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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
Of all the characters in the classic (original trilogy) Star Wars Universe, Leia is the most intriguing.
Nearly all of the other characters in the saga are archetypes found in dozens, if not hundreds of myths, fables and tales. George Lucas revered the late author Joseph Campbell who dissects these concepts ad nauseum in in his brilliant and well-known tomes on mythology.
But Leia… She’s a bit off model, certainly from a Hollywood depiction of a damsel in distress. (Possibly with the exception of Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, who gets her act together in similar but less assertive fashion.)
As one pop culture podcaster put it recently: “She (Leia) hijacked her own rescue.”
And from there, it only gets better. She’s clearly the smartest, most pragmatic member of the Star Wars gang. She’s also strong, decisive and strategic. And she can out wise-ass Han, no easy feat.
After Alderaan goes boom, Leia is the one holding entire rebellion together. No offense, Mon Mothma, Admiral Ackbar, or anyone else in the rebellion ruling class. It’s pretty clear Leia is a — pun intended — driving force of the story.
Here we have a knockout Star Wars page from Terry and Rachel Dodson featuring a lovely half splash of Leia. It’s from the eponymous — and terrific — Mark Waid-authored series, published not long after the franchise reverted back to Marvel from Dark Horse.
Well, it’s May, that time of year when thoughts turn to… Star Wars.
Here we have a great page by superstar artist John Cassaday, depicting the very first time Luke and Darth Vader confront each other in the “new”(current) Star Wars continuity.
This story takes place shortly after the (first) Death Star is blown to bits in “A New Hope.” Luke does not know that Vader is his pop, and Vader does not realize that Luke is the rebel that was responsible for said Death Star going “boom.”
Heh. Much to learn, they both have.
It’s the 45th anniversary of Star Wars this month, and perhaps more significantly, the release of yet some more backstory revision with the launch of the new Obi-Wan Television series later this month.
That’s really more of an observation than a knock, but I really hope the show is narratively clever. Because no one (honestly, no one) thought that Obi-Wan would have logically fought Vader yet again. One of them should have been not just toasted, but complete toast.
But of course, let’s see how this all plays out.
In the meantime, we’ve got a full slate of Star Wars posts for the rest of the month.
