This is an odd lot, and rarely seen these days.  I'd not like to even hazard a guess of how many of these packs, sent out by Marv Wolfman in December 1971, still exist intact.  This set not only exists, but it also comes in it's original envelope, as sent by Marv to a former editor of an ERB fanzine, who stored it and then sold it to me back in 2005.  It's been sitting amongst my original art since then, and I don't think I've ever shown all of the scans in the one post before, and if I have, well I can't remember it. These scans, indeed the photographic images, are probably as close as the majority of us will  ever get to seeing some of this original art and sketches.  And when you consider that the artists featured are Joe Kubert, Alan Weiss, Frank Thorne, Michael Kaluta and Murphy Anderson, well you can fully understand and appreciate the excitement that you get just holding this stuff.  I did talk to Alan Weiss about these Pellucidar images a few years b

I can't recall when I first became aware of Joe Orlando's artwork, most probably it was in a DC Comic, where Joe finished out his career.  As I can't remember I expect that his art didn't exactly impress that much, no great surprise as Joe, like a lot of the E.C. artists, just didn't reach the heights at the mainstream companies as they had done at E.C. and in the pages of Mad Magazine.  Don't get me wrong, Jack Davis I've always loved - I've kept a pile of Time Magazines with Davis covers (I must dig them out and scan them one day, if only to post them) and I can't say enough about Wally Wood and the likes of Al Feldstein and co, but Orlando?  Well, what can I say?  Much like Russ Heath and Gray Morrow, those guys were wasted on drawing pedestrian superhero comics for editors who just didn't know what the artists were really capable of producing. I found Orlando again via Watchmen.  Joe drew one page in the series and it impressed me no end as

Blame Alan Weiss.  For years he'd been telling about the sheer majesty and beauty of Russ Heath and his art so I began to check it out and damned if he wasn't right, as usual.  What Alan doesn't know about art and artists just isn't worth knowing. What Alan did do was turn me onto Heath's Warren work, and, rightly, told me that it was far superior to his DC or Marvel work.  I had to agree.  I took one look at Heath's Blazing Combat stories and, to be honest, they knocked my socks clear off.   The art for the story Give And Take is some of the most photo-realistic and amazing art I've ever seen.  I've rarely seen anything so clear and pure - well worth seeking out and buying.  As it stands I keep locating Heath in Warren magazines and I've yet to be disappointed, and this story is no exception.  Written by Bruce Jones, the art is incredible and the twist, well, have a read and see for yourself.  M Knight Shyamalan couldn't get such a simple, an

I was surprised a few years back to discover that Brian Postman was originally tapped to draw issue #2 of the mini-series, The Falcon. The first issue of the four issue mini-series was penciled by Paul Smith, at the time becoming white hot with one of the finest runs on the X-Men.  Despite being inked by Vinnie Colletta, Smith's fine line shone through and there was a lot of expectation for the series.  However Smith only ever penciled issued #1 and the covers for the first two issues, being replaced by Mark Bright on pencils, Colletta was replaced by Mike Gustovich, and the art team remained stable for the next three issues. However before Bright snared the gig, Postman was handed the Jim 'Preist' Owsley script by Editor In Chief Jim Shooter in late 1982 and asked to begin drawing.  Brian managed to get the first six pages done, but as soon as the pages arrived at Marvel he was tapped to begin drawing Spider-Woman by editor Mark Gruenwald - and it's not that hard t

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You may remember a while back I received an email from The Former DC Staffer who discussed the falling out between Frank Miller and Klaus Janson over The Dark Knight Returns. Here's how the FDCS remembered it, "Klaus Janson was working Dark Knight and used Greg Brooks as a background inker. Well Frank Miller gets wind of this and has a fit, something about the integrity of the project and letting an amateur put his hands on it. The end result was art for Dark Knight #1 and #4 went to Frank Miller and art for Dark Knight #2 and #3 went to Klaus Janson. Now here's an interesting bit, the original art never once came into the production department. It was sent to a printer for black and blue line copies on strathmore paper. Corrections were made by Bob (little fingers of lead) Rozakis on the printed blackplate; hence the famous Lois Lane flub in Dark Knight #1. As a production man Bob was a great accountant!" As we also know Brooks wasn't the only background a