Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Marvel Comics

Herb Trimpe & John Severin — Love Lost

Original Art and The Artists

Incredible Hulk #154, August 1972

Here Trimpe & John Severin Marvel Comics Hulk Original Art From The Collection Of Greg Goldstein

Herb Trimpe, inked by John Severin. 

Perfect Hulk art team on a pretty perfect Incredible Hulk page. 

Ol’ greenskin knows that somewhere in Hank Pym’s laboratory — and Bruce Banner’s brain — hides the secret to shrinking back down to the microverse. 

Why is this so important? I’m glad you asked. Our poor Hulk is lovesick and desperate to reunite with his beautiful Jarella.

Hulk in very panel: Raging, smashing, and blinded by love — and the self-awareness that he doesn’t retain enough of Banner’s smarts to work through it.

As noted, pretty perfect.

Wally Wood — Astonishing, As Always

Original Art and The Artists

Astonishing Tales #4, February 1971

Wally Wood Marvel Comics Doctor Doom Original Art From The Collection Of Greg Goldstein

Wally Wood drew four short Doctor Doom stories in Astonishing Tales. This page, from the fourth and final story is, like all of them, a Wood classic.

And yes, that’s the Red Skull lurking in the last panel. After all, what use is a super-villain story without another, even more twisted super-villain as the antagonist?

This would turn out to be Wood’s final output for Marvel Comics.

Took me a long time to pull the trigger on the “right” deal for one of these, and I’m glad to have finally acquired one.

John Buscema — Man On Fire

Original Art and The Artists

Sub-Mariner #3, June 1968

Sub-Mariner Original Art By John Buscema from the collection of Greg Goldstein

Five straight weeks in the Spring of 1968. Five comic book issues drawn by the legendary John Buscema:

Sub-Mariner #3

Avengers #53

Sub-Mariner #4

Avengers #54

Silver Surfer #1 (38 pages)

Gems. Every single one. (And yes, I might be biased, because these comics are from my newsstand-era sweet spot — 1967-1973 — but I’m not wrong.) My guess is that only Jack Kirby ever had an achievement similar, or greater.

This Sub-Mariner page featuring Namor and Triton is the best Buscema superhero page I’ve ever owned, and unless an amazing opportunity comes my way, will likely remain that way. 

Dynamic inks from one of John’s favorite inkers, Frank Giacoia.

All action. 

Just terrific.

Sub-Mariner #3 Original Art Page From the Collection of Greg Goldstein

Scott Koblish — Kitty Pryde, The Sequel

Original Art and The Artists

Wolverine First Class #15, July 2009

Finishing our mini-celebration of the X-Men’s 60th anniversary.

Here’s a fun page from X-Men First Class, featuring, as part of the story, Kitty a bit out of sorts in an underground drainage system. It’s here she learns the secret of Doc Blake’s cane and his transformation abilities into — well — the last panel tips us off, doesn’t it? (Of course, the cover was a giveaway, too.)

Clear and interesting storytelling, and a wonderful use of shadows and light, make this an exceptionally compelling page. (Once again, although the published page is fine, the original looks much better in black and white.)

David Williams — Wolverine: Terrifying To Foes — & Friends

Original Art and The Artists

Wolverine First Class #13, May 2009

Continuing a mini-celebration of the X-Men’s 60th anniversary.

Here’s a perfect (or as perfect gets) Wolverine cover by underrated artist David Williams. It features a pissed off Wolverine (actually, that might be redundant) and a shocked and terrified Kitty Pryde dynamically heading into — or out of — trouble.

Great background detail (nicely adapted from from photo reference) provides extra depth and interest while still setting off the foreground. Overall, a very nice use of shadows and light. (The digital coloring on the published cover handles it less effectively.)

And cliche’s are cliche’s for a reason: Every time I examine the expression on Kitty’s Face I do indeed think one picture is worth a thousand words.

Chris Bachalo — Wolverine Is No Second Fiddle

Original Art and The Artists

Amazing Spider-Man #555, June 2008

Continuing a mini-celebration of the X-Men’s 60th anniversary.

Spider-Man and Wolverine. Team-up or rivalry? Peanut butter and chocolate — or Coke vs. Pepsi?

Doesn’t really matter.  Two of Marvel’s most famous icons in one story typically means chaos and fun, especially when a talented artist like Chris Bachalo takes charge.

Bonus points for snow, at least for me. Issues #47- #49 of Amazing Spider-man were the earliest issues I read, and yep, Spidey must ultimately deal with snow. Not to mention the flu. Oh, and he gets his butt whipped by a different kind of dynamic duo: Kraven the Hunter and The Vulture. 

Good Stuff.

Sam Kieth — Hulk & Wolverine, Endless Rematch

Original Art and The Artists

Wolverine / Hulk #1, April 2002

Continuing a mini-celebration of the X-Men’s 60th anniversary.

Sam Kieth on a Wolverine Hulk mini-series? Seems like a no-brainer. And this page? Terrific.

But… you know what IS puzzling to me? The cover art to issue #1, which screams to me: “This stinks, let’s see if they buy it anyway.” *

Your mileage may vary.

(*The TPB cover, on the other hand, is fantastic.)

Walter Simonson — X-Men, Redux

Original Art and The Artists

X-Factor #14, March, 1986

Continuing a mini-celebration of the X-Men’s 60th anniversary.

What’s so great about this issue of X-Factor?:

Walter Simonson.

Classic X-Men characters.

Sentinels.

Story by Louise Simonson.

Terrific inks by Bob Wiacek.

Did I mention Walter Simonson?

You get the picture. I overpaid (really overpaid, I think) for this page in an auction bidding frenzy during the pandemic — you can look it up — but I love it, so it’s a win. It’s not going anywhere, unless, in all unlikelihood, I find a better page out in the wild.

Neal Adams — X-Men, Forever

Original Art and The Artists

The X-Men #61, October 1969

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.)

Jack Kirby & Gil Kane — Titans, Together

Original Art and The Artists

San Diego Comic-Con, July 1993

Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Jim Salicrup at the Topps booth, 1993 San Diego Comic-Con. Photo by Greg Goldstein

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.