RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Prometheus and Grimm's Misfit Island of Comic Images

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Another rare Golden page, this one the unpublished cover for what would haave been MISTER MIRACLE 26 in 1978, if not for the "DC Implosion". For many years, I only had a badly xeroxed copy of this from CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE 1 and 2, that collected all the comics and covers from the cancelled DC Implosion books.
This is the only version I've seen in color, perhaps finally reprinted somewhere else.

Michael Golden also illustrated MISTER MIRACLE 23-25 in 1978 (following the Englehart and Rogers run in issues 19-22). To my knowledge, only the cover was finished for issue 26, no story or interior art completed. Issue 23 is inked by Joe Geilla, 24 and 25 are inked by Russ Heath, as is this cover for 26.

You can view all these issues here:
https://comiconlinefree.net/mister-miracle-1971/issue-23/full
https://viewcomiconline.com/mister-miracle-1971-issue-24/
https://comiconlinefree.net/mister-miracle-1971/issue-25/full

Golden in 1977-1978 did work at DC for HOUSE OF MYSTERY 257 and 259, HOUSE OF SECRETS 148, 149 and 151, GHOSTS 88, SECRETS OF HAUNTED HOUSE 10, DC SPECIAL SERIES 15 (BATMAN SPECTACULAR), BATMAN 295 (full issue), and 303 (backup story), BATMAN FAMILY 15-20, and DETECTIVE COMICS 482. I love this early Golden work for DC, his pages were beautiful, from the moment he entered comics.
Golden's earliest work at Marvel is in MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS 28 in 1977, and in DEFENDERS 53 and 54 , Nov and Dec 1977.

The DC Implosion cancelled most of these titles and created a huge inventory of stories at DC, and very little need for new work from freelance artists at DC for a long time, that drove Golden over to Marvel, just in time to be appointed the series artist for MICRONAUTS 1-12, and gorgeous covers on a dozen or so issues after that run.

Golden also did beautiful covers later on in 1981 for DEFENDERS 94 and 96
https://viewcomiconline.com/defenders-v1-094/
https://viewcomiconline.com/defenders-v1-096/

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I've been rediscovering Mike Grell lately, particularly the first 10 years or so he was drawing comics. This is Grell's cover for the late lamented
AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS fanzine, issue 12, dated August 1976, during Grell's run on SUPERBOY/LEGION 202-224, and 235 from 1974-1977.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Superboy-1949/Issue-203?id=29078

I especially love his WARLORD run in issues 1-50 (preceded by his origin story in 1st ISSUE SPECIAL 8) :
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/1st-Issue-Special/Issue-8?id=85366
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Warlord-1976/Issue-1?id=85637


And only slightly less, his later STARSLAYER 1-6, and JON SABLE FREELANCE 1-43 runs.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Starslayer/Issue-1?id=122616
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Jon-Sable-Freelance/Issue-1?id=98833

And here's a nice gallery of Grell commissions :
https://www.thelegionofsuper-heroes.com/Pub%20Gallery%20Mike%20Grell.html

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Grell's pin-up contribuion to SUPERMAN 400 in 1984. This a signed version from an overpriced portfolio made of the pin-up pages in that issue.
All the pages may have been signed as this one is by Grell, but I don't recall these pages being signed when I looked at the actual portfolio.

Here's the full issue, with all the stories and pin-ups :
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Superman-1939/Issue-400?id=16245

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http://theages.superman.nu/400/grell/grell-pinup.gif

The same Grell page in color, as it appears in SUPERMAN 400.

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A gorgeous Rafael Kayanan commission page from 2018.
I'm not a big Galactus fan, but... wow.

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GREEN LANTERN 87 introduced the black substitute Green Lantern, John Stewart, in a story by O'Neil and Adams/Giordano.




The same issue had a second Maggin and Adams/Giordano Green Arrow story, here is the decorative first page for that second story.




The full issue, for your reading pleasure, at :
https://readallcomics.com/green-lantern-v2-087/
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Green-Lantern-1960/Issue-87?id=28308
https://onemillioncomics.com/green-lantern-1960-issue-87/

