Best of 2025 :: Published/Unpublished Interior Panel Pages

Action Comics Annual #3 p.45 - Superman vs Guy Gardner!

Owner: Ruben DaCollector
Artist: Tom Grummett (Penciller)

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Action Comics Annual #3 p.46 - Superman vs Guy Gardner!

Artwork Details

Title:	Action Comics Annual #3 p.45 - Superman vs Guy Gardner!
Artist:	Tom Grummett (Penciller)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
Views:	2,487
Likes on CAF:	41 42
Added to Site:	7/15/2025

Description

I just noticed I hadn't posted a Superman page in over three and a half years, so I figure now is the right time to post another one, and since the Superman film was just released, I thought I may as well post one with some coincidentally timely content.

While I did think that Nathan Filion's age stood out quite glaringly, I do have to give him props because he delivered his lines perfectly and props also have to go out to the script writers for keeping him properly in character. As a character that's intended for the audience to love to hate, I think the part was played really well and Ilook forward to seeing Guy Gardner in a future DC film.

Anyway, I really love this page because it features a battle of wills, rather than brawn, between Superman and Guy Gardner in a very nice, symmetrical six-panel page layout, which is always pleasing to the eye. This is fairly early work from Grummett, coming 4 years into his career, but perhaps only two years in as a monthly penciller. While I've always been a proponent of crediting the inker, I only do that when I'm positive of who inked a given page. In this case, I'm not. Suffice it to say that this description gives my thoughts on the matter and I'll let that stand, but unless/until I get proof positive, I won't credit an inker using the drop down menu feature. There are four inkers who worked on this issue and while I can see hints of early Denis Rodier's work early in the issue, the tricky part with this page is that the inker used some nice touches of drybrush, something he must've simply experimented with here, because none of the three other inkers who worked on this issue are known for using that technique. Aside from Rodier, Doug Hazlewood, Brad Vancata and Carlos Garzon also contributed inks, with all of them, aside from Garzon, being early in their careers. The page has the look of early Hazlewood, but I just don't feel 100% certain. Either way, the inks look very complimentary over Grummett's pencils this early on in his career and I think it's a great looking page overall, so I was very thankful to acquire it. I own several pages from this issue, so it's tough to remember which ones were purchased from whom, but I believe this was one of a couple of pages that I got from Rob Gomez (aka Wolvie Fan), and I want to shout him out because he reached out to me to ask if I was interested in buying them and historically speaking, people don't reach out to offer me art all that often. So big props to you, Rob!

For those of you curious, I give the new Superman film a solid 6 out of 10, which for me means that for all the positive aspects of the film, there are just about as many things that could've been better. All in all, the film met my expectations, as I enjoyed it just about as much as I expected I would and it has just about as many issues that can be improved as I expected there might be.

Overall, live action comic book adaptations are always a crapshoot and fraught with risk, which is why I'm happy that as a comic book fan, I always have the original source material to go back to whenever I want. For the best storytelling and visuals, NOTHING beats comic books!

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About the Owner

	Ruben DaCollector ( 1 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	April 2008
Last Login:	January 2026
Website:	http://www.ComicBookArtGallery.com
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	Premium Member Q&A Ruben's Classifieds Ruben's Want List Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF Read More About RubenDaCollector

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