It was 1985 and Captain Marvel was dead. He had famously been killed off just three years earlier in the graphic novel The Death of Captain Marvel written & drawn by Jim Starlin.
I was just starting to get into comic books in a major way in 1985. I forget what exactly had prompted my nine-year-old self to purchase a copy of The Death of Captain Marvel, but I did. Even though I was totally unfamiliar with the Kree warrior turned cosmic protector Mar-Vell, Starlin had done a superb job of summarizing his life before bringing it to a moving, tragic end in the graphic novel.
I was left with the impression that Mar-Vell must have been an incredibly important figure… although I now realize that if that had been the case, Marvel Comics would never have killed him off permanently in the first place. But in the mid-1980s, with no awareness of the chaotic publishing history of the Captain Marvel series, I really was convinced that his death was a huge deal, and I wanted to find out more about him.
Soon after my nine-year-old self found a copy of Captain Marvel #37 on sale at the Heroes World comic book shop in the White Plains Galleria. The cover by Gil Kane & Klaus Janson had Mar-Vell dramatically circling the Moon. I forget what I paid for that issue, but it could not have been more than a few dollars, since as I said, I was only nine years old, and I had little in the way of disposable income.
Captain Marvel #37 was cover-dated March 1975, meaning it was released in December 1974. It was co-plotted by Steve Englehart & Al Milgrom, penciled by Milgrom, scripted by Englehart, inked by Klaus Janson, lettered by Tom Orzechowski, colored by Glynis Oliver and edited by Lein Wein.
The issue opens with Captain Mar-Vell meeting with Avengers members Ant-Man and the Wasp, who provide him with evidence that his recent foes, the mysterious Lunatic Legion, are likely based on Earth’s Moon. (For a look at how the Lunatic Legion storyline got started, head on over to Alan Stewart’s write-up on Captain Marvel #34 on his excellent blog Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic Books.)
Mar-Vell resolves to head to the Moon to investigate. Unfortunately, Mar-Vell is currently linked to teen musician Rick Jones, who is trapped in the Negative Zone, and every few hours they automatically switch places. They are also able to switch places at will by slamming together the Nega Bands they wear around their wrists.
Rick is due in five days to perform a concert in Denver, and he worries they won’t be back from the Moon in time. Reluctantly, Rick informs his manager Mordecai, who is accompanied by groovy chick Dandy, that he has to take care of a “personal thing,” but he promises that he will meet them in Denver on schedule. Dandy slips Rick “a present, in case your ‘personal thing’ gets boring” and when Rick questions what the capsule is, Dandy responds “Vitamin C, kid. What do you think it is?”
Mar-Vell realizes that under his own flying power it will take him ten hours to reach Earth’s satellite. So that Rick won’t be exposed to the vacuum of space, he heads to Avengers mansion and borrows a spacesuit. And then they’re off to the Moon, although they are briefly delayed by a robot assassin Nimrod that is dispatched by the Lunatic Legion.
As Mar-Vell flies through space, a bored Rick floats in the Negative Zone. Wishing he had brought along his guitar, Rick shrugs and swallows the “Vitamin C” capsule that Dandy gave him.
And then things get really weird. Rick starts hallucinating, and because he’s linked to Mar-Vell, the Kree warrior’s senses & reflexes are completely off. Which is really bad, because when Mar-Vell arrives on the Moon, he gets attacked by the Watcher, who has forsaken his oath of non-interference, and allied himself with the Lunatic Legion.
The Watcher has the powers of a god, so under the best of circumstances Mar-Vell would be hard-pressed to beat him; crippled by the effects of the “Vitamin C” he stands absolutely no chance and is quickly defeated.
The Watcher delivers Mar-Vell to the Lunatic Legion, and in a final bizarre panel Mar-Vell, who is now also hallucinating, sees their leering faces as insanely warped & twisted.
Well, now… as you can imagine, nine-year-old me had no idea what to make of this crazy story by Englehart & Milgrom! Captain Marvel #37 seriously unsettled me.
A decade later, when I was a regular attendee at comic book conventions, I was able to find copies of Captain Marvel #38 and #39, the concluding two parts of the story. And re-reading #37 before moving on to those next chapters, my teenage self suddenly realized that the “Vitamin C” that Rick Jones took was actually LSD! Pretty sneaky work by Englehart & Milgrom.
