Valley of the Dinosaurs No. 1 - The Remastering
THE COVER
As published.
Remastered.
INTERIOR ART RESTORATION
As published. With no original art to be found for this story, the lineart needs to be extracted from the published comic.
A Before-After comparison. Drag left and right to view. On the left, the extracted lineart. On the right, the final lineart.
The extracted lineart required contrast adjustment to make it a pure black and retouching to remove any remaining tones and printing defects. While I think Fred Himes did a great job on his artwork for these stories, I feel his dialogue lettering was rough and not up to the standards audiences expect today. All balloon lettering was replaced, but the sound effects were left as is. Any holes in the art caused by the lettering update were drawn back in. Finally, panel borders were redrawn to finish off the polish on the lineart presentation.
NEW COLOUR FOR "FIGHT THE ANGRY MOUNTAIN"
For the new colour version I wanted to respect that the source material was an animated series. Characters are consistently coloured based on the show's original style guide with a simple shadow layer and a highlight layer for modelling. And with the colour tools we have available to us today, the vibrancy of the original animation carries through in this new version.
Valley of the Dinosaurs – The Covers by Fred Himes
1974 was the prehistoric year for Saturday morning TV shows on the three major American networks. NBC debuted the live-action The Land of the Lost which would live the longest at three seasons, ABC had the live-action Korg 70,000 BC which survived one season, and CBS green-lit the animated Valley of the Dinosaurs which also lasted a single season.
Marvel Treasury Edition No. 13 Cover – Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag by Kane, Romita and Sinnott
Another holiday season and another Christmas reprint special from the House of Ideas. Pencilled primarily by Gil Kane – with touchups by John Romita – and inked by Joe Sinnott, I wonder how many people thought it was off the wall to have the Thing dressed up as Santa with Thor and Hulk as his reindeer. Plus Ben Grimm is Jewish and Thor came from the Norse gods.
Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter Cover by Dave Gibbons
I'm guessing I don't need to tell readers much about Watchmen here. You likely are already familiar with the 12-issue series – written by Alan Moore, drawn and lettered by Dave Gibbons, coloured by John Higgins and published by DC Comics in 1986 – to be even remotely interested in Tales of the Black Freighter, the allegorical/metaphorical comic within the Watchmen comic.
Valley of the Dinosaurs No. 1 Cover by Fred Himes
When you have no original art to work with, there are various methods you can use to create new lineart. The simplest is to use digital production techniques to delete the colour blocks and leave the black & white art behind. That worked quite well here.
Valley of the Dinosaurs No. 9 Cover by Fred Himes
Valley of the Dinosaurs enjoyed a longish run for a licenced book, totalling 11 issues, and this for being published after the animated series had been cancelled. Himes turns in his usual clearly-constructed illustration here.
Valley of the Dinosaurs No. 5 Cover by Fred Himes
Here's another of Fred Himes' great covers for Charlton Comics' licenced version of Valley of the Dinosaurs.
Sword of Sorcery No. 1 Unpublished Cover by Jeffrey Catherine Jones
The early 1970s saw an influx of new talent at DC, most of it shepherded by editor Joe Orlando. The four artists who would later make up The Studio – Bernie Wrightson, Michael Wm Kaluta, Jeffrey Catherine Jones and Barry Windsor Smith – had three of their number at DC while Windsor Smith was over at Marvel. Working outside the normal super-heroic books, they made their mark with covers, as well as adventure and horror stories.
Stalker No. 1 Cover by Steve Ditko and Wally Wood
Another of DC's short-run comics of the 1970s, this one boasted young Paul Levitz early in his career as writer, with veterans Steve Ditko and Wally Wood on art duties. Despite the quality of Stalker, it lasted only four issues.
Super DC Giant S-20 The House of Mystery Cover by Neal Adams
Throughout the 1960s and 70s, DC Comics leveraged their library of existing stories effectively with specials, annuals and series of books built around reprinted material.
Starfire Poster by Mike Vosburg
Starfire was another creation of writer David Michelinie – creator of Claw the Unconquered – and brought to visual life by penciller Mike Vosburg, debuting with Starfire No. 1, cover dated Aug/Sep 1976.
Claw the Unconquered Nos. 13, 14 and 15 – Unpublished
Following up on a post discussing Claw's origins, we turn to the issues produced but unpublished after its cancellation with issue No. 12.
Green Lantern No. 110 Cover by Mike Grell
Along with writer Denny O'Neil, artist Mike Grell had taken Green Lantern from being a back-up in The Flash and relaunched into his own mag with No. 90 in 1976. By the time No. 110 came out in 1978 during the DC Explosion, Grell was about to leave the book to handle writing and pencilling duties on his own creation The Warlord, a book that went from bi-monthly to monthly status during the same time.
Green Lantern No. 56 Cover by Kane & Anderson
A great cover to a great issue of Green Lantern from 1967. The creature is reminiscent of Jack Kirby's Thing for Marvel's Fantastic Four and bears some resemblance to The Abomination from The Incredible Hulk, a character Gil Kane also designed.
