1986 - Dave Sim's Marvel Portfolio

From Marvel Fanfare #25

1986 - Dave Sim's Iron Man

From Marvel Fanfare #25:

1986 - Early Archangel design by Walt Simonson

From Walt Simonson's Facebook albums:

"Very early Archangel design drawing. Maybe the earliest."

"It's the original color sketch done to show the colorist what I had in mind for the character's costume and look. The drawing was done with felt tip and magic marker on typewriter paper. I modified the red slashing in Archangel's final design somewhat, but stayed with the color itself in the final scheme."

"A more finished Archangel design. Pretty much done I think. The yellow color is really an artifact of Photoshop. The original, again on typewriter paper, is just pencil on white paper. But age and Photoshop combined to make it look a bit like a Leonardo da Vinci drawing. (I wish!) Ah, that Leonardo. Really ahead of his time!"

1985 - Anatomy of a cover - Iron Man #200

A commission based on Iron Man #200

(http://nostalgicinvestments.com/comic-art/iron-man-issue-200-cover-recreation-signed)

The same piece as above but with the title and captions.

http://www.boblayton.com/Art%20Gallery/artgallery_page17.htm

Another commissioned version by Bob Layton.

(http://www.boblayton.com/Art%20Gallery/artgallery_page15.htm)

And lastly, the published version:

1983 - Alan Moore's "Blinded by the Hype"

 In 1983, Alan Moore wrote a two-part article, entitled "Stan Lee: Blinded by the Hype - An Affectionate Character Assassination" which appeared in the UK comic The Daredevils #3-4.

Here are some key clips:

• Stan Lee is the name of the flawed genius responsible for the Marvel Comics empire in its entirety. Without Stan Lee, you would not be reading this. Without Stan Lee there would have been no Fantastic Four, no X Men, no Hulk, no Thor, no nothing. Without Stan Lee there quite probably would have been no Conan movie and it is almost certain the comic book industry as a whole would be vastly different, assuming that it existed at all.”

• I mean, I myself have been known to pen a page or two in my time, but the thought of a workload like that makes me tremble uncontrollably and give voice to funny squeaking noises. The man must have had eight pints of black coffee where most of us have blood.

• Probably the most remarkable thing that Stan Lee achieved was the way in which he managed to hold on to his audience long after they had grown beyond the age range usually associated with comic book readers of that period. He did this by constant application of change, modification and development.

• The worst thing was that everything had ground to a halt. The books had stopped developing. If you take a look at a current Spider-Man comic, you’ll find that he’s maybe twenty years old, he worries a lot about what’s right and what’s wrong, and he has a lot of trouble with his girlfriends. Do you know what Spider-Man was doing fifteen years ago? Well, he was about nineteen years old, he worried a lot about what was right and what was wrong and he had a lot of trouble with his girlfriends.

• “Readers don’t want change. Readers only want the illusion of change.” Like I said, it sounds perceptive and well-reasoned on first listening. It is also, in my opinion, one of the most specious and retarded theories that it has ever been my misfortune to come across. Who says readers don’t want change? Did they do a survey or something? Why wasn’t I consulted? If readers are that averse to change then how come Marvel ever got to be so popular in the first place, back when constant change and innovation was the order of the day? Frankly, it beats it beats the hell out of me.

• Now, I don’t want to cause too much alarm and despondency by talking about Marvel’s imminent downfall. Some of the recent developments over there in the home of the hamburger look very promising indeed and it looks as if it might just be possible to save the day at the last minute, the way it always happens in the comics. But, and it’s a big but, it’s been left awfully late. Maybe too late. We’ll have to wait and see.

•  He has had an influence upon the medium which is as benign as it is poisonous. Oddly enough, it is imitating the superficial stylistics of Mr. Lee’s ‘Marvel Renaissance’, most of these imitators seem unable to recognize the single most important quality that he brought to the comic medium. Stan Lee, in his heyday, did something wildly and radically different. And as far as I’m concerned, his vacant throne will remain empty until we come up with someone who has the guts and imagination to do the same. Any offers?

1989 - Anatomy of a cover - Amazing Spider-Man #323

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=59616&gsub=9787

1986 - Craig Hamilton's Warlock

Just a lovely, haunting piece by Craig Hamilton.

From http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=60787&GSub=8449:

"In 1986, Mitch Itkowitz, in a Marvel Comics and Graphic Collectibles joint venture, published THE MARVEL COMICS LIMITED EDITION SUPERHERO PRINT SERIES. These were a set of five limited edition, signed and numbered prints by Art Adams, Craig Hamilton, Mike Mignola, P. Craig Russell, and Walt Simonson. I was fortunate enough to be able to acquire the original art to two of those prints, of which this is one (see MIKE MIGNOLA gallery for the other). The original measures 11x17 and is a true testament of Hamilton's all too brief time in the industry spotlight."