RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books The Hembeck Files

I shit you not http://www.proudrobot.com/hembeck/metamorpho.html

That's gay.

I know isn't it super!

Leave my posts alone you stupid queers!!

they're lovers yknow...

After the infamous "DC Implosion" of Sept 1978, Hembeck was introduced to the comics world and became a regular feature in DC's DAILY PLANET/Direct Currents pages. I love the warm humor mixed with Silver/Bronze-age trivia and nostalgia rampant in Hembeck's strips.
As best I can recall, Hembeck's strips ran in DC house pages from Nov 1978 to August 1980.

I have a few 8 X 11" books of Hembeck strips. But honestly, it's more fun somehow a few color panels at a time than in compiled book form.


I also love Hembeck as part of many other projects, such as Fantaco's one-shot Chronicles books of the early 80's (X-MEN CHRONICLES, FF CHRONICLES, DAREDEVIL CHRONICLES, AVENGERS CHRONICLES, SPIDER-MAN CHRONICLES...) and Marvel's 1982 FANTASTIC FOUR ROAST artist-jam one-shot.

Hembeck is on the periphery, and not a contributor of major projects, but still a heck of a lot of fun to have around. I've always intended to have him re-draw a tribute cover for me, I just have to figure out which of the many classic covers out there from 70 or so years of comics history is wall-worthy of Hembeck parody.

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]http://www.proudrobot.com/hembeck/creeper.jpg


Done by Hembeck around the time Steve Martin left Saturday Night Live, and did 4 or 5 really great comedy albums from 1978-1981.
Steve Martin frequently came back to guest host SNL. So this particular strip hits home for me, true to his signature line he's "a wild and crazy guy". Funny and timely back then, to see it now, it captures an era when Steve Martin was a king of popular culture.

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Cover for THE COMIC READER 161, Oct 1978.
A Hembeck favorite of mine.

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https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Edv_j67S...wRFLa8/s1600/hembeck+vukojevich+copy.jpg

The above Iron Man, Hulk, and ROM drawing by Hembeck is from AVENGERS CHRONICLES, in 1982.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=304161





And this one from the Hembeck files...

http://www.proudrobot.com/hembeck/grell.jpg



There was a joke about "How do you tell them apart?" when Grell was drawing both WARLORD and GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW at the same time, circa 1976-1980.

Hembeck could have done another follow-up comic strip, where Warlord and Green Arrow are still standing there, and Mike Grell walks up and joins them. Grell was known in that era to have a similar beard himself, so the joke could expand to ask: how do you tell Warlord, Green Arrow and Grell apart?

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A Hembeck rendition of the original early Lee-Kirby AVENGERS.

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A really fun Hembeck JSA.

Possibly inspired by the DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR 6 wraparound cover, from 1971.
https://www.comics.org/series/1976/covers/

full issue at :
https://readallcomics.com/dc-100-page-super-spectacular-06/

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On a whim, I was over at MikesAmazingWorld.com , and pulled up a checklist of Hembeck's work over the years, so here it is:

https://www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/creator.php?creatorid=44


I put up an Arthur Adams poster of Spiderman and related characters in the "Prometheus and Grimm's Misfit Island of Comic Images" topic a few days ago, and the piggish character at that time escaped my memory.
It was a "Peter Porker" story by Fred Hembeck, a 1980's series re-imagining Spider-Man as a pig in a spider-costume. One mid-series fill-in issue by Hembeck, this series incredibly lasted 17 issues, and spawned an animated series version.



full issue at :
https://readallcomics.com/peter-porker-the-spectacular-spider-ham-004/

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Better known and a more signature Hembeck story is FRED HEMBECK DESTROYS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE from 1989.


https://readallcomics.com/fred-hembeck-destroys-the-marvel-universe/

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...followed up by FRED HEMBECK SELLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE.





https://readallcomics.com/fred-hembeck-sells-the-marvel-universe/

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A brief and fun interview of Hembeck, about how he was inroduced to comics, and soon after discovered he wanted to be a comics artist.

https://13thdimension.com/east-coast-comicon-spotlight-hembeck-talks-house-of-hem/


https://13thdimension.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/55140efa10399.jpg


The HOUSE OF HEM book is new to me. Not posted online to read yet, but here at least is the wraparound cover. Most of its contents are separately linked above anyway, including:
FANTASTIC FOUR ROAST (1982)
and
FRED HEMBECK DESTROYS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE (1989)

plus a five-page story in the 1999 HULK ANNUAL,
10 Hembeck strips from MARVEL AGE,,
and a 10-page Spider-Man story in 2010, previously only issued digitally.

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Wide-screen cine-scope Marvel heroes portraiture, courtesy of Fed Hembeck, on the wraparound cover of his one-shot FANTASTIC FOUR ROAST, May 1982.

