Latner, Ted :: Gil Kane

Blackmark Pitch Art?

Artist: Gil Kane (All)

3 Comments - 414 Views - 2 Likes

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Additional Images:

Frank Frazetta's Against The Gods

Blackmark Book 1 page (56 in Fantagraphics Book)

Blackmark Book 1 page (58 in Fantagraphics Book)

Blackmark Book 2 page (236 in Fantagraphics Book)

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Artwork Details

Title:	Blackmark Pitch Art?
Artist:	Gil Kane (All)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	414
Likes on CAF:	2 3
Comments:	3
Added to Site:	12/31/2021
Comic Art Archive:

Description

Gil Kane created Blackmark, a revolutionary paperback graphic novel, which was supposed to be the first in a series. While he completed the second book, only the first was published in 1971. The second story was finally published in altered form in Marvel Preview #17 and then finally in it's original format in 2002 by Fantagraphics.

I bought this page in 2007 and it's not part of either book. For years I thought it might be part of the planned 3rd volume, but based on feedback, I'm pretty sure this was actually created as a pitch or presentation piece created prior to the rest of the first graphic novel. The character is named Brigand, which presumably was an earlier name for Blackmark. Gil also initialed the panel at left, which wasn't done for the other pages (apart from chapter and title splashes). Each of the panels was drawn on separate board, cut and pasted on.

Unfortunately neither Gil Kane nor Archie Goodwin are still around to ask about this, but let me know if you have any other info.

Interesting things to note about this piece:
˖ The image at left was obviously inspired by Frank Frazetta's painting for the paperback "Thongor Against The Gods", which had only come out a few years prior and was probably appealing to the same audience that Gil was aiming for here. I've included an image for reference.
˖ This scene and much of the dialog was used in the book, but with a younger version of Blackmark, which I assume is why it was redrawn. I've included two scans from the Fantagraphics reprint here.
˖ It looks like Gil basically copied the layout of this page when drawing one of the pages for Book 2 as it's almost identical. I've included a scan from the Fantagraphics book.

Thanks to Joe Murray, Rick W and everyone else who provided feedback when I had posted this on Facebook groups previously.

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About the Owner

	Ted Latner ( 10 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	January 2005
Last Login:	September 2025
Ebay Id:	tlatner
Website:	http://www.comicsfun.com
Country:	UNITED STATES
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Comments on this Artwork

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Rick W
Member Since 2017

1 - Posted on 1/1/2022

Killer "Against the Gods" Frazetta inspired page! Kane was such a huge talent!

Joe Murray
Member Since 2006

1 - Posted on 1/18/2022

Looks like an early draft of Book 1: New Earth, pg. 56 (Fantagraphics 30th Ed.), where the pre-teen Blackmark swears vengeance for his mother into the rain soaked night. Published was redrawn & is partly pg. 55, but that last dialogue is right on except, of course, he calls himself Blackmark instead of Brigand—great stuff either way, congrats!!

Ted Latner
Member Since 2005

1 - Posted on 1/18/2022

Joe Murray wrote:

Looks like an early draft of Book 1: New Earth, pg. 56 (Fantagraphics 30th Ed.), where the pre-teen Blackmark swears vengeance for his mother into the rain soaked night. �Published was�redrawn & is partly pg. 55,�but that�last dialogue is right on except, of course, he calls himself Blackmark instead of Brigand�great stuff either way, congrats!!

You might be on to something here. Very very similar text. Looking at the Fantagraphics book, I noticed that this page is visually very similar to page 236. It's very possible my page was drawn for an early proposal and then Kane just repurposed the text and layout elsewhere. I'll add scans of those pages when I get a chance.

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