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Frank Brunner "Scarface Duck" poster, done in 1976, shortly after he left Marvel and the HOWARD THE DUCK series. All told, Brunner only did Howard The Duck stories in GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING 4 and 5, and HOWARD THE DUCK 1 and 2.
Brunner also did a really nice SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN story in issue 30.
And a nice run of Doctor Strange stories in MARVEL PREMIERE 9-14 and DOCTOR STRANGE 1-2, and 4-5 in 1973-1975 (3 is a Lee / Ditko fill-in reprint).
https://onemillioncomics.com/giant-size-man-thing-issue-4/
https://onemillioncomics.com/giant-size-man-thing-issue-5/
https://onemillioncomics.com/search/?key=howard+the+duck

https://readallcomics.com/giant-size-man-thing-4/
https://readallcomics.com/giant-size-man-thing-5/
https://readallcomics.com/howard-the-duck-v1-001/
https://readallcomics.com/howard-the-duck-v1-002/

https://readallcomics.com/savage-sword-of-conan-v1-030/

https://readallcomics.com/marvel-premiere-010/
https://readallcomics.com/category/doctor-strange/



I always felt lucky to have found a copy of this poster in 1981, and to have been able to add it to my home comic art gallery, for lo these many years.

Brunner also did a few duck stories and other stuff for STAR REACH and QUACK.

https://onemillioncomics.com/category/quack/
https://readallcomics.com/quack-1/ (same story also reprinted in issue 6)

https://onemillioncomics.com/category/star-reach/
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Star-Reach/Issue-3?id=115001 (Brunner stories in STAR REACH issues 3, 5, and covers on 10, 12 )


Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden also did hilarious and beautifully illustrated stories in HOWARD THE DUCK magazine (1979-1981), issues 1, 5, and especially 6.
https://onemillioncomics.com/category/howard-the-duck-1979/
https://readallcomics.com/howard-the-duck-v2-001/ ("Fowl of Fear", by Mantlo and Golden/Janson)
https://readallcomics.com/howard-the-duck-v2-005/ ("Drake-ula" by Mantlo and Golden/McCleod)
https://readallcomics.com/howard-the-duck-v2-006/ ("Duckworld", by Mantlo and Golden/McCleod)


And here are new links for the Michael Golden MISTER MIRACLE stories that I linked a few posts above, Here they are again on this other site :
https://onemillioncomics.com/category/mister-miracle-1971/
https://readallcomics.com/mister-miracle-v1-023/
https://readallcomics.com/mister-miracle-v1-024/
https://readallcomics.com/mister-miracle-v1-025 /

And Golden's DEFENDERS covers :
https://onemillioncomics.com/category/defenders/
https://readallcomics.com/defenders-v1-094/
https://readallcomics.com/defenders-v1-096/


But back on the subject of Frank Brunner, I sure love this "Scarface Duck" poster.
I'm really glad I lucked onto finding this poster, when I was about 19, in 1982. I didn't see another copy of it anywhere for about 25 years.

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It also looks great under a black-light !

That is amazing.

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I like Kayanan's work enough that I created a whole topic for him:

Rafael Kayanan topic
https://www.rkmbs.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1231917#Post1231917

I especially like his Conan work (all linked there), in SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN, CONAN THE ADVENTURER, and an all splash-page story in CONAN THE SAVAGE.

https://readallcomics.com/savage-sword-of-conan-v1-211/ , issues 211-213, 215, 217 (July 1993-Jan 1994)
https://readallcomics.com/conan-the-adventurer-001/ , issues 11-14 (June 1994-July 1995)
https://readallcomics.com/conan-the-savage-07/ , issue 7 (a 25-page all splash page story, Feb 1996)



Another cool artist vision of Galactus is in the SILVER SURFER:PARABLE graphic novel, by Stan Lee and Moebius.
I liked it so much, I bought it in both hardcover and trade form.
It was also published as a 2-issue miniseries.

https://onemillioncomics.com/silver-surfer-parable-tpb/
or :
https://readallcomics.com/silver-surfer-parable-tpb/

I like in the trade version (1988), it has a behind-the-scenes text section with detailed pencil drawings by Moebius, some of those decorative pages not included in the final story or hardcover printing.
The linked version is a later trade version, that collects the Lee/Moebius story along with another separate graphic novel by Lee and Pollard.

Obviously, Moebius' work is amazing, but his influence on Kayanan (who I'd never heard of before) is just as plain. I really enjoy that hyper-detailed drawing. Brian Bolland did it on Camelot 3000 when he realised his pencils were going to be inked over by someone he didn't specially know in the US, so he pencilled the fuck out of them. You really see this by issue 11. The cover with the alien queen is intense with detail.

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Just in time for Halloween...



Since the previous image expired, here again is Richard Corben's cover for Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell album, released in late 1977.

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And here's the Wrightson cover for Meat Loaf's second album, in 1981.






While the first one is still up, this image is a clearer scan than the first one I posted.

While Brian Bolland did a lot of nice covers and back-up or single-issue stories, I guess this CAMELOT 3000 series was Bolland's first major breakout series work on the U.S. side of the Atlantic. Alhough well-established with years of work in the U.K. before that.