Here's the full issue, for your reading pleasure.
https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-roast/


With one or more pages by each creative team doing monthly titles of each character shown in the story, such as :

Frank Miller / Klaus Janson on DAREDEVIL,
John Byrne on FF,
Gene Day on MASTER OF KUNG FU,
Bill Sienkiewicz on MOON KNIGHT,
Bob Layton on IRON MAN,
Sal Buscema on INCREDIBLE HULK,
Ron Wilson/Chic Stone on MARVEL TWO IN ONE,
Brent Anderson on KA-ZAR,
Steve Leialoha on SPIDER-WOMAN,
John Romita Jr. on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN,
Kerry Gammill / Ricardo Villamonte on POWER MAN/IRON FIST,
Marshall Rogers / Austin on DOCTOR STRANGE,
Bob Hall and Al Weiss, from their two separate runs on AVENGERS,
Mike Zeck / John Beatty on CAPTAIN AMERICA,
Don Perlin from his long run on DEFENDERS
Dave Cockrum back on X-MEN,
plus two gorgeous pages by Michael Golden, and pages by many others.

With the whole crazy thing scripted by Fred Hembeck.
This was definitely representative of the fun spirit of Marvel at its best in this era.

There was plenty of other assorted craziness at Marvel, such as WHAT IF 34.
https://readallcomics.com/what-if-v1-034/


And "Assisant editors month" that had some other Hembeck contributions.
For me the other highlight of the fun stuff at Marvel was the artist jam and silliness in X-MEN ANNUAL 7 (1983), primarily by Chris Claremont, with art by Michael Golden, Bret Blevins, and a holy host of artist-jam penciller/inker combinations.
https://readallcomics.com/marvel-masterworks-the-uncanny-x-men-tpb-09-part-1/

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https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=438198





Hembeck's own solo version of the artist-jam double-page poster in FANTASTIC FOUR ROAST, on pages 26 and 27.

https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-roast/

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The second of 7 collected HEMBECK books, HEMBECK 1980.
With a pretty cool cover, using a nice contrast of color characters, against an un-colored black-and-white background. These were 8" X 11" magazine size, Reprinting strips from, if I recall, the COMIC BUYERS' GUIDE.

https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=195361

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From :
https://13thdimension.com/13-joyful-hembeck-cartoons-in-widescreen/

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A lengthy sample of Hembeck's loving appreciation of Silver/Bronze-age comics continuity, in this case an appreciation for Bill Mantlo's IRON MAN run (the latter part of his run with artist Keith Pollard), circa 1976-1978, roughly IRON MAN issues 78, 86-87, and 95-114.
https://readallcomics.com/iron-man-v1-114/

Right before Mantlo's run ended, and was replaced by an outstanding and definitive run by Dave Michelinie with John Romita Jr. / Bob Layton in 115-156

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A Hembeck version of the classic X-MEN 141 cover, "Days of Future Past".
I love the addition of Byrne to the wanted poster.


The original full 2-part Claremont Byrne/Austin version at :
https://readallcomics.com/x-men-v1-141/
https://readallcomics.com/uncanny-x-men-v1-142/

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A nice tribute cover by Hembeck, but I'm not quite sure how to explain it.

Hembeck in tiny writing gives tribute to Kevin Maguire and Terry Austin at the very top. And my first guess is it's primarily tribute to the Maguire/Austin cover on JUSTICE LEAGUE issue 1 (1987 series) .
I like the way Hembeck took the pose of the new Justice League characters (of 1987), and replaced them with the original JLA characters from 1960.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=103671

But it also has credits on the upper right to an interior story by James Robinson and Mark Bagley, who were the creative team on JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (2006, Second series) issue 50.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=646541

And those are the interior story credits of the creators for (2006, 2nd series) issue 50, but while there are several variant covers, there isn't one shown by Hembeck, or a blank issue 50 cover that he could have drawn in at a convention. But maybe it exists but isn't shown.

Or maybe Hembeck just did it as a private commission page.

But it looks to me like it was done as an actual variant cover for issue 50.

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In color at :
http://www.proudrobot.com/hembeck/firestorm.html

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/dc-next-level-at-nycc-dc-comics-launch-new-1s-in-2026/

Stormie get his wish sometime next year.

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Here's the first volume online for your reading pleasure, , in its entirety, cover-dated March 1979. Of the 7 HEMBECK books published. (first published by Eclipse)
https://readallcomics.com/hembeck-the-best-of-dateline-1979/

Then this first issue was reprinted by Fantaco in Dec 1980, followed by 6 more issues of silliness, for a total of 7 issues from Fantaco, from 1980-1983.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=195361