Panel Discussion: A Little Love for the Colorists!

Redartz:  Greetings, everyone! For our "Panel Discussion" today, we will consider some of those who put the color in our 'four color ' hobby. The art of color application is just as crucial to a comic's visual appeal as the pencilling and inking. Color adds dimension, atmosphere, and emotion to a scene. It can clarify (or muddify- hey, a new verb?) the art, and emphasize certain aspects of a panel while de-emphasizing others. Effective color gives the art a richness, a sense of depth and visual space. Poor coloring can make a panel seem flat, it can even be somewhat disconcerting  (think of those panels where printing errors left someone with (unintentional) blue skin, or pantsless (in one infamous Spider-man panel). Therefore, today we salute some of those responsible for keeping Hulk green and the Thing orange. Oh, and a big thanks to Wikipedia, Comic Vine and the Grand Comic Book Database for some of the info in today's article.

To start with, here's a couple good looking pages, one from Marvel and one from DC. In both cases the colorist is sadly unknown (even the Grand Comics Database has nothing on it). For many years, the colorists got no credit line, despite such fine work as these. Incidentally, when scanning pages for a post, I often enhance the color for visibility and clarity. However, for these images, they are 'clean' scans- no color enhancement, so you can get the full subtlety  of the artist's work.
 Note that the Silver Age example on the left has simpler, less modeled color detail than one finds in  Bronze age and later comics. Yet the effect is still dynamic and eye-pleasing. Compare to the backgrounds on the Adventure page on the right- more tonal gradation and variety of hue, but both work equally well for storytelling.

Fantastic Four 69 (?)

Adventure Comics 439 ( ?  )

We will now look at some sample pages from some notable colorists ; both Marvel and DC. First, some of those known specifically as colorists...


Janice Cohen- worked for Marvel; coloring art on many titles. Among them were Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Avengers and Howard the Duck. This page , by Janice, struck me for it's sharp, clear color contrasts and variety of tone. Also note the nice touch of orange in the action lines as Ben breaks his chains in the bottom left panel.

Fantastic Four 159 (Janice Cohen)

Carl Gafford-  Carl has done work for Marvel, DC and other companies as well. He produced a remarkably long run coloring the Legion of Super Heroes. This is a superbly colored page from one of those. Phenomenal color play here. Love the background effect in the top right panel.

Legion of Super Heroes 300 (Carl Gafford)

Petra Goldberg- colored for many Marvel titles, including Avengers, Fantastic Four, Thor and various horror books. This  page uses simple color schemes, but very strikingly. The complementary use of orange lettering against the blue-violet background really stands out.

Giant-Size Man-Thing 1 (Petra Goldberg)

 Linda Lessmann- Linda worked for Marvel Comics, First! Comics, and others. She had notable work on Amazing Spider-Man, Man-Thing, American Flagg, and Badger.Here she very nicely matches Frank Brunner's rich designs with a soft, wide ranging palette of pleasing color.

Dr. Strange 4 (Linda Lessmann)

Adrienne Roy-  Adrienne colored primarily for DC, especially focusing on the Batman titles. She also worked on Teen Titans, Warlord and others. These two pages show some strong, dramatic color work. I love the tone progression in Raven's faces on the upper right panel below.

Batman 401 (Adrienne Roy)

New Teen Titans 4 (Adrienne Roy)

Don Warfield-  Don provided colors for a huge number of Marvel books, among them Conan, Fantastic Four, Invaders, Spectacular Spider-Man and Thor. This page uses fairly straightforward color, but interestingly frames Thor's head within the soft grey of the clouds.

Thor Annual 5  (Don Warfield)

 Glynis Oliver Wein-  Glynis Wein, or Glynis Oliver, has been everywhere in comics, especially Marvel and DC.  Her fine color work could be found on Amazing Spider-Man, Adventure Comics, X-Men, Star Wars, Thor, and much much more.  Her eye for , and use of, intricate and appealing color is matchless. Just look at the warm color modelling on the exploding planet on the left. Then there is the beautifully subtle array of tones in the panel of Dr. Doom on the right. And that bottom page of Cloak and Dagger- simple color, but what a knockout. I'd like a poster of that page.

