Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Wonder Woman

Alex Toth — Wonder Woman Ties It Up

Original Art and The Artists

Commission, 1998

This fun little Alex Toth commission really shows off every side of his cartooning ability—draftsmanship, storytelling, humor, design sense, and of course that instantly recognizable lettering style that somehow always looked effortless.

Typically, it’s drawn on a simple 6×9 sketchpad sheet, folds and all—you can even see how Toth mailed it off to “Joel,” which only adds to the charm.

The gag is terrific: poor Frank Godwin (best known for Rusty Riley and some stunning adventure-strip work) has been literally hogtied by Wonder Woman and forced to help DC (then National Periodical Publications) out of a bind by drawing a few Wonder Woman stories in the 1940s.

I’ve always loved Toth’s Wonder Woman commissions because they never feel overly reverent. He understood the character visually, sure—but he also understood that comics are supposed to be fun.

Even fooling around on sketchpad paper, Toth still couldn’t help making great comics.

From one of the Godwin-ghosted stories: “Amazon Unbound” from Sensation Comics #19, May 1943
A typical stunning example of Godwin’s draftsmanship on the “Rusty Riley” strip.

Mike Sekowsky — Team Effort

Original Art and The Artists

Justice League of America #25, February 1964

Here’s a very cool—and not all that common—page from Mike Sekowsky’s run on Justice League of America.

What jumps out right away is that you’ve got all five Leaguers from the issue sharing the same page. That wasn’t always the case—these stories often split the team into smaller groups, each getting their own chapter. So having everyone here, across multiple panels, really gives the page that full-on “team book” feel.

And then there’s Superman—front and center.

That’s actually a bit unusual in those early JLA years. He was around, sure, but often used a little more sparingly. Cover-wise, he’d only popped up a handful of times before this—and even then, kind of on the margins. Here, he feels like a real driver of the story, not just part of the roster.

This one’s from before my own newsstand era, which is part of the fun. Big, bold, early Silver Age stuff—goofy aliens, interdimensional problems, the kind of threats where you actually need a whole team. You’re not calling in the Justice League for a bank robbery.

And Sekowsky—never really labeled a top-tier stylist—but the guy could draw anything, in any situation, and keep the story moving. That’s a skill that’s easy to overlook, and shouldn’t be.

Just a great page—and a really nice slice of JLA history.

Frank Cho — “Go Home, Clark”

Original Art and The Artists

Convention Print, 2021 / 2022

I love a great Frank Cho specialty piece. Rock-solid draftsmanship paired with a genuinely good sense of humor. (Which is rarer than you’d think—superheroes can swing from humorless to campy at light speed.)

Clean lines. No clutter. A powerful—and beautiful—Wonder Woman.

And a simple joke, told exactly right. From a very talented cartoonist and creator.

It doesn’t hurt that the piece is about 18 × 24 in size. Yowza.

Cho mentioned on social media that this was one of the first drawings he finished during the pandemic lockdown.

Now that was time well spent.

If you were in the right place at the tight time, you could get your print re-marqued. Mine (left) is not, but I own the original, so zero regrets.

Matt Wagner — Roping In Bizarro

Original Art and The Artists

Batman / Superman / Wonder Woman: Trinity #2, September 2003

Batman / Superman / Wonder Woman: Trinity #2, 2003

Here’s a great Matt Wagner splash featuring Wonder Woman doing her best to rein in Bizarro. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t go all that well.

Wagner delivers page after page of visual dynamics and terrific storytelling in this underrated series featuring DC’s “Big Three.”

The only thing I don’t like: The “official” book title, which is a bit long and definitely not obvious. (Publishers occasionally forget that readers have to be able easily find the title at retail. Trust me on this.)

Happy Halloween —all month long!

John Byrne — Bloody Victory

Original Art and The Artists

Wonder Woman #104, December 1995

This is obviously a cool splash page from John Byrne’s (story, pencils and inks) run on Wonder Woman. Tremendous detail apparent here.

Less obvious without the published page nearby of course is the terrific coloring here by Patricia Mulvihill. She creates a clear background and foreground with minimal tone, adding depth and clarity to the art.

If you’re curious about plot, Darkseid and his legions have killed quite a few of Diana’s fellow warriors and wrecked Themyscira, but didn’t get what they wanted, so they split.

Good riddance, even if only temporary.

Mike Sekowsky — Of An Era

Original Art and The Artists

Justice League of America #23, November 1963

Mike Sekowsky’s art and 70s pop music have characteristics in common for me: 

As a kid, I didn’t like either of it, and now I look back on both with a sentimental warm feeling.

It’s not easy to explain. But I was warned by one of my older colleagues this would happen.

Sekowsky’s art always felt too loose (and blocky) for me.  I realized he could draw any character of course, which made him the perfect illustrator for Justice League, but the end result never grabbed me.

Now as time has passed, and I smile when I see it. Possibly a primal nostalgic impulse. It seems like a perfect fit for the DC comics of the era.

This example, a cool Flash-focused page, with Wonder Woman on deep background, showcases some clear and inventive storytelling.

As for the draftsmanship? Like I said — things change. Now, it seems charming to me.

Excuse me a moment while I flip over Abba’s greatest hits on the turntable. 

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.

Tom Derenick — At Long Last, Wonder Woman

Original Art and The Artists

Wonder Woman: Come Back To Me #5, 2019

Tom Derenick helps us celebrate that, at long last, Wonder Woman1984 opens today in theaters and starts streaming on HBO Max.

Probably not a Christmas film per se, it is still something of a Christmas Miracle that the film, completed in time for a Holiday 2019 release, will finally see the light of day.

I’m looking forward to it, especially since I’ve already completed most of my Christmas film rituals, including watching Die Hard last night.

Happy Holidays!

Scott Kolins — Fearsome

Original Art and The Artists

Wonder Woman #600, June 2010

Concluding for now our celebration of Wonder Woman, in anticipation of the much anticipated (and delayed) superhero film, Wonder Woman 1984.

Scott Kolins creates a fierce “in-action” pin-up of Wonder Woman using only graphite. (The page is colored and published directly from the pencils.)

DC has created some terrific celebratory issues and this one is no exception. Plenty of other pinups in the oversized issue from 2010, featuring art by Adam Hughes, Jock, Ivan Reis and many more.

We will back with one more Wonder Woman post, whenever the film finally opens.

Whenever.