Posts Tagged ‘jim starlin’

4 results.

Covered: Starlin’s Capt.Marvel #33!

by geoff on March 2, 2012 at 7:24 am
Posted In: blog

Once again–this is from the very beginnings of this project, before I knew I was doing anything, and I drew this quickly one morning at work before the day began-so it’s really loose. It was fun to do. Coloring came later–and this was the first page I colored, so I was merely trying to replicate at this point. Rather than use black for the night sky, I layered ultramarine over a red-making for a richer night sky and saving my black markers! Drawing Thanos in action was the attraction–for my money, (all 25 cents of it in 1973) this is one of Starlin’s best depictions of him.  What a great image! What a malevolent creature!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(originally published Feb. 24, 2011 at pulpink.blogspot.com)

and-don’t forget–there was a new babyheads yesterday!

 

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Covered: Saturday Starlin!

by geoff on February 25, 2012 at 8:18 am
Posted In: blog

It’s Saturday Starlin time! When all is said and done, Starlin covers will make up more of these recreations than those by any other artist.

Not a conscious decision. In the beginning of the marathon, I was just rifling through my collection and pulling out any book that I had a fondness for and that had a cover that looked like it might be fun to draw. That I picked up a bunch of Starlin books is  an indication of just how much his seventies work meant to my teenage self and how large those books loom in my adult consciousness.

Starlin’s been a challenge, largely because I don’t draw at all like Starlin, his figures are really idiosyncratic, with extreme postures and musculature that I would never conceive of on my own. Michelangelo, Burne Hogarth, Steve Ditko, Aubrey Beardsley, Jack Kirby–they’re all in the mix of Starlin’s genius, making for some of the most eccentric yet dynamic inter-galactic super-hero space opera ever. I’d never thought of Starlin as an action guy so much, until I copied his drawings.

I didn’t change a lot on this drawing–Warlock is a little bit more upright in my version, and I modified the color a bit here and there, making the piece less about gray against green, and more about a green/purple/pink contrast. Those little changes probably seem like nothing to a casual observer, but I spent hours(?) agonizing over what color to use in the circle indica on the upper lefthand corner. In the end, green was the perfect choice for the cover’s  background color, and although I spent a good deal of time  playing around with alternatives, I never found anything that worked as well. (But you’ll notice I moved away from a yellow-green toward a bluer green.)

(originally published at pulpink.blogspot.com on Feb.19, 2011)

 

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Covered-Rerun: Warlock, the Ultimate Comic Book

by geoff on January 27, 2012 at 9:10 am
Posted In: blog

(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!

 

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Covered Rerun cont’d: The Most Cosmic Cartoonist of All

by geoff on January 13, 2012 at 10:38 am
Posted In: blog

(originally published: Feb.5, 2011 at pulpinkblogspot.com)

I remember–well, barely-a movie theater in Philadelphia at the end of the seventies, -watching “Altered States” and thinking I’d seen God.  Seriously.

Now, I might’ve had a little help with that perception—but nevertheless, I believed I’d had some kind of revelation.

Looking back, I suppose the amazing thing is that– in the 60′s and 70′s– we thought you could see a movie–like “Altered States”–or “2001″–and if one was in the proper …frame of mind… it might–just might— change your life.  If you were open to it.

The products of popular culture– movies, music, comics–were more than mere commodities, more than mere entertainments. They were vehicles to an end–and the end was…? the progressive evolution of humankind…? utopia? transcendence? oneness with the cosmic mysteries? Who knew? We were certain someone did–specially endowed guides to the mysteries of existence– shamans, musicians, artists, comic book artists.

Jim Starlin was like–one of those dudes clued in to the cosmic mysteries–like the Beatles or Dylan or Floyd–he was one of those guys with “The Answer”.  By the time he was working on “”Captain Marvel”, (and particularly CM #29)-Starlin was the full fledged  Cosmic Comics Guru–and I was absolutely certain that by the end of the Thanos story-arc in CM–that we’d all have achieved “cosmic awareness” along with Cap.

Did we ever get there?

Look around. What do you think?

 

But every time I pick up one of Jim Starlin’s books from the seventies –whether it’s Captain Marvel or Warlock-or even Shang-Chi—I’m willing to believe it’s possible. And these days, that’s no small thing, is it?

 

 

* my cover was done with the Uniroyal ball point pen, drawn quickly–30-40 minutes or so–and with no intention of adding color until much later.

there’ll be plenty of Starlin to see–in various degrees of finish–

before the month is over!

Enjoy! And think Cosmic!

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