Before You Ever Saw It, There Were Roughs

Hi, friends! A happy Thursday to you. I'm pretty much going to get out of the way today and let the art do the talking. If you're like me, you not only like to hear alternate takes and rehearsals from your favorite bands - it really gives the listener an inside look at the creative process. Comic art, particularly covers, can also be like that. So what I've gathered today is some before-and-after work from some of the best in the business. Enjoy!

Leading off: Neal Adams and the cover to the Ballantine Paperback edition of Tarzan and the Lion Man.

 Here's something you don't see every day - Jazzy Johnny Romita drawing our favorite Cimmerian!

 Frank Frazetta - The Huntress. Nuff said.

Frazetta again, this time toying with the positioning of Tarzan and the very large bear. I think I like the rough better than the finished product. You?

I actually used to own the rough below and sold it when I liquidated my collection around five years ago. It's from the one-shot Marvel Heroes and Legends; this section of the book was of course penciled by Big John Buscema. That energy comes through even in the loose version, doesn't it?

Everyone has a copy of the Les Daniel coffee table books, right? Mine is a personal treasure, as for years I took it to conventions and had creators sign inside. Among the luminaries who've scratched in it are Stan Lee, John Romita, Sal Buscema, Jim Shooter, George Perez, Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Rich Buckler, and more! Here's Romita's sketch when he was laying out the cover.

Another Romita layout, this time for a mag in the second go-round for What If?

Ploooooooooggg! Mike Ploog. Master. I love the image at left, as you can see him tinkering with the cover. I think I actually like the rough at top right the best.

And just to show how much I like you and appreciate you taking a couple of minutes out of your day, I'm going to leave you with a couple of gems from Earl Norem. That man was a master on the Marvel magazine covers!

Appreciating Joe Kubert's Tarzan of the Apes

When you think of Tarzan in the comics, do you think of the Western days and the work of Russ Manley or Jesse Marsh? Or do you go even earlier and recall in your mind's eye the newspaper strips by Burne Hogarth? If you're a Bronze Age Baby like me, perhaps it's the Tarzan seen in Marvel's series and illustrated by the brothers Buscema. Honestly, you couldn't go wrong anywhere across that spectrum, and I've certainly partaken of "all of the above" (and shoot - let's add the paintings of Boris Vallejo and Neal Adams that adorned the Bantam paperback covers to this love-in).

But today let's bask in the glory that was Joe Kubert's Tarzan, running from April 1972 to February 1977 and written/illustrated by Kubert. Kubert's Tarzan was lithe and athletic. The jungle-scapes were lush, the animals a sight to behold - truly off the realism scale. Knowing all this, I couldn't wait to purchase the first volume of the Joe Kubert's Tarzan of the Apes Artist Edition. At the time, I'd come into some cash from the sale of my collection. Those high-end books had become affordable. You should know that the things I treasure most about seeing original art are the evidences of the thought-process during creation - white-out, blue line pencil, eraser marks... those sort of things. But darned if Joe Kubert didn't nail it the first time. There were zero corrections that my eyes could find. None. Throughout the entire book! Sounds dumb to complain about clean original art, but I eventually sold it to make room for other Artist Editions I wanted. It's my hangup - I'll own it.

Leave a me thought on Kubert's Tarzan, and thanks in advance!

The Many Styles of Rich Buckler

Rich Buckler has been called many things, notably a swiper of other artists' work or ideas. I'd prefer to call him a talent, able to produce whatever style the job demanded or his editors asked of him. For many Bronze Age Babies, we cut our teeth on Buckler's Fantastic Four. When I came to that mag, Buckler was just coming out of his phase where he aped Jack Kirby. One could do worse. But just before Buckler left the book (turning it over to a young George Perez), his style had changed, coming into a bit more distinct look.

Of course, Buckler was virtually omnipresent on Marvel's 1970s covers, competing with Gil Kane and Kirby for ubiquity. As the 70s gave way to the 80s, Buckler landed at DC where he again turned in stellar work. While Rich Buckler will most likely never be mentioned among the masters, he must be considered one of the Bronze Age greats, for sheer output alone. And if you dig deep, you may be surprised at just how much he put his hands on - corner boxes, covers on mags you'd least expect (the All-New, All-Different X-Men, for example), and big projects like DC's Limited Collectors' Edition treasuries.

Samples of Buckler's work (below) include:

Avengers 104 (1972), inked by Joe Sinnott
Fantastic Four 150 (1974), inked by Sinnott
Saga of the Original Human Torch 2 (1990), inked by Danny Bulanadi
All-New Collectors' Edition C-58 (1978), inked by Dick Giordano
Action Comics 486 (cover)(1978), inked by Frank Giacoia
Tarzan 25 (cover)(1979), inked by Bob McLeod