Anyway, we learn in Captain Marvel #38 that the Lunatic Legion are a racist, radical faction of “pure blooded” blue-skinned Kree warriors who are disgusted that their race has become “diluted” due to intermarriage with the numerous alien species conquered by their empire over countless millennia.
Returning to the blue city on the Moon that was created in the Kree Year Zero, which marked the beginning of their interstellar empire (and here Englehart recaps his origin of the Kree / Skrull War that he told just a short while before in the pages of Avengers #133 as part of the epic “Celestial Madonna” storyline), the Lunatic Legion want to “reclaim [their] all-but-lost heritage…”
The Legion was convinced that the white-skinned “mulatto” Mar-Vell would oppose them, which is why they have been trying to kill him. And, now that they’ve captured him, they intend to execute him via the Kree rite of positronic disintegration.
And here we see in the positronic disintegration sequence that Milgrom & Janson’s artwork continues to be ultra-trippy!
Unfortunately for the Legion, Rick Jones automatically exchanges places with Mar-Vell mid-execution. Vowing to wait until Mar-Vell returns to normal space so they can dispose of him properly, the Legion half Rick’s unconscious form off. In the Negative Zone, Mar-Vell’s “cosmic awareness” finally succeeds in clearing out the hallucinogens that have been affecting him.
What’s more, the LSD has erased all the barriers between Mar-Vell and Rick’s minds. Mar-Vell is able to remotely cause Rick’s unconscious form to slam his wrists together, swapping places. Mar-Vell is able to quickly dispose of the Legion.
Issue #39 sees the Watcher placed on trial by his own people for his continued interference in humanity. Mar-Vell and Rick hitch a ride to the Watchers’ homeworld uninvited, and there, thanks to the changes caused by the LSD, the two of them are able to finally, explosively separate the two of themselves from one another, freeing them from the Negative Zone, allowing them to exist simultaneously in the positive matter universe for the first time in many months.
So, yes, even though it’s presented in a very oblique manner, Englehart & Milgrom present Rick’s accidental LSD usage as a positive thing that ultimately enables them to defeat the Lunatic Legion and free themselves from the Negative Zone. Far out!
As for the Watcher, after a litany of his offenses is recounted by the prosecutor, he vows to once again observe his race’s oath of non-interference, and is let off with a slap on the wrist.
This was just a short summary of the events of these three issues. You can probably find these comics relatively inexpensively if you’d like to check out the full glory of their weirdness.
As you can see up above from my scan of the cover to Captain Marvel #37, I recently got my copy of that issue autographed by the legendary Klaus Janson. This was very early in Janson’s career. I believe he was only 23 years old when he inked these issues, but as you can see from the scans he was already doing great work. I really like the artistic collaboration between Milgrom and Janson on these issues. When I got this book signed by Janson, I recounted my experience with this issue to him. He seemed quite amused. Or maybe he was just humoring me? Either way, I’m sure it made for a change from signing the umpteenth copy of Daredevil or The Dark Knight Returns.
By the way, Alan Stewart promises that come December he’ll be blogging about Captain Marvel #37 on Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic Books, so keep an eye out for that exciting entry.
Sal Buscema, one of my favorite comic book artists, celebrates his 85th birthday on January 26th. I’m going to take a look back at how I discovered Buscema’s work as a young comic book fan. (Part of this retrospective is based on a couple of posts I did several years ago. I guess you can consider this a “director’s cut” or something like that.)
Appropriately enough, I first saw Sal Buscema’s artwork in two issues of The Incredible Hulk, one of the series with which he is most closely associated.
On several occasions Sal Buscema has stated that the Hulk was his favorite character to draw. As he related to Jim Amash in the book Sal Buscema: Comics’ Fast & Furious Artist, published by TwoMorrows in 2010:
“I identified with [the Hulk]. Do you know what I liked about the Hulk? … He’s totally unique. He’s monstrous, lumbering, huge, unbelievably strong, and he gets even stronger when he gets angry. He has the mentality of a child. It’s so completely different from anything that you’ve drawn before. Is there another character as unique? … He’s an anti-hero, and yet because of his unbelievable power… look at all the fantastic things he’s capable of doing and usually does. That’s the fun and the constant stimulation that I had with this character.”
Buscema was the penciler on The Incredible Hulk from issue #194 (Dec 1975) to #309 (July 1985), an astonishing nine and a half year run. During that time Buscema missed only seven issues. I believe his 109 issue run on the series has never been surpassed by any other artist.
The very first issue of The Incredible Hulk that I ever read was #285, cover-dated July 1983. It would have been on sale in early April 1983. I was six and a half years old and my parents bought it for me.
The Incredible Hulk #285 was topped off by a fantastic cover drawn by artists Ron Wilson & Joe Sinnott. As a kid, I thought it was an amazing image. The Hulk was fighting this giant orange figure seemingly made out of flames. I hadn’t seen anything like that before. And, oddly, instead of striding around in his usual torn-up pants, on this cover the Hulk was wearing a shirt, tie, jacket and shoes. That said, his pants were still purple, so not everything about him had changed!
Flipping open the comic, I came to the first page of “Today is the First Day of the Rest of My Life.” The creative team was writer Bill Mantlo, penciler Sal Buscema, inker Chic Stone, lettered Jim Novak, colorist Bob Sharen and editor Al Milgrom. This splash page again had the Hulk wearing a jacket & tie, his hair neatly combed. Rather than running around on a destructive rampage, he is seated at a desk, narrating his memoirs into a Dictaphone.
Over the course of the next several pages the Hulk recounts how Dr. Bruce Banner created the Gamma Bomb. While attempting to save the life of teenager Rock Jones who had wandered onto the test site, Banner was caught in the explosion of the weapon he created. The radiation now caused Banner to transform into a savage monster whenever overwhelmed by stress or anger. I distinctly recall that my seven year old self was surprised that in this flashback Banner’s assistant Igor, who set off the Gamma Bomb in an attempt to kill the scientist, was a Soviet spy, rather than an alien robotic infiltrator as he had been depicted in the animated episode “Origin of the Hulk” the year before.
Buscema drew an absolutely savage depiction of the Hulk in this flashback, as Banner transformed into the jade giant for the very first time, on the striking splash page seen at the top of this blog post.
Following this was an amazing two page spread by Buscema & Stone that illustrated the chaotic life of the Hulk over the next several years, the long and winding road taken by a green goliath who was more often than not hunted by humanity. Among the numerous characters glimpsed in this flashback montage, my seven year old self recognized from the animated series the villainous Leader and his pink artificial servants, Betty Ross, her father the militant General Ross, and the equally belligerent Major Talbot. Of course I also knew who Captain America was.
I was surprised to find out that Bruce Banner’s identity as the Hulk was public knowledge, since in the cartoons it had only been known to Rick Jones. Years later I learned that the Hulk was probably the earliest major super-powered protagonist to have his secret identity revealed, way back in Tales to Astonish #77, which was cover-dated May 1966.
At the end of this montage, we come to the Hulk’s current status: At long last, after all this time, Bruce Banner has managed to gain control, to retain his human intelligence when transforming into the Hulk.
While the Hulk has been busy recounting his life, a crew of workers from Stark Industries headed up by Scott Lang, the new Ant-Man, has been constructing Northwind Observatory, a laboratory where Banner can resume his scientific studies. Turning back into his human form, Banner joins Lang to supervise the installation of the laboratory’s power core. At the last minute, Banner discovers that the power core was not designed by Stark Industries, but acquired from a company called Soulstar. Banner immediately recognizes the name, but before he can prevent it, the power core is hooked up, there is “a massive electromagnetic discharge,” and a strange being emerges.
This creature, we are informed, is Zzzax the Living Dynamo (aka the guy guaranteed to always get the very last entry in the Handbook of the Marvel Universe). Looking something like a humanoid lightning bolt, Zzzax is a creature that feeds on the human life force. Before the monster can consume the stunned construction crew, Banner transforms back into the Hulk and tackles this old enemy.
Unfortunately the Hulk comes to a realization: In his old savage, child-like persona, the angrier he got, the stronger he became, but now, guided by Banner’s rational intellect, the Hulk cannot easily become angry, meaning his strength is limited. And so the gamma-spawned giant realizes that, instead of relying on brute force to defeat Zzzax, he must now find a way to out-think his fiery foe.
As a kid, I thought The Incredible Hulk #285 was a fantastic issue with an amazing bad guy. Yep, the idea of an intelligent Hulk was unexpected, but I just shrugged and read on. Mantlo’s script was a really good introduction to the character of the Hulk, neatly surmised through the plot device of Bruce Banner penning his autobiography. The second half, with the Hulk fighting Zzzax, was really exciting.
