Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Marvel Comics

Terry & Rachel Dodson — Underwater

Original Art and The Artists

Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10, March 2005

Terry and Rachel Dodson provide the art for this dramatic and splashy page featuring ol’ web head in action underwater. Not your typical place for a spider, but hey, they do come up through the drain pipes one in a while, so why not?

(Apologies for that imagery to any of our readers that have arachnophobia.)

Marvel Knights was a lifesaving imprint for Marvel, which was in the middle of bankruptcy turmoil when the brand was launched in 1998. Original intended for grittier and “lesser” characters (Daredevil, Black Widow, Punisher et al), the brand was so successful that bigger stars of the Marvel Universe were ultimately incorporated, including our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Until, that is, the brand was completely folded into the main Marvel line.

But that is a story for another day.

Ron Frenz & Sal Buscema — Family Ties

Original Art and The Artists

Amazing Spider-Man Family #1, October 2008

Here is a great action page from Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema, one of my favorites superhero art teams of the 21st century.

The story is set in the “Spider-Girl” universe (Earth-982) but May Parker is only a baby in this timeline as Spidey comes out of “retirement” to deal with Curt Connors turning into the Lizard again.

Story is by Tom DeFalco, completing the creative trifecta from the long running solo Spider-Girl title.

Not so fun fact: Normally I’m a fan of painter Avi Granov’s work, but this specific cover? Ooof. Nuff said.

Will Conrad — Drowned in Thunder

Original Art and The Artists

Cover, Spider-Man Novel, Brazilian Edition (Novo Seculo), 2014

Ah, superheroes on a rooftop. Perched on a gargoyle… or other ornamental edifice. At night. In the rain. Or snow. I promise an entire post on the subject in the future.

In the meantime, we have this great cover by Will Conrad, who most definitely has a penchant for rain-soaked superheroes. Terrific mood and detail, some of which is obscured by the coloring of the published cover. (See below.)

Someone get that man a towel.

Steve McNiven — Brand New Day

Original Art and The Artists

Amazing Spider-Man #547, March 2008

Spidey takes a cue from his pal Captain America and shatters some (a lot, actually) glass in this dynamic splash from Steve McNiven.

It’s from the second issue of the Brand New Day storyline, the controversial reboot in which the world has forgotten Spidey’s secret identity, and he himself has forgotten his marriage to MJ. Following the Mephisto-led events of “One More Day.”

Of course, some version of this storyline is now destined for the MCU — and, as noted previously, I still think Mephisto (or Nightmare) is secretly behind much of the events of Spidey 3, Doctor Strange 2 and the Vision and Scarlett Witch TV series.

Apparently, I’m determined to stick with that crazy idea until at least phase 7.

Ron Garney — Hero Worship

Original Art and The Artists

Amazing Spider-Man #537, February 2007

Here’s a key splash page from Marvel’s Civil War. Captain America has convinced Peter that the resistance is on the “right” side of this epic crossover conflict.

When the conversation is over in this tie-in , Garney treats us to an epic splash of Spidey swinging into action.

Birds, and all.

Cynthia Martin — Flashback To Ditko

Original Art and The Artists

Web of Spider-Man Annual #4, August 1988

Cynthia Martin flashes back to the first appearance of the Vulture form Amazing Spider-Man #2 with with this great opening splash page from 1988.

This August of course is a big milestone for everyone’s favor web slinger. He turns 60 this month with the anniversary of his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15.

We previously celebrated this anniversary with some great Spider-Man pages, and coming up are a few more to add into the mix to round out the month of August.

Reilly Brown — Trouble Always Follows

Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars Special: C-3PO #1, June 2016

Where he goes, trouble follows.

Many great variant covers exist for this Star Wars C-3PO one-shot, including this beautifully detailed version by Reilly Brown.  But one of my other favorites — and, unfortunately, I don’t have a scan — never made it to print.

The cover came from the imagination of my pal Mike McKone. Marvel commissioned it as an exclusive variant, paid Mike for it, had it approved by Lucasfilm and then… in the ongoing game of musical chairs cover variants (at all the publishers), it became the odd man out.

Mike and I both tried tracking a published version down for years, as Marvel told him it actually was published, but ultimately that turned out to be an inadvertent red (golden?) herring.

If he still has it when I see him again, I will photograph it and add it to the blog later. It’s fun, and I would own it if it had actually been published.

Ryan Kelly & Dan Parsons — Leia Flies In

Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars #8, August 2013

Once again, Leia takes control in this terrific page from the art team of Ryan Kelly and Dan Parsons.

The Princess grabs a ship and heads off on her own in this final classic saga series from Dark Horse (written by Brian Wood) before the rights reverted back to Marvel. 

Even If Lucas retconned his own work in the making of the original Trilogy, and decided that Leia was Luke’s sister after the fact, she’s the baddest ass of the bunch. She’s not to be taken for granted or trifled with, even if she doesn’t have “Force Powers.”

But I will say this: Her resistance to Vader’s torture droid on the Death Star makes more sense if she does.

Back here next week with more Star Wars.

Fun (or not-so fun) fact: We never actually see Leia pilot a ship in the classic trilogy, and we never see her Mom Padme fly on her own in the prequels either. But I guess Princesses typically have drivers?

Marvel rebrands the original Dark Horse comics with its own trade dress for print and digital collections.

Carmine Infantino & Gene Day — Leia & Luke, Buried Alive!

Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars Weekly #109 (UK), March 1980

Here’s a classic era Star Wars page featuring pencils from Carmine Infantino with inks from Gene Day. 

It’s from a Star Wars story written by fan-favorite Chris Claremont, which ended up without a logical place in the timeline, as Marvel couldn’t fully predict when Lucasfilm would permit story insight and scheduling approval related to events of Empire Strikes Back.

Infantino drew many of the Star wars stories that appeared in between New Hope and ESB, and many after as well, but this odd continuity duck” didn’t make into the U.S. comics.

Instead, it ends up in Marvels Star Wars Weekly, a combination of  “new” and reprint material. 

The weekly format featured shorter stories, more serialized, making them even closer in spirit to Lucas’ favorite SF, the classic Flash Gordon serials. Perfect for titles like “Molten Doom!” and “Buried Alive!”

And, except for a slot in an oddball licensed Marvel book collection, the story remained un-reprinted for more than 30 years, until Dark Horse included it in one of its Omnibus collections. (And now, it’s been reprinted twice by Marvel, so it’s a bit easier to find.)