Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Marvel Comics

Greg Hildebrandt — “Monsters, Girls and Rockets”

Original Art and The Artists

War of the Worlds Poster, Preliminary Concept, 2019

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

Greg Hildebrandt turned 80-years old this year, and from his creative output, enthusiasm, and energy, you would absolutely not know it. He can run circles around many creators half his age. 

Any age, actually.

Greg’s striking painted covers for Marvel Comics, and his retro-but-contemporary American Beauties pin-up series are just a few examples among the many recent works that prove the point – with an exclamation mark. One of the world’s best-known and accomplished fantasy artists continues to dazzle.

Among the many, many projects he is developing involves film posters. Greg is taking horror and SF movie classics he loves, and reimagining their posters as if he had painted them in the first place. War of the Worlds (1953) is one of those, and this piece is one rough concept (color pencils) for his painted version, date TBD.

And of course, Greg knows a few things about movie posters. He and his late brother Tim painted one of the most iconic posters in movie history — The “B” Poster for Star Wars. (Greg reimagined that poster solo last year.) More on that next month.

I had the good fortune to spend time with Greg at NYCC and Baltimore Comic Con this year and he anecdotally summed up his amazing career: 

“As an eight-year old, I loved to draw monsters, girls and rockets — and I still do.”

Sing along with Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns and Money” and swap out the words.  You may never get that earworm out of your head.

  • !953 Original Poster
  • 1954 Original Poster
  • Hildebrandt Reimagination

Footnote: Ok, so I know that the reimagining of a classic film poster is not actually original comic book art, but War of The Worlds has a solid legacy in comics ...

Footnote Extra: War of The Worlds will be forever linked with Halloween — On October 31,1938 Orson Welles broadcast a live radio dramatization, treating the HG Wells classic as a breaking news story out of New Jersey. It scared the daylights out of radio listeners, especially New York metro area residents. Fake news for real.

Greg Goldstein, Greg Hildebrandt, Bob Budiansky, Jean Scrocco at New York Comic Con

Gene Colan & Tom Palmer — Shadows and Light

Original Art and The Artists

Tomb of Dracula #54, March 1976

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

The monsters returned to Marvel in 1972. 

But this time, the giant behemoths were mostly relegated to reprint titles. Thanks to a loosening of guidelines by the dreaded Comics Code Authority, new comics featured creatures of the night like werewolves, zombies and of course, vampires.

Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula, written by Marv Wolfman (you can’t make that up) and drawn exquisitely by Gene Colan for 70 issues, is a masterpiece of that era. And, it’s not only a legendary horror series, but also one of the great comic book runs, period.

Colan, the “painter with a pencil, “ made his bones at Marvel on classic superheroes like Iron Man, Captain America, and most notably Daredevil. When Marvel expanded into the horror genre, though, no artist could have been more suited to bring life to the undead Dracula. 

The stylist who had mastered the art of shadows and light, was now illustrating the character who hid in those very same shadows.

This moody and dynamic action page is typical of the series. Tom Palmer, who inked all but a handful of early issues, is one of the few who could ink Colan without diminishing — or (ahem) burying altogether — Gene’s pencils.

Colan’s unique style can be polarizing. His fans (and I obviously count myself among them) can be passionate to a fault about Gene’s inventive and atmospheric storytelling. Gene’s singular artistic approach made no attempt to mimic the styles of Marvel’s other star artists, and that represented a challenge to some readers, especially on superhero stories.

But to us, it didn’t detract, or distract, from what Kirby, Romita and Buscema brought to the party. Hell, they were the party. Stan Lee understood from the beginning that Gene’s art would stand on its own. And we appreciated that.

It’s like being an obsessive devotee of art impressionism, and also an enthusiast of Picasso’s cubism. It’s not a contradiction to enjoy both — is it?

Eric Powell — Monster Mash

Original Art and The Artists

Marvel Monsters: Where Monsters Dwell #1, December, 2005

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

Marvel Comics has only recently fully embraced its monstrous heritage; giant creature stories that dominated its publishing line just prior to the “Marvel Age of Comics.” 

When it came to oversized behemoths (home grown or alien) terrorizing Earth’s inhabitants, no one could hold a candle to these giant-size oddballs from 1959 -1963. 

And I do mean odd: Oog, Orrgo, Ulvar, Rombu, Rorrg, Goom —and his offspring Googam (I kid you not) — are only a few of the dozens of beasts, lizards, robots, and aliens that walked the earth. (And of course, our pal Groot from Guardians Galaxy was originally a planet-wrecking alien conqueror way back in 1960.)

