Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery
Panels and Pages… Art and Artists… Creators and Conventions… Musings and Memories…
Hulk-Sized Mini-Hulks #1, August 2011
Green Hulk vs. Gray Hulk?
Nope.
If you’re Chris Giarusso, cartoonist extraordinaire, it’s Green vs. Red vs… Blue?
The Hulk’s co-creator, Stan Lee, would have turned 99 years old today. He might not have ever envisioned a world of rainbow-colored Hulks, but “Hulk Splash?” That’s a gag worthy of Not Brand Ecch.
Happy Birthday Stan. Say hello to Jack and the rest of the team for us.
Avengers # 33, October 1966
Hawkeye has his Television debut today, and if the show lives up to its trailer, it should be good fun.
Here we have a terrific Hawkeye page from the Silver Age Avengers, illustrated by his co-creator, Don Heck. (This is from the period of Avengers where the majority of the team, including Hawkeye, was comprised of reformed villains. I always loved that.) The page is fun combo of action and snarky dialogue, and it completely (and unexpectedly) breaks the fourth wall in the first two panels.
As a bonus, this might be the only page I own where the sound effect is actually then classic word “Pow.” I wonder how many newspaper headlines during the years have used that sound effect as part of a headline discussing any sort of comics-related story. (“Bam! Pow! Comics are not for kids anymore!” Here’s my personal sound effect for those: Ugh.)
Jack Kirby Homage, 2002 Cover Re-imagination, Fantastic Four Annual #6, November 1968
Continuing our celebration of the 60th anniversary of the debut of Fantastic Four #1. (August 8, 1961)
The great Italian artist Giorgio Comolo, a Jack Kirby fanatic, creates a terrific alternate cover for Fantastic Four Annual #6, one of the best solo FF stories to appear during the Lee and Kirby run.
Ironically, despite the acknowledged greatness of the issue, the published cover feels a bit lifeless. Comolo’s take is certainly a much more dramatic representation of the issue’s key moment.
As for that vial? Well, for a spoiler, you can read Marvel’s marketing copy below. Let’s just say its importance is yet another reason why we refer to Fantastic Four as the world’s greatest superhero soap opera.
For a look at some other Comolo Kirby homages, click here.
Issue synopsis: The baby is coming! With Sue going into labor, Reed must make a perilous journey to obtain Element X, the only thing that can keep the baby safe from the cosmic rays in Sue’s body. The bad news – it can only be found in the Negative Zone! The WORSE news? It’s in the hands of one of the deadliest beings in any universe – ANNIHILUS!
Fantastic Four #586, February 2011
One comic book. One grasp (and possibly a final one) at straws for a struggling comic book publishing company.
Sixty years ago today, Fantastic Four #1 hit the newsstands.
DC had slowly started its own superhero revival five years prior with the appearance of the Silver Age Flash. By the time the FF appeared, DC had establishes enough heroes to create a Justice League team comic book.
Heck, even Archie Comics launched some superhero titles (The Fly, The Shield, etc.) ahead of Marvel.
But Fantastic Four made an impression. Flawed heroes, who barely got along with each other? Fearsome Foes and supporting characters? Continuity, for goodness sakes?
Talk about late to the party — but making an entrance.
Within a few issues, Fantastic Four was the first, and ultimately greatest, soap opera saga in comics. And it didn’t take much longer for Jack Kirby to fully establish himself as the greatest visual storyteller the medium had ever seen, and for Stan Lee to become the greatest showrunner (and, for better or worse, showman) in comics’ history.
The original stories, of course, were much less complex and sophisticated than they are today. (As were the readers.)
Example: This great Steve Epting splash page from issue #586 is from a story that features time travel conundrums and a multiverse gone somewhat amok.
Heady stuff. But you should expect nothing less from Marvel’s First family.
The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine, indeed.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
