Dr. Fate, Golden Age Green Lantern, Solomon Grundy by Don Kramer

The JSA sketchbook wouldn't be in good shape without a piece by Don Kramer, who had a long run on JSA, from #52 to #80. Pretty amazing. His first DC comics work penciling the 2003-04 Dr. Fate mini-series.

I proposed Don sketch Atom Smasher (Golden Age Atom Al Pratt's godson Albert Rothstein) and Stargirl since they figure so prominently in Don's JSA run. As we talked, however, Don mentioned that he had enjoyed doing a commission of Solomon Grundy fighting Golden Age JSA members including Green Lantern and Dr. Fate. I thought something like that would be cool in the book, so change 1. Don initially wanted to draw Solomon Grundy ominously approaching the JSA'ers with his back to the viewer. He didn't like the rough pencils with Grundy facing away so he changed the illustration with Grundy face front as he creeps up on the good guys...change 2. The final result was everything you could ask for. Phil Hester, who had a table next to Don, observed Don went above and beyond in this piece. I agree!

Solomon Grundy would say, however...

Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Grew worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday,
That was the end,
Of Solomon Grundy.