Love and Rockets V2, #20 Cover

(click for larger image) A lot can be said about Love and Rockets - and a lot has already been said by people smarter than me. It was even featured on PBS's Emmy award winning Artbound series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTYzqHRqRQU&t=11s) I'm not sure what I could add but I would say it's the great American comic book. It's not about super-heroes (usually) and there aren't people in tights punching each other. Instead, it's a series about mostly ordinary people and their mostly ordinary lives.

A brief summary for those who don't know: Love and Rockets is mainly the work of two brothers - Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez. Though originally published together monthly under the banner Love and Rockets, it is really two separate works by two separate creators. Gilbert's work originally focused on a fictional Latin American town called Palomar. Jaime's work was written about characters living in a fictional city (somewhere in Southern California) called Hoppers. Although the contents of these worlds differ greatly, the commonality is great writing and art. The Hernandez brothers are master storytellers.

I missed the boat on Love and Rockets when it first began in the 1980's (I was too busy reading about people in tights punching each other). But years later, I did begin to pick up collected editions.  Once I started reading, I was compelled to read it all. I believe it's the best ongoing comic series of all time. Aside from the great writing and art, one of the things I find so compelling about the series is that, unlike superhero comics, the characters actually age. We meet them as young people and we watch them age over time - as they grow up, so do we; and that makes it all the more relatable. If you haven't read Love and Rockets, I can't recommend it highly enough. It's an American masterpiece.

I was really thrilled to be able to add this cover of Love and Rockets Volume 2, issue 20 to my collection. First, because it's Love and Rockets! But secondly, because it was drawn by both Gilbert and Jaime. Great to have them both on one piece of art! As published:

Speaking of Color Guides...

 

(click for larger image). In my last blog post, I tried to explain the difference between how Lynn Varley colored The Dark Knight Returns to create camera-ready art, versus the traditional "color guides" used for many years in the comic book industry.  Above is an example of one such "guide".  This is a photocopy of the original black and white art (withe lettering added somewhere along the way).  This was hand colored - usually with markers or watercolors (this one is watercolor).  The colorist would then indicate the name of the color to be used to make the color printing plate.  For example, the flesh color on Sue's leg here says "Y2R2", which is apparently a flesh tone.  If you want to learn all about how THAT works, check this out: https://tinyurl.com/mr3v4u2x.  But it should be noted - these color guides were not meant to be camera-ready, nor were they ever reproduced for production - completely unlike the method Varley used.  By the way - if you want to see the original art for this piece, click HERE.

Wonder Woman 170 - Adam Hughes

(click for larger image). I think Adam Hughes has cemented his place as one of the greatest illustrators to have worked in comics.  Though he started out as just another "good girl" artist, he never stopped improving his drawing and illustration skills, and many now feel he deserves a place among greats like Drew Struzan or even Norman Rockwell (both influences).  Like Struzan and Rockwell, Hughes was never shy about using photo reference to get his images to look nearly flawless.  Hughes is a self taught artist and is very capable of working in pencil, ink, and color.  At some point in his career he took the leap into digital coloring and he's now probably better than any colorist working in comics.  While he has done interior comic book work over the years, he is primarily known as a cover artist.  Two of his longest running stints were on Wonder Woman (48 covers), and Catwoman (40 covers).

In the early 2000's when Hughes was wrapping up his run on Wonder Woman, I started seeing originals pop up in various collections.  I thought it would be nice to have one myself.  So I looked through all the covers online and picked three covers that were my favorites.  Those were 145, 158, and 170 (the three of them all have something in common - a sharp eye can figure it out!).  I've known for a long time where the 145 cover was but I think the owner is planning on taking it to his grave.  The 158 was around and then disappeared.  It recently turned up and I almost bought it, but the owner decided to hang onto it.  The 170 cover had two owners over the years.  I contacted the original owner once, briefly, but I didn't push very hard to get it.  Many years, and one new owner later, I decided to give it another go.  After discussing it on and off for a few months, we were finally able to work out a deal and I got to bring this beauty home!

It just so happens that this is Hughes' personal favorite Wonder Woman cover.  He writes in his book Cover Run:  "Hands down, this is my favorite Wonder Woman cover that I did during my run...this is the one time I felt I really nailed the Wonder Woman I see in my head.  I wish I'd been able to draw her like this every time.  The build, the rendering, the face - all spot on."  Looks good to me too!

World's Finest 263

(click for larger image)  Once upon a time in comics, writers and editors created alluring covers to entice readers into buying each comic book.  The covers typically depicted a scene within the book - a scene that was usually outrageous, shocking, or unbelievable.  Sometimes it appeared the heroes faced an impossible doom. Sometimes it even implied that a hero would die!  The potential reader couldn't help but think "I need to see how this turns out!"  In fact, it was common knowledge that some of these outlandish covers were created first, and the writer was simply told to write a story around it.  This system resulted in a lot of interesting and unbelievable ideas.  But it was also a lot of fun.  Unless of course the scene depicted on the cover never actually happened in the book, which was sometimes the case.  Or, it was tweaked slightly within the story giving the heroes an out.  In those cases, the reader faced bitter disappointment.

This system lasted for decades, but began to decline in the early 1990's.  The new trend was to have covers that were more vague, and more iconic.  The covers rarely had anything to do with the actual story and one felt that the covers became interchangeable - any Superman cover could be swapped with any other Superman cover and it wouldn't affect the story a bit.  This new method is what we have today; long gone are the days of those eye catching covers with their impossible dilemma's.  Instead we have depictions of our heroes looking strong, brave, iconic.