On the art side of things, the work by Sal Buscema was high quality. To the best of my knowledge, this was the very first comic book I ever read that was penciled by him. As I mentioned above, Buscema would eventually become one of my all time favorite comic book artists. A number of years ago when Our Pal Sal appeared at a NYC comic book show I had him autograph this issue. It was actually my second copy, since I read the original one so many times as a kid that the cover eventually fell off.
In regards to Stone’s inking, it is pretty good. Having subsequently seen a great deal more of Buscema’s work, I have to admit that there were others who did a better job finishing his pencils, among them Joe Sinnott, Gerry Talaoc, and Buscema himself. In the aforementioned Sal Buscema: Comics’ Fast & Furious Artist he admits that he wasn’t overly enthusiastic about Stone’s inking. Looking back at it as an adult fan, yes, I tend to agree with him. That said, back when I was a little kid completely lacking in any knowledge of the subtleties of inking, I thought the artwork by Sal & Chic looked just fine. I guess that’s probably the more important thing.
Even though I really did enjoy The Incredible Hulk #285, because I was just a few months shy of seven years old I very seldom had a chance to go buy comic books on my own, so I ended up not reading another issue of the series for a couple of years. When I finally did, it was issue #309. And if I thought #285 was a bit odd, well, that next one was downright bizarre!
The Incredible Hulk #309 was cover-dated July 1985, exactly two years since the last issue I had read. And it was quickly obvious that a heck of a lot had changed in those two years!
The cover to issue #309 was by Mike Mignola. It’s a pretty early piece of work by the future creator of Hellboy. But you can certainly see his potential as an artist in this unusual cover image. This had to be the first time that I saw Mignola’s art. It certainly leaped out at me as a distinctive piece.
“The Triad” is written by Bill Mantlo, penciled by Sal Buscema, inked by Gerry Talaoc, lettered by John Workman, colored by Bob Sharon and edited by Carl Potts. The last time I had seen Bruce Banner he was in full control of his bestial alter-ego and had been accepted as a hero by the people of Earth. Now, though, the Hulk appears to be somewhere far, far from home, struggling to string together a simple coherent thought.
Within a few pages, Mantlo quickly brought readers up to speed. Buscema renders another of his dramatic flashback montages. I learned that the now-intelligent Hulk was haunted by Doctor Strange’s arch enemy Nightmare, who twisted Banner’s dreams to re-awaken the green goliath’s bestial alter ego. Nightmare hoped to use the Hulk as weapon against the Sorcerer Supreme. However, Strange was able to help the remaining spark of Banner’s consciousness strike back at the demon. Unfortunately the Hulk was left with no mitigating human influence, and became an uncontrollable monster. Rather than have to destroy his old friend, Strange exiled the Hulk to the extra-dimensional Crossroads, which linked up to a myriad of other realities.
And, wow, poor John Workman, a highly skilled letterer, had to try to squeeze all of this information onto a single page! I recall my eight year old self squinting as I read this recap, trying to make out all that tiny lettering.
Now, in the present, after some time wandering the Crossroads, traveling from one strange world to another, the Hulk’s sentience is very gradually awakening. And with this renewed awareness, the Hulk discovers he is now accompanied by a trio of unusual figures. The Triad is made up of a blue-skinned demon Goblin, a young orange-skinned girl Guardian, and a shining magenta star Glow. These mysterious figures were somehow linked to the Hulk, their purpose to help restore the Hulk’s psyche.
Walking through one of the Crossroads portals, the Hulk and the Triad are transported into the middle of a vast alien desert. Although the desolate sands stretch as far as the eye can see, and the harsh sun beats endlessly down, the Hulk refuses to activate the “fail-safe spell” cast by Doctor Strange that would return him to the Crossroads when he feels discontented. As a massive sandstorm sweeps in, the Triad attempt in vain to convince the Hulk to wish himself off this planet before they all perish.
Finally, having survived the brutal elements, the Hulk at last finds that which his inhuman senses had detected from far off: a lush oasis. The Triad realizes that the Hulk was not on a mission of suicide, but was driven by the will to find this oasis, meaning his mind is continuing to heal and come back together.
This was a really odd story to read as a kid. The Hulk was stranded on the other side of reality, fighting not some supervillain or the military, but the very elements, accompanied by an incredibly odd threesome. Mantlo really crafted an unusual story, having the Hulk’s struggle against nature juxtaposed against the Triad’s examination of and insights into his mental state. It is a very introspective tale.
At the time, I had no clue who the Triad was supposed to be. Within the next few issues, Mantlo would reveal that they were the splintered aspects of Bruce Banner’s subconscious mind given form and independent thought. Certainly this was a clever, innovative idea. Reading issue #309 with the benefit of hindsight, I can now see that Mantlo sprinkled the dialogue with a number of hints as to the true identity of the Triad.
Mantlo really broke a lot of ground with his run on Incredible Hulk. Having already given us an intelligent Hulk, he has now exiled the jade giant from Earth and begun to embark on an examination of Bruce Banner’s psychological background. A cursory glance at the Hulk stories that have been written in the decades since readily demonstrates just how much this influenced subsequent writers.
This issue’s artwork was absolutely incredible. The thing that really struck me was the depiction of the Hulk by Buscema & Talaoc. Obviously in other comic books and in cartoons the Hulk had always been a big, strong creature. But this was the first time I had ever seen him drawn as such a huge, bestial, imposing figure.
The depictions of the Crossroads and the desert planet that the Hulk and his strange companions visited were very vivid and detailed. Buscema did a great job on the pencils, crafting these alien environments. And the inking by Talaoc was absolutely superb. He created a tangible atmosphere of oddness for the Crossroads. On the desolate world, his embellishments bring to life a harsh landscape that alternates between cutting winds and a brutal sun.
Buscema stated in the Fast & Furious book that Gerry Talaoc was one of his favorite inkers to work with…
“Gerry Talaoc was a terrific draughtsman and… he drew better than I did. He probably still does. [laughs] And the look of the book was great. I loved what he did. To me the final product was what counted.”
I agree that Buscema and Talaoc went together exceptionally well. Talaoc really enhanced Buscema’s penciling without overpowering it.
Eight years ago I found out that Gerry Talaoc was retired and living in Alaska. I was able to mail a few comic books to him to get signed, and I made certain that The Incredible Hulk #309 was one of them.
On the letters page of The Incredible Hulk #309 editor Carl Potts revealed that this was Sal Buscema’s final regular issue penciling the series, ending his nearly decade-long run. I don’t recall if this meant anything to me back then, since I was just a kid and really wasn’t paying attention to the credits.
Years later, though, I would learn about the behind the scenes circumstances that led to Sal Buscema’s departure from The Incredible Hulk. Buscema and Bill Mantlo, who came on as writer with issue #245, had initially gotten along very well. Regrettably though, as Buscema recounted in Fast & Furious, after several years Mantlo started becoming much more hands-on and demanding in regards to the artwork & storytelling, requesting that Buscema draw pages in certain ways…
“What [Mantlo] was asking for was not good. I didn’t care for it at all, and I have to trust my judgment, because I’m the artist and he’s not. I hate to be this blunt about it, but the fact of the matter is that in many cases where Bill described what he wanted he proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was not an artist, because he had no concept – and I do not mean that derogatorily, but simply as a statement of fact – of the relationship of one object to another in a given space. He would ask me to draw things that were impossible to draw.”
Buscema reluctantly asked Marvel Comics to take him off The Incredible Hulk. It’s an unfortunate end to his historic run. Nevertheless, looking at his penciling for issue #309, it is apparent, to me at least, that Buscema was doing high-quality work on the series right up until his departure.
By 1985 it had become a bit easier for me to buy comic books. So fortunately I was able to pick up most the next several issues of the series.
Mike Mignola came onboard as the new penciler. A few issues later the entire team of Mantlo, Mignola & Talaoc relocated to the pages of Alpha Flight. After brief stints by John Byrne and Al Milgrom, The Incredible Hulk gained a new writer, Peter David, who had a lengthy, brilliant run that has some of its roots in Mantlo’s work.
Looking back on Mantlo’s run on The Incredible Hulk, it was innovative and exciting. Despite the difficulties he had working with Mantlo towards the end, the artwork by Buscema was superb. In 2012 a good portion of the Mantlo & Buscema run, issues #269 to #313, was collected in, appropriately enough, a triad of trade paperbacks: Pardoned, Regression and Crossroads.
From my recollection, the point at which Sal Buscema’s artwork really began to stand out in my mind was when he became the regular artist on Spectacular Spider-Man in 1988. His work on that series was outstanding. And so, when I later ended up looking back at those two issues of The Incredible Hulk that I had picked up as a kid, I now realized they had been penciled by Our Pal Sal, which only increased my appreciation for them. It’s great to re-examine them and really absorb the incredible skill Buscema displays with his dynamic layouts & storytelling. Just check out the action, energy and drama on display above, on page 20 of The Incredible Hulk #285.