Obviously inspired by the pop culture of the day (Godzilla, et al) Stan Lee, along with co- creators Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Dick Ayers Larry Lieber and others, took a monster-sized football and ran with it. 

Eric Powell created all four covers for this series of modern one-shots in 2005, plus he provided interior art for the Devil Dinosaur issue. I’ve shared my thoughts about Eric previously. The creator of the Goon is a terrific talent, and his art style blends reverence and satire perfectly on these covers.

The Where Monsters Dwell issue specifically features three main characters: Bombu, Monstrollo and Manoo. The covers of their original appearances, along with Eric’s three other covers, are shown below.

Lee Weeks — FOOM!

Original Art and The Artists

Incredible Hulk #78, April 2005

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

Lee Weeks drawing the Incredible Hulk? Excellent.

Lee Weeks drawing a Hulk splash in which our hero is about to be clobbered by Lee and Kirby’s Fin Fang Foom? Feels like a must-have page.

Weeks… Hulk…Fin Fang Foom… Monster Island. Not much more to add here about this cool and surreal page.  It’s from the Peter David multi–issue story “Tempest Fugit”, that seems very influenced by the “Lost” television show, which was then in its first season. 

This story arc, marking David’s return to the character, definitely has some detractors (spoiler alert — it’s essentially a dream story) but Weeks art, with inks by the amazing Tom Palmer, definitely transcends whatever story issues might exist.

Fin Fang Foom, one of the many great giant creatures created at the dawn of the silver age, appeared just shortly after the birth of Fantastic Four #1, whose debut would ironically herald the end of the age of Marvel Monsters.

He resurfaces from time to time — including a one-shot with the Hulk shortly after this story — but his appearances are too infrequent for my own taste. 

Fun fact: His surname became the name of the Marvel -run fan club magazine in the 70s. Friends of ‘Ol Marvel indeed!

Weeks signing at Baltimore Comic-Con, (yesterday), October 18, 2019

Michael Lark — The Kitchen Gets Cool

Original Art and The Artists

Daredevil #100, October 2007

New York Comic Con takes place this week at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, located right at the southwest end of Hell’s Kitchen. 

For non-New Yorkers who only know the neighborhood as grimly depicted in Daredevil (comics or the Netflix TV series) I will break it to you gently. Hell’s Kitchen ain’t what it used to be.

Sure, when I was a kid in the ‘70s, even the ‘80s, it was rough. Just walking the eight grimy blocks from Penn Station to Port Authority on the main avenue was a scary adventure. Among other lovely sights, I once witnessed an entire squad of police, in full tactical gear, clear out a tenement of drug addicts and dealers. It was not a peaceful bust. (Wish we had smartphones in those days.) I definitely received an unintended education in that part of town.

But now? Just like nearby Times Square, the neighborhood has been gentrified and scrubbed over time. That block where I saw the drug building invaded back in the day? You can find a really good hipster cookie shop there now.

And with the completion of a nearby subway extension a few years ago, real estate development is on fire. Hell’s Kitchen is — wait for it — a hot part of town. 

This cool photo-realistic Daredevil page — sans Daredevil — from artist Michael Lark, isn’t that old. An artist’s rendition that’s definitely based on historic reputation rather than current reality, and a piece of art that I enjoy without any misguided nostalgia for a once crime-infested community. Maybe Daredevil needs to move to a tougher neighborhood.

Me? I’m going to walk each day to Javits during the convention. And probably stop along the way to grab a cookie.

Steve Rude — Card Tricks

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. 

Too many Mysterios — or too much Spider-Man. Either way, Spidey is in a jam. This great panel by John Romita from ASM # 67 is a classic.

Scott Koblish — Ditko Forever!

Original Art and The Artists

Spider-Man/Deadpool #7, September 2016

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

Scott Koblish as a person?: Engaging. Upbeat. Energetic. Witty. Et al.

Koblish as an artist?: Engaging. Upbeat. Energetic. Witty. Et al.

Rarely does a creator’s artistic style so match his personality. Hell, there are great cartoonists, past and present, with lively and bright art aesthetics, who are darker personally than Van Gogh on a bad day. (No I will not be naming names. That’s what the rest of the Internet is for.)

Scott’s mostly zany artistic approach to Deadpool is perfectly on point for the character. (And that’s not taking anything away from Ed McGuinness, a fantastic artist whose work I absolutely love — or any other Deadpool illustrator for that matter.) 

In this “flashback” issue of Spider-Man/Deadpool, Scott draws the entire issue in classic “Steve Ditko” style. It’s clearly done with affection and reverence, and the finished issue, complete with simulated old-school coloring, “bad” printing (out-of register) and aged paper, is old-school fun.