The Justice Society of America by Anderson and McCorkindale
Editor Julius Schwartz did a brilliant thing when he had Gardner Fox write "The Flash of Two Worlds" for The Flash No. 123. Bringing back the original versions of the Second World War-era characters was a unique and compelling way to integrate them into the Silver Age - the second era of super-heroes.
The Arthurian Era by Brian Bolland
Crisis on Infinite Earths had concluded, turning the DC Comics multiverse into a supposedly coherent universe. The History of the DC Universe two-book set documented the new timeline, and The History of the DC Universe Portfolio celebrated it with tabloid-sized images by some of DC's top talent.
Marvel Treasury Edition No. 6 Cover – Doctor Strange by Frank Brunner
Frank Brunner was at Marvel Comics for only a decade, but he made an impact with each comic he did, foremost among them his collaborations with writer Steve Englehart on Doctor Strange in Marvel Premiere and volume two of Doctor Strange.
Amazing Spider-Man No. 102 Cover by Kane and Giacoia
The last issue of the Six-Armed Spider-Man saga, writer Roy Thomas used the larger page count to tell the chilling origin of Michael Morbius and deliver a final battle between Morbius, Spider-Man and The Lizard.
Amazing Spider-Man No. 101 Cover by Kane and Romita
How do you top giving Spider-Man four extra arms in a last-page reveal of Amazing Spider-Man No. 100?
You put Spidey up against a brand-new character once again acceptable due to changes in The Comics Code: Morbius the Living Vampire! And for good measure you add The Lizard trapped somewhere between his monstrous persona and his human form of Dr. Curt Connors.
Read more
Amazing Spider-Man No. 100 Cover by Romita and Giacoia
It was a time of transition. The Sixties were ending, leaving a very different world than when they'd begun. The Silver Age in comics was giving way to the Bronze. The Seventies would be a decade of experimentation in packaging for new publishers and slow decline for Marvel and DC until they worked out a different model of distribution.
Detective Comics No. 481 Unpublished Cover by Jim Aparo
Books come and books go, and in the latter half of 1978, DC Comics was in the throes of The DC Implosion and nearly half their titles disappeared.
Batman Family No. 20 Cover by Jim Starlin
It was the best Batbook of its era, and it had gotten there with new talent like Marshall Rogers, Mike Golden, Joe Staton and others breathing new life into the Batman family of characters.
Superman Pin-Up TPB Cover by Neal Adams
Neal Adams is recovering from an illness that nearly claimed him, and we're all reminded that those whose work we love won't be around forever. And when Adams can still knock it out of the park, it's a testament to a life spent practising his skills, and that we always look forward to seeing more from him.
Batman No. 313 Cover by José Luis García-López
This is an amazing symbolic cover. On the surface, it's merely a clever division of Two-Face's hideout, but if you extend the idea to the tragedies these antagonists have endured, it's even more interesting.
Ghostly Tales No. 97 Cover by Steve Ditko
When Steve Ditko wasn't at DC or Marvel, he could often be found working for Charlton Comics. This wonderfully-designed cover is from 1972.
Dynamo No. 3 Cover by Wally Wood
Tower Comics was a short-lived American comic book publisher that was an imprint of Tower Books. Wally Wood's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was the forefront super-hero property.
BEM No. 28 Cover by Brian Bolland
BEM – or Bemusing Magazine was a British comics fanzine of the 1970s and 80s, and I've had a scan of this cover in my files for a bit, meaning to do a new colour version.
Hot Box by Jack Kirby
Foxhole was a Joe Simon & Jack Kirby Studio-produced comic from 1954 published originally under the Mainline imprint, with stories told from the soldiers' perspective.
Rex Morgan MD by Bradley and Edgington
Rex Morgan MD is a long-running story strip that is still published today, and is currently written and drawn by Terry Beatty, co-creator of Ms. Tree, Wild Dog and other comic book creations.
Batman No. 340 Cover by Jim Aparo
Jim Aparo became so strongly associated with DC heroes like Aquaman and Batman that we sometimes forget that he was a solid horror artist and in an alternate reality could have spent his career working in DC's anthologies.
Starfleet Navigator Class Starship
Coming out of my work on the revised Star Trek Starfleet Technical Manual, it got me thinking about something a little sleeker that your average starship. It would be Starfleet's answer to the Romulan Bird of Prey.
Blade Runner: The Comic Book Adaptation by Williamson & Garzon
Blade Runner came and went during the summer of 1982, neither a hit nor an outright flop. The film would garner its audience and appreciation in the years that followed, aided by the growing home video market. Today it’s regarded as one of science fiction film’s best.
Time Warp No. 4 Cover by Michael Wm Kaluta
As ever, I'm a sucker for a Time Warp cover drawn by Michael Wm Kaluta. How the trumpet player ended up with demons/angels on a rock in space is anyone's guess, but it was certainly headier stuff than your average DC fare of the day.
