Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Tony DeZuniga

Butch Guice — Cartoon Hour

Original Art and The Artists

Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, #43, August 2006

Butch (Jackson) Guice and Tony DeZuniga could not have possibly drawn a page in 2006 that is more counterintuitive to their specific art styles than this one-of-a-kind opening splash featuring Aquaman as originally seen in the 1967 CBS cartoon. (“Tusky” the walrus is along for the ride.)

It’s part of a yet another revamp of the character that happened mid-stream when Aquaman became Aquaman, Sword of Atlantis a few issues earlier. Without getting too bogged down in the editorial minutiae, this page is self-aware, as it is a flashback for our protagonist recalling the little he knows about the Aquaman character.

September was typically the roughest time of the year for most kids with school days replacing summer break, but the new cartoon season helped salve the wounds — a bit, anyway. (I didn’t care that much about Aquaman, but Filmation managed to sneak some Justice League and Teen Titan cartoons into the show’s mix. And I thought that was the greatest thing since…. well, I was a little kid, so probably since… anything. At least until the next big thing came along.)

Fun Fact: The original art featured an outline for a title page logo that was ultimately not used in the published version.

Left: When The Aquaman cartoon launched in 1967. DC immediately added the tag “The King of the Sea is now the King of TV!” to the Aquaman comics. Right: Brian Bolland pays homage to the character’s classic design with this beautiful cover from the “final” issue of the 2003 Aquaman series prior to its “reboot.”

John Buscema & Tony DeZuniga — Skull On The Seas

Original Art and The Artists

Savage Sword of Conan #191, October 1991

Roy Thomas returns to Conan for the first time in 10 years, and partners with superstar artist John Buscema, pretty much picking up where the pair left off in terms of innovative and exciting Conan stories.

In addition to astonishing talent, Buscema could be very productive in terms of his total output — in this stretch of Conan he is providing layouts and rough pencils only, freeing him up for other projects. Here Tony DeZuniga provides some nice finishing touches for John. (I think here you can see John’s obvious handiwork, which was not always the case with DeZuniga inks.)

Lots of ink — as it were — has been spilled on who was Buscema’s best embellisher on Conan.  See here, here, and here for illustrative discussions.

My opinions have varied over time, and sometimes from issue to issue. The debate itself is fun.

And the talking skull? Spoiler alert: It belongs to King Kull’s arch nemesis Thulsa Doom. (In fairness, Thulsa eventually gives Conan much grief as well.)