Page turners: Barry Windsor- Smith

Barry Windsor-Smith’s (BWS) first published work was in the pages of the UK comics "Terrific" and "Fantastic" published by Odhams Press, around 1967 when he was only 18 years old. These were full page pin-ups of Marvel characters called "Power House Pin-ups" and were drawn in his (very) early sub-Kirby style. Despite not being the most impressive pieces of art they must have shown enough promise as by 1969 the young Barry Smith (as he was then known) was given the job of drawing the cover and story for X-Men issue 53 which spawned further wok on other comics including Daredevil issues 50- 52 , Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D and Avengers issues 66 and 67.

Power House Pin-Up circa 1967/8 - One of Barry Smith's first ever published pieces.

Daredeil issue 52 by Barry Smith and Johnny Craig May 1969.

However, it wasn’t until BWS provided the art for a Sword and Sorcery strip called “Sword of the Sorcerers” (featuring the character “Starr the Slayer") in "Chamber of Darkness" issue 4 (above) that he was offered the job of pencilling Marvel's adaptation of Conan the Barbarian in October 1970 - the rest is of course comic book history. After his initial few issues on Conan his style radically morphed into the style he has become famous for. Some of my favourite BWS pages are shown below:

Conan the Barbarian issue 20 by Barry Smith and Dan Adkins - November 1972.

Savage Tales issue 4 by Barry Smith - February 1973.

Avengers issue 100, by Barry Smith - June 1972.

Machine Man 2020 - breakdowns by Herb Trimpe finshed art by Barry Smith - issue 2 Septemebr 1984

Marvel Premier issue 3 by Barry Smith and Dan Adkins - July 1972.

Iron Man issue 232 by Barry Smith and Bob Layton July 1988.

Marvel Fanfare issue 15 - by Barry Windsor Smith - July 1984 - A great fun story.

In the early 1990's BWS joined Valiant comics as the creative director and lead artist on the revival on the old Gold Key comic characters such as Solar Man of the Atom as well as creating original characters like Archer and Armstrong. - (Page above by Barry Windsor Smith from "Solar Man of the Atom" issue 3 from November 1991 )

In 1993 BWS created Rune along with Chris Ulm for Malibu Comics (one of the better "independent" comic book companies) - The character proved popular enough to gain a special edition (Conan vs Rune) in November 1995. The BWS illustrated editions of Rune are well worth seeking out and can be picked up for very little money.

Epic Illustrated issue 16 - February 1982. "The Beguiling" by BWS.

In 1996 Dark Horse Comics gave BWS a large format monthly comic book all to himslef. Each issue featured 3 BWS written and illustraed strips; The Paradox Man, Freebooters and the Young Gods (above) - although the book ony lasted for 9 issues it contained some lovely art.

Among comic book fans BWS will forever be associated with Conan the Barbarian, but his work on Weapon X (Wolverine) certainly comes a close second. The above splash page from "Marvel Comics Presents" issue 79 ( 1991) has become one of the most iconic pages in modern comics.

In other work BWS drew the fictitious comic strip "Manro" for the 1981 Oliver Stone film "The Hand". In the film Michael Cane played the part of an artist who wrote and drew the successful mewspaper comic strip "Manro" which BWS created - Scan taken from the Comic book art Auctions website.

Comic Book Memories: Justice League of America issue 106 & Weird War Tales issue 14

Anyone that reads this blog will know that I have treaded this road before but the older I get the more I seem to have to rely on certain triggers to remember events from my past. Of course I don’t need a back issue of Superman to remember those big lifechanging event no, it’s those little inconsequential events that seemed so unimportant at the time but now mean so much more to me that I crave. One such trigger event happened to me last month when I was driving to the town I used to live in around the early to mid-1970’s to help a family member move some (52!) heavy slabs . As it was early I thought I would stop off and get coffee and cakes for them so on seeing a coffee shop I parked outside the shop and as I got out of my car I was hit by an overwhelming sense of Déjà vu. As it turned out I had taken the exact same trip nearly 50 years ago with my dad in 1973. On that day in June 1973, my dad had driven me to school but for some reason we had arrived early and he suggested that we go for a cup of tea at this very same coffee shop. Of course the shop had changed a lot since then as it was now a very trendy upmarket coffee shop, back in 1973 it was a pretty basic (but nice) tea-room with a newsagents attached to it. Anyway, after my dad and myself had our tea I was pottering around the newsagent where I spied the above issue of JLA (along with Weird War issue 14) which my dad bought for me.

Back to 2022, and after I had completed my slab lifting I drove home and immediately headed to the loft to look out my 49 year old copy of JLA 106 (my copy of Weird War isn't the same one my dad bought me in 1973) and to try remember that day in more detail. It's amazing what memories an inanimate object can stir up as on opening the pages below I remember that this day in June 1973 was the last day of school before we broke up for the summer holidays, someone at my school nabbed my copy of Weird War, it was also my best pal Jim’s last day at this school as he had moved to a different town, and best of all I remembered the great chat and laugh I had with my dad at that tea room and seeing his big toothed smile. I still miss that big smile of his, but at least I can see it again in my mind’s eye when look at JLA 106.

