It’s a Red Hulk / Green Hulk Walter Simonson-themed Christmas, and Green Hulk takes his turn.
Green Hulk takes out his frustration on one of the Metal Master’s lethal robots in this action-filled story, pencilled by Walter Simonson with inks and wash-tones by Alfredo Alcala.
Original art for stories from black and white magazine titles often has more depth, because tonal quality was necessary to make the art pop without color printing. Alcala was one of the best of the artists working regularly in this medium.
Word balloons on many of the Marvel Magazines were done on tissue overlays, hence the “word-free” artwork. But a good action page, like a well directed fight scene in a film, should be void of most speaking parts anyway. (Even as a young reader, I disliked inner monologue masquerading as outer dialogue.)
Who has the breath to talk during a fight? (I know, they’re super-powered beings. But still…)
It’s a Red Hulk / Green Hulk Walter Simonson-themed Christmas, with Red Hulk stepping up first.
Red Hulk appears very angry — that’s no way to behave during the Holiday Season! — in this marvelous double page spread by Walter Simonson.
The notorious deadline crunch has come calling — this is blue-line inked original art (the pencils exist separately) with inks by the talented Scott Hanna, who embellishes Walter’s pencils pretty faithfully on this spread.
Walter of course does not part with pages that he both pencils and inks, which means this is one of only a few scenarios where one can own a Simonson published page.
And even though his actual pencils never touched the paper, its a great Simonson example to have. Storytelling on a DPS can often be tricky, but Walter develops this one with a combination of clarity and creativity. (Note the panel size variety and “camera angles.” )
As for Red Hulk? Nothing good usually comes from picking a fight with the X-Men, no matter what the time of year.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, no matter which Hulk you identify with.
Howard Chaykin returns to Star Wars with an imposing cover of Darth Vader in 2015. You don’t want to mess with this version of Vader, even if you’re on his side.
Howard Chaykin. Star Wars. This might be a greater conflict than the empire vs. the rebellion.
I don’t need to repeat Howard’s many on the record comments about his original artwork on the series (Marvel’s 1977 issues #1-#10, which includes the six-part adaptation of the original film.) You can see more for yourself here, here or here.
Suffice to say, he doesn’t like it. (Reading anything Howard says about his own work — or others, or anything, for that matter — is always highly entertaining, so I recommend taking a deeper dive.)
Objectively, Star Wars is of course, not his best work — not even close. It’s not even as good as his other early comics. He drew three issues (and wrote one) of Marvel Premiere just prior to Star Wars that are excellent, especially for the period. (Howard is generally self-critical of all his earliest work, so I bet he won’t agree. But I digress.)
Licensed comics are always a challenge, especially with limited reference and insane deadlines. That said, given these constraints, and many others, I think his Star Wars art, especially on the first issue, is definitely better than much of what was coming from the big two companies at the time. But, ultimately, not so great on the Chaykin Curve. (A new scientific term coined especially for this post.)
Just a few years later (1982) he created the astonishing American Flagg. Groundbreaking, although often overused, barely does that series justice. (Much more on that in a future post). Based on Flagg alone, Mark Chiarello DC’s long-time Art Director has described Chaykin as one of the architects of the modern comic book.
Unfortunately, Flagg was published by a smallish independent publisher, which means that few casual readers ever saw it. Although knowledgeable long-time fans are well aware of the series, it doesn’t have the legacy it deserves.
Star Wars? Reprinted about a zillion times, in more formats than I can count. And I am one of the guilty parties here, publishing the Star Wars Artifact Edition (IDW), showcasing the original art — in its original (11×17) size.
Shortly after Flagg, Chaykin went on to other fascinating projects, geared for older readers. Times Squared. Blackhawk. The Shadow. Black Kiss. Etc. Ultimately, after a long stint in Television, he returned with other series that reflected his interests and passions. Mighty Love (feels like a television show and was apparently originally developed for that medium) and City of Tomorrow are two personal favorites. He’s currently working on Hey Kids! Comics!, a fascinating fictionalized look at the drama, jealousy and scandals in the history of comic book business itself.
His innovative and realistic storytelling is complex, violent, sexual, and political. He left space operas behind a lifetime ago.
