Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Superman

Chris Sprouse & Karl Story — Truth, Justice And…

Original Art and The Artists

Adventures of Superman #7, January 2014

….Happy Independence Day!

DC changed “The American Way” tagline a while ago, and I get that. Superman, more than 80 years after his debut, is an an international icon.

But Superman, like July 4th and summer, will always go together in my mind — I’m pretty sure some silver age Superman comics are the first ones I ever read with the help of my Aunt at the age of five on a July 4th family vacation. And the rest, as they say (ad nauseam, actually), is history.

This iconic Superman image is a “blue-line”: Karl inked the a scan of Chris’ pencils to save some time as deadline rapidly approached. (The print schedule is more powerful than a locomotive OR Superman. Trust me on this.) And I absolutely don’t care. It’s the printed cover, and, like I said, iconic.

More Superman posts during July. Stay tuned.

Rober Quijano — Infantino’s Great Race

Original Art and The Artists

Recreation, Superman #199 Cover, 2005 (Original By Carmine Infantino, August 1967)

I read, and re-read, a handful of comics over and over again as a little kid. Avengers Annual #1 and #2 both come to mind, as do a few other annuals and specials. The first JLA/JSA crossover I discovered (JLA #56 and #57) was a favorite story, and I remember both Batman #200 and Superman #200 fondly. 

But Superman #199? That was definitely my most frequent go-to. It doesn’t hurt that Carmine Infantino’s cover (Murphy Anderson on inks) is definitely my favorite (non-Neal Adams) DC cover of all time.

Fast-forward to about 15 years ago, just when I started getting my toes wet in the original art collector’s market again. My pal, Pete Koch (art collector/dealer/aficionado) and I are about to complete an art swap when I see that he has this stunning cover recreation by Rober Quijano in a stack of pages.

Trade completed. 

Thanks, Pete.

Not-so-fun Fact: The scanned image doesn’t do the art justice, because I couldn’t remove the art from the frame without destroying it. Sad!

DC was apparently still planning on using the “Go-Go Checks” trade dress on books this month, but pulled it at the last minute.

Evan Dorkin — World’s Funniest

Original Art and The Artists

Bizarro Comics, August 2001

Concluding our 70th celebration of Superman and Batman (Robin, too) teaming up for the first time.

Why so serious?

Why, indeed.

DC has typically been afraid of too much humor in its traditional superhero storytelling. Frightening flashbacks to Batman ’66, in all likelihood.

But somehow, management green lit this great “Bizarro” graphic novel anthology, lovingly edited by my longtime* pal Joey Cavalieri, and featuring alternative interpretations of the world’s greatest superheroes.  

I considered it a home run, and obviously others did as well because it’s an Eisner and Harvey winner, and an acknowledged classic. (They had me at the Matt Groening cover.)

Evan Dorkin (Milk and Cheese) wrote a few of the stories, and drew this one as well.  I smile every time I look at it.

*Fun Fact: I’ve know Joey 50 years. And if tell you I KNEW he would be a star in the comics and/or animation field way back then, well, you can trust me on this.

Chris Batista — Nasty Combo

Original Art and The Artists

Superman / Batman Annual #3, May 2009

Continuing our 70th celebration of Superman and Batman (Robin, too) teaming up for the first time.

Ah, the Composite Superman (Half Superman, half Batman). I’m not sure why I found this character so compelling as a kid, but I did.

I purchased his second appearance (World’s Finest #168) off the racks as a little kid. I was a bit too young for his first, a few years prior. (Both are shown below.)

Years later, what I can’t figure out is why he’s not on the cover in that issue. It’s not like I wouldn’t have flipped through the issue quickly and figured it out before I either gave Mr. Wurman my 12 cents or got tossed from his candy store.

In contemporary times, Chris Batista delivers a terrific page featuring the villain, plus Superman and Batman, and Metallo thrown in for good measure.

The issue also features a rare cover from the late Bernie Wrightson. No surprise, Bernie’s interpretation of the composite character is… intimidating.

Frank Miller & Lynn Varley — Family Feud

Original Art and The Artists

Batman: The Dark Knight #3, August 1986

Continuing our 70th celebration of Superman and Batman (Robin, too) teaming up for the first time.

Today’s original art oddity: 

Two original pages exist for every page of Frank Miller, Klaus Jansen’s and Lynn Varley’s The Dark Knight Returns.

First of course, are the traditional pen and ink black and white line art pages. Gorgeous, of course.

Next up, are Lynn Varley’s stunning hand-painted color pages. For emphasis: These are NOT color proofs. DC shot acetates of every line art page, and Lynn hand painted each one. (And, the color palate of DKR is of course critical to the storytelling.)

And his stunner is one of those pages. One of only a handful that features Superman, Batman and Robin all on the same page.

Anyone want to sell me the original Miller line work to go with it? I can start working on my line of credit with the bank today.