Fantastic Four 257 (Glynis Wein)

Fantastic Four 236 (Glynis Wein)

Spectacular Spider-Man 70 (Glynis Wein)

Not to be left out of the coloring biz, many well-known pencillers and inkers also ladled out the tints on their own work (often to beautiful effect). Some examples:

Frank Brunner

Howard the Duck 1 (Frank Brunner)

Michael Golden

Micronauts 7 (Michael Golden)

Klaus Janson

Daredevil 180 (Klaus Janson)

Barry Windsor-Smith

Conan the Barbarian 16 (Barry Windsor Smith)

Barry deserves another look, specifically a little visual comparison. Here are two pages from his magnificent "Red Nails" in Savage Tales, scanned from the original black and white. Next to each are the same pages, with Barry's coloring added, from the Conan Marvel Treasury Edition. The intricacy of his color work is a wonder to behold.

As we have seen, these and other colorists have contributed immensely to the success, and to the enjoyment of, the comics we love. These artists, and artists they were, made incredible visuals from pen, ink, watercolor and brush. To all those colorists, known and unknown, a big "thank you" for helping flesh out all those classic tales.

Panel Discussion: Jean Grey or Wile E. Coyote?

Martinex1: Chris Claremont and John Byrne were hitting on all cylinders in the late 70s during their seminal run on Uncanny X-Men, reaching their apex in the Hellfire Club and the Death of Phoenix arcs. Supported by the inks of Terry Austin, the colors from Glynis Wein and the letters of Tom Orzechowski, the books were top notch. It was lightning in a bottle and the character interaction and subplot styles were often imitated as the Bronze Age started to wind down.   Few could capture the magic of that series. 

One of the most memorable pages came from X-Men #137,  a double-sized issue cover dated September 1980.  It of course depicted the tragic death of Jean Grey, the beleaguered and distraught Phoenix.    Considering that the story culminates in the death of a fairly major heroic character, it interests me that the moment is handled in a mid-sized panel on a very busy page.   There is a large amount of text as the last three panels have Cyclops verbalizing what just occurred.  Those middle panels however are exceptional and memorable.

I am going to focus on those panels for the rest of the column, as over the years I have become more and more disconcerted by them.   This short passage, at least for a while defined the Marvel approach.   Stories were laced with tragedy and pathos.   Even the word balloons quivered with the import.   The colors were diffused as the bright light of realization as well as the physical blast struck.   I believe this is a truly historical moment in comics.

Having said that, this is where I take a complete detour in my analysis.  I have developed a strange perception of these three panels, over time I was distracted by some artistic elements.   I could not look at these panels without thinking, "Ditko, Disney, and ACME."   See if you are with me as I dissect this scene.

I don't know if John Byrne was channeling Steve Ditko or paying homage to him in the first panel.  But for years now I cannot look at that Jean Grey and not see the large heavily lashed eyes of a Ditko damsel.  I had feelings of deja vu as I looked upon the arched eyebrows, the peaked hair and the full lips and open mouth; surely this had a Ditko influence.


But my interpretation didn't stop there.   The second panel with Cyclops agape reminded me of something else.   It was the tongue and the open mouth.   In my eyes it was cartoony in a way that super-hero comics tended to avoid.  I know it is an artistic technique in which the bright light highlights certain features - and Byrne uses that technique often and well.   But that mouth and the floating tongue seemed like something from a Disney film.   Again, I could swear I had seen this before.

And then there was the third panel.  An explosive blast disintegrates Jean Grey.   The mighty Phoenix is felled.   But somehow my view of it has shifted to Wile E. Coyote and the various contraptions that ultimately lead to his temporary demise.

Strange I know... a classic scene devolved to Ditko, Disney, and Wile E. Coyote.   You may think I am off the rocker, and you may demand that Redartz take over permanently.  But before you persist take a look at the following scenes that I have cobbled together and tell me then that I am not onto something.

Take a look at Clea with the wild hair, large lashes, and even a tear drop.  And from Hercules, a character yells; indeed this came out some time after X-Men but look at that tongue.  And of course our beloved Coyote blasted to ash.

Still not sure - okay here is another.  Both Betty and Liz have those eyes and curvy eyebrows.   This Disney villain shows a little more throat but you get the idea.   And how many cannons and guns have pointed at Wile over the years?   Still not convinced....

Ditko again.   A "Cyclops" from Disney's Lilo and Stitch" (I don't believe in coincidences).  And a typical Warner Brothers' blast.  Okay, okay, just one more...

Squirrel Girl by Ditko.   Evil stepmother doing the Cyclops yowl.   And nothing but a silhouette.

So that is my art critique for the week.   Tell me that you won't look at this scene differently from now on!  Only at the "Panel Discussion" on the BITBA site can you get such depth!   Cheers all!