We can’t let 2023 fade into the memory books without at least some tribute to the 60th Anniversary of the X-Men.
Neal Adams drew nine issues of the X-Men. John Byrne drew four times as many. I love John Byrne art, but the prices of his pages are — how do we say? — a bit out of whack when compared to the scarcity of Adams.
Oh, and this is a great one from his run, with superb inks by the legendary Tom Palmer. (Despite the disappointing quality of the scan.)
30 years ago, I had the good sense to snap this fantastic photo of Jack Kirby and Gil Kane at the 1993 San Diego Comic-Con. (Jaunty Jim Salicrup, the Topps Comics EIC, is the happy fella in the middle.)
Fantastic, but, as it turned out, bittersweet: This was the final time these two legends had a chance to greet each other. (Jack passed away the following winter.) I’m not sure they were both scheduled at the Topps booth at the same time, so it may have been a very happy coincidence.
I’ve discussed Topps Comics (and trading cards) numerous times in previous posts — it was a wild ride with many great moments. This was one of my favorites.
And did I say good sense? Hardly. If I did, I would have handed off the disposable camera to someone else and jumped in the photo as well.
Kane and Kirby both delivered for Topps; we launched the “Kirbyverse” with unused and under-utilized concepts from Jack’s files, and Gil Kane drew the Jurassic Park adaptation and prequel. And both provided art for our massive Star Wars Galaxy series, which featured more than 400 cards — with art from nearly that many individual creators.
Spider-Man and Sub-Mariner need a few pages of bantering and brawling in this early issue of Marvel Team-Up before they figure out that they left on friendly terms just two years prior. But that’s often the classic (sometimes cliché) formula. Characters meet, fight, and then figure out who the real enemy is and join forces to stop them. (In this case Tiger Shark and — I kid you not — the Aquanoids.)
Gil Kane provides, as always, dynamic and dramatic pencils and composition — although finding regular inkers for him on this series seems challenging. Here the enigmatic Wayne Howard takes a stab at Gil’s unique styling with mixed effects throughout the issue. (Although I like the results on this specific page.)
Great cover too, with inks by Frank Giacoia. (Although the Marvel trade dress is out of control with not much room for the main imagery.)
For more on the first Sub-Mariner / Spider-Man crossover, see this fun article below:
Ten years ago, I purchased this terrific Avengers double page spread by Walter Simonson and Scott Hanna from Scott’s art representative at New York Comic-Con. Scott was at the convention, but I never managed to track him down. Walter was there, so he signed it before I returned to California, but since it was inks over blue-line printed pencils, it definitely needed Scott’s signature as well.
Problem was, I kept forgetting about it during my convention travels.
Finally, coming out of the pandemic two years ago, I see that Scott will be at Baltimore Comic-Con, so I pack it up, fly back East and… he needs to cancel. That’s not on him — a lot of creators cancelled in 2021, many because Covid had started raging again and travel stunk.
Flash forward to a few weeks ago, he’s an announced guest at BCC, so I bring it again, and voila, I catch up to him. Signature acquired.
And as a bonus, when I remind Walter about the piece, writer Brian Bendis happens to stop by, so I end up with a cool bonus signature as well. (He was genuinely delighted to see the original art — writers often don’t see the originals before they make their way back to the artists and/or disappear into the collectors’ market.)
If you’re counting, that’s 12,500 miles of travel for that piece of art.
I should have signed it up for a frequent flyer account.
It was my turn to chat with Comic Art Fans (CAF) moderator Bill Cox this past Tuesday. We ended up talking about lots of interesting comic book publishing history… plus some great art. You can watch it directly through the link below:
And speaking of comic book history…
In celebration of 50 years of the creation of the comic book specialty distribution market, Milton Griepp of ICV2 is featuring a series of interviews with early “pioneers” in the business. The day before this past SDCC, my interview (video and print) appeared. If you’ve got some down time (Ok, if you’re bored with pretty much everything else on-line at the moment), please join me down the rabbit hole.
