OHMSS marketing, which likely had appeared prior to script deadline time. More likely an amusing coincidence.
Either way, the art team of Gil Kane and Nick Cardy delivered some exciting storytelling on the script they had on hand. Glancing through the entire issue, Nick added some nice polish to Gil’s pencils, without turning the entire issue into Cardy instead of Kane.
That’s a bit of a balancing act, especially since Cardy was a terrific and well-established penciller himself.
But I can’t confirm that he skied.
