Random Moments from Old Comics

I've started alphabetizing the many comics in my basement. It is, of course, impossible to organize old comics without flipping through them. I thought I'd share interesting things as I run across them. Here's a few in no particular order...

Look what Nightcrawler did in 1979!
From Marvel Team-Up #89...

Please no longer give Spider-Man the credit for inventing cool upside-down lip locking.


Something We Should Never See, Part 1.
This is the Vision. He's an android.

In Avengers #137 (1975), we see him in a bathing suit!

There's something weird about it. I didn't even know his "costume" came off!

Something We Should Never See, Part 2.
Galactus is an awesome, near-incomprehensible force of cosmic proportions.

In the first Hercules limited series, issue #4 (1982), we see the Big G with his helmet off!

It's like looking inside someone's underwear drawn. It just feels wrong.

Truth in Advertising (for once)!
I found the below ad in Machine Man #6 (1978). I'm showing it because the hype actually turned out to actually be true! The "best" was yet to come. This was right before the book's most famous years. (Click on it if you'd like to enlarge it.)

Plus , it's a great image if you like the original New X-Men.

Captain America Original Art

I've decided to ebay a piece of John Byrne/Joe Rubinstein art from Captain American #234. Before I sell it, however, I thought I'd list some of the things I enjoy about it. (Edit: No longer on ebay. Sold.) Click on it below if you'd like to see a larger view.

First of all, the inks are truly beautiful. If Joe Rubinstein was never a fan favorite, he should have been.

Second, the cool thing about owning original art, is that you'll notice mistakes that you'd never notice by merely looking at the printed book. For example...

The first panel has been whited out at the top. It was apparently drawn too high on the page. (A lettering issue, perhaps?) In the printed comic, the panel is lower, but slightly crooked. It must have been copied and placed a bit carelessly. (Yes. It's subtle. Have I ever mentioned I art direct for a living?)

Also, one of the panels has the lines of the door frame drawn through Cap's shoulder. When I first compared it to the printed page, I was surprised to find it there too! I shouldn't have been.

Original work, as an artifact, tells a story by itself. You can often see the history of decision-making told by white out, blue lines, or unerased pencils. You can see the "hand of the artist" in the variation of the black inks. The page above has Zip-A-Tone applied to it, which was a cool fad for a while.

I'm going to miss seeing original art, as more and more work is created solely on the computer.

"Nighttime secrets"

A doodle from one of my sketchbooks.

Batman vs Spectre!

I'd forgotten I had drawn this. My last post reminded me. You can see how my art style has changed, if you look at the two Spectres.

Right before creating Halo and Sprocket, I submitted a story idea to DC Comics. It was about Batman's first encounter with the Spectre. I won't take you through the entire plot, but it was basically about how Batman was grounded in "real life," while the Spectre was a purely metaphysical character. I wanted Batman to win against impossible odds as circumstance pits him directly against the Spectre. Toward the end of the story, Batman uses Bible verses, from Genesis, quoting how Jacob wrestles with an angel/God. Batman challenges the Spectre in the same way. Jacob wins in the original story, so guess who wins in mine!

I've got Spectre covered.

I picked up Showcase #61 at a recent, local comic convention. The cover has always interested me. Just look at it...!

After buying it, I decided to do my own version of it for Covered Blog. (A blog I always enjoy.) I also recently did a Tigra one. See my newest entry here, or simply look at it below. Click to enlarge.

I gave "Shathan" a hairy chest because he has one in the interior pages. The cover's only a metaphor for the inside story. No one actually gets hit on the head with any planets. (I must admit I was a little disappointed.)

Doodle on my new Wacom tablet

As an artist, I should be embarrassed to admit this, but I've only had a mouse for my computer these many years. I finally broke down and got a very cheap Wacom tablet. Nothing fancy, just a "Bamboo". I doodled something that recently occurred to me. When we consider people attractive, we take a portrait of their heads, don't we?

That Wacky Billy!

I came across this item recently. Back in '90 I used to work with an individual who was quite gullible. At some point, I wondered just how gullible the person was, so I altered a panel in the newspaper comic section and said, "Have you seen today's Family Circus!?! I Xeroxed it!"

The person's response was sincere. "Oh wow. I wonder why he would do that? Do you think he's having trouble at home?"

I later confessed what I did. I'm a softy at heart. Sort of.