So if you were a kid when you saw Star Wars, loved Star Wars, and only had the Star Wars comics to read over and over again, because there was no home video, I get it, you love those comics.
I think that’s cool. Even Howard is probably ok with you remembering those comics through the warm glow of childhood nostalgia.
But if you’re an adult? Just don’t remember HIM for them.
That’s like remembering Nolan Ryan only for his one World Series appearance for the 1969 “Amazing” Mets. You’ve missed the point.
Chaykin’s first Star Wars art was a promo poster available at SDCC 1976 for a buck, followed by Star Wars #1 in Spring 1977. Howard revisited the Star Wars saga for Star Wars Insider in 2010 with a similar composition to the originals, incorporating iconic imagery from Empire Strikes Back to celebrate its 30th anniversary .
Chaykin’s art from the same early period includes his own Monark Starstalker, and two Solomon Kane (Robert E. Howard) stories co-written by Roy Thomas.
At first glance, Russ Manning’s clean art style is an
unusual choice for Star Wars. The saga (the original film specifically) is a
bit rough around the edges, with scorch marks, dusty landscapes, dirty
uniforms, and beat-up droids.
Manning, best know for his beautiful art on Tarzan and
Magnus Robot Fighter, is anything but.
His work is crisp and polished. Magnus lives on Earth 4000 AD, a world populated by handsome men and gorgeous woman inhabiting a shiny futuristic city. The battle against the sentient robots? Terminator this is definitely not.
But, Russ’ imagination and enjoyment for Star Wars is obvious on these strips.
Even if the stories themselves, like those in Marvel comics,
were often “B” level because they weren’t permitted to do very much with actual
film-related plots, his storytelling and renderings provided more than enough visual
interest to keep the strips engaging.
This specific example, which features most of the Star Wars main cast, comes at the conclusion of Russ’ penultimate story. He died of cancer too young at 52, a few months after this strip was published.
Had he lived, I’m certain he would have come back to Star
Wars at some point.
After all, he created a city-covered planet, very much like Coruscant, years before George Lucas did. In fact, when Magnus debuted, George Lucas was still a teen who, among other interests, had a passion for comic book art.
Wait a minute… (*)
Dark Horse colored and reprinted the strips as comic books in the Classics series. Marvel has since reprinted those versions as well.
A little bit of Manning’s love for Tarzan appears in a Star Wars Sunday strip.
The entire run of Manning’s Star Wars strips (and AL Williamson’s as well) have been reprinted in the Library of American Comics line, published by IDW.
Russ Manning referred to Magnus Robot Fighter as his Tarzan of the future.
*Ok, Lucas (definitively) and Manning (likely) were influenced by Fritz Lang’s ground-breaking film Metropolis, and this is just a fun coincidence. But still.
Mike Mayhew cleverly envisions Lando Calrissian’s ’s microsecond moment of glory in the Empire Strikes Back — interrupted by Vader and company.
Lucasfilm has not always encouraged more whimsical interpretations
of its characters and storylines, so it was good to see this one approved to
print.
Mike had submitted a few ideas (see below) for this variant cover and this one received the green light.
And Mike was kind enough to thank me for reminding him to
file and back-up everything in his archive so that when art obsessives like
myself come along, he has digital copies of the roughs and pencils to provide.
You’d be surprised at how much comic art material will never see the publishing
light of day again because no can find the files or scans.
Happily, here we can see the progression from thumbnail to
sketch to pencils to finals, etc.
As for Lando? (Billy Dee Williams, a spry 82-years old.) I’m
happy that he gets to make one final appearance in the Star Wars saga. But if
he’s there just to make some grand sacrifice, I will be annoyed. (Ditto for
Chewie. And the Falcon, too, for that matter.)
I think we’ve had enough of that.
The production process: Concepts, sketches, pencils, colors and finally, the published copy, signed by Mr. Mayhew for good measure.
Lush brushwork. Clear storytelling. Impeccable detail. Accurate anatomy and likenesses. Al Williamson’s page from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi adaption speaks volumes about realizing potential in adapting other mediums to comics.