I can think of a number of other covers Bolland has done that took my breath away.

Full CAMELOT 3000 series issues 1-12 online, at :
https://readallcomics.com/camelot-3000-01/


Here's a cover Bolland did for ZATANNA'S SEARCH, a 2004 collection reprinting the earliest Zatanna stories, from circa 1964-1967 :






And this cover from SUPERMAN 422, August 1986.



https://readallcomics.com/superman-v1-422/

With an updated image.

Simonson shattered the THOR cover logo on his first issue as writer/artist, replacing it next issue with a new logo. That could be seen as symbolic of how he would go on to shatter the rules on the THOR series, and continue to blow our minds every issue for the next 5 straight years.



https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Thor-1966/Issue-337?id=7993
Simonson script and art in THOR 337-354, 357-367, 380
Simonson script, Sal Buscema art in 355, 368-369, 371-379, 381-382

And unknown to many,
Len Wein stories, Simonson pencils/Dezuniga inks in THOR 260-271

https://readallcomics.com/thor-v1-337/

full issue at :
https://readallcomics.com/worlds-finest-245-2/



Adding another one for the Anal Rape file...


( cover by Phil Hester /Ande Parks )

..this cover from ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM-UP 2, May 2001
full issue at :
https://readallcomics.com/ultimate-marvel-team-up-002/


Someone else posted this image to a topic here roughly 20 years ago, I can't recall if it was G-man, Son of Mxy, BSAMS, The Doctor, Time Trust, or someone else. But regardless, hilariously suggestive. It's hard to believe the artist couldn't pick up on the suggestive possible interpretation of this pose.

It’s a good thing Peter’s anus has the proportionate sphincter strength of a spider

http://orig15.deviantart.net/d825/f...ational_poster_by_slyboyseth-d91pjw9.png

Updated, with a working link.


And a few more tribute pages, of Batwoman...



...and ...
"BRAVE AND THE BOLD presents Batwoman"




And a "WORLD'S FINEST" parody, with Supergirl and Batgirl.
But really, both girls drawn are basically Cavewoman in a super-costume.





And this nice tribute to The Wizard of Oz...




A number of these and similar parody tributes appear in CAVEWOMAN: PANGAEAN SEA and PREHISTORIC PIN-UPS issues :
https://readallcomics.com/cavewoman-pangaean-sea-07/
https://readallcomics.com/cavewoman-prehistoric-pinups-5/

Updated wih a new image of the full cover :



The interior art by another artist is embarassingly bad by comparison.
But love that Art Noveau cover. I's worth owning the book for that alone.

full issue at :
https://readallcomics.com/vampirella-1992-0/
or
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Vampirella-1992/Issue-0?id=159814

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A great Doctor Doom page, by Bob Layton.In a portfolio pin-up section in MARVEL FANFARE 39, August 1988.
https://readallcomics.com/marvel-fanfare-1982-039/

From around the time Layton did a fantastic Iron Man / Doctor Doom story in IRON MAN 149- 150, August and Sept 1981.

full issues at: .
https://readallcomics.com/iron-man-v1-149/
https://readallcomics.com/iron-man-v1-150/


And here's another Iron Man / Doctor Doom follow-up story 100 issues later, in IRON MAN 250, also by Michelinie and Layton, cover-dated Dec 1989.
https://readallcomics.com/iron-man-v1-250/

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Doctor Doom again, by Jack Kirby.
This one done as part of a set of Marvel fandom posters, offered in ads in Marvel titles, circa 1970.
https://readallcomics.com/chamber-of-darkness-7/
https://readallcomics.com/daredevil-v1-068/
https://readallcomics.com/incredible-hulk-v1-132/
https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-annual-008/

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From the cover of FF 33, in 2021.

https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v6-033-2021/

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https://wallpapercrafter.com/desktop6/1511098-Comics-Doctor-Doom-Comic-Fantastic-Four-720P.jpg



Another impressive Doctor Doom page.
With link to a larger version.

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And by John Byrne. This page is from FANTASTIC FOUR 258, Sept 1983. It took some probing of the long-term memory to recall precisely where I'd seen it.
https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-258/

Byrne did some great Doctor Doom stories and pin-up pages, in FF 236, Nov 1981
And 246-247, Sept and Oct 1982.
And in 258-260, Sept, Oct and Nov 1983 .





full issue at:
https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-236/




FF 247, pages 2 and 3. Full issue at:
https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-247/


( also from FF 258, page 7 )



And...


