Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Tom Palmer

John Buscema & Tom Palmer — Avengers, Assemble

Original Art and The Artists

Avengers #84, January 1971

John Buscema was the Avengers artist of the late ’60s and early ’70s—despite famously claiming he didn’t much care for superheroes.

Every panel feels like it could’ve been pulled from a widescreen adventure film, even when the scene is nothing more than a nightmare and a jolting wake-up. That was his magic: Buscema could make anything feel epic.

This page shows exactly how he defined the Avengers in that era. Grace, power, and cinematic clarity are baked into every beat, transforming a bad dream into something memorable—and unmistakably Avengers.

Behind the scenes, Marvel was running hot. Kirby had just left for DC, schedules were tightening, pages were due, and assignments were shifting fast. You can feel a stronger Tom Palmer inking presence here than in some earlier issues, suggesting John may have supplied looser pencils as deadline pressure mounted and the machine kept moving.

Marvel may have been in motion, but Buscema’s vision was locked in.

Ron Frenz & Tom Palmer — “He’s Got A Lightsaber!”

Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars #71, May 1983

Here is a very dynamic page from a very dynamic art duo (sorry, couldn’t resist) of Ron Frenz and Tom Plamer. Following the terrific run by Walter Simonson and a few fill-in issues from Gene Day, Frenz took over as regular penciller; Palmer stayed on as inker, once again providing a smooth consistency to the art.

As for the story? Don’t let the cover blurb fool you. The quest For Han Solo most definitely did not end here; he wasn’t able to return to Marvel’s Star Wars series until a few months after the release of Return of The Jedi. (Issue #81, to be precise.) And again, Marvel’s creative team did a heckuva job with the little information they had ahead of ROTJ.

Walter Simonson & Tom Palmer — Yoo-Hoo!

Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars #58, April 1982

Ah, to have been a fly on the wall at a Marvel Comics- Lucasfilm meeting, about 9 months or so before the release of Empire Strikes Back in 1980:

Lucas: “So, guys, let us tell you— the next film is going to end quite dramatically: Han Solo will be in suspended animation, in the ship of a bounty hunter, on his way to the clutches of Jabba The Hutt. Chewie, and a new character, Lando, will appear to be going after them, and Luke, clearly not a Jedi yet, will remain with Leia and the droids in the rebel fleet.

Marvel: “Great, what happens next?”

Lucas: “That’s it, that’s the end of the film. It’s a cliffhanger.”

Marvel: “And we don’t know what transpires until the next film?”
Lucas: “Correct.”

Marvel: “For three years?

Lucas: “Also correct.”

Marvel: “Ok. That’s about 36 issues. You’ll give us the broad strokes of how the next film opens so we can create scenarios and plots with the remaining characters accordingly?”

Lucas: “Er, we don’t have all the details yet, but we will figure it out.”

All credit to Louise Simonson, Archie Goodwin, Walter Simonson, David Michelinie and an hefty all-star group of talent for somehow making the challenge work.

And, of course, extra credit to Tom palmer, who, as always, made it visually come together, regardless of who penciled the book: Simonson, Ron Frenz, Gene Day, Kerry Gammill, et al.

Oh, and they recycled an unused Carmine Infantino John Carter of Mars story during this period as well.

Seriously, look it up.

Neal Adams — X-Men, Forever

Original Art and The Artists

The X-Men #61, October 1969

We can’t let 2023 fade into the memory books without at least some tribute to the 60th Anniversary of the X-Men.

Neal Adams drew nine issues of the X-Men. John Byrne drew four times as many. I love John Byrne art, but the prices of his pages are — how do we say? — a bit out of whack when compared to the scarcity of Adams.

Oh, and this is a great one from his run, with superb inks by the legendary Tom Palmer. (Despite the disappointing quality of the scan.)

Sal Buscema & Tom Palmer— Day Of The Man-Ape

Original Art and The Artists

Avengers #78, July 1970

Sal Buscema brings us a fantastic panel page featuring an over the top Man-Ape (M’Baku) defeating Black Panther and threatening the entire Avengers team. (Spoiler alert — he’s about to introduce us to the entire original Lethal Legion for the first time on the very next page.)

This issue is from mid 1970 — a classic period, as the Silver Age ends and the Bonze Age begins — and if I couldn’t find the monthly issue of Avengers at my local candy store, I would hunt it down somewhere. 

That, by the way, happened frequently. (Did your comics newsstand care which issues actually came in or sold out? I don’t think mine did.)

My obsession was a great way to get some exercise.

Bonus Page: The first appearance of Grim Reaper’s Lethal Legion.

Gene Colan — Dracula Transformed

Original Art and The Artists

Tomb of Dracula #9, June 1972

Our third annual Halloween tribute continues now through October 31. 

Dracula transforms into a bat and transforms back again in this cool page from the master of moodiness Gene Colan.