Good timing on the publication of the interviews; I am personally celebrating 40 years of professional contributions to the popular entertainment arts (Topps, IDW Publishing, Activision, et al) in one media format or another.
Teenage Greg (photo is October 1975, at Phil Seuling’s monthly Comic Book Marketplace show in New York City) would be very amused, if not startled.
John Cassaday’s great art from Captain America seems like a good way to celebrate Independence Day.
And that makes me Captain Obvious, so that’s all I have to say about that.
Have a great 4th of July! (And if you see me, yes I will be wearing My Captain America shield shirt.)
I don’t know if this is an apocryphal quote or not from Captain America’s co-creator, and don’t much care, because from what I know about Jack he certainly could have said it. Like they say: “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #24, December 1984
After the debacle that called itself Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, I hoped they would put the franchise to rest.
Too much money involved, so no such luck.
That said, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny LOOKS better the last one – at least from the trailers— and hell, he punches some Nazis, so there’s that.
And THAT Said, Raiders of The Lost Ark remains one of my favorite films off all time, and no terrible sequel (or, Heaven forbid, two) will take that away from me.
Meanwhile — Here’s a nice page from Marvel’s original series with story and art by Herb Trimpe, finishes by Danny Bulanadi.
On a warm sunny day in NYC, my friends and I restlessly stood on a movie theater line, a line like many others that day, that wrapped around the proverbial city block. But did it matter that much? We had waited three years for this. What’s another three hours? (For the record, the theater, now gone, was the Loew’s 34th Street Showplace, near Second Ave.)
Return of the Jedi was opening that day, and we figured the Star Wars saga would reach its dramatic — and inevitable — conclusion. End of the story. (How naïve — but we were young and foolish.)
Somehow, I had the discipline and willpower to avoid opening Marvel’s ROTJ magazine adaptation which I owned for about two weeks prior to the film’s release date. (I did not have that same willpower three years prior for ESB, but that’s a story for another day.)
An original piece of art from that graphic novel adaptation, by the legendary Al Williamson, is a prized possession. Here’s my original 2019 post about the art:
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, but it also has a great story behind it as well.
And it’s a cornerstone of my collection.
Yes, we waited in line. (That’s me, Star Wars sartorial in a bootleg “REVENGE” of the Jedi t-shirt.) I have a feeling the line on the other side of town was more interesting.
“We are considering turning the universe inside out.”
Jim Starlin delivers a classic and trippy page from his Infinite (figuratively, and sometimes literally) cosmic series featuring Adam Warlock, Gamora, Thanos, et al.
Starlin. Cosmic. Trippy. Nuff said.
Well, almost…
If you told me when I was a kid that we’d have Warlock Happy Meal toys someday, I would have called the drug overdose hotline on your behalf. Trippy indeed.
Marvel Value Stamps: A Visual History, by Roy Thomas, 2023
Marvel Value Stamps: A Visual History took me by surprise as one of the most intriguing books on the history of comics publishing this year.
I never clipped out the 1970s stamps; I was savvy about collectible value at that point, and I certainly didn’t have the budget or inclination to buy two copies of every comic, especially titles I would have never collected in the first place. (Just for the record — A few years earlier, I had made a DIY scrapbook of Marvel covers by cutting up the house ads for new issues. So, I wasn’t always “savvy.”)
The book offers a comprehensive history of the program’s evolution, which originated from a similar gimmick in the UK. Roy Thomas, the author, walks us through Stan Lee’s “seat-of-the-pants “approach to developing and executing the program, which was typical of Marvel.
For me, the book’s most compelling aspect is how it focuses on art and its transformation and re-purposing. The book is detailed and captivating, presenting the original source art for each stamp alongside the full letters page, which is where the published stamp appeared.
On some of my favorite pages, we see art for the original covers as well as the altered reprints.
My only quibble? I wish the trim size was the same as an actual comic book. (It’s smaller.) Makes it hard on the eyes in places, especially the letters pages. And let’s face it: The prime audience for this title is well into the reading glasses phase.
Priced at $29.95, the book itself is a bargain, regardless of whether you collected the stamps – or not.
