Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tim Bradstreet — Weapons Upgrade

The Shadow Now #4 January 2014, Alternative Cover

Tim Bradstreet delivers a great Shadow cover that was, ultimately, unused. 

Why are some comic book covers re-worked?

Subjective question. Subjective answers.

If it’s a licensed title, as in the case of The Shadow, maybe the licensor doesn’t like it.

Editorial decision, perhaps?  Certainly a logical answer in many cases. Possibly not a strong enough image to “sell” the issue. Or perhaps the content doesn’t quite match the interior content.

And, in some cases, the artist himself finishes the piece and decides he doesn’t like it. Both Jim Steranko and Neal Adams have told me they’ve finished covers, changed their minds, and started from scratch. 

That seems reasonable, even if time consuming. If your signature is going on the piece, you might re-think something you personally don’t like. Especially if you’re going to have to look at it — forever.

And in a pre-digital age, physical covers were lost occasionally. Trust me, it happened.

Whatever happened here –– definitely not the final possibility, of course — I think the unpublished version is cool. The puzzle pieces, skull included, are a nice touch. The published cover drops them in favor of a larger, more dramatic Shadow pose.

Bradstreet, of course, is a great choice for Shadow covers.  Can’t go wrong, and for my two cents, I don’t think there’s anything wrong at all here. 

Tim Bradstreet — Hard Boiled

The Spirit New Adventures #6, 1998

Continuing our celebration of the 80th anniversary of The Spirit, with additional creators’ takes on the beloved and influential character.

Tim Bradstreet — with Eisner’s blessing — redraws some of the Spirit’s backstory in Will’s style for the cover of  The Spirit New Adventures #6.

The foreground? Bradstreet reimagines The Spirit a bit more hardboiled, a bit darker, less whimsical version of the character. And he sports possibly the greatest comic book trench coat ever.

(As you can see from the original vs. published cover, The Kitchen Sink trade design cropped much of the background.)

The complete collection of the New Adventures, which includes contributions by Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and others is available from Dark Horse Comics.

On June 2, 1940, Denny Colt made his debut… and promptly died.

Eisner introduced his detective with jaunty body language, lots of attitude and over-confidence, and a close relationship with Police Commissioner Dolan (and that was all in the first half dozen panels.) The cartoonist already knew his character well. Colt went off to capture the villainous Dr. Cobra and was found dead, drowned in a flood of toxic chemicals. After his funeral, Colt woke from suspended animation, dug himself out and assumed a new role as the Spirit, haunting Wildwood cemetery and keeping his city safe with Dolan’s connivance.

— Paul Levitz, summarizing the Spirit’s origin in his book, Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel