 COMICS |  | ART GALLERY | | From a Sopranos riff to Wolverine on the crapper, we present the best art pieces we've ever seen commissioned | | | By Danny Spiegel | | Posted 05/07/08 | |  | | Wizard: Spider-Man Masterpiece Edition (2004)
Mighty Marvel Power Chart by Kevin Maguire
Maguire can't help but look back at this piece fondly. "I remember that being a fun thing to do. It was easy—no backgrounds," he says with a laugh. He also wryly notes, as per the Hulk/Thing shoving match, that "those are the last two people you want to sit on an airplane with. Just imagine being in the middle seat between those two."
Wizard #161 (March 2005)
Spider-Woman by Frank Cho
For Cho, it seemed liked just "a pinup gig." But as fate would have it, Brian Michael Bendis came across the article and fell in love with Cho's classic approach to Jessica Drew's alter ego. "That's how I got the two fill-in issues for New Avengers," says Cho, "and it was those two fill-in issues that snowballed into Mighty Avengers."
Wizard #141 (June 2003)
The Bendis Bunch by Michael Avon Oeming
Here's the story of a lovely lady, er, writer, featuring art by his pal Oeming who dropped Bendis into the center square normally occupied by Alice The Maid from "The Brady Bunch." Now, if the Powers artist had to compare the two, he is quick to point out that "they both look good in a dress." And that's much more than a hunch.
Wizard #115 (April 2001)
The Bat Family by Scott McDaniel and Karl Story
"When I was a kid I actually wanted to be Batman," he admits. "I wrote a letter to the local television station that was airing the Batman TV show trying to get Burt Ward's job. I said, 'Although I wear glasses, I could take them off for the action scenes.' They never wrote back, I mean, can you imagine how different my life would be if they took me up on that offer?"
Wizard #107 (August 2000)
Wolverine vs. Sabretooth by Jim Lee
Wizard never lets anything go to waste! That's why eight years after Lee produced this awe-inspiring, mutant battle scene, we ran it as part of our "Last Man Standing" series. So whom did we hypothesize won this battle to the death of accelerated healing factors? Well, one fighter has a 15-inch height advantage; however, the little hairy guy sports a pair of adamantium claws. So…snikt!
Wizard #121 (October 2001)
100 Greatest Toons by Jack Gray and Eric Wiese
This take-off on Neal Adams' Superman vs. Ali cover was a massive undertaking for Gray and Wiese. Says Gray, "I drew Bugs and Eric drew Homer, and then the left side of the piece is pretty much all his characters and [I did] the right side and all the characters in the front row like Space Ghost chewing on his nail." Finally, Gray scanned everything in and pieced it together—all in just four days.
Wizard #147 (January 2004)
Alan Moore Retrospective by David Finch and Art Thibert
Finch channeled painter Edward Hopper with his take on Nighthawks, the original artist's 1942 masterpiece. (Gottfried Helnwein's version with Marilyn, Elvis et al. is from 1981.) "At the time," Finch recalls, "I'd never used a lightbox, so trying to match everything—all the figure placement and the angle of the shop and everything—was a challenge. If I were doing it now, I'd lightbox it. [Back then] I felt like it was cheating. But ultimately, it's artwork. However you make it come across, it’s the final image that matters."
Wizard #182 (December 2006)
Bad Guys Wear Pink by Steve Scott
"My first rough for the piece was completely different than what they went with," says Scott. "I had my own take on the characters I wanted to emphasize. I put Sinestro up in the forefront in my original and then they wanted his back turned looking at the corkboard with the poster of Pink. I was like, 'Oh, no, that was the one character I wanted to draw in the foreground!'"
More great art is straight ahead! | | | | | | | | |
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