One of the greatest artists that became famous in the Marvelous 1970s has a birthday today: Paul Gulacy!

To celebrate, here’s one of my favorite covers from Master of Kung Fu.  True believers everywhere might want to listen to the Word Balloon podcast interview that John Siuntres did with Gulacy in 2006.

You might also like these posts featuring Paul Gulacy:

Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy, Masters of Shang-Chi

Monster Mondays: Never Kung-Fu Kick a Man-Thing

And check out our Marvel Kung-Fu archive while you are at it, true believer!  Nuff Said!

Last year, I made my case for Clay Quartermain as the Red Hulk.  What a waste of time that article was!  The answer was just too obvious, and if you've read the latest issues, then you either feel the same way or figured it out months ago.

Marvel announced that the Red Hulk would be joining the Avengers, starting in issue #7, available this November.  Here is the variant cover to Avengers #7, by Ed McGuinness.  Let's hope he lasts longer than the green Hulk did.  Nuff Said!

Around 1970, John Buscema did a self-portrait with himself among various Marvel Heroes.

Here's part of that poster with Buscema smoking in peace where the Silver Surfer be-devils him with cosmic rays.  Although I would be more worried about Mephisto rising up out of the smoke.

I found the pencil rough that John Buscema produced, showing a much larger piece.  It has Conan, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, etc.

Anyone know where I can get a scan of the full finished poster?  Nuff Said!

I was thinking the other day about various posters that Marvelmania produced.  There was a Hulk poster, I remember that.  Did Jack Kirby or Herb Trimpe draw this poster?  The answer is...both of them did one!

Jack Kirby's version is unmistakably dynamic and powerful.  The Leader's sitting inside that Kirby cosmic contraption ready to blow Greenskin to smithereens.

Herb Trimpe's version (sorry this is best image I could get) has the same pose as Kirby's poster, the same angles and design.  Trimpe's touch is seen on the Hulk's face and the inking on the body is more rounded and less square.

Did Herb Trimpe ink over the pencils provided by Kirby for the original?  Why were there two posters?  Let me in on the secret if you know.  Nuff Said!

Tom Brevoort (@tombrevoort) on Twitter noted a sad anniversary today:  Mike Wieringo passed away 3 years ago at the young age of 44.  I saved many of his daily sketches over the years.

To celebrate his memory, I could have used any number of sketches of the Thing, Spider-Man, Silver Surfer, etc.  I will get to those later.  Today the one that really tickled me was this classic rendition of Luke Cage, PowerMan!

Wieringo makes the crazy outfit--the tiara, chain belt, and bracelets--all work together with a snarlin' bad attitude.  Nuff Said!

Link: Mike Wieringo Website.

Link: LOST character sketches by Mike Wieringo (Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Echo) on Photon Torpedoes.

The New York Times Magazine featured this Spider-Man editorial comment on April 16, 1972, about the Presidential election campaign that year.

In 1972, the United States was still in the Vietnam War.  Nixon was running for re-election, but a clear Democrat opponent hadn't yet emerged.  Stan ran down the candidate list: Ed Muskie, Hubert Humphrey, Ted Kennedy, and New York City Mayor John Lindsay.  McGovern hadn't quite emerged as the leader at that point.

Spidey doesn't back any of these guys and only makes one real political comment before disappearing into the pages of his comic: that Richard Nixon isn't really the best that the United States can do!  You gotta love John Romita's depiction of Tricky Dick.  Nuff Said!

You might also like these appearances by Richard Nixon in the Marvel Universe:

Thing Tuesdays: Ben Grimm and Richard Nixon

Nick Fury, Nixon, and Femme Force One!

LBJ Loves the Hulk, but Nixon hates Greenskin!

Monster Mondays: Giant-Size Man-Thing #1, the Glob, and Richard Nixon

FOOM #18 (an acronym for Friends Of Ol’ Marvel) featured this nifty cover by John Romita (Sr.) of the Spider-Man cast, standing in front of the Coffee Bean.

This illustration captures the classic era of late 60s / early 70s Spider-Man, the era where I first started reading about old web-head.  You have Peter Parker on his tiny little motorcycle, but what really makes him cool are the girls standing next to him.  Mary Jane, wearing a party skirt with those hip little cowboy boots, and Gwen Stacy, looking blonde and 70s chic in her pants suit.  Flash Thompson is dressed up in an Army uniform, having survived the Vietnam War, and Harry Osborne has that swanky little bow-tie.

This issue of FOOM featured an article about Romita’s career up to that point—who knew he would stay on at Marvel for 2 more decades?  Included was the famous self-portrait of Romita sitting at his drawing table, surrounded by Marvel Comics characters.  This image was originally done for a Marvelmania self-portrait portfolio, in color, but I thought this black and white version was interesting as well.

The article also included these photographs of Romita working in the Bullpen (very professionally in a nice shirt and tie) and relaxing at home with his guitar.  These images reminded me of various times meeting Romita at conventions, one of the friendliest and nicest artists that I’ve ever had a conversation with.

You might also like these articles featuring John Romita:

Why Amazing Spider-Man 121 is the single most important comic in my life.

Marvel Treasury Edition #1: A Super Giant-Sized Smorgasbord of Spider-Man Delight.

Giant-Size Avengers #1: John Romita Sr. Cover Evolution

Cap, She-Hulk, Spider-Man pinup by John Romita Sr

Never heard of Fake Stan Lee until now, but there is one who haunts the Comic-Cons.  This video featuring the faux Smiling Stan has excellent production values and it’s very funny to boot. 

He meets the real Stan Lee towards the end of the video.  Excelsior!  Nuff Said!

Link: Fake Stan Lee.