George Tuska — Lost Team-Up

Original Art and The Artists

World’s Finest, “Inventory” Story, 1984

Continuing our 70th celebration of Superman and Batman (Robin, too) teaming up for the first time.

I can’t quite put my finger on it… But I always appreciated George Tuska’s art s at DC more than I did at Marvel.

I think it’s because — in my mind’s eye at least— George’s art seemed much more suited to the Bronze Age DC house style.

Or it could just be my imagination.

Here we have a “inventory” story intended for World’s Finest that appears to have never seen the light of day. Dynamic action featuring both Superman and Batman. What more could you possibly ask for? 

Except possibly the published page to go with it.

I never understood DC’s policy regarding inventory and cancelled stories. Once they’re fully inked, and in many cases lettered, it’s really difficult to lose money coloring it and publishing it. The prior sunk cost is already sunk.

Except… as my friends in finance would happily point out, the investment in the story and artwork counts as an asset. If you never actually put it out, you never have to write the whole thing off.

Tricky, very tricky. 

I’ve owned pages from quite a few DC cancelled stories. There’s an omnibus in there somewhere. Assuming  (big assumption) all the scans and files have survived myriad changes in management over the years, and a few physical moves as well.

Pete Poplaski — World’s Finest

Original Art and The Artists

Promotional Illustration, Kitchen Sink Press, 1990

Continuing our 70thcelebration of Superman and Batman (Robin, too) teaming up for the first time.

Pete Poplaski’s 1990 promo art of the Dynamic Duo and the Man of Steel makes me happy. 

It appears informally modeled after World’s Finest Comics #2, the issue that changed titles from the original World’s Best Comics. (Which, as noted previously, was the successor to World’s Fair Comics. No worries, there’s never a quiz on this material, especially since I’d probably be the first one to mess it up.)

Of course, as we’ve posted previously, all of Pete’s gorgeous retro work makes me happy.

Remnants of a different era, indeed.

Poplaski’s great covers for the original DC strip reprints from Kitchen Sink
Superman and Batman finally get together in 1952… and Lois runs off with Robin. Thats wrong, for a lot of reasons.

John Byrne — World’s Fair(est)

Original Art and The Artists

Superman & Batman: Generations #1, January 1999

It happened at the World’s Fair.

Sort of.

Superman and Batman — along with Robin — first appeared together on the cover of the 2nd annual issue of World’s Fair Comics in 1940, issued to commemorate the 39/40 World Fair in New York City.

Shortly thereafter, that comic morphed into the ongoing World’s Finest Comic, and Superman and Batman appeared together on the covers all time.

But inside? Separate stories featuring DC’s most popular characters.

It wasn’t until 12 years later (1952) that The Caped Crusader and The Man of Steel actually met in one story. (More on that in our next post on Thursday.)

Meanwhile…

John Byrne creates an adventure that involves the aforementioned World’s Fair in his clever Generations series from 1999. 

This is my favorite page from the series. It features all three heroes, plus Lois Lane, and sure enough, in that top inset panel, Lex Luthor as well.

Has there ever been another page this iconic in nature? All five characters in one small panel. And a gigantic splash of the four main ones. I missed acquiring this page once previously,  but fortunately, I didn’t make the same mistake the second time around, albeit with a bit more pain in the wallet.

Worth it.

Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson — The Headless Superhero

Original Art and The Artists

Action Comics #406, November 1971

Our third annual Halloween tribute continues now through October 31. 

Remember that time hat Superman lost his head?

You don’t?

I do, and I was pleased to see this page come up at auction earlier this year.

I was mostly done with the Superman Family by the time this issue appeared in 1971, but occasionally something off the wall (pun NOT intended — this time, anyway) would grab my attention, and this was one of those issues.

It’s rare (although not impossible) to find a title page that has such a literal cover interpretation, and of course the fact that it was drawn by the great Superman art team of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson is a giant selling point for me.

Also rare: The cover is taken from the back-up story instead of the main feature. Obviously, someone at DC knew how to grab attention — at least mine, anyway.

Fun fact: On both Superman stories in this issue, the “Swanderson” art team gets top billing in the credits. They deserved it, as the art was light years ahead of the story material.)

Matt Wagner — Holy…Trinity?

Original Art and The Artists

Batman / Superman / Wonder Woman: Trinity #2, September 1993

September 18 was DC’s annual  “Batman Day.” Although not exactly a national holiday, DC and Warner have used the occasion to commemorate the caped crusader and launch and market new products around the event.

Batman shows off his typically charming personality — to Wonder Woman and Superman — in this iconic bat-panel from Matt Wagner’s Trinity 2004 series. 

(And the Amazon princess is not amused.)

The overarching plot of this deluxe three-parter involves Ra’s al Ghul enlisting Bizarro to create… well, chaos. 

But the critical (and very entertaining) theme of the title is how DC”s three iconic heroes reconcile their personality and philosophy differences and figure out a way to work together without defeating each other, instead of the bad guys.

It ain’t necessarily easy. Trust me on this.