Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Marvel Comics

Tony Daniel — Spider-Man’s Amazing Feat

Original Art and The Artists

Commission (Based On Steve Ditko, Amazing Spider-Man #33, November 1965), 2013

Amazing. Spectacular. Sensational.

It doesn’t matter what adjective you put in front of Spider-Man’s name, his actual popularity dwarfs them all.

And he celebrates his 60th anniversary later this year.

So why not celebrate the world’s most famous web-slinger with a whole month of Spider-Man art.

Why not indeed?

First up — Tony Daniel’s terrific tribute to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s most iconic issue of the original series, Amazing Spider-Man #33.  

It’s not that Spider-Man wouldn’t be saved (Heck, even a little kid knows that.) But in that classic story, Ditko masterfully conveyed Spidey’s struggle and necessary force of will to find the strength to lift tons of machinery and save himself. 

No Iron Man or Thor to the rescue. This is all about Spider-Man’s personal will to survive — so that he himself can rescue Aunt May.

It’s likely the most powerful three-page comic book sequence of the era.

Harris is not the first creator to pay tribute to the scene, but he does it masterfully, creating an image that exists somewhere seconds before page three of Ditko’s original sequence.

Additionally, Harris uses a muted color palate, perfect for the art. I don’t typically pursue color art, but this piece grabbed me the moment I saw it.

Amazing indeed.

Ray Lago’s tribute from a “Marvel Portraits Comic”

Eric Powell — I’d Like To Meet His Tailor

Original Art and The Artists

Secret Wars Too, #1, January 2016

Eric Powell brings his offbeat sensibility to the good doctor in this two-page gag story featured in a Secret Wars parody comic.

I acquired this page directly from Eric at SDCC a few years back, and apparently the other page had just sold to another lucky purchaser.

Missed it by that much.

(Full two-pager presented below.)

The TPB cover by our pal Jim Mahfood is much more interesting than the comic book cover, which is a gag without much art.
Doctor Doom has a terrific legacy in the pantheons of Marvel humor. Stan and Jack did a hilarious send-up of the FF-Doom-Silver Surfer multi-parter in the very first issue of Not Brand Echh in 1967. (The amazing published splash page here is from the actual story of course, not the parody.)

Leo Manco — Plenty Of Time To Die

Original Art and The Artists

Doom: The Emperor Returns, #2, February 2002

Doctor Doom’s greatest fantasy? Murdering Reed Richards, of course. 

And if you have your own planet, you too can make your dreams come true.

Leo Manco nicely illustrates Doom choking Reed on this page from the Emperor Doom mini-series. 

Reminds me of a film moment of a certain costumed villain that looks an awful lot like Doctor Doom. Art imitates art, imitates art, ad infinitum, apparently.

Manco, an Argentinian artist, is terrific, and I wish we’d see more of his work in the comic book space.

The similarities between Darth Vader and Doctor Doom always choke me up. (Ouch.) Per our last post, Lucas owes some public tribute to Jack Kirby as far as we are concerned.

Ron Lim — Army Of Doom

Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Five #3, October 2007

Doctor Doom — Marvel’s first iconic super villain of the Silver Age* — celebrates his 60th anniversary this year.

And I have a question.

How are the MCU pros going to create a new on-screen look for the character that is true to form, but doesn’t look goofy as hell?  These folks are the best in the business, but that’s a hell of challenge. Lesser talents have failed, not once, not even twice, but three times.**

They could go all black (always a safe choice) and make the costume more technological and futuristic, but… I believe George Lucas already beat them to the punch by about 45 years.***

The comic book Doom costume is one of those that almost makes sense in 2D, but three-dimensional? Oof. 

I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the results, maybe even later this year, if we’re lucky.

And, as always, we digress.

Here, the versatile Ron Lim creates a dramatic splash page with the most Doctor Doom you will ever see in once place. You see, the good doctor has this cool hobby of building robots in his spare time. 

Lots of them, apparently.

Fun fact footnotes:

Ok, Sub-Mariner beat Doom by  a full issue — or more than 20 years, depending on how you count Silver Age vs. Golden Age — but I can’t fully embrace him as a villain. (This despite the fact that Doom and Sub-Mariner later appeared together in a comic book called Super-Villain Team-Up.)

** Two contemporary  big budget film  releases, plus the officially unreleased Roger Corman version. I probably shouldn’t count that, but I do. Sue me.

*** Lucas has yet  to acknowledge that Darth Vader is essentially a mash-up of two Jack Kirby comic book creations, Doctor Doom and Darkseid. C’mon George, fess up.

Clayton Henry’s cover to the Fantastic Five is an homage (swipe?) of Kirby’s FF Annual #2
Doctor Doom’s first appearance features a ridiculous bird for good measure.

