Marvel Team-Up No. 4 Cover by Kane & Giacoia

September 18, 2013|In Comics, Marvel

I was a wee lad in the summer of 1972. I liked Spider-Man a lot. His cartoon (the 1967 series) was on TV (and still rules today). But it wasn’t until Mom gave me 20¢ in the drugstore that I bought a copy of this, my first comic.

Marvel Team-Up 4

A nice-looking copy of the published comic. I still have the copy I bought, though it’s pretty ratty and I wrote my name on the cover.

Written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Gil Kane & Steve Mitchell (the cover was inked by Frank Giacoia), it was a sequel to the greatest Spider-Man storyline ever told (personal opinion there).

Amazing Spider-Man 100

In a story arc running from Amazing Spider-Man 100 through 102, Peter grew four extra arms, teams up with the Lizard and fights new villain Morbius, the Living Vampire. Coolness personified.

The Marvel Team-Up issue followed a few months later. I’m using its cover as a way to show people my process for cover reconstruction and colouring.


Marvel Team-Up 4

A raw scan of the line art from The Essential Marvel Team-Up Volume One.


Marvel Team-Up 4

Contrast- and density-corrected scan. The art is looking pretty good, but there’s a wonky warp and woof to the logos, most likely due to a stat of the masthead being glued down wrinkly on the page and then reproduced that way. The published comic shows the same effect.


Marvel Team-Up 4

With the logos reversed on black – and looking pretty rough even on the cleaned-up scan – I went looking for better elements to work with. I found them on a scan of issue 5 available on Heritage Auctions.


Marvel Team-Up 4

When I re-create type that was originally hand drawn, the goal – as I see it – is not to perfectly duplicate the original, warts and all. I try to respect the feel while at the same time bringing consistency and the quality of construction we can achieve with modern tools.


Marvel Team-Up 4

These elements were replaced with re-created elements. The red items were re-typeset with digital type. The black items were hand drawn. The Comics Code seal I had re-created previously.


Marvel Team-Up 4

Colour applied to the trade dress.


Marvel Team-Up 4

The cleaned-up art. The frame border was as rough as the logos, so it was replaced. Putting the black background on a separate layer made it easy to composite the different pieces together.


Marvel Team-Up 4

All the pieces put together with the cover’s original colour re-created.


Marvel Team-Up 4

New colour version.


Your Bonus for Scrolling to the Bottom of the Page

Marvel Team-Up 4

From 2002, the first time I coloured this cover, without the logo reconstructions. I was just beginning to explore computer-aided colouring.



Related

Giant-Size Marvel Template

Marvel Comics Giant-Size Cover Template

Marvel Comics Giant-Size Cover TemplateJune 27, 2017|In Comics, Graphic Design, Marvel I've rebuilt and coloured a lot of vintage comic book…

Read More

Wizard No. 10 Cover by Rob Liefeld

Wizard No. 10 Cover by Rob LiefeldSeptember 15, 2019|In Comics, General, Marvel Rob Liefeld had started at DC, then moved on to Marvel where he…

Read More

Wolverine 10 OG

Wolverine No. 10 Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz

Wolverine No. 10 Cover by Bill SienkiewiczSeptember 11, 2019|In Comics, Marvel By 1989, Bill Sienkiewicz had cemented his place in comics as a…

Read More

Foom 9 OG

FOOM No. 9 Cover by Jim Starlin

FOOM No. 9 Cover by Jim StarlinSeptember 19, 2020|In Comics, Marvel Here's another cover to FOOM, Marvel's 1970s fan magazine. Jim Starlin was…

Read More

Privacy Preference Center