Posted By Dan Greenfield on Dec 23, 2015 | 2 comments

Comics writer Corinna Bechko’s thoughtful gift for her husband, artist Gabriel Hardman, leads to a truly memorable story …

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It’s the SUPER-STAR HOLIDAY SPECIAL: a series of holiday remembrances by some of the best in the biz, like Kelley Jones, J.K. Woodward and Annie Nocenti! Click here to check ’em out!

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By CORINNA BECHKO

Several years ago I decided that I wanted to get my husband (and frequent collaborator) Gabriel Hardman something really nice for Christmas, so I started searching for original art long before Thanksgiving.

I settled on a lovely Gene Colan/Tom Palmer Tomb of Dracula page (Issue #14, Page 10, first published in November of 1973 if you’re curious). When the page finally arrived I was thrilled. Gabriel is a huge fan of the work Colan and Palmer did on that book, and the page was even more gorgeous in person. I congratulated myself on a job well done and tucked it away to await the big day.

Gabriel almost always inks his own work, but towards the middle of December his editor at Marvel offered him a rush job that had to be completed between Christmas and New Year’s. The time-frame was much too short for full pencils and inks to be done, so an inker had to be found, someone who was both very good and very fast. Guess who got the job? That’s right, Tom Palmer!

It was just one of those crazy coincidences that tend to happen in an industry this small, but it made for an unforgettable holiday.

The page, hanging in Hardman’s studio.

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Bechko and Hardman’s Green Lantern: Earth One is due in 2018 from DC.

For more SUPER-STAR HOLIDAY SPECIAL stories, click here.