( a more playful and less serious Doctor Doom, from the cover of FF 238, Jan 1982 )
full issue at:
https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-238/

It took Byrne a few issues to build up to it. But he certainly got around to including a more menacing Doom in future FF issues.
And then some.

https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-236/

https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-246/
https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-247/

https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-258/
https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-259/
https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-260/

https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-268/

https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-278/
https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-279/

https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-293/

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And this little diddy from X-FACTOR ANNUAL 4, from 1989.


full issue at :
https://readallcomics.com/x-factor-v1-annual-004/
or
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/X-Factor-1986/Annual-4?id=40942


Wow !

First the lead story, with a wild 25-page collaboration of Byrne story and pencils, with Simonson inks.

Then the above-shown 10-page second story by Ralph Macchio, with Byrne pencils and inks.
That is as good or better than the lead story, with some really creepy elements.

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One more for the Anal Rape file....


https://readallcomics.com/captain-america-v1-239/


From CAPTAIN AMERICA 239, Nov 1979.

Tha opening splash page in particular, of a giant thug on top of a prone Captain America face down in the snow, with the story title:
"Mind Stains on the Virgin Snow".

Definitely open to another interpretation.
It doesn't look like it's Captain America's... mind... that this guy is staining the "virgin" snow with !



Captain America is certainly relieved by the interruption.

Man, Frederick Wertham could devote a lot of pages to this one.

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And the "butt-stroked" sheriff in MAN-THING 6, Sept 1980

MAN-THING (1979, 2nd series)
https://readallcomics.com/man-thing-v2-006/

On page 19, panel 3:
"Ohhhh --it's been a long time since I was butt stroked. I'd forgotten how much it hurts. Sun's coming up. I've been out for hours."

The sheriff is face-down on the ground. In the previous panel, he was clubbed on the head with a rifle butt.
Needless to say, that dialogue is open to... a different interpretation in the modern era.

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by Art Spiegelman, an image of Plastic Man at a Pablo Picasso art exhibit.

It's included in Art Spiegelman and Chip Kidd's biographical book JACK COLE AND PLASTIC MAN: Forms Stretched to their Limits, published in 2001, about 120 of its 150 pages collecting stories and pages of Jack Cole's Golden Age and Pre-Code art. Jack Cole died by suicide in 1958, at age 43.

Jack Cole's work is for me one of the brightest lights of the Golden Age and Pre-Code era.
Along with the likes of Will Eisner, Lou Fine, Simon and Kirby, Rudy Palais, Al Walker, Robert Webb, Matt Baker, Paul Gustavson, Bernard Bailey, Basil Wolverton, Wallace Wood, Frazetta, Al Williamson, Graham Ingels, Alex Toth, Gerald McCann, Gray Morrow, Sam Glanzman, and many other forgotten and under-appreciated talents of that period.

Updated with new links and images:


https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/jack-kirby-art-1971-tarzan-comic-card-game

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1971-tarzan-comic-game-original-1811867227




More images at the links, but they don't reproduce here.

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From CAPTAIN AMERICA'S BICENTENNIAL BATTLES treasury (1976), here's a few pages from a 11-page chapter that has Kirby pencils / Barry Windsor-Smith inks.
A one-time-in-comics-history rare combination of two very diverse artists (although Windsor-Smith began his career in 1969 as a Kirby fan and clone).

Other chapters inked by Giacoia, Romita Sr., Trimpe, Verpoorten, Adkins, and Tartaglione, on a massive total of 82 pages.




CAPTAIN AMERICA'S BICENTENNIAL BATTLES (1976 Marvel treasury)
https://www.comics.org/issue/132652/
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?q=captain+america+bicentennial+&pubid=&PubRng=

full story online at :
https://readallcomics.com/captain-america-bicentennial-battles-tpb/

The previous image expired, but when I looked for a new one, I saw that it's actually FANTASY ADVERTISER issue 88 (not 100).
But I hope you see how the cover logo could be mistaken for issue 100.
I still am awed at how well artist Gary Leach mimmicked the styles of both Gil Kane and Gilbert Shelton in this drawing. And the contrast of the two styles side by side in the same drawing make it especially interesting, and funny. That a silly looking hippie cat is ready to pounce on and eat the Atom !

Here you can see it :
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?tid=22664763&pgi=51

And a bit larger :
https://media.mycomicshop.com/n_iv/600/7944704.jpg


And here are a bunch of other nice British fanzine covers :
http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2015/02/fanzine-cover-collection.html

Updated image.
A great exploration of the two characters, and of reader expectations by Moore, in just 2 panels.