George Lucas had the power to choose the artist to draw the Marvel
Empire Strikes Back adaption and he had the good sense to choose Al Williamson.
Al’s gorgeous art on classic EC science Fiction stories as
well as Flash Gordon had clearly made an impression.
Fortunately for us, Williamson agreed to also illustrate the
Star Wars newspaper strip (after Russ Manning’s untimely passing), and he
ultimately came back for Return of the Jedi adaption as well.
On all three projects — plus a handful of stories in the
regular comics — Al delivered. It’s some of his finest work.
Williamson kept much of his Star Wars related art, and his estate now owns it. Nearly all the originals that have come on the market are those once owned by his assistants or inkers.
This great page from ROTJ has a more interesting provenance. Superstar inker Mike Royer received it from Al (see inscription) shortly after publication. It remained in his collection for many years.
So it’s not only a great piece of original art, it has a
great story behind it as well.
And it’s a cornerstone of my collection.
The complete adaptation was printed all at once in a Marvel special magazine — it appeared in Direct Market stores a few weeks prior to the film’s release. Imagine if that happened in 2019. Covers for the magazine and the comics by Bill Sienkiewicz.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in two short weeks, and the Star Wars Skywalker trilogy of trilogies (I can’t bring myself to call it a ennealogy) will apparently conclude, 42 years after it began.
In honor, the next two weeks of posts will feature original art from Star Wars, showcasing one or more of the “original trilogy” characters.
James Robinson and Tony Harris (Starman) reunite for a one-shot C-3PO story that explains the droid’s red arm in The Force Awakens.
Their Starman run was one of the great comic book series of the late 20thcentury and it was nice to see them back together, even if only for a one-shot. And a pretty good one at that — a surprisingly moving tale about droid sacrifice.
The story is packed with eccentric droids in tight spots, and this splash is perhaps the best page in the book — a full image of C-3PO rendered with delightful and quirky detail by the talented Mr. Harris. He painted the striking “A” cover as well.
I love the final coloring, also by Harris, but as is often true, the art is especially striking in glorious black and white.
May the force… Well, you know.
A knockout wraparound cover from the hardcover collections of Starman Robinson and Harris stories.
Our celebration of Marvel’s 80thAnniversary concludes with the publisher’s most iconic character in one of his classic stories.
The lead story in the original Amazing Spider-Man # 1(1963) finally gets its own terrific cover more than 50 years later, thanks to this unique reprint series published in 2006.
News America created The Spider-Man Collectible Series as weekly promotional supplements to Sunday newspapers. Each issue was printed on newsprint and contains half an issue of a classic Lee and Ditko Spider-Man comic, published in original order. Only 24 issues were produced, suggesting the series did not succeed as well as envisioned.
Since each original Spidey comic was split in half, every other issue of the supplements required brand new covers, depicting classic stories. For the most part, the covers are as dynamic as this one — if I could find them, I would attempt to acquire as many as possible.
Ron Frenz is a great visual storyteller (definitely influenced by classic Marvel artists), and Sal Buscema’s inks are always spot-on. (For more than 50 years!) I consistently enjoy their team-ups.
As for this Spider-Man story itself? It’s a classic that sets up storylines and characterizations for years, as Spidey saves J Jonah Jameson’s astronaut son — only to be blamed for sabotaging the rocket in the first place.
It’s a story I heard dramatized over and over again as a kid, because I was somewhat obsessed with the Golden Record recording of that classic issue. (See below).
And of course, it makes sense that the “back-up” story featuring the Fantastic Four is the original cover of Amazing Spider-Man #1 and all other subsequent reprints. Although the original published cover blurb has made me wonder if the astronaut story was actually intended as the cover and pulled. Why call out the cover story as an “extra attraction” if that’s the story we can already see? Hmmm.
Although the Fantastic Four make a great marketing hook, the lead story in issue #1 is actually the rocket rescue, and includes a re-cap of Spidey’s origin for those who missed or didn’t remember Amazing Fantasy #15No good deed goes unpunished…and becomes the defining thread in Spidey stories.
Golden Records produced four “book and record” combos of classic stories in 1966 during the first Marvel Merchandising craze. Each of the four (Thor, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Spidey contained a straight reprint of the associated comic, minus only the cover price.
