Marvel Team-Up 4 cover by Gil Kane, recolored by Scott Dutton

I've been appreciating the work of Scott Dutton, a fine artist / colorist, you can visit his website Catspaw Dynamics. He has done a lot of work recoloring classic comics covers and sometimes doing remixes on covers that never existed.



This one did exist: Marvel Team-Up 4 cover by Gil Kane, where Spider-Man met the X-Men. This was a big event for X-Men fans. The mutants didn't have a regular ongoing series at this point, just reprints. The above is Scott's recoloring using the original scheme from the 1972 comic.



I love this alternate version where Scott put his own spin on the cover. Spider-Man pops more out of the foreground by making the background grey. Even the word balloon where Cyclops is talking is in red, outlining the danger. The logo on top is light blue, lots of subtle differences. You can see the full process that Scott Dutton went through to do all of this on his blog post. I was amazed to learn he didn't use the original art but a page from the Essentials black and white collection! Nuff Said.

Review: Warlock the Complete Collection by Jim Starlin

Last week, I reviewed the Captain Marvel collection by Jim Starlin. That was a great view of Starlin's entry into Marvel comics, developing his characters such as Thanos, his cosmic concepts and artwork grew with each issue. He left Captain Marvel after he finished his Thanos saga, and the letters page announced he would be taking on Warlock as his next assignment!

For those of us who read Warlock in the early 70s, this held great promise. Warlock was already a somewhat cosmic character, created by Jack Kirby in the Fantastic Four. Later he graduated to his own series starting in Marvel Premiere 1 and then his own self titled magazine. This era is covered in Warlock Masterworks Warlock Vol. 1. Gil Kane's artwork is pretty nifty, and Roy Thomas sets up a unique scenario for Warlock, with Counter-Earth. It is heavily steeped in 70s sensibilities and echoes of Jesus Christ Superstar. There are so many Christ parallels right up until the end, which has Warlock flying off to the stars for further adventures. The story wrapped up in Hulk 178 (after Warlock's comic was cancelled), which appeared in August 1974 cover dated comics, just 1 month before Starlin's exit on Captain Marvel. It's a good volume for 1970s Marvel / Warlock completists or fans of Gil Kane (sadly he doesn't draw all of the stories but does do most of the covers).

Shift forward 5 months later to comics cover dated Feb 1975: Strange Tales 178 featuring Warlock is published. Jim Starlin does everything: the writing / pencilling / inking on this issue and the next couple. His artwork is glorious and it really pops when you read this digitally in Warlock by Jim Starlin: The Complete Collection (Warlock (1972-1976)) I thought Starlin's artwork could not get any better by the end of Captain Marvel but here he takes it to another level entirely. After a brief recap to get readers acquainted with Warlock, the reader is introduced to the Universal Church of Truth which is out to punish a young rebel who is seeking Warlock's help. We get our first distorted view of the leader of this church, The Magus.

The 2nd Warlock story by Starlin, Death Ship in ST 179, may be my favorite issue of this run. The pencils and inks by Starlin are superb and in fine detail. From the cover you get the idea that Warlock is trapped with a bunch of crazy alien monsters. Incidentally, take a close look at the upper right hand corner of the cover. The Comics Code seal of approval was changed by Starlin to read Approved by the Cosmic Code. No one caught his change, perhaps because deadlines were tight and things were rushed out the door at the mid-70s Marvel Bullpen.

The splash page is terrific. Warlock looks enigmatic and mysterious in space. The background is finely rendered. At this point in time, Strange Tales was published bi-monthly, which means it came out every 2 months. Starlin must have taken the lead time to work on the first few issues of this series. Warlock is captured and taken prisoner on this ship, which is manned by Captain Autolycus. He is sent to the brig but quickly learns these are not menacing aliens but persecuted beings who have been harmed by the Church.

