Murphy Anderson – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Curt Swan & Murphy Anderson — Superman In Space

July 14, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Action Comics #407, December 1971

I rarely get into bidding wars over a specific piece of art. As a well-know art dealer intones: “There’s always more art.”

This time, though, I got carried away.

Superman in space. Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. Superman in every panel. A title page. An original Superman logo. And my peak era of buying comics from newsstands (late Silver Age, early Bronze age) without the benefit of comics conventions.

That is a lot of checkboxes. So, like I said, I got carried away.

Overpaid — but worth it.

Plus — and I love this — it has a Looney Tunes type joke in the monolugue. He made a wrong left turn a million miles ago? Seriously?

Rodney Ramos — Flashbacks (Flash Rerun)

June 28, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

The Flash of Two Worlds — DC Comics Classics Library, 2009

Continuing our celebration of the Fastest Man Alive with a few classic “re-runs” — pun absolutely intended— from the early days of the blog. Today’s post, along with the next two, features “The Flash of Two Worlds.”

Flash #123, “The Flash of Two Worlds” is one of the most important comic book milestones of DC’s silver age, establishing the DC multiverse and paving the way for countless crossover storylines that ultimately lead up to 1985’s Crisis on Multiple Earths. It’s 1961 cover follows as one of the most iconic images of the era.

But, when DC went to reprint the earliest Flash crossover stories in a special collection, the original art and layout and didn’t quite work within the new cover design.

So, the editors turned to the talented Rodney Ramos to recreate (and slightly reconfigure) the iconic imagery, in the Infantino/ Murphy Anderson “style.”

He pretty much nails it.

(As seen below, the final published piece crops the image significantly, and also digitally manipulates the two Flashes closer together.)

Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson — The Headless Superhero

October 23, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Action Comics #406, November 1971

Our third annual Halloween tribute continues now through October 31.

Remember that time hat Superman lost his head?

You don’t?

I do, and I was pleased to see this page come up at auction earlier this year.

I was mostly done with the Superman Family by the time this issue appeared in 1971, but occasionally something off the wall (pun NOT intended — this time, anyway) would grab my attention, and this was one of those issues.

It’s rare (although not impossible) to find a title page that has such a literal cover interpretation, and of course the fact that it was drawn by the great Superman art team of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson is a giant selling point for me.

Also rare: The cover is taken from the back-up story instead of the main feature. Obviously, someone at DC knew how to grab attention — at least mine, anyway.

Fun fact: On both Superman stories in this issue, the “Swanderson” art team gets top billing in the credits. They deserved it, as the art was light years ahead of the story material.)

Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson — Partners In Crime Solving

February 4, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

The Atom #7, July 1963

Atom and Hawkman (Silver Age versions) both celebrate 6oth anniversaries in 2021. Hawkman (and Hawkgirl) launched in Brave and Bold #34 in March 1961, while The Atom launched in Showcase #34 later that year.

34 must have been the lucky number in 1961.

This beautifully-rendered page is from the first team-up of the two characters in issue #7 of the Atom’s own title in 1963.

Murphy Anderson’s lush inks can often overpower any penciller, but here it’s relatively easy to spot Kane’s trademark style, especially in the final panel. Great storytelling and dynamic action from both characters help make this a terrific example from the issue.

Neither the solo Hawkman title, nor the solo Atom series ended up gaining much traction sales-wise, so as a final ploy later that decade, the two characters were merged together into one title. The gambit didn’t work, and both books disappeared from the stands by the end of 1969.

Rodney Ramos — Flash Back

September 27, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

The Flash of Two Worlds — DC Comics Classics Library, 2009

The Flash TV series (CW) explores DC’s multiverse legacy in creative and often reverential ways. Today’s post, along with the next two, feature “The Flash of Two Worlds.”

Flash #123, “The Flash of Two Worlds” is one of the most important comic book milestones of DC’s silver age, establishing the DC multiverse and paving the way for countless crossover storylines that ultimately lead up to 1985’s Crisis on Multiple Earths. Its 1961 cover follows as one of the most iconic images of the era.

But, when DC went to reprint the earliest Flash crossover stories in a special collection, the original art and layout didn’t quite work within the new cover design.

So, the editors turned to the very talented (and very underrated) Rodney Ramos to recreate (and reconfigure) the iconic imagery, in the Infantino/ Murphy Anderson “style.”

He nails it — and you could be headed for a career in the FBI’s counterfeit investigations unit if you can immediately tell the published cover is not Infantino / Anderson.

(As seen below, the final published piece crops the image significantly, and also digitally manipulates the two Flashes even closer together.)