Brian P Coppola
“Mythos: Hulk – cover” (2006)
by Paolo Rivera (1981-)
11 x 17 in., gouache and acrylic on bristol board
Coppola Collection
The fully-painted rendition of the origin and earliest days of the Incredible Hulk, tucked behind this terrifically composed cover, all by Paolo Rivera.
“Mythos: Captain America p. 15” (2008)
by Paolo Rivera (1981-)
11 x 17 in., gouache and acrylic on bristol board
Coppola Collection
In honor of Memorial Day 2017, two pages from the fully painted 2008 retelling of the Captain America story by Paolo Rivera. Page 15 (ab0ve) starts with a nice WWII vignette of the main characters and ends with the death of Bucky (well, until the Winter Soldier story changed all that) and Cap’s plunge into suspended animation.
Page 11 (below) sets up the introduction of James “Bucky” Barnes as a hero-idolizing kid and ends with him stumbling across Steve Rogers changing from his Captain America uniform which, inexplicably, makes Steve sign him up as his sidekick.
“Mythos: Captain America p. 11” (2008)
by Paolo Rivera (1981-)
11 x 17 in., gouache and acrylic on bristol board
Coppola Collection
“Fantastic 60s” (X-Men #7 Variant Cover) (2010)
by Paolo Rivera (1981-)
11 x 17 in., gouache and acrylic on bristol board
Coppola Collection
A terrific interpretation, a la “Madman” motif, of the FF – truly the first family of Marvel – on their 50th anniversary.
“Iron Man” (Tales of Suspense 39 Splash Recreation) (2002)
by Paolo Rivera (1981-)
24 x 36 in., oil on canvas
Coppola Collection
“Iron Man” debuted in “Tales of Suspense” #39 (1963). The 2008 reflection at the start of the omnibus reprint collection notes that as the Marvel Age of Comics exploded on the pop-culture scene, super hero after super hero that redefined the genre leaped forth from the imagination of the Marvel Bullpen. Adventurers and innovators, scientists and high-school bookworms, they were amazing men and women with all the failings and foibles of you and me. And there are none that touch both that adventurer ideal and human reality as Tony Stark, the Invincible Iron Man. A jet-setter, playboy, and brilliant scientist, Tony is cut down to Earth when a battlefield explosion rips into his heart. Only by creating the amazing Iron Man armor can he stay alive!
Packed with the debonair and debutantes, Cold War monsters and sultry super-spies, the Iron Man Omnibus presents the stories of one of comics’ most intriguing characters from the very beginning! Featuring the first appearances of such classic Marvel characters as the Mandarin, the Black Widow, Hawkeye, the Crimson Dynamo and the Titanium Man in lushly-illustrated stories by “Dazzling” Don Heck, Gene “The Dean” Colan and scripted by no less than Stan “The Man” Lee himself, this is go-to volume for the Iron Man fan.
A copy of the splash page from the first issue, and this, from Paolo: “At 24×36 , this is one of the larger pieces I’ve ever done. It’s based on the famous splash page from the first appearance of Iron Man. I painted it in oil on canvas many years ago while I was still in school.”
“A Fantastic Day at the Beach” (2007)
by Paolo Rivera (1981-)
11 x 17 in., acrylic and gouache on Bristol board
Coppola Collection
This was used as the cover to the “Splash Page Art Sketchbook” (the ever-pleasant Mike Hay, owner of SplashPageArt, represents Paolo).
This had been painted “years earlier” but only saw the light of day when it was auctioned off at the SplashPageArt site. Paolo says he adjusted Sue’s face from the original version, hence the 2007 date to the piece.