Warlock's tale takes a wild twist into Michael Moorcock territory during his battle with Autolycus, who has gotten the better of him and about to deliver the final death blow. The gem upon Warlock's forehead - given to him by The High Evolutionary in Marvel Premiere 1, a strange undefined source of power - suddenly roars to life and steals the soul of Autolycus! The Captain's memories flood in Warlock and fill him with a sense of dread. For fans of Moorcock, they could see the similarities between the Soul Gem and the Stormbringer, Elric of Melnibone's sword who not only took souls but lusted after them. Re-reading this again, decades later, I paid close attention to Marvel Premiere 1 where the High Evolutionary gives Warlock the gem.  It really seems to come out of left field. The HE has the gem and gives it to Warlock for an extra boost to his power set for the mission on Counter-Earth. No explanation is given as to how the HE came to possess this gem; HE doesn't make any claim to have manufactured it on his own.

I am not going to review the Warlock saga issue by issue - other people have done that better than me, Back Issue Magazine 34 has a great recap. How did it feel to be reading these tales, as a young person in the 1970s? It seemed revolutionary! In the Captain Marvel stories, Starlin had some interesting concepts, not necessarily about Thanos and Death, but rather about the nature of a warrior. In Warlock he seemed to be taking on several themes. The duality of man's own nature. The tyranny of a church. Order vs Chaos. The possibility that a tyrant such as the Magus was actually a Champion of Life. Did certain tyrants throughout our actual history move humans forward?

The Magus was fully revealed at the end of Strange Tales 181, a bizarre polar opposite of our hero, who had been battered mentally through various tortures and possibly driven insane. The design of the Magus is pure genius. I never thought a purple hued guy with an afro would be such an incredible villain. But here he is, with a skull accessory on his metal belt, no less! He also has the thunderbolt on his chest, something that Warlock discarded a few issues earlier, because it drove Starlin nuts to draw that constantly.

At the end of Warlock 9, Thanos steps into the battle, and that was a complete shock. It was unclear was happened to Thanos in Captain Marvel 33 after the Cosmic Cube was shattered. He was a God, then he was no more. He was not erased from existence, but as Warlock 10 explained, he was stranded in space and rescued by his robotic ships. Thanos became aware the that Magus was a Champion of Life, and as Thanos was the opposite, a lover of Death, that made them enemies.  Thanos started playing a long con to wipe out the Magus, which included helping our hero Adam Warlock. And that long con involved suicide, which I don't believe I had ever read in a mainstream comic before. But here again was something really cool, which was that Starlin wasn't just regurgitating the work of Stan and Jack. Starlin was developing his own mythology and expanding on it wherever he went.

A special note must be made about the work of Steve Leialoha, who took over finishing the art over Starlin's layouts after he stopped doing full pencils / inks. Very rarely do you see two artists mesh so well together. You can think of Kirby / Sinnott or Byrne / Austin, and Starlin / Leioloha are a great team right up there. Steve Leialoha is a fine penciller / storyteller in his own right, having published neat stories in magazines like Star Reach.

I can't review this issue by issue as I said, but each one does look gorgeous on my iPad as I read the Kindle / Comixology edition. When it was on sale it was $3 and I got another free digital trade as part of a promotion. Greatest three bucks I ever spent. Re-reading Warlock by Jim Starlin: The Complete Collection made me feel like a kid again, and while some things don't age well, I feel like this material does.

The whole saga is here, Strange Tales to Warlock to Avengers Annual 7 and the conclusion in Marvel Two In One Annual 2.  Warlock was cancelled in 1976, according to that article in Back Issue, due to a paper shortage - the comic sold pretty well at the time. A year later, in 1977, Archie Goodwin offered Starlin the opportunity to return and finish things up in Avengers Annual 7. This was almost by accident. But it gave Starlin a unique opportunity to tie up the ending of Warlock's tale and provide a mirror scene to the one in Warlock 11 - his death. And then there was the final coda to Thanos' story in Marvel Two In One Annual 2, featuring The Thing and Spider-Man rescuing the Avengers in space.

Warlock and Thanos returned 13 years later. The latter in the pages of Silver Surfer (issue 34) and Warlock during The Infinity Gauntlet series. During this gap in time, we thought that was pretty much the end of their story. Yet they have returned again and again and soon will make full appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nuff Said!