I definitely recommend purchasing Sal Buscema: Comics’ Fast & Furious Artist. It is still available from TwoMorrows Publishing.
Credit where credit is due: The format of this piece was partly inspired by Alan Stewart’s entertaining and informative blog Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic Books. Hey, as the saying goes, if you’re going to steal, steal from the best! You can read Alan’s entries on Sal Buscema, which so far look back at some of his work from the late 1960s and early 70s. And if Alan keeps blogging (and I certainly hope he does) perhaps in another six or so years he’ll be discussing Our Pal Sal’s work on The Incredible Hulk.
In conclusion, I want to wish a very happy 85th birthday to Sal Buscema, and thank him for the many great, enjoyable comic books he’s worked on over the decades.
Welcome to Super Blog Team-Up 6! Has it really been three months since the last SBTU? I guess time flies while life’s kicking you in the gut! Seriously, lately things have been insane. I’m grateful that I have this blog as a creative outlet to help me unwind.
The theme of SBTU 6 is “Top Ten.” All the contributors have come up with cool comic-related Top Ten lists. I must thank Karen Williams of Between the Pages for suggesting that I do a list involving my hobby of collecting comic book convention sketches. Since a number of SBTU 6 bloggers are doing Avengers-related lists to tie in with the release of the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie, I decided to assemble my top ten Avengers sketches.
I’m a long-time fan of the Avengers comic book series published by Marvel Comics, and I started an “Avengers Assemble” themed sketchbook in 2007. Okay, I’m not too enthusiastic about some of the stories from the last ten years or so. But there are many classic stories that have been published in the decades before, and numerous amazing characters have been members of the various Avengers teams. The Avengers are the perfect subject for a convention sketchbook.
Narrowing it down to ten picks was difficult. I’ve gotten over fifty sketches in this book so far. There are a few that just missed the cut. If you asked me again next month I might come up with a different list. I also didn’t include a couple of pieces that were commissions, where the artists has the sketchbook for a few days and created detailed illustrations. I will probably spotlight those in some other post in the future. If you are an artist who contributed to this book and did not make the list, please don’t be offended! I also posted these in chronological order because I couldn’t make up my mind which one was the best. Without further ado, here is my list of top ten Avengers sketches:
1) Scarlet Witch by Richard HowellOnce I decided to start an Avengers sketchbook, I knew that I wanted Richard Howell to start it off with a drawing of the Scarlet Witch. As a teenager who saw Wanda drawn by Howell in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents #60-63, I thought it was the sexiest version of the character I had ever seen. Of course, Howell had also penciled the twelve part Vision and Scarlet Witch miniseries a few years before which I later read via back issues. To this day, I still consider Richard’s depiction of Wanda to be one of the most beautiful in the character’s history.
I was thrilled that I was able to kick off the sketchbook with this lovely portrait by Howell. He also drew / lettered the “Avengers Assemble” title page for the book that appears at the top of this post.
2) Black Widow by Hannibal King Hannibal King is good at illustrating tough, sexy women. When I asked him if he’d draw the Black Widow, he smiled and said “You just made my day.” Obviously he’s fond of the character, which was good news for me. King proceeded to create this stunning pencil illustration. While King was drawing this, I looked through his portfolio. He had done some incredible pieces featuring Captain America, Nick Fury, Val Fontaine, and Hydra. Someone at Marvel ought to give him a S.H.I.E.L.D. story to illustrate ASAP!
This sketch was later printed in Back Issue #26. Head over to the TwoMorrows Publishing website for information on that magazine, as well as other quality comic book-related publications.
3) Wasp by Brian KongBrian Kong drew a whole heap of very cool Avengers sketch cards, including several of the Wasp. When I asked Kong if he’d do a drawing of the Wasp, he asked “Which costume?” Because, oh lordy, Janet Van Dyne had had soooooo many different costumes over the years! One of my favorites was the one George Perez drew her in during the early 80s, and again in the late 90s. I asked Kong if he could draw the Wasp in that, and he grinned, responding “I was just about to suggest that one.”
I’ve seen Kong at a number of NY area conventions over the years, and obtained several sketches from him. This one of the Wasp is probably my favorite. He did an amazing job on it.