The Phantom Stranger No. 33 Cover by Jim Aparo
In the early 70s, both DC and Marvel went to a cover format that put solid colour behind the masthead and boxed in the cover art below it. It might have made covers more consistent and easier to lay out, but to my eye it was cramped and did a disservice to the power a good cover could generate to get a potential reader to pick up the comic off the newsstand. It put production convenience and cost control before editorial and artistic decision making. Penny wise and pound foolish is another way to express it.
The Brave & the Bold No. 122 Cover by Jim Aparo
Swamp Thing was a great comic, and the issues done by creators Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson are classic horror tales, but the book's sales waned in other creators' hands. For the remainder of the 1970s, Swampie was relegated to reprints, and guest-star appearances like this one in B&B.
The Brave & the Bold No. 116 Cover by Jim Aparo
Another of Aparo's inset covers for a 100-page The Brave & the Bold. A creepy idol comes to life in a supernatural team-up of Batman and the Spectre.
Valley of the Dinosaurs No. 2 Cover by Fred Himes
1974 was the prehistoric year for Saturday morning TV shows on the three major American networks. NBC debuted the live-action The Land of the Lost which would live the longest at three seasons, ABC had the live-action Korg 70,000 BC which survived one season, and CBS green-lit the animated Valley of the Dinosaurs which also lasted a single season.
Vengeance Squad No. 5 Cover by Pete Morisi
From 1976, Vengeance Squad was a Mission: Impossible-style trio of operatives in crime-fighting adventures. Beginning with issue No. 2, it was drawn by veteran artist Pete Morisi, who by this point in his career was drawing in a highly-stylised and simplified art style.
The Brave & the Bold No. 112 Cover by Jim Aparo
In early 1974, DC Comics decided to turned part of its line into 100-page comics for 60¢ after previously releasing specials and one shots in similar sizes and price points. Accompanying the normal features were reprints from DC's large library of material. It was my generation's introduction to the deep well of Golden and Silver age stories.
Wonder Woman No. 184 Cover by Sekowsky & Giordano
Coming in the middle of the New Wonder Woman run – where Diana lost her powers and resembled Emma Peel more than an Amazon princess – we have this issue where her warrior roots are front and centre.
The Brave & the Bold No. 87 Cover by Sekowsky & Giordano
I've always loved this cover with Batman driving a Formula One car of the era. But it wasn't until I found a scan of the original art that I realised I liked it even more. Behind the trade dress and flat orange background colouring, there was a great European mountain village and the wheel the Speed Racer-style villain had just sheared off the Wayne Special.
Wonder Woman Pin-Up by Neal Adams
I'm less of a fan of the Wonder Woman as warrior than I am of her original conception with bracelets she used to bounce bullets off of, and a Lasso of Truth that forced bad guys to own up to what they'd done. But, her popularity now is due in part to the current conception of her kicking butt while wielding a sword and shield.
Madame Xanadu Pin-Up by Michael Wm Kaluta
Michael Wm Kaluta has been associated with Madame Xanadu from her first appearance in Doorway to Nightmare No. 1 in 1978.
Night Fighter and Sky Giant by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Captain America for Timely Comics (later to become Atlas and finally Marvel Comics), and in the post-war period continued to create comics for their own publishing ventures as well as other publishers.
World's Finest Cover by Jim Aparo
Jim Aparo spent most of his comics career at DC Comics, associated with Batman, Aquaman, Spectre and a plethora of team-ups in The Brave and the Bold. He was a triple threat, pencilling, inking and lettering his stories.
Wonder Woman by Colleen Doran
For the better part of 40 years, Colleen Doran has had a diverse career in comics, encompassing her own epic saga A Distant Soil, assignments from publishers both large and small, and collaborating on graphic novel projects with writers at the top of the field.
DC Special Series No. 26 Superman and His Incredible Fortress of Solitude Cover by Andru & Giordano
One of DC's best tabloid editions was nearly its last. An all-new tale by Roy Thomas, Ross Andru, Romeo Tanghal, Gaspar Saladino and Jerry Serpe, it used the rich mythos of mementoes in Superman's Fortress of Solitude as its backdrop.
Batman by Alex Toth
It's just a sketch. 40 years old and fading. But nothing of its power has diminished. Few people could distill a drawing down to its essence as well as Alex Toth. Running across something like this is always a welcome surprise. Like finding a sapphire on the sidewalk.
Wonder Woman and Donald Trump by Ramona Fradon
Ramona Fradon was one of the few female artists working in professional comics in the late Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages. She had a great run on Aquaman, co-created Metamorpho with Bob Haney, and later did The Super Friends comic. In her 90s, she's still going strong with commissions.
Flash Gordon by Jim Keefe
From 1996 to 2003, Jim Keefe was the writer/artist of the Flash Gordon comic strip, the last in a long line of great cartoonists on one of King Features' most prestigious strips. It's a testament to his work that it remains in circulation on flashgordon.com for today's audience.