Le Fredo Gallery :: Richard Corben

Corben: The Spirit Mag #2 cover overlay (1974)

Artists: Will Eisner (Penciller) , Richard Corben (Colorist)

0 Comments - 4,390 Views - 2 Likes

Corben: The Spirit Mag #2 cover overlay (1974) Comic Art

Additional Images:

Eisner line art layer

Rubylith film layer

Tonal, black & white painting

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Artwork Details

Title:	Corben: The Spirit Mag #2 cover overlay (1974)
Artist:	Will Eisner (Penciller)
Artist:	Richard Corben (Colorist)
Media Type:	Mixed Media
Art Type:	Cover
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	4,390
Likes on CAF:	2 3
Comments:	0
Added to Site:	8/4/2018
Comic Art Archive:

Description

Thanks Steve.
This is art is Rich Corben's first cover work on Will Eisner's Spirit Magazine published by Warren Comics. He did greyscale paintings to enhance Eisner's line work for publishing as a magazine. I believe he only did two covers, issues #2 and #3, before Ken Kelly took over doing these collaborative painting enhancements. The number two cover was used for advertisement, but for some reason they published a very basic color job by Bill Dubay for the magazine when it was printed.
The way Corben worked is similar to how he colored some of his own line work at times. He has painted all the tones, light sources and shadow on one sheet. Corben would also hand-cut red lith's.
Together with a copy of Will Eisner's lifework for the art and all the logos and mechanicals reproduced on a clear sheet for the blacks to be printed, this give the final look of Eisner's line art merged into a Corben painting.
This consists of four individual pieces: the art board has the production paste up of Eisner's art touched up with ink, the logo and lettering. Richard Corben's tonal painting on one sheet. Corben's hand-cut red lith indicating shaded areas. And the top layer is all the 100% black line work and ares reproduced on a clear sheet placed over Corben's painting to add the line definitions back to the painting
This is the only one of Richard Corben's Eisner collaborations that I have seen surviving from the time period!
Below is a breakdown on the three art and contribution Richard Corben layers, plus the Will Eisner clear line work layer.
1) On Corben's work for the piece, he first assembled the Eisner Spirit raw mechanical reproduced character images into a single cover composition and then ink in areas necessary to merge each Eisner section into a single finished image, mostly around the logo area.
1B) This resulting finished black and white image was then reproduced onto a clear overlay. That overlay could then be placed in perfect alignment above Rich Corben painting layer, which was meant to enhance and merge with Will Eisner's reproduction line work.
2) Corben then did a tonal, black & white painting of the Spirit #2 image without adding anything that conflicted with Eisner's inks, along with the added logo. View by itself, this Rich Corben ink and airbrush artwork looks like a 1940s version of Den.
3) Finally, Corben hand cut a Rubylith film layer outlining the sunset around the Spirit and Femme Fatale- Powder Pouf. These intricate artistic piece were a crucial part of high-end, mass-produced publishing during the Golden-Age of comic books, magazines and books.

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	Fredo Le Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	April 2006
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	SWITZERLAND
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