Giant-Size Kid Colt!

I thought by this point in my life, I had seen every Giant-Size title that Marvel had published in the 1970s. Well my mind was blown away by a title I never knew existed: Giant-Size Kid Colt!

Can you imagine? 50 cents for double sized Western action greatness, although in the form of a reprint! The cover to issue #1 was by Larry Lieber and Vinnie Colletta. I see the Colletta inks definitely but I might have been tempted to say it was a Kirby cover. To pump up the adrenaline, Rawhide Kid was the guest star.

Gil Kane drew this glorious cover to issue #2 featuring an Alamo-like last stand by the Western heroes. No inker listed, so did Kane ink himself? Looks like it! Kane had a great affinity for Western covers and I have featured a few in the past.

The third and final issue was another Kane cover showing yet another team-up between Kid Colt and Night Rider. You would almost think this was a team-up title, like Giant-Size Spider-Man which always had a special guest star every issue. Fun stuff! Nuff Said.

Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos 96 cover by Gil Kane

I recently came across this cover I had never seen before - probably because I never collected that many war comics - Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos 96, March 1972 (probably hit the newsstands 3 months before in December 1971).

This is a smashing cover illustration by Gil Kane and John Severin! The overhead view perspective on the three figures as gunshots rain down on them - as Dum Dum Dugan tries to carry an injured Nick Fury - wow. John Severin, a veteran of many war comics, inks Kane here.

However - Severin wasn't the first choice to ink this cover! The editors originally gave Kane's pencils to Ralph Reese to ink. This version was printed as a pin-up in the next issue. You can see that Reese's inks are superb as well, but they make the figures covered in shadows. It really increased the horror factor. I can only assume the editors didn't want this effect. Interesting that someone objected to it so strenuously that they had another inker do it before the publication deadline. Nuff Said!

Cover Teardown: Conan the Barbarian 30 by Gil Kane and Ernie Chan!

From 1973, this battle scarred cover by Gil Kane and Ernie Chan for Conan the Barbarian #30!

Notice the note to inker Ernie Chan on the bottom: "Ernie - Keep cleavage delicate - light lines".

I always found this cover striking because of the giant purple bat-like creature in the background.  Also the angle of Conan, as if he is on a hill with a downward slope.

Actually a lot of Ernie Chan's delicate line work was lost in the full color process!  The bat had a lot of cross hatching and even the rocks were full of lines.  But it's one of the classic Conan covers - each of the first 35 Conan covers were gems.  Nuff Said!

Cover teardown: Marvel Team-Up 30 by Gil Kane

Following up today's announcement that Falcon would be the new Captain America, I ran across this piece of original cover art...

Marvel Team-Up #30 from 1975, featuring Spider-Man and the Falcon!

It's a strange cover.  You have Spider-Man in the center of the action, but the big co-star, The Falcon is pretty small in the background.  At least Redwing is in there!  Hey they better not forget Redwing when Falcon takes over for Cap.  Nuff Said!

The Mark of Gil Kane: Captain Marvel and Black Bolt, together!

I've always loved Gil Kane's renditions of both Captain Marvel and Black Bolt from the Inhumans.  A few weeks ago I noticed the original cover art for Captain Marvel #53 (1977) which featured both of these characters together!

Original cover art by Gil Kane, inks by Frank Giacoia and/or Esposito.  Pretty much two characters in flight, it must have taken Kane less than half a day to execute this one?

With the color it really pops as Black Bolt's all blue outfit stands out next to Marvell's mostly red tights.  Nuff Said.

Thing Tuesday: Teaming Up with Ghost Rider on Christmas Eve!

How did Marvel celebrate Christmas back in 1975?  By teaming up ol' Benjamin J Grimm with this Satan spawn…

...Ghost Rider from Marvel Two In One #8, cover by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott.  Silent Night, Deadly Night!  Doesn't take place in Bethlehem but on an Indian reservation that Johnny Blaze happens to be cruzin' by lookin' for trouble.

