Stan Lee – Page 2 – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Jack Kirby — Happy 60th, “The Marvel Age Of Comics”

August 5, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four #42, September 1965

On Tuesday, August 8, 1961, Fantastic Four #1 hit the newsstands.

The rest, as they say, is history.

As promised back in January, we’re adding a few more Fantastic Four posts to continue the 60th celebration of “The Marvel Age Of Comics.”

And yes, we’re cheating a bit by re-running this great page by Jack from the beginning of the FF’s peak period.

But… no Stan Lee AND Jack Kirby… no Fantastic Four… likely no Marvel Age, period. So, in our mind, worth a repeat.

See you on Sunday.

1980: Jack had left Marvel, again, this time for the world of animation and independent creator-owned comic book projects. Stan was busy in Hollywood woking tirelessly (and mostly unsuccessfully) to make Marvel a brand in entertainment. I never take sides in the endless Lee-Kirby debate, so I say to the photographer who captured this pic (quoting from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance): “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

*It all starts here: Cover and opening page for FF#1.*

Alex Saviuk — Spider-Man’s Amazing Friends

June 5, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Newspaper Strip, Sunday, January 20, 2008

Pencils: Alex Saviuk.

Inks: Joe Sinnott

Letters: Stan Sakai.

Story: Stan Lee. (With ghostwriting help likely from Roy Thomas.)

It’s an all-star team of creators contributing to this Sunday Spider-Man strip, and signed by everyone.

(Well almost. If I’m correct about Roy, I hope I can get his John Hancock at a convention. Whenever conventions become the norm again, that is.)

Fun Fact: I acquired this Sunday directly from Alex, who was kind enough to Remarque it for me to distinguish from the few others that had all four autographs. A talented artist and a super nice guy.

Nuff said.

(*You can read about Stan Lee and the legend of “Nuff Said” here and here.)

*The very final Spider-Man Sunday, concluding a successful 40-year run.*

*The first volume of the classic Spidey strips features art by John Romita.*

*Alex’s very first Spider-Man story featured Mary Jane saying yes to the big question back in 1985.*

Doug Hazelwood — Kirby, Redux

January 31, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four #69 Cover Re-creation, 2014

Doug Hazelwood has been doing some great re-creations of Jack Kirby Marvel Silver Age covers, and Fantastic Four #69 is a terrific example of Doug’s work on these.

Typically, I don’t collect exact cover re-creations illustrated by anyone other than the original artist, but I made an exception here, because, well, its one of my favorite covers from that era.

And a nice way to close out our first tribute to the 6oth anniversary of the Fantastic Four.

*The published cover To FF#69 along with a fun retro portrait of Jack by by Brendan Tobin.*

Ken Steacy — This Man…

January 30, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Marvel Portraits #2, April 1995

The masterful Ken Steacy transforms an important scene from the one-shot story “This Man… This Monster!” (Fantastic Four #51) into a dramatic painting for the inventive Marvel Portraits mini-series in 1995.

That’s not actually Ben Grimm, but rather a villain who ends his own life with this heroic act near the end of the offbeat tale.

Peter David wrote the excellent commentaries for these re-creations of classic Marvel moments in this specific issue, so I think will let him finish telling the story below.

John Romita Jr. — Stan’s Fantastic Farewell

January 21, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

The Last Fantastic Four Story #1, October 2007

Stan Lee, nearly 85 years old at the time, returns to the Fantastic Four for one last tale.

It’s not a groundbreaking story by any means. And it’s not meant to be. Is the dialogue corny in places? Certainly. Is the plot surprising? Nope. An all-powerful big bad (The “Adjudicator”) comes to destroy Earth and pretty much everyone is helpless to stop him. Its up to Reed Richards to figure something out, which ultimately involves the previous almost all-powerful big bad, Galactus.

The entire issue could definitely be an unused story from Lee and Kirby’s FF heyday in the 60s.

Who cares? Not me. Great art from John Romita Jr. (inks by Scott Hanna) make this a fun tribute to the “old days.” Stan works in most of the great supporting characters from the original run, including Doctor Doom and the Silver Surfer.

This page of course features both of them, along with the entire FF. Plus, it’s signed by the entire creative team, because, for once, I had the presence of mind to remember to get that done.

