I’m still reading through Marvel’s original Defenders series. I just finished #55 & I thought I would share a few wallpapers I made from scans of various interior pages (from several of the previous issues) by artist Keith Giffen. In my opinion this is some beautiful and underrated stuff. As usual you can click on the thumbnails below to load full size 1920×1200 versions:
Posted in Comics, Geekery, wallpaper | Tags: comicbooks, Comics, Defenders, Keith Giffen, Marvel Comics, wallpaper
Walt Simonson is a fantastic comicbook artist probably best known for his great Thor run in the 80’s. He’s also a really nice guy – I met him and his wife Louise briefly at Wizard World Chicago in 2005. He autographed my copy of Conan #135. Louise Simonson said that is one of their favorite’s of Walt’s Conan covers and they have the original art from that framed in their living room!
His cover art for 1981’s King Conan #6 is one of my favorite’s. I love the bold colors and perspective with all the bodies and the over turned wine jug in the foreground as Conan stands warily dripping broadsword in hand with the conniving Thanara hanging from his neck. I wish I would have had a copy of THIS book with me when I ran into Walt at the convention! (click below for 1920×1200 wallpaper)
Posted in Comics, Geekery, wallpaper | Tags: 1920x1200, comicbooks, Conan, King Conan, Marvel Comics, wallpaper, Walt Simonson
I hit another Comic Book Milestone recently. I finished collecting all 152 issues of Marvel’s Defenders ! I still need some of the ‘Giant Size’ series but I’ll get ’em. For those unfamiliar the Defenders premiered in 1971’s Marvel Feature:
After 3 issues of Marvel Feature they got their own book in 1972:
The Defenders were always Marvel’s odd-ball team – if you can call them a true team at all. In fact they were referred to as the “NON-Team” -ONLY called together when something really big/bad threatened the earth. The original core members were Dr. Strange (more or less the leader of the group), the Hulk and Namor the Sub-Mariner. A little later Norse beauty the Valkyrie joined as well as Nighthawk. Over the years many different super-heroes quit and joined some officially and many non officially, a partial list would include Power Man (Luke Cage), Hell-Cat, Tigra, Silver Surfer, Son of Satan, Gargoyle, Moondragon & Daredevil. In contrast to the more main-stream Avengers book many of the Defenders story-lines involved the supernatural and various demonic beings. Several of the early issues tackled racism and actually had the team fighting white supremacists (ya gotta love Steve Gerber)!
Now that I have them all I’m reading them straight through in order. I’m about 30 issues in now and I stopped to read Giant Size issue 1 and the title’s 1st (and only) King-Sized Annual. 1974’s Giant Size #1 is a 68 page square-bound volume that reprints some material from Incredible Hulk #3, Sub-Mariner #41, Strange Tales #145 & Fantastic Four Annual #5. Stringing the reprinted stories together is new material where Dr. Strange’s protege Clea brings up images from the character’s past to help Valkyrie understand her team-mates better. It’s a clever idea but the coolest part for me was getting to see some early art by the great Jim Starlin. Check out this panel (click for larger scan)for a sample:
Clea and Valkyrie never looked more voluptuous!
Posted in Comics, Geekery | Tags: comicbooks, Defenders, Jim Starlin, Marvel Comics
Larry's Library 