Above — Some of the newly created covers for classic Spider-Man stories.
Continuing our ongoing celebration of Marvel’s 80thAnniversary.
Tony Stark is forced to relive The Hulk’s origin — and his own potential culpability in the fateful gamma blast — in Original Sin, a clever 2014 crossover event by Mark Waid that introduces some new retcon elements into the Marvel Universe.
Re-imagining a classic scene is an interesting challenge for an artist, and Mark Bagley delivers on Bruce Banner’s transformation with inventive (and concise) storytelling and solid draftsmanship. Andrew Hennessy’s inking on Bagley’s pencils adds some nice polish.
The basics of Hulk’s origin haven’t changed much in the nearly 60 years of his existence, but the nuances have been modified many times. In the early days of the Silver and Bronze ages, a number of artists did different takes, as evidenced below.
Where did I first see the Hulk’s origin? On TV, of course, in the 1966 Marvel Super-Heroes Cartoons. (Courtesy of Jack Kirby’s art.)
Sing along to the theme song if you will:
(Lyrics by Jacques Urbont)
Doc Bruce Banner, Belted by gamma rays, Turned into the Hulk.
Ain’t he unglamor-ous!
Wreckin’ the town With the power of a bull,
Ain’t no monster clown Who is as lovable.
As ever-lovin’ Hulk! HULK!! HULK!!
The original “long-form” origin (Hulk is gray) by Jack Kirby first appeared in Hulk #1.
In Hulk #3, Kirby redraws the origin (as a flashback) in a succinct three pages — and retcons the Hulk into his green form. (This origin also appears as the lead story in Hulk Special #2.)
Origin revisited: Hulk #102 (1968) by Marie Severin and Rampaging Hulk #1(1977) by Walter Simonson and Alfredo AlcalaAdvertising material for the 1966 Marvel Super-Heroes Cartoon
Continuing our ongoing celebration of Marvel’s 80thAnniversary.
Sal Buscema and Joe Sinnott deliver an iconic (and terrific) image of the Human Torch in this celebratory opening splash page.
Celebratory in that the Fantastic Four had just gone through a quirky period editorially where they were essentially “broken-up”, and they have reunited in FF #200, on-sale at the same time.
At this point in the run, Joe Sinnott, acknowledged as one of the all-time greats, is pretty much the only consistent through line in the FF — the series was rapidly going through a number of mix and match creative teams. In a three-year period, Joe inks pencillers Sal Buscema, John Buscema, Keith Pollard, Rich Buckler, Ron Wilson, and of course George Perez, who does some of his best known work in this era. (Shortly after this issue is published, Joe adds John Byrne and Bill Sienkiewicz to this mélange.)
Sinnott’s credits, including this one, are often categorized as “finishes” during this timeframe, as many of the pencillers are providing breakdowns only. Doesn’t help enough with the schedule though, as a number of issues are reprints and fill-ins. Marvel, as others have noted, was going through some difficult times. The Fantastic Four themselves wouldn’t truly find their full footing again until a few years later, when Byrne fully takes over writing and art chores.
As for Joe and Sal? With the end of the Spider-Man newspaper strip this year, Joe officially retired from inking … at age 92. Sal (age 83) “retired” in 2000, but continues to be coaxed into working — sometimes by my former colleagues — to this day.
“Flame on!”
So many interpretations of the Human Torch, so little time.
In his earliest appearances, Johnny Storm, the Silver Age Human Torch looked a bit more like the Golden Age version (more flame, less body definition) ultimately evolving to his more familiar form. Meanwhile, the Golden Age Torch, who (with the help of some of clever retconning) eventually makes a comeback in the modern era, appears to look more like the silver age version.
Above: The first appearance of the Silver Age Torch, Johnny Storm, in Fantastic Four #1 (1961) followed shortly thereafter by his first solo outing in Strange Tales #101 (1962) and ultimately followed by a clash with the “original” Torch in FF Annual #4 (1966). The Golden Age Torch returns in Avengers #133- #135 (1975), and revives yet again to join the West Coast Avengers during John Byrne’s run. (Avengers West Coast #50, 1989)