Just remember, no matter what your religion, the world of comics has you covered, as witnessed by this little card by Michael Cho.  

I plan on having Daimon Hellstrom, Simon Garth and Jericho Drumm over on Christmas and eating Deviled Eggs.  Nuff Said!

Monster Monday: Sci-Fi Man-Wolf covers by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson

When Spider-Man's nemesis, Man-Wolf, finally appeared in his own strip inside Creatures on the Loose, it was hard to make this character distinct from Marvel's other lycanthropian, Werewolf by Night.  David Kraft, who wrote the later issues, fixed this problem by turning Man-Wolf into a sci-fi hero.  The gem that had grafted to his chest was a ruby from another dimension, known as the Godstone.

This led to some ultra cool covers by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson!  Creatures on the Loose #35 features Man-Wolf on a runaway rocket sled--shades of Barsoom!  The blood red haze on top is terrific, I bet you could spot this cover halfway across the drugstore on the spinner rack.  The color scheme reminds me a bit of Gil Kane's Morbius cover on Fear #23.

But the action scene itself is similar to this cover from Amazing Adventures #29, which again is very John Carter like, with a sky sled plummeting downward.  Gil Kane loved the adventures of Barsoon and drew the John Carter strip, which probably led to these influences.

Creatures on the Loose #36 features Man-Wolf in a terrible spot, out in the vacuum of space.  I thought this was an ultra cool idea, having a werewolf in space, he would never turn human would he, since the moon was always in view?

Creatures on the Loose #37 was the last issue featuring the Man-Wolf (his story wrapped up in Marvel Premiere #45-46).  But this is another great idea, the creature fighting an army in anti-gravity. Nuff Said!

Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus covers by Todd McFarlane, Gil Kane, Sal Buscema

Remember the days when Spidey and Doc Ock weren't the same person?  LOL.  I do get a kick out of reading Superior Spider-Man.  But here are some old Marvel Tales covers when their relationship wasn't so close.

Marvel Tales #224 by Todd McFarlane in 1989 features a classic battle between Doc and Spidey on the rooftops.  This one reprinted the classic issue of Amazing Spider-Man (#89) where Captain Stacey dies saving a child on the street below.

Marvel Tales #223, another McFarlane cover features Spidey getting a full frontal attack by those robot arms.  You have to admit McFarlane draws a great Spidey, and he kept the underarm webbing!

Marvel Tales #40 from 1971-1972 featured a Gil Kane cover.  Spidey had lost his memory and became temporarily convinced he was Doc Ock's partner in crime?  Crazy huh?  Good thing the internet wasn't around then or we would have fans screaming about tentacle porn.

Marvel Tales #38 cover by Sal Buscema featured one of those Doc Ock larger than life motifs.  Now I feel even more creepy about those tentacles.  Nuff Said!

Monster Monday: Man-Wolf Premiere Cover Art by John Romita and Gil Kane

One monster I haven't gotten around to is Spider-Man's nemesis, Man-Wolf.  He premiered in Spidey's title (Amazing Spider-Man #124), teamed up with Morbius in Giant-Size Superheroes #1, then launched into his own solo series soon afterward.

Creatures on the Loose #30 was the premiere of Man-Wolf's solo adventures.  Funny enough, this first issue was written by Doug Moench, who also wrote Werewolf by Night!  The cover is a classic collaboration by John Romita Sr and Gil Kane.  The cover is playing up the traditional horror aspect of a lycanthrope, though as the series evolved, Man-Wolf became more of a science fiction character.  There is a classic setup here, this fellow obvious brought his girl up for some rooftop romance when he was surprised by J. Jonah Jameson's son!

Here is Gil Kane's original pencils on Marvel's art board for this issue. 

Here is a closeup view of Gil Kane's pencils for this cover.  It's interesting to examine this before Romita applied his inks.  The character of the Man-Wolf is kept mostly intact, but the girl is glamorized in Romita's style and the horror on the guy's face is more intense after Romita finishes him.