Definitely a keeper.

Bruce Timm — Fantastic Four-Ever

January 16, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Comics Magazine #8, September 2001

“What if Stan Lee and Jack Kirby concluded their historic run on FF with one last wild adventure?”

Bruce Timm and other all-star creators showcase their love and admiration for Jack Kirby in this fun 2001 mini-series.

And when we say “other,” we mean it. This terrific title page features layouts by Erik Larsen, pencils by Ron Frenz and Inks by Timm. Other creators in this issue alone include Bill Wray, Rick Veitch and Terry Beatty. Others in the full series include Keith Giffen, Al Williamson, Joe Sinnott, and Paul Ryan, to name just some of the cast.

The story itself takes between issues #100 and #101 of the original Fantastic Four run. It took Marvel 10 years before they finally collected it, and its now available in both hardcover and trade paperback. If you’re a fan of that amazing Lee Kirby FF run, this series is a must-own.

And if you’re not a fan of that classic, my sympathies.

*The Larsen/Frenz/Timm splash immediately called to mind the classic opening to FF #49.*

Dan Jurgens And Bob McLeod — Flashback

January 14, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Domination Factor: Fantastic Four #1and #2, December 1999

Dan Jurgens has some fun with time travel in this clever interlocking mini-series featuring the FF and The Avengers.

The part of the story that takes place in the contemporary era (1999) sees Dan storytelling in his traditional artistic style. But when time travel is involved, Dan and inker Bob McLeod purposely ape Jack Kirby. (And Joe Sinnot.) As you can see from the pages below, Dan and Bob re-do the top panel from FF 94, 30 years prior. And then the story takes a turn — literally — as The Thing realizes that Dr. Strange’s time spell has worked.

Bonus points: The pages are hand-lettered by the talented John Costanza. Although John came on board at Marvel too late to work on the original Lee and Kirby Fantastic Four run, he did in fact letter the Lee and Kirby “reunion” Silver Surfer graphic novel. Close enough in my book to at least earn a no-prize.

Paolo Rivera — Origins

January 9, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Mythos: Fantastic Four #1, December 2007

I don’t own another page like this one. In fact, I’m not certain I can recall seeing another page like this one.

I’m pretty sure there must be some out there, but four vertical page-length panels is definitely an atypical layout.

And here, it’s perfect. Four astronauts — Sue Storm, Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm — blasted by cosmic rays, and, well, you know the rest: They become… fantastic.

This page is an example of great visual storytelling by the terrifically talented Paolo Rivera. I love the character reactions and facial expressions here. Even though the team will shortly have superpowers, it certainly looks like a painful origin process to get there.

And for one member of the team, those powers might be more curse than blessing.

After all, his moniker is the Thing.

*Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s original cosmic origin of the Fantastic Four in 1961.*

Jack Kirby — Happy Anniversary

January 7, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Fantastic Four #42, September 1965

Jack Kirby. The Fantastic Four. A great action page from near the beginning of the peak three-year period of the comic that launched a cultural phenomenon.

Not much more to add here.

Except…2021 is the 60th anniversary of “The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine” and the “Marvel Age of Comics.”

60 years. That’s a big deal. Much more on the Fantastic Four to come during the next few weeks.

Mike Zeck — Will The Real Captain America Please Stand Up?

December 10, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Captain America #279, March 1983

Captain America vs.… Captain America?

The “impersonation” trope is one of my favorites in comics, and a long-standing tradition in Marvel’s history. In fact, the first time Captain America “appears” in the Silver Age in Strange Tales #114, it’s not Captain America at all. It’s a Human Torch villain, The Acrobat, in disguise.

And this trope was consistently employed throughout the early Marvel Comics. The Skrulls impersonate the Fantastic Four in issue #2, The Chameleon impersonates Spider-Man in ASM #1, and the Avengers are nearly defeated by the shape-changing Space Phantom in issue #2 of their launch title.

Stan was obsessed with this concept, apparently.

For the record, here on this terrific action page by Mike Zeck and John Beatty, the uniformed Cap is the “real” one. The clown impersonating Steve Rogers is Primus, The Mutate.

File that under: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”