Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Mysterio

Scott Koblish — Ditko Forever!

Original Art and The Artists

Spider-Man/Deadpool #7, September 2016

Continuing a multi-part look at Spider-Man vs. Mysterio in honor of Spider-Man: Far From Home landing on digital streaming platforms this week.

Scott Koblish as a person?: Engaging. Upbeat. Energetic. Witty. Et al.

Koblish as an artist?: Engaging. Upbeat. Energetic. Witty. Et al.

Rarely does a creator’s artistic style so match his personality. Hell, there are great cartoonists, past and present, with lively and bright art aesthetics, who are darker personally than Van Gogh on a bad day. (No I will not be naming names. That’s what the rest of the Internet is for.)

Scott’s mostly zany artistic approach to Deadpool is perfectly on point for the character. (And that’s not taking anything away from Ed McGuinness, a fantastic artist whose work I absolutely love — or any other Deadpool illustrator for that matter.) 

In this “flashback” issue of Spider-Man/Deadpool, Scott draws the entire issue in classic “Steve Ditko” style. It’s clearly done with affection and reverence, and the finished issue, complete with simulated old-school coloring, “bad” printing (out-of register) and aged paper, is old-school fun.

How “classic” is the art style here, you ask? Review the middle panel on this page.  It is most definitely… Classic Ditko! (In fairness, the rest of the issue features more original Ditko interpretations as well. Koblish was clearly having a bit of extra fun here.)

And what’s the difference between comedy and tragedy? Check out Scott’s book, The Many Deaths of Scott Koblish, and decide. 

Alex Saviuk — Meta Mysterio

Original Art and The Artists

Spider-Man Adventures #5, Unused Cover, April 1995

Spider-Man: Far From Home landed on digital streaming platforms this week, so the next few posts feature — who else? — Spider-Man and Mysterio.

Spider-Man Adventures, a ‘90s comic book title, existed mainly to support Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which ran on Fox Kids from 1994 – 1998. In fact, the first thirteen issues of the comics are direct adaptations of the first-season episodes.

The episodes themselves are adapted (albeit loosely in some cases) from original Spider-Man comic books.

So…

Issue #5, featuring Mysterio, is an adaptation of Episode #5 of the TV series, which in turn, is adapted from Mysterio’s very first comic book appearance — by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko — in Amazing Spider-Man #13. (1964).

A comic book adaptation…. of a TV show adaptation… of a comic book story.  That trick definitely trumps anything up Mysterio’s sleeve.

Alex tells me that his original cover was rejected because the editors wanted more emphasis on Mysterio —and for the character to be more “dramatic and menacing,” and I think he delivered. (See below.) Still, I like Alex’s original take, especially with that iconic Spidey image.

Alex’s creative spin on the wall-crawler has lasted more than 30 years.  He drew the Web of Spider-Man comic book for seven years, and then the full Spider-Man Adventures run, and then the Spidey newspaper strip from 1997 to its end earlier this year.

Nothing mysterious about that longevity — Alex’s passion for, and understanding of, the Spider-Man character is obvious anytime he puts pencil to paper.

  • Fan art of a Far From Home Poster that looks a LOT like the unpublished cover. 
    It appears Alex was well ahead of his time.