Gil Kane and John Romita Sr had two drastically different styles and approaches which usually produced visually stunning work!  Nuff Said.

Monster Monday: Night Rider original art by Gil Kane

This Marvel character isn't a monster really, but his ethereal image inspired another Marvel Monster to rise in his place.

Night Rider #1 was published in 1974 with this terrific cover by Gil Kane and Tom Palmer.  I was very surprised when I saw this--I had no idea such a title was ever published!  It was a reprint title that lasted 6 issues.  Who was the Night Rider?  You may not have recalled such a Western hero alongside the Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, or the whatever Kid.

The original art to the Night Rider cover, which recently sold for over $6K on Heritage Comics.

The first issue reprinted "the awesome Origin of the Man Who Rides the Midnight Winds!"  Night Rider was actually the Western Ghost Rider, who has been around at Marvel in one form or another since 1949.  Since Ghost Rider had his own hot-selling title in 1974, Marvel didn't want to confuse readers.  They renamed the character to Night Rider.  But if you read the interior story by Gary Friedrich, Roy Thomas, and Dick Ayers, the character does use his ghostly visage to terrorize the bad dudes.  Since Friedrich and Thomas had both worked on this story in 1967, they also worked on modernizing the new Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze character five years later in 1972.

I would have bought this comic and declared it a classic if Kane and Palmer had drawn the interiors.  Nuff Said!

Thor Thursday: Gil Kane Original Covers with Romita and Colletta!

Nothing puts me in a good mood like looking at Gil Kane covers from the 1970s.  Here are a couple of Thor covers, inked by some heavy hitters.

Thor #201 is a superb cover by Kane and inked by Vince Colletta.  I am not the biggest Colletta fan, but I really like his work here.  Maybe because he inked Kirby's Thor for so many years?

Here is the full color cover as originally published in 1972.  I love how Pluto's axe spills outside the rectangle and over the Thor logo on top.  This type of image really suited Gil Kane, who loved to draw fantasy and barbarian type characters.

Thor #237 was a collaboration between Kane and John Romita Sr.  Ulik plows Thor into the side of a bus while a crowd looks on in horror.  Not the greatest cover, but a good action shot.

The original color cover as published in 1975, along with the often used Marvel quote:

"...Not All My Power Can Save Me!"

Remember when covers used to be great action scenes like this one?  Nowadays the covers are more like movie posters, character poses, thematic covers that convey little about the actual content.  Nuff Said!

Gil Kane: Conan the Barbarian in the Revolutionary War 1776?

If you could imagine the craziest team-up involving Conan the Barbarian, what would it be?  Conan and Spider-Man?  Conan and Thor?  Conan and Dracula?  I Say They Nay...the wackiest time travelling team-up of all time is....

Conan the Barbarian in the United States Revolutionary War of 1776!  Leading a rag-tag group of Minutemen in this illustration by Gil Kane.  It was featured in the Mighty Marvel Bicentennial Calendar 1976.

And just for you, true believers, here is the Merry Month of the Barbarian: April.  Packed with images from Barry Smith and others.  Nice little tidbits of information, such as April 22nd is Steve Englehart's birthday--and the 26th was George Tuska's.

Here is the original artwork to this calendar piece by Gil Kane.  Nuff Said!

Monster Monday: Supernatural Thrillers 6 (Headless Horseman) original art and cover by Gil Kane

When Supernatural Thrillers began in 1972, it was adapting material from well known authors and classic stories.

In 1973, ST #6 featured the tale of the Headless Horseman.  A nice cover by Gil Kane highlights the action against Ichabod Crane.  The original artwork for this is a knockout!  Kane left room for the logo on top, but the way he positioned the drawing and captured the scene in action was masterful.

Here is the artwork with the cover copy pasted up.  You gotta love the mascot for this series in the upper left--a dog (or wolf?) howling at the moon.

And the cover as originally published in full color, where the horse looks demonic as well.  The interior story by Gary Friedrich and George Tuska attempted a modern take on the legend, which is why the cover blurb read He Haunts The Midnight Hills -- Today!  Nuff Said!