(origianly published Feb.11, 2011 at pulpink.blogspot.com)
Warlock was the comic for me when I was 14-15. In Jim Starlin’s hands it was a masterpiece of cosmic space-opera, replete with cigar-smoking trolls, beautiful women (more likely to kill you than kiss you) and galactic revolution against an evil empire(before Star Wars!), all topped off with a mystic quest to come to terms with identity, fate and the meaning of existence! And all of it masterfully orchestrated in the hands of the most interesting and innovative comics creator of his generation. Wow. Can’t top that! And for a period of about a year and a half–Warlock was the best book on the comics racks.
The fallen figure positioned at the bottom of the page was a favorite motif of Starlin’s during these years–he uses it at least two or three times during his Warlock run, and at least once on Captain Marvel; nevertheless, it’s always effective. And it contributes to a sense of monumentality(-those fallen heroes seem enormous-)-appropriate to the stories he was telling.
I chose to play around with the color scheme on this one. I’m a sucker for that blue in the sky that dominates the original–but I wanted to try a warmer palette–and see its impact on the emotional character of the piece. apologies for the wonky logo!
Wow. Beautiful work Geoff! I always assumed this was a Gil Kane cover (judging by the figure work and perspective). How are you managing to copy these pieces so perfectly? I’m jealous.
hah! thanks, Terry! Glad you like ‘em–but if you look closely, you’ll see all kinds of little discrepancies, in part because the proportions of the originals and my sketchbook pages are very different-which forced me to stretch some things and shorten others here and there. It was all very intuitive. No preliminary pencil sketches-just pen and ink. It was a challenge!