Welcome back. Please log in.

A 15% BUYER'S PREMIUM WILL BE ADDED TO THIS ITEM AT CONCLUSION OF THE AUCTION
Barry Windsor-Smith pencils and inks; page 6; 1991; image size 10" x 15"
Weapon X, chapter 3

In 1991, having already worked on a few memorable issues of the X-Men, Smith took on the weighty task of detailing elements of Wolverine’s origin that had only been hinted at previously. The resulting story, Weapon X, would be serialized over 13 issues of the anthology series Marvel Comics Presents and would go on to become not only one of the characters’ defining stories, but one of the era’s greatest achievements. Pages from Weapon X are highly prized among collectors, and this page, with the doctor recapping Logan's origin while showing him writhing in pain as a result of the grand experiment being conducted on him and unleashing his adamantium claws (referred to as claws for the first time here, having previously been called knives), shows an artist at the absolute height of his abilities transforming the medium and creating a work of pure artistic expression. Pen and ink. Art is in excellent condition. Signed by Windsor-Smith.

Barry Windsor-Smith was already a legendary figure in comics by the end of the 1980s. Beginning his career in the mid-1960s, Smith would revolutionize comic art and jumpstart the Bronze Age of comics with his exciting take on Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian at Marvel before leaving comics behind to focus on his own artistic endeavors. When he returned to comics at the dawn of the 1980s, his style had evolved into a blend of neo-classicism, evoking the mannerisms of the Pre-Raphaelites, and infusing it with a more refined understanding of form and anatomy.

Artist Information

Smith rose to prominence thanks to his incredibly detailed and beautiful work on Marvels' Conan the Barbarian, which employed an approach that had never been seen in comics before. The artist worked on several titles at Marvel in the Silver Age before launching his own pin-up publishing house Gorblimey Press, which he used to release impressive lithos to his fan base. Working through the decades, Smith became more and more disillusioned about the comic industry and its unfair treatment of artists, so he slowly started to withdraw from the business. Occasionally popping up with the odd series of graphic novel. Smith is commonly recognized as one of the great artists in the history of comics. He once created a fictional comic book for Oliver Stone's movie "The Hand" which was based on Conan, and Michael Caine played the lead, a character that was a comic book artist that bore a striking resemblance to Smith.