I’ve written about Colan’s Tomb of Dracula work with Tom Palmer previously; this issue precedes Palmer’s permanent partnership with Gene on the title, and is instead inked by Vince Colletta. (No I am not going to knock Vince’s work here. That’s what comics’ social media is for. Talk about beating a dead horse…)

So… a vampire transformation page? Cool, I will take it.

Fun fact: All the art panels on the page are pasted onto the art board that leads me to believe the story was revamped (pun intended) at some point.

John Buscema and Tom Palmer — The Once And Future MCU

Original Art and The Artists

Avengers #268, June 1986

Ant-man has made much news lately with talk about the villain Kang (The Conqueror), who would be a cool choice as the next “big bad.” Time travel is his bag, and we know how that topic has already a few twists in Avengers Endgame.

Kang has given time-twisting headache to the Avengers and the Fantastic Four in the comic book pages. He could be an obvious thread to introduce the FF into the MCU. 

Or not.

Marvel has no shortage of interesting antagonists.

Because I devour time travel stories, Kang was a favorite among many great villains. Even when his story was, how shall we say? A bit convoluted.

In this 1986 story arc by writer Roger Stern, The Avengers have to contend with multiple versions of Kang, because, well, you know — time travel, the multiverse, alternate realities, that sort of thing. 

Legendary penciller John Buscema had returned to Avengers a few years prior, and, although he only provided breakdowns in most stories, Tom Palmer’s lush inks make this run visually compelling. 

VERY compelling.

The Avengers lineup at the time includes Captain America, The Wasp, Black Knight, Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau version) and both Sub-Mariner and Hercules, the clothing-optional pair of the Marvel Universe. They all appear on this cool end page.

Of course, that’s just the East Coast Avengers. The 1986 West Coast branch includes an ever-changing line-up featuring Hawkeye, Tigra, Iron Man, and others.

But as always, I digress.

Next up this week: Ant-Man, The Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel… 

See you soon.

Get your scorecards out: Rama-Tut, Kang, Immortus and the Scarlet Centurion are all alternate versions of each other. Or not. Or both. You can look it up.

John Byrne — Unhidden

Original Art and The Artists

X-Men: The Hidden Years # 17, April 2001 & #20, July 2001

John Byrne returned to the X-Men in 1999. Not his beloved X-Men of Wolverine, Storm, Colossus and Phoenix, however. This time it was the “original” X-Men — in the period between their cancellation and rebirth. The “Hidden Years.”

It’s an often overlooked series and shouldn’t be. John brought great energy — and closed some outstanding story loops — in the 22-issue series.

Inks are by the terrific Tom Palmer, which gave the series a classic look, reminiscent of those great original Neal Adams issues, while still keeping it clearly Byrne.

Lots of fun guest appearances in the series as well, including the Fantastic Four — inked in one issue by the legendary Joe Sinnott.

X-Men: Hidden Years #20 is a Byrne homage to Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four #1. It was the sixth (and final) Marvel-related FF #1 homage that John drew.

Gene Colan & Tom Palmer — Shadows and Light

Original Art and The Artists

Tomb of Dracula #54, March 1976

Continuing a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.

The monsters returned to Marvel in 1972. 

But this time, the giant behemoths were mostly relegated to reprint titles. Thanks to a loosening of guidelines by the dreaded Comics Code Authority, new comics featured creatures of the night like werewolves, zombies and of course, vampires.

Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula, written by Marv Wolfman (you can’t make that up) and drawn exquisitely by Gene Colan for 70 issues, is a masterpiece of that era. And, it’s not only a legendary horror series, but also one of the great comic book runs, period.

Colan, the “painter with a pencil, “ made his bones at Marvel on classic superheroes like Iron Man, Captain America, and most notably Daredevil. When Marvel expanded into the horror genre, though, no artist could have been more suited to bring life to the undead Dracula. 

The stylist who had mastered the art of shadows and light, was now illustrating the character who hid in those very same shadows.

This moody and dynamic action page is typical of the series. Tom Palmer, who inked all but a handful of early issues, is one of the few who could ink Colan without diminishing — or (ahem) burying altogether — Gene’s pencils.

Colan’s unique style can be polarizing. His fans (and I obviously count myself among them) can be passionate to a fault about Gene’s inventive and atmospheric storytelling. Gene’s singular artistic approach made no attempt to mimic the styles of Marvel’s other star artists, and that represented a challenge to some readers, especially on superhero stories.

But to us, it didn’t detract, or distract, from what Kirby, Romita and Buscema brought to the party. Hell, they were the party. Stan Lee understood from the beginning that Gene’s art would stand on its own. And we appreciated that.

It’s like being an obsessive devotee of art impressionism, and also an enthusiast of Picasso’s cubism. It’s not a contradiction to enjoy both — is it?