Mego Lex Luthor source art found

[Earth 2 Chris]

I was looking through some old comics and collections for a buddy here and I stumbled across the solution to another Mego mystery (or a mystery to me, anyway). The source art for the Lex Luthor headshot on the 12" Superman boxes. The art originated in the famous Superman vs. Spider-Man treasury book. Ross Andru and Dick Giordano were the artists responsible. Looks like someone at Mego redrew it, but you can tell where they got it from. Take a look:





So now we've got source art for Jor-El, Lara and the rocket (Amazing World of Superman treasury book), and the Superman with hands on hips from the back (Superman #300). Now we just need to identify that central Supreman image on the front. Looks like a redrawn Curt Swan to me!

Chris

[monkey tennis]

Very Cool.
Good find.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Yeah, I'm pretty psyched because I absolutely love the Superman box art. Piecing together where it comes from is particularly fun because I feel it is a really strong design and the artists at Mego really made it work!

Chris

[palitoy]

You never cease to amaze Chris.

[ScottA]

This is very cool. Did Mego do any original drawings for any of their packaging or was everything copied from somewhere else?

[Earth 2 Chris]

This is very cool. Did Mego do any original drawings for any of their packaging or was everything copied from somewhere else?

It almost seems like if Neal Adams didn't do it, they swiped it. Adams did original artwork for the Batlab, Jokermobile, Wayne Foundation, boxed Batmobile, and Hall of Justice (just off the top of my head). All vehciles and playsets. Seems like if it was figural, Mego either swiped it from a comic or stock art, or redrew it from those sources.

Of course theys swiped and redrew Adams artwork too, per the DC 79 card fronts.

Chris

[censy]

Good sleuthin' Chris. Love seeing stuff like this.

Chris

[The Toyroom]

Great detective work, Chris!

[megoscott]

That's really cool to see. They did a good job of translating it into the box art with new painting. Be great to know if Adams did that or not.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I don't think it was Adams, just due to the fact that his Superman was pretty distinctive and quite different than Swan's, which this Superman seems to mimic, and the big Superman on the back is definitely a redraw of a Swan Superman. I'd say the box was done by someone outside the comics, using comic sources for the artwork.

Just a guess though.

Chris

[megoscott]

That's a good point, you're probably right.

[jayihdz]

Nice work...

[Wee67]

Well done! I love this stuff.

[Marvelmania]

Great discovery Chris! You've got to love tidbits like this!

[drmego]

Neal Adams hung out a lot with DC production manager Jack Adler.

There is a past issue of Alter-Ego with an article about Adler - who
was Howard Stern's uncle - with Adams talking about his respect
for Adler and learning about production techniques.

Adler was probably the go-between for Mego, so if he needed art
done for the packaging, he might have asked Neal Adams to provide
original art that would fit the box dimensions. It's usually difficult
to find good clean shots of the Batmobile and Batcycle in comics.