Full issue at :
https://readallcomics.com/superman-v1-annual-011/






And also for your viewing pleasure, another lesser known issue, BATMAN ANNUAL 11 from 1987, by Alan Moore and George Freeman

https://readallcomics.com/batman-v1-annual-011/

The old image expired, so I thought I'd resurrect it with a new link.
This was the special bookplate / frontispiece by Adams for a MONKEYMAN AND O'BRIEN collected limited hardcover.

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More Arthur Adams goodness.
Adams shares my affection for bug-eyed monsters, that MONKEYMAN AND O'BRIEN provided a nice showcase for.






And a signed print by Arthur Adams, presenting Spider-man (and related characters) in his many and varied forms over several decades.
Available on Adams' above linked website.

The one I had the greatest difficulty recalling is Peter Porker, The Amazing Spider-Ham (yes, that was a real character, with his own series, no less).
https://www.rkmbs.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1241392#Post1241392

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A collection of pre-Marvel monsters and 1970's-forward monster hunters in the Marvel Universe, by Arthur Adams.

Resurrecting an expired image for the PUNISHER NIGHTMARE issue 5 cover, that solicited these comments.

You can read all 5 issues online at :
https://readallcomics.com/punisher-nightmare-001/

The Punisher is strate I approve

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My favorite Punisher story remains the one-shot PUNISHER: THE END (2004).

full story at :
https://readallcomics.com/punisher-the-end-001/

I love the idea of, after nuclear war destroys the world, Punisher journeys through the ashes to take vengeance on those in their safe nuclear bunkers who in their greed and fanaticism caused the world to be destroyed. Others I know were surprised I recommended it, I'm not usually a fan of dark stories, but if there's a time when it's appropriate to tell a dark story, it's the end of the world.

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I ran across this cover that looks pretty cool, by Arthur Adams. I thought it looked familiar, and might be a tribute cover, based on Barry Windsor-Smith's 1972 cover... and it is.
And I was curious whether it was a commission page, or an actual cover or variant cover for an AVENGERS issue. And it is.

After some digging, I found the AVENGERS series and issue on which it appeared:
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=46022158 ( AVENGERS 8th series, issue 10-F )

Variant cover 10-F of that AVENGERS series. After quite a few re-booted AVENGERS new series, where they each started over with a new number 1, and multiple times after-the-fact, editors and creative teams went back and counted out again, re-establishing the "legacy numbering" extending from the original 402 or so issues of the first AVENGERS series, to determine this was issue 700.
Hence, the specially commissioned cover by Arthur Adams.
It's yet another example where you almost need a PhD in comics continuity to follow what they're doing with this issue.

It's issue 10 of the 8th AVENGERS series, variant cover F, but with some bending and twisting through the multiple series, it's issue 700 if you very carefully count through all those AVENGERS series.
And the variant covers on issue 10 go ( A, B, C, D... ) up through "L", halfway through the damn alphabet numbering all the variant covers !!
At least there was one good one by Arthur Adams.




And here's the first AVENGERS series, and the issue 100 cover, that Arthur Adams' cover is tribute to :

https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?tid=79131&pgi=51 (AVENGERS 1st series, 1963 )

https://readallcomics.com/avengers-v1-100/ (AVENGERS 100 enlarged cover, and full issue)

It looks to me like it was a commission page Arthur Adams did on his own in 2013, that some editor at Marvel found out about in 2019, and said what the hell, let's buy and use it as a variant cover for issue 700.

Barry Windsor-Smith (back then just Barry Smith) also did AVENGERS issues 66-67, and 98-100.

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I was looking again at Frank Frazetta's covers for the first three Molly Hatchet albums (in 1978, 1979, and 1980), that were all Robert E. Howard Conan paperback covers for re-releases in the 1960's and 1970's.

First there was Frazetta's "Death Dealer" cover, used for Molly Hatchet's 1978 first album.






Then the cover for "Flirtin' With Disaster" in 1979 (The Frazetta poster version is titled "Dark Kingdom".)






And then another Conan cover re-used on their "Beatin' the Odds" album in 1980. (The Frazetta poster of it is titled "The Berserker")
I got a laugh about this artticle I saw, while looking i up :
https://gizmodo.com/metallica-conan-the-barbarian-frazetta-art-auction-2000684899
As I discussed wih G-man in a topic a few years back, ours has become a much more expensive hobby. The pages of original art you could own for less than 50 bucks, even Adams, Kirby, or Byrne/Austin X-MEN, often now sell for tens of thoussands, or even millions.




On albums after, Molly Hatchet broadened to a Boris Vallejo cover, a photo cover, and other cover artists, for a total of about 12 albums over almost 50 years.
But the time they're loved for are their 70's and 80's music.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Hatchet