It’s fairly common knowledge that when Marvel launched their Masterworks collections, some of the art files were missing or damaged so they had to be cleaned up and restored before going to press. However, I was unaware that some pieces were so far gone that Marvel actually commissioned an artist by the name of Mike Kelleher to reproduce the cover art for some of the more screwed up pieces. Come mid-November, Kelleher’s work will be on display at a small gallery in Burbank, CA, with profits from the sold recreations going to benefit “The Hero Initiative” charity. Should be cool!
Masterworks Artwork to benefit the Hero Initiative
November 16- 31, 2006, Hyaena Gallery, in Burbank CA, will be offering a number of original art pieces created for the Marvel Masterworks series of Silver Age collections by artist Mike Kelleher. The artist will be donating all proceeds to “The Hero Initiative”, a charitable organization that helps veteran comic creators in need. Each drawing is an exact recreation of the original works created by legendary artists Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, John Buscema and many others.
This is an incredible opportunity to own original artwork of some of the greatest comics ever published! These are not simple recreations made for fans and collectors. Every drawing was commissioned and approved by Marvel Comics for publication in the Masterworks Collections.
Marvel Comics has gone to great lengths over the past few years to give fans EXACT reproductions of the silver age stories that made Marvel famous. Often times the film that was used in the original printing process was either lost, damaged, or altered, so a new version must be created.
When Mike Kelleher first began reconstructing artwork for the Masterworks books he did them all digitally and the results were amazing, but he felt that they were too “smooth” and “mechanical” looking when compared to the pages shot from original film. The simple remedy was to recreate the images in ink on paper, at twice the printed size, just as the original artists did almost 50 years ago. The result is a much truer representation of the original printings.
Each piece, measuring 14 x 17 inches, was painstakingly reproduced to mimic line-weights and styles of the original artists and inkers.
“I can’t think of a more fitting tribute to the artists that I idolize than to use the recreations of their artwork to benefit comic creators.” Kelleher said.
You can preview the drawings at www.michaelkelleher.com
