Recently in Avengers Category

Here's a super-heroine long overdue for a comeback: the Scarlet Witch.  These two drawings can remind us why she is a great character...

Neal Adams did this pencil and ink drawing of Wanda conjuring up a spell.  If you go to the Neal Adams website, click on his store to find more sketches for sale.

Gene Colan did a brilliant pencil drawing of the Scarlet Witch fighting a pair of nasty serpents in this 2001 commission.  Check out Colan's site for more! 

I'm hoping that the Scarlet Witch will return in one of the new Avengers titles coming in June.  Could she be one of the Secret Avengers?  Nuff Said!

Marvel Age Annual #1 from 1985 featured this crowded wraparound cover by Kerry Gammill.

Virtually all of Marvel's characters from this period are featured here.  Two of the wackiest are the Beyonder (on the right) in his zoot-suit from Secret Wars II and Magneto (in the middle) in his reformed period leading the X-Men.  Whoever designed that stupid new costume for Magneto with the giant "M" on his chest should have consulted Tim Gunn first.

There's one character I can't identify, in-between Colossus and Storm in the middle section.  Who the heck is that?

Can you name all of the rest?  Reply in the comments if you can.  Nuff Said!

Here is the original black and white artwork for Marvel Treasury Edition #13 (1976) by Gil Kane (inked by either Romita or Sinnott or both).  You can see the paste-up logos over the artwork.  I did another post a year ago that featured Kane's sketch layout for this Giant Superhero Holiday Grab Bag.  Nuff said!

New Avengers Annual #3 went on sale recently, featuring the dynamic art of Mike Mayhew.  If the story alone (featuring Hawkeye in the clutches of the Dark Avengers) isn’t enough to grab you, Mayhew’s art should be reason enough.

Here’s the double page splash to pages 2 and 3, in black and white, from Mayhew’s Deviant Art page.  I just love how Mayhew uses the subtle shades of grey tones, combined with the light sources, to make all of these characters seem three dimensional.  I’ve no idea anymore what artists use a medium.  Pencil?  Ink wash?  Is it all done on the computer?  Please let me know what Mayhew uses.

Here’s the same double page splash after Andy Troy applies the color.  It looks wonderful in this form as well.  Troy doesn’t obliterate the shadows and tones with over-saturated color.

Personally, I’d love to see both versions printed.  A while back Marvel printed black and white versions of Simone Bianchi’s Wolverine issues.  It would be cool if they could they same for one of Mayhew’s projects.

For more original New Avengers Annual art, please visit Mike Mayhew’s DeviantArt site.  Nuff said!

Last Sunday, I wrote about the amazing Silver Surfer #1 poster from Asgard Press.  Asgard Press also makes the perfect gift for any classic Marvel fan, their Vintage Marvel Comics 2010 Calendar.  I must confess that I was given this as a gift by someone at the company, but that doesn’t sway my recommendation at all.  I had been eyeing this calendar for weeks at Flying Colors Comics (in Concord, CA, my favorite LCS close to home).  Please note that all images shown here and in my previous post are scans taken from other sources than the actual calendar.

The calendar (around $19) features 16 Giant-Sized Marvel covers ready for framing at an 11"x14" size.  Even if you don’t need a calendar or buy this mid-year, it’s a great gift.  Asgard Press has designed this calendar so that you can separate the cover image from the calendar through perforations on the top or bottom, and it’s in perfect condition (no holes from thumb-tacks or nails). 

The inside front cover features Steve Ditko’s cover to Amazing Spider-Man #33—one of the defining moments in Peter Parker’s life, with the hero pinned under a giant piece of machinery.  The Ditko cover isn’t displayed on the back or even on Asgard’s website, and it’s a great bonus print.

Amazing Spider-Man #68, by John Romita Sr., is also included.  The famous cover blurb Crisis on Campus! reflects the anti-war and civil rights protests in 1968.  Marvel Comics were popular among college students, and Stan Lee decided to put Spidey smack dab in the middle of current events.  This cover was previously made into a poster by Marvel a couple of years after it came out.  I had that on my wall as a kid, so I’m glad to get this again.  BTW, the paper used for these reproductions are on good, thick, sturdy paper stock.

Giant-Size Marvel readers who also share my love for The Vision will be pleased by the inclusion of Avengers #57 in the calendar.  Note that the scan above shows this cover with colors that are extremely vibrant (probably taken from a Masterworks collection).  The Asgard Press covers are reproduced in a way that mimics the feeling of the original comic book.  At any rate, I certainly plan on framing up this one in my comic-vault garage.

You can find the Vintage Marvel 2010 calendar on Asgard Press Marvel site, along with their line of Marvel posters.  On my previous Silver Surfer post, you can see the Surfer covers that are also in this calendar.  Nuff said!

Can you identify the artists who drew this outtasight wraparound cover to Avengers Special Edition #1?

It was a baxter reprint of the Avengers Kree Skrull War saga.  Marvel fans will immediately recognize the inker, but who was the penciller?  I’ll bet most fans will think it was Big John Buscema.  The answer is given after the break…if you don’t cheat by looking at the tooltip on the picture.

It's time for I Love the 70s/80s with Michael Golden!

Golden drew this poster of the Marvel Universe in the 1970s.  It actually may have come out around 1980 or so--Moon Knight is featured, and he wasn't popular until the late 70s with his series starting in 1980.  But it's very 70s in spirit, with the All-New X-Men, Storm's classic costume, the Avengers (just love the Vision sinking into the ground), Black Bolt, Hulk, Doc Strange, Silver Surfer, and the Watcher on the left.  There's a few Marvel Monsters with Ghost Rider and Man-Thing.  Heck, even Ka-Zar, Luke Cage, and Captain Universe are in there.

Golden also drew this print that was featured in a 1980s Marvel Calendar.  You can immediately see the difference in this post-Secret Wars era, with Spidey's black costume, Beta Ray Bill, Grey Hulk Joe Fixit, New Mutants, Archangel, and Iron Man's armor that he donned in IM #200.  Note also the prominence of Daredevil and Elektra due to Frank Miller's work on the series.  The Punisher, another top seller, is also in the background.  Beyond the characters, the awesome sauce is the setting--the heroes in front of the Pan-Am building and crawling around the statue in front.

I think these two Golden masterworks are so great, Marvel could re-publish them today as posters!  Nuff said.

Neal Adams joined Roy Thomas on the Avengers with issue #93 (1971) to kick off the Kree-Skrull War.  That story was titled This Beachhead Earth by Thomas.

Adams originally wanted the story to be titled Three Cows Shot Me Down!  As you all know, the story opens with the Vision stumbling into Avengers Mansion.  He's severely damaged after a skirmish with three cows...who happen to be Skrulls in disguise!  When the Kree-Skrull saga was collected in trade paperback, Adams was able to use his original title on this dynamic new cover.

Here are the pencils to this cover.  This was published in the Neal Adams 2007 sketchbook.  Adams commented: You have no idea how many years I have waited to put those words on this picture.

And now the inked version, which was featured in the Neal Adams 2008 sketchbook.

For more tidbits on Neal Adams Avengers (and other Marvel) work, you can read the excellent interview with him from TwoMorrows Comic Book Artist #3.  Nuff said.