Friday, August 29, 2014

Discuss: Comic Art Portfolios of the 80s


Karen: Seems like a lot of portfolios began appearing in the 80s -I had all of these below except the Hulk one -I really wanted it but never got a hold of it! Which ones did you have, which ones did you want, are you still tracking them down? 



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14 comments:

Redartz said...

I have actually not seen these before; I would certainly have wanted the X-Men portfolio at any rate. And if a Spider-Man edition was available, that would have been a must-have. Presumably these were purchased through local comic shops?

Incidentally, I did order a nice set of posters featuring Mr. X. They have incredibly cool graphic renditions by the likes of Deam Motter, Paul Rivoche and the Hernandez Bros. These were advertised in the back of the comics, and have never seen any for sale elsewhere.

August 29, 2014 at 7:04 AM
Doug said...

Just to revisit the handbook conversation from a few days ago... How tall is Storm supposed to be? If I recall, she's near 6'. But Cockrum draws her here as barely taller than Wolverine (who is "listed" at 5'3").

Other than that, some of these images look great. I don't care for the pose of the Hulk in the image versus the Thing. To be honest, I don't care for the Thing, either. How often is Benjy seen in his civvies anyway?

Doug

August 29, 2014 at 7:31 AM
Murray said...

I'm in the general camp with Redartz. None of these images ring even the tiniest of bells. Totally unaware of them.

My saved pennies went into collections of artists, not characters. SF&F illustrators in particular. Freas, Frazetta, Berkey, Whelan, and collections of collections ("Best Fantasy Artists"). I did get one Neal Adams book, but it was something of a dud (I hesitate to say "ripoff")

As a side note, I like the X-Men portrait, but I wondered for a second who had been left out. I went to the very first appearances of the New X-Men...ah, Banshee! And then a quick check revealed that of the first ten covers of the new team, Banshee appears on two! And even then, tucked away in the back. I wonder what the thinking was back then?

August 29, 2014 at 8:01 AM
J.A. Morris said...

I remember them being advertised in Marvel comics in the early 80s, but I was never interested enough to order them.

Jason Shayer has posted more of these on his blog:
http://marvel1980s.blogspot.com/search?q=portfolio+s.q.

August 29, 2014 at 8:22 AM
William said...

Oh man, thanks for bringing up this topic, Doug. I have some of these and I have always thought they were awesome. They made 3 or 4 different sets. There were 2 X-Men sets, 1 Spider-Man, and a Hulk. (I think that's it).

I remember I was really into Daredevil back then, and they were supposed to be coming out with a DD set as well, but they never did.

I bought the Spider-Man and both X-Men sets back in when they came out. I've never been a huge Hulk fan, so I passed on that one.

John Byrne did the art for a couple of the X-Men prints in the first set (the one you have pictured). However, all the rest of the artwork was done by a pair simply credited as Fastner/Larson. (I'm still not sure who that is).

I've often thought of having them all framed and hung up, but I've never gotten around to it.

August 29, 2014 at 8:29 AM
William said...

Forgot to mention that I picked them up at my local comic shop back in the early 80's.

August 29, 2014 at 8:31 AM
Doug said...

William --

Thank you, but today is all Karen's idea. I am only marveling at the artwork from afar.

Doug

August 29, 2014 at 8:32 AM
William said...

Sorry, me again.

I also own a black & white Marvel portfolio that features artwork by some of the biggest names of the 80's such as Miller, Byrne, Simonson, Golden, etc.

It's really awesome. Definitely worth tracking down.

Here is a link to it.

http://marvel1980s.blogspot.com/2011/05/1981-marvel-team-up-portfolio-set-one.html

August 29, 2014 at 8:39 AM
Doug said...

Wow. I just want to interject this, off topic for a second.

On eBay right now, Marvel Premiere #47-48 (F-VF) is currently at $71 for the lot. I find that amazing.

Back to portfolios.

Doug

August 29, 2014 at 8:54 AM
david_b said...

This was when I was no longer collecting, but that first one with the FF 'posters' would have been cool.

I really loved the onset of these 'pin-up' magazines a few years ago. When I was in Kuwait, it seemed like I saw dozens of these on the newstands (on base..), typically Spidey, Avengers, Ironman and X-Men. Nearly all the pin-up mags featured 90% new art unfortunately, but did include a few touched up vintage comic covers and such.

I bought the IM mag just for a few pics to hang up in my 10x20' aluminum box/officer quarters over there, next to my makeshift Keith Richards shrine.

August 29, 2014 at 9:04 AM
Anonymous said...

A famous man once said, 'I got nuthin.' Who said that? What does that even mean? Doesn't matter. I said it 'cause he said it. So now, he was famous and that basically getting said by two well-known guys.


I would categorize the first time Audrey Hepburn turns to the camera after her transformation from a gutter snipe to a lady as Amazing.

$71 for the lot is a sign of the Apocalypse. We should all stock up on bicycles, batteries and bullets.

The Prowler (has a bunker UNDER his bunker).

PS: Remember when we all had to type Photo Sphere to post?

August 29, 2014 at 7:18 PM
Dr. Oyola said...

Never even heard of these!

I am not interested in art without story, though. . .

August 30, 2014 at 11:33 AM
Anonymous said...

I only wanted one portfolio, and only have one-----Marshall Rogers' Batman portfolio.

Scott Lovrine

August 30, 2014 at 6:49 PM
Anonymous said...

Interesting to read the comments here, as back then I associated portfolios with artists like Berni Wrightson and Barry Windsor-Smith.... The format seemed to offer them a way to develop their work (and earn a living) without the restrictions of mainstream comics.

Not trying to knock anyone, but I couldn't really see the point of, say, an X-Men portfolio.

-sean

August 30, 2014 at 7:51 PM

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