4) Warbird / Ms. Marvel by Taki SomaBack in 2008 Taki Soma was also drawing Avengers sketch cards, and so she had a book full of Marvel reference on hand. I flipped through the Avengers chapter, saw there was a profile on Ms. Marvel, and asked Soma if she would be able to do a sketch using that. I was very happy with her depiction of Carol Danvers. Soma is definitely a talented artist. In the last few years she’s collaborated with her husband Michael Avon Oeming on several projects.
5) Jocasta by Andy MacDonaldIt was his excellent work on NYC Mech that caused me to ask Andy MacDonald to sketch Jocasta. He draws incredible robots and sci-fi tech. I just knew he’d do a great job rendering “the bride of Ultron.” I always liked the character, and in the past wished she’d been an Avengers member for longer (I was thrilled when Dan Slott featured her in the Mighty Avengers series). Jocasta has such a distinctive visual, as well as an unusual backstory (inspired by Oedipus Rex, naturally).
MacDonald really captured the character of Jocasta, both in terms of her look and her personality. It’s a very expressive piece. This is another sketch that was published in Back Issue, appearing in Jarrod Buttery’s article on Jocasta in the robot-themed issue #72.
6) Black Panther by Sal AbbinantiAtomika creator Sal Abbinanti was drawing some amazing, rather surreal color sketches at the 2008 MoCCA Art Festival. He certainly did a great job on this one. Not even having a fire alarm going off and he building getting evacuated by the FDNY when he was halfway done with it threw him off his game. I suppose you could say Abbinanti was “on fire” with this one! He really went all out, and it shows.
7) Patriot by Ben Granoff I really did enjoy the various Young Avengers miniseries, even if they did come out infrequently. The team had some cool characters, including the current Patriot, Eli Bradley. I saw independent artist Ben Granoff‘s work on the small press series We Were The… Freedom Federation published by Bag & Board Studios, and I was impressed. Indeed, he drew an amazing illustration of Patriot. This one totally surpassed my expectations.
8) Hercules by Chris GiarussoI’m a fan of Chris Giarrusso, creator of Mini Marvels and G-Man. He seemed like the perfect choice to draw Hercules, the mythical and mirthful Avenger who is never more happy than when he’s busting heads together, or knocking back a large flagon of mead, often doing both at the same time! The reference I had for Hercules had the character grimacing, but I asked Chris to draw a smiling Hercules, adding “Pretend he’s just left the bar or something.” Chris literally ran with my suggestion, and here we see Herc with a frosty mug of beer in hand, having a grand old night on the town!
9) Hawkeye / Kate Bishop by Ed Coutts Here’s a great sketch of Kate Bishop, another member of the Young Avengers, and co-star of the Hawkeye ongoing series featuring her teamed up with the original avenging archer Clint Barton. This was drawn by Ed Coutts, a very talented artist. His work has appeared in a number of issues of Femforce from AC Comics. He renders very beautiful women. I’ve met Coutts at a number of conventions and acquired several nice sketches from him.
10) Ant-Man / Scott Lang by Jacob ChabotScott Lang, the second Ant-Man, is drawn by Jacob Chabot. This is the costume & helmet Scott wore when he was a member of Heroes for Hire, and when he first officially joined the Avengers (I wasn’t a fan of his “gas mask” helmet that briefly followed). Chabot he drew a very cool sketch of the character. I love the inking on this piece.
Scott Lang has a new solo comic book currently running, and he’s scheduled to make his cinematic debut in the upcoming Ant-Man movie. That gave me yet another good reason to include this great sketch in this top ten list.
11) Ultron by Chris DuckettUltron, that murderous mechanical menace, arch adversary of the Avengers, and current star of the silver screen is superbly rendered in this pencil illustration by the talented Chris Duckett from the Bronx Heroes team of creators. If you ever meet Duckett at a convention, I recommend getting a sketch from him. He does fantastic work.
What’s that, you say? This was supposed to be a top ten and not a top eleven?!? Bah!!! Ultron laughs at you humans and your silly rules! And soon Ultron will rule the world, humanity will be destroyed, and every single entry on this list will be a different incarnation of his mechanical brilliance! Until that day inevitably comes, weak creatures of the flesh, you will have to learn to accept that there is an extra entry to spotlight the supreme genius of Ultron 🙂
In My Not So Humble Opinion 
