Omega Men – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Joe Staton — Green Energy

November 28, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Green Lantern #143, August 1981

Continuing a celebration of Green Lantern’s anniversary this week.

Joe Staton somehow manages to channel a bit of Gil Kane and a bit of Neal Adams on this dynamic Green Lantern action sequence from 1981.

I first started following Joe’s work (with writer Nicola Cuti) on the quirky E-Man from Charlton back in 1973 1975. (Funny enough, it lasted 10 issues, and I kept all 10, which is unusual for me. Guess I really liked it.)

Shortly thereafter, he took over art duties on the Justice Society in All-Star Squadron, a book I also enjoyed.

This page is from Joe’s first run on Green lantern with writer Marv Wolfman, and this story introduces the extraterrestrial superheroes, Omega Men. Joe later returned on the Green Lantern Corps with writer Steve Englehart.

When conventions finally return (mid-late 2021 is my guess) make sure you visit Joe wherever —and whenever — you find him. He is truly one of the humblest and nicest creators in the business. And obviously, very talented.

George Perez — Rebirth

August 29, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

New Teen Titans #24, October 1982

When Marv Wolfman and George Perez took on The New Teen Titans in 1980, they were aiming to rival Marvel’s immensely popular X-Men. Right off the bat, the team created one of the greatest villains in the DC Universe in Deathstroke, aka Slade Wilson. In addition, Perez and Wolfman were responsible for resurrecting the Titans and assembling the now-iconic team of Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven. -Dana Forsythe, SyFy Wire, 2019

I came into Teen Titans reboot a few issues late. It hit stores during my college years, when my comic book purchasing was inconsistent, mostly sporadic actually, especially on mainstream titles. Somehow I missed the buzz — or the buzz missed me. (And the original Titan series had some great art from time to time, but the writing was all over the map.)

Fortunately, my college roommate had caught on from the beginning, and I borrowed his early issues. I was hooked. (I really should return those one of these days.)

I was in love with Perez’s astonishing detail on his Marvel titles (FF, Avengers, etc.), and this was superb work, perhaps even a notch greater.

When I returned to collecting original art about a dozen years ago or so, acquiring a Teen Titans page was an early priority.

The Titans join with the Omega Men in this issue, and we get some of both in this classic Perez layout. No one else could do narrow panels like this, with this much detail, and frankly few tried.