When I first started reading comics, the old system was in place.  It was always fun to see how these stories would resolve themselves.  Well, not always fun - some stories were pretty terrible.  But I read them anyway to satisfy my curiosity.  Another disappointing aspect, which is still with us today, is the fact that the cover artists were not always the artists hired to draw the interiors.  So even if you had a beautifully drawn cover, you might not have a beautifully drawn comic book.  That actually happened a lot.  So these covers were really special to me because they showcased the better artists working at the time.  For DC, that meant people like Neal Adams, Rich Buckler, Ross Andru, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and George Perez.  More often than not, these artists works were greatly improved by the inking of one of DC's all time greats, Dick Giordano.

Even though the stories were not always the greatest, I still have quite a bit of nostalgia for many of the covers from those days.  I was lucky to find a couple of my favorites.  One is the cover to Word's Finest 260 by Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano (seen here).  The second is this one, World's Finest 263 by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano.  Did you know Batman and Superman had sons?  Neither did I until I picked up this comic!  Too bad their existence meant the world would be doomed! (see, now you'll have to buy the comic to find out what happens!). Or if you want to cheat, click HERE (pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Dick Giordano)

Superman 13 Cover

Anyone who has read my blog knows what a huge fan I am of the comic work of John Byrne.  If it's not already the consensus, he will go down in history as one of the greatest comic creators of all time.  He had phenomenal success with his work on The X-men, Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, She-Hulk, Avengers, and Superman, to name but a few.  It should be noted that Byrne was almost always the writer and penciler on most of these titles (and sometimes inker and letterer!).  I first saw his work in X-Men 123, which my high school art instructor had in his classroom for some reason.  I was blown away by the art.  Not long after, I immersed myself in the world of comic books.  At that point, Byrne was writing and drawing both the Fantastic Four, and his own creation, Alpha Flight.  He instantly became my favorite writer and artist.

When I first started collecting comic art, I wanted Byrne Fantastic Four art above all else (you can read all about my hunt for that stuff here on my blog).  Over the years I was able to acquire some great Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight art.  A few years ago however, I re-read (again) Byrne's Superman run.  Boy was it fun!  I remember vividly when he moved to DC and took over their biggest character.  He did not disappoint.  I quickly decided that I would like a nice Superman cover for my collection.  I'd seen a few change hands, and I knew there were some good ones floating around.  I recalled seeing one cover sell on ebay for what would now be considered a very modest price - I regretted not getting it.  Saw another for sale on a website, but somehow just missed it.  Finally, I was able to find this one.  It's got a great, large shot of Superman on the cover.  When I got it, it didn't have any of the logos so I added them myself.  Typically, I would put the logos on an overlay as to not disturb the original art, but this time I applied them directly to the art.  I think it came out great.  The cover looks twice as good as it did before! (click for larger image)

Fantastic Four 266 Cover

In all my years of comic art collecting, there has only been one piece I have regretted selling - this cover. Well, after it being absent from my collection for several years, it is finally back!

The story goes back a few years - another comic art collector friend and I were discussing John Byrne's Fantastic Four years, and we decided to choose our favorite covers. Our choices were very different, and somehow this cover came out as my top choice - a classic image that I fell in love with as soon as I saw the original comic book back in the mid-80's. He said "I bet you could find that one", and with his encouragement, I contacted a dealer friend to inquire if he knew where it might be (he being the guru of all things Byrne). Turns out he knew exactly where it was; at HIS house! Shortly thereafter, we made a deal and it was mine. I won't go into the foolish reasoning that got me to sell it after that, but suffice to say, I regretted it. Well, I was happy to right that wrong recently and get this baby home again.

This cover, depicting The Invisible Woman, The Thing, and Charisma, is done entirely in marker, which is typical for this period of Byrne art. One thing of note - the figures are HUGE on this cover - probably the largest figures on any of the covers he did during his stint on the Fantastic Four. I actually did the overlay on this cover the first time I owned it, since none of the lettering is actually on the art. I also tweaked the scan in Photoshop - the lettering is quite white compared to the paper stock of the art. I'm going to re-do the overlay and match the color with the paper stock. (click for larger image)

If you want to read more about this cover, John Byrne's run on the Fantastic Four, and my chase of John Byrne art, check out some of my CFA-APA articles (link).

Alpha Flight 07

I wish I had bought all the Alpha Flight covers I was offered! I passed on a few good ones. At least I have the Alpha Flight 15 cover, and this one. I really enjoyed the Aurora character, and always liked this cover. (Pencils and inks John Byrne. Click for larger image.)

Worlds Finest 260

This piece is the bastard child of my collection. Well, not really, but it is certainly the odd-ball. Most of my collection focuses on my nostalgia for comics from the 1980's. This piece is more like a throwback to the late 70's (even though the issue was released in January 1980), and represents to me, all the great cover artists working for DC at that time. My favorites from that period are Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Rich Buckler, Ross Andru, and Neal Adams. More often than not, these guys were paired with super-inker Dick Giordano, resulting in some classic covers from that period.

The other thing this cover reminds me of, is sitting around with my cousin Frank and discovering, for the first time, the wonderful world of comics. His collection of mostly DC titles was my real first exposure to the medium, and even though the stories from this period aren't significant to me, the art sure left and impression and is probably one of the reasons I became an artist myself. (Pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Dick Giordano. Click for larger image).

Alpha Flight 15

John Byrne is the reason I started collecting original art. His comics were probably the first ones I read where I saw the medium fully realized; great stories combined with great art. This cover dates back to 1984, which I feel was his peak period. Aside from writing, penciling and inking Alpha Flight, he was (incredibly) writing, penciling and inking the Fantastic Four as well! When you read both titles and see how good the work really was, it's incredible. I remember reading this issue way back when and really being enamored with the cover. Never dreamed I'd ever own it. (Pencils and inks John Byrne. Click for larger image).