Art Adams — A Classic, Revisited

Original Art and The Artists

Avengers # 24.Now, February 2014, Variant Cover

Art Adams pays homage to Neal Adams with this terrific Avengers variant cover from 2014.

Neal’s original Avengers (#92) cover is from 1971, and remains one of my personal favorites. In addition to loving the dramatic art and striking colors, I have a fond memory of guessing the cover’s story gimmick before I actually read the comic.

(Spoiler alert: Thor, Cap and Iron Man are actually skrulls, which we don’t find out until the next issue. Another spoiler: Writer Roy Thomas shortcuts some of the backstory of how that came to pass — blink and you might miss it. Before it’s all over though, the Avengers will find themselves in the middle of the Kree-Skrull war. But, as always, we digress.)

Art’s modern version swaps out X-Men for Avengers, and seamlessly adds additional characters as well.

2021-2022 is the 50th Anniversary of the Kree–Skrull war, so… Happy Anniversary, and Happy New Year!

Sal Buscema — Hulk (& John Byrne) On The Run

Original Art and The Artists

Incredible Hulk Annual #14, December 1985

This Hulk story — from Incredible Hulk Annual #14 — is a direct outcome of one of the oddest creative moments in Marvel Comics history. 

Why so odd? The creative teams on Alpha Flight and The Incredible Hulk did a complete switch with each other. And naturally, they did a crossover to bring readers up to speed. Also, the Secret Wars sequel is involved.

But as always, we digress.

John Byrne, who had been on Alpha Flight, commenced his (ultimately brief) run with issue #314 and this annual, simultaneously. (Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola went over to Alpha Flight.) And, as prolific as John is, even he can’t produce that many pages at once, so he enlisted art support from Sal Buscema, who penciled and inked the full double issue.

Sal Buscema on the Hulk? Always great.

Sal Buscema on everything else? Always great, too.

After a crossover — and a Secret Wars tie-in — creative teams on The Incredible Hulk and Alpha Flight fully flip-flopped, a first in comics history.

Bill Sienkiewicz — To Kirby, With Love

Original Art and The Artists

Sentry / Hulk #1, February 2001

Welcome to Day 11 of “12 Days of Hulk.“

I couldn’t imagine I’d ever see Bill Sienkiewicz create a Jack Kirby version of the Hulk, and then I ran across this odd and trippy one-shot issue featuring an unusual pairing of the Sentry and the green goliath.

And sure enough, during some flashback scenes / dream sequences, we do indeed see Bill’s Kirby-style Hulk, crackle and all.

As a bonus, on this great page, we get “traditional” Bill art along with the Kirby homage.

Definitely a keeper.

Bill combines classic and contemporary images on some beautiful pages throughout this one-shot.

Chris Giarusso — Hulk Splash!

Original Art and The Artists

Hulk-Sized Mini-Hulks #1, August 2011

Green Hulk vs. Gray Hulk?

Nope.

If you’re Chris Giarusso, cartoonist extraordinaire, it’s Green vs. Red vs… Blue?

The Hulk’s co-creator, Stan Lee, would have turned 99 years old today. He might not have ever envisioned a world of rainbow-colored Hulks, but “Hulk Splash?” That’s a gag worthy of Not Brand Ecch.

Happy Birthday Stan. Say hello to Jack and the rest of the team for us.

Dale Eaglesham — In The Savage Land

Original Art and The Artists

Incredible Hulks #624, May 2011

Welcome to Day 9 of “12 Days of Hulk.“

Here we have a savage Hulk in a… savage land. But unlike his time on “Planet Hulk”, this story takes place on Earth, literally in the “Savage Land”(hidden away in Antarctica), home to Ka-Zar and plenty of prehistoric creatures and other odd denizens.

Dale Eaglesham’s dramatic rendering of the green goliath is the title splash of the issue, despite the fact it’s the last page as well.

Remember when all Marvel Comics had a great opening splash page on page one? Me too, and call me old fashioned, but I liked that formula.

And speaking of old fashioned — once again, I think the dark, overly rendered color detracts from the detailed art, instead of enhancing it.

But maybe that’s just me.

Back here with more Hulk on Tuesday.

Kyle Hotz & Eric Powell — Joe Fixit Returns

Original Art and The Artists

Incredible Hulk #22, January 2001

Welcome to Day 8 of “12 Days of Hulk.” 

My favorite version of the Hulk the last 35 years or so?

Mr.Fixit, of course. The gang enforcer you, absolutely, positively don’t want to mess with.

That “character” pretty much disappeared when Peter David left the Hulk title, but he makes a comeback here courtesy of Paul Jenkins and the criminally (pun intended) underrated Kyle Hotz.

And Eric Powell on inks? Count me in, of course.

From our world to others… Mr Fixit was a different kind of Hulk.