How “classic” is the art style here, you ask? Review the middle panel on this page.  It is most definitely… Classic Ditko! (In fairness, the rest of the issue features more original Ditko interpretations as well. Koblish was clearly having a bit of extra fun here.)

And what’s the difference between comedy and tragedy? Check out Scott’s book, The Many Deaths of Scott Koblish, and decide. 

Alex Saviuk — Meta Mysterio

Original Art and The Artists

Spider-Man Adventures #5, Unused Cover, April 1995

Spider-Man: Far From Home landed on digital streaming platforms this week, so the next few posts feature — who else? — Spider-Man and Mysterio.

Spider-Man Adventures, a ‘90s comic book title, existed mainly to support Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which ran on Fox Kids from 1994 – 1998. In fact, the first thirteen issues of the comics are direct adaptations of the first-season episodes.

The episodes themselves are adapted (albeit loosely in some cases) from original Spider-Man comic books.

So…

Issue #5, featuring Mysterio, is an adaptation of Episode #5 of the TV series, which in turn, is adapted from Mysterio’s very first comic book appearance — by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko — in Amazing Spider-Man #13. (1964).

A comic book adaptation…. of a TV show adaptation… of a comic book story.  That trick definitely trumps anything up Mysterio’s sleeve.

Alex tells me that his original cover was rejected because the editors wanted more emphasis on Mysterio —and for the character to be more “dramatic and menacing,” and I think he delivered. (See below.) Still, I like Alex’s original take, especially with that iconic Spidey image.

Alex’s creative spin on the wall-crawler has lasted more than 30 years.  He drew the Web of Spider-Man comic book for seven years, and then the full Spider-Man Adventures run, and then the Spidey newspaper strip from 1997 to its end earlier this year.

Nothing mysterious about that longevity — Alex’s passion for, and understanding of, the Spider-Man character is obvious anytime he puts pencil to paper.

  • Fan art of a Far From Home Poster that looks a LOT like the unpublished cover. 
    It appears Alex was well ahead of his time.

Dan Parent — Battle Of The Century, Revisited

Original Art and The Artists

Betty vs. Veronica, Commission, 2015

Wrapping up our multi-part tribute to The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, in honor of the late summer weather at the California coast.

From time to time, an offbeat Archie mash-up idea burrows its way into my consciousness, and Dan Parent always delivers.  In fact, this homage to the original battle scene by the legendary Bill Everett is one of my favorites among the many terrific ones Dan’s produced.

Dan is easily among the top tier of all-time Archie stand-out talents, joining a terrific group of cartoonists that includes Bob Montana, Dan DeCarlo and Harry Lucey, to name a few.

Incidentally, we matched the characters by overall appearance (Veronica/Namor, brunette and Betty/Torch, blonde) and, to some extent, personality. After all, Veronica is definitely the worse-tempered of the two, and Betty… does indeed carry a “torch” for Archie.

Ouch.

Mike Deodato — Regal Portrait

Original Art and The Artists

Sub-Mariner Commission, Unknown Date

Our weeklong tribute to The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner continues, in honor of the late summer weather at the California coast.

“Cover-quality” is an overused adjective in the comic art-retailing world.

Typically it appears when a reseller is trying to grab attention on an unpublished commission for sale: “Gee, look, isn’t this as good as a published cover?”

Why do this? The short answer of course is marketing. Hyperbole (theoretically) helps support a higher asking price. Also, it adds the word “cover” to the item description’s metadata, meaning it appears in any on-line search for that word. Clever.

Here, however, “cover-quality” is no exaggeration for this richly detailed Sub-Mariner commission by Mike Deodato — a moody portrait of Prince Namor with the only human he truly pines for, the lovely Sue (Invisible Woman) Storm. Hell, it’s better than many published covers.

Who hasn’t marveled (sorry) at the evolution of Deodato’s artistic style? When he broke in professionally about 25 years ago, Mike’s art approach was much more similar to the  “Image Comics” style of the day. Today, his storytelling blends similar dynamism with an often astonishing photo-realism into an accomplished, and enviable, form.

One previous owner of this piece did in fact describe it as an actual published cover, without evidence. But… so many retailer variants and limited exclusive covers have been published the last few years, anything is possible. I’m aware of multiple instances where a piece of art was indeed assigned — and executed — for a cover variant, but then cancelled last minute.

So… if anyone can provide evidence that this art was indeed professionally published. or solicited to be published, somewhere — anywhere — you will have my thanks, and a piece of original art as a finder’s fee.

I found a number of color versions online, adding a bit to more mystery to the provenance of the piece, but they appear to be samples by aspiring colorists.