This story always seemed to me to be DC's attempt to make the Red Tornado into their version of the Vision. And while it was a pretty decent comic for its time DC's attempts here were miles behind the stories that Marvel were telling in the Avengers. Still for all that I always enjoyed the JLA comics at this time, they had a charm and excitment of their own that has always appealed to me.

In the story itself, following the exploits in JLA 105 the Red Tornado is caught up in an explosion that hurled him from Earth-2 into Earth-1 where he is voted in as a Justice League member. Now possessing facial features that he believes were melded for him by a blind hermit ( when in fact it was all a ruse by his evil creator T. O. Morrow) the Red Tornado takes on the secret identity as John Smith, and goes looking for a job where he meets an employment counsellor Kathy Sutton and they soon become romantically involved. The Scarlet Witch and the Vision this is not.

Top Tens: John Romita

John Romita’s first superhero work for Marvel was on Daredevil issue 12 (Jan.1966) where he started out pencilling over Jack Kirby's layouts. He was an instant success as sales on the title increased which alerted Stan Lee to give Romita a try-out script where DD and Spider-Man met ( issues 16-17 - 1966) with the intention to see how he handled Spider-Man with the impending departure of Steve Ditko from the Amazing Spider-Man title imminent. The rest of course is comic book history as Romita took over the art chores on The Amazing Spider-Man with issue #39 (Aug. 1966). As much as I will always love Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man work, it was John Romita’s version that really cemented the character as a must read comic for me. While the bulk of Romita’s Marvel art was focused on Spider-Man he also drew some nice issues of Captain America and the Fantastic Four and many of Marvels best action covers including the above issue of Spider-Man (123 ) from 1973, which I recently purchased. Below is a small selection of some of my favourite covers from one of comics best ever artists:

Avengers issue 116 by Romita and Esposito from October 1973.

Thor issue 224 by Romita from March 1974.

Marvel Spotlight issue 17 by RonWilson and John Romita September 1974.

Luke Cage, Hero for Hire issue 1 by Romita from June 1972 (cover from Marvel fandom database) .

Amazing Spider-Man issue 74 by by Romita from July 1969 (cover from the Epic collection)

Amazing Spider-Man issue 120 by by Romita from May 1973.

Strange Tales issue 169 by Romita from September 1973.

Sub Mariner issue 69 by Romita from March 1974.

Gwen Stacy isuse 1 (of 2) Variant cover by Romita from 2020 (I love thIs cover - its like visiting old friends again).

Daredevil issue 17 by Romita from 1966 - cover from Marvel Wiki.

Bring on the back-ups: Satana the Devils Daughter – 4 pages of John Romita magic!

In the early to mid-1970’s the popularity of superhero comics had a close rival in the guise of horror comics. At this time Marvel in particular were producing some very nice colour comics and black and white magazines featuring a plethora of horror anti-heroes including Dracula, Morbius the living Vampire, the Zombie and Blade to name a few. However, by 1975 the horror genre was for the most part starting to run out of steam so it was with little expectation that I picked up a copy of Marvel Premier issue 27 featuring Satana the Devils Daughter.

The lead story in this issue was “Deathsong” by Chris Claremont with art by The Tribe, a group of Filipino artists that included Tony DeZuniga, Alfreda Alcala and Ruby Nebres. While this wasn’t a great story the comic itself was saved by a four page classic back-up tale by Roy Thomas and John Romita which was reprinted from the second issue of Vampire Tales (1972). Below are the full 4 pages of this classic tale featuring some of John Romita's best ever artwork.

As Marvel Premier 27 reprinted this srip with dark wash that obscured the artwork I scanned the pages from my copy of Vampire Tales issue 2 (cover below) where the art is must crisper and clearer.

George Perez - RIP

As many of you will now be aware George Perez sadly passed away on Friday 6 May after a battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 67. By all accounts George was not only a stunningly talented artists and writer but more importantly he was a truly caring and kind man. George will forever be remembered as one of the most influential artists ever on titles like the Avengers, Teen Titans, Wonder Woman and the Justice League.

I first became aware of George Perez’s art when I picked up Astonishing Tales issue 25 (Deathlok’s first appearance) which featured the above 2 page cartoon filler at the end of the story. It was certainly a nicely drawn cartoon page but little did I know that only few years later this guy would take the world of comics by storm.

The next time I remember seeing George’s art was in the pages of “The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu” black and white magazine on the “Sons of the Tiger” strip where he developed his renowned style. After that he worked on titles like Logans, Run, Fantastic Four, Marvel Two-in-one , Legion of Super- Heroes, Brave and the Bold and so many other comics, everyone drawn to perfection.

George will be best remembered for his team books which he filled to the brim with heroes in dynamic action poses. Above and below are just a small selection of George’s stunning covers and interior team pages.