Richard Corben – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Richard Corben — In The Swamp

October 22, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Swamp Thing #20, December 2005

I discovered Richard Corben’s art at about the not quite ripe age of 12. I can’t remember if I saw it in the Warren magazines or in the underground comics first, but doesn’t matter. I was hooked.

(Undergrounds at age 12 or 13? A longer story, for another day.)

The late Harlan Ellison, award-winning author — and often-vocal critic — had this to say about Corben:

“It was obvious to anyone with the sensitivity of a doorknob that Corben was a rara avis, that right from the git-go he was first-rank, with a technique and an artistic sensibility wholly original, a technique and sensibility that created their own genre; and if there were to be imitators as there have been ⏤they were doomed forever to live in the shadow of the originator. It was as if Rich was born to illustrate my stories about the world of the hoverpaks and downunders.”

Many art fans feel the same way about Corben’s work, and original pieces are rarely offered for sale, so I consider myself fortunate to have this great splash page from Corben’s brief visit with Swamp Thing.

Richard Corben turned 80 years old earlier this month. How in the heck is that even possible?

*Harlan Ellison’s post-apocalyptic SF, Vic and Blood, lavishly illustrated by Corben.*

William Stout — Thunderous

April 7, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Ray Bradbury Comics #1, February 1993

The legendary SF author Ray Bradbury would have turned 100 years old this year. He passed away in 2012.

Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder is my favorite time travel short story.

It’s also the very first time travel short story I ever read. (I had already read HG Wells’ novel, The Time Machine, at that point. Multiple times in fact.)

Thanks to the progressive spirit of my secondary school system, we read the Bradbury short story collection “R is For Rocket” in eighth or ninth grade.

A Sound of Thunder: Time travel. Adventure. Dinosaurs. In other words, for my tastes, perfect.

Nearly 20 years later, Byron Preiss and Topps struck a deal to publish comic book versions of Preiss’ graphic novel series, Ray Bradbury Illustrated. Main feature in the first issue? A Sound of Thunder, cover by the incredibly talented Bill Stout, who is generally in a class by himself when it comes to Dinosaurs.

(The comic features a new adaptation by Richard Corben and the reprint of the classic EC story by Al Feldstein and Al Williamson.)

And 25 years after that? Stout decides to part with the cover, and I literally stumble upon at his booth at SDCC. Hanging in the frame that hung in his studio for many years.

Serendipity at work. Lets call this one a part of the “ permanent collection.”

*Covers for both the Topps comic book version and the Byron Preiss “graphic novel.”*

*Richard Corben did an outstanding job on the “modern” version of Sound, while Al Williamson drew both the cover and the adaptation of the beloved EC Comics version.*

*Ray Bradbury’s intro for the first issue of Topps Bradbury comics, along with the cover of the 70s paperback version of R Is For Rocket, ubiquitous at the time.*

Will Eisner — Peak Spirit

March 3, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

The Spirt, Register and Tribune Syndicate, September 12, 1948

2020 marks the 80th Anniversary of the Will Eisner’s Spirit, a comic series that ultimately became a game changer in the medium. This week is also celebrated annually as “Will Eisner Week,” dedicated top one of comics’ most influential legacies. So let’s dive in…

This cool page is from “Cache McStash”, and is from Eisner’s peak period on the Spirit. In fact, it is published just one week after his own personal favorite story, “The Story of Gerhard Shnobble,” perhaps the most perfect film noir ever created for the comics.

And don’t let the misleading credits on the otherwise great Grand Comics Database fool you. This story is all Eisner — script, pencils, inks, and letters — as confirmed by Denis Kitchen.

I was fortunate enough to be asked write the intro for the Spirit story “Sound” featured in the hot-off-the-presses Spirit 80th celebration from Clover Press. No spoilers, but, I love the way Eisner integrated sound effects into his storytelling, and, on this page the simple ticking of the clock enhances tension and movement.

Like everything else he did, he found a way to make his two dimensional comics cinematic in scope.

“I grew up on the movies, that’s what I lived with. The movies always influenced me… Doing the Spirit strip was like making movies. It gave me a chance to be an actor, producer, author and cameraman all at once.”

— Will Eisner, quoted in Jim Steranko’s History of The Comics, Volume 2