Redartz: Hello, folks! Our topic today is brought to us courtesy of our good friend and mentor, Doug! He suggested a look at inkers who have become associated with a given title. As pencillers are often the subject of discussion here, it seems very appropriate to give the embellishers some love. With that in mind, we present a selection of samples, with the responsible inkers noted (and a comment or two, of course).
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| Joe Sinnott, over Rich Buckler |
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| Klaus Janson, over Frank Miller |
Klaus Janson and Daredevil: the legendary Frank Miller run on Daredevil owes much to Klaus' beautiful inks.
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| Larry Mahlstedt, over Kieth Giffen |
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| Bob Layton, over John Romita Jr. |
Larry Mahlstedt and the Legion: Mahlstedt finished Kieth Giffen's pencils with style, and gave the book a futuristic sheen...
Bob Layton and Iron Man: One look at the shining Golden Avenger on this cover says all that needs to be said.
Terry Austin and the X-Men: Although Terry turns anything he touches into purest gold, his perfect inks over John Byrne made this book the iconic masterpiece it remains today.Tom Palmer and Dr. Strange / Tomb of Dracula: Here we get to see Tom's elegant inks over Gene Colan on both of these characters. Palmer added a detail and finish that made Gene's pencils even more cinematic.
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| Romeo Tanghal over George Perez |
Romeo Tanghal and New Teen Titans: Romeo's fine inks were a perfect match for Perez' intricate pencilling. He helped give the title a clean, consistent polish.
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| Dick Giordano, over Neal Adams |
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| Dick Giordano, over Neal Adams |
Dick Giordano and Green Lantern / Batman: Both of these books, and characters, were the beneficiaries of some magnificent art by the team of Adams and Giordano. Dick's tight finishes mesh with Neal's pencils so well they might be one man.
That's only a small sample; to limit things a bit I kept it to Bronze age images. But you aren't limited in this respect, let us know what you think of these choices, and all the others not shown here today. Hats off to the inkers, and may their pens never clog...
38 comments:
What?
No Vince Coletta on Kirby?
;)
Yoyo
Wow, Red very informative! You hit on all the inkers that came to mind. I think Bob Layton's work on Ironman really made JRJRs work look great. If you compare it to his run on Daredevil you can see how much Layton's inks did. Terry Austin had two great matches; with Byrne and Perez. I like both the best when Austin did the inking. Joe Sinnott was amazing all those years and artists on FF. He really did keep a flow going, often so well the artist change wasn't even noticed by me as a kid. Maybe a sidebar: inkers that also did some pencils...
I really liked Ernie Chan's inks on Sal Buscema's Hulk. Also, on John Buscema's Conan. Man, I got a kick out of that... I was quite disappointed recently when I found out that both Buscema brothers hated Chan's inks on their work, however.
Regarding Colletta on Kirby... I think if he really took his time and didn't erase selected figures and backgrounds his inks would have been topnotch. I've long suspected that Vinnie only had a couple of days to ink each issue of Thor (coming at the end of Kirby's massive 50-60 pages a month output), but would like to see verification of that.
Good mention of Ernie Chan (Chua), Glenn. I was thinking of him over Buscema on the Conan strip, as well.
While I don't think he was distinguished such as a Sinnott, Austin, or Layton, a fella who seems eternally linked to an artist (and hence a character) would be Mike Esposito over Ross Andru on Amazing Spider-Man. They of course teamed at DC as well. Esposito was talented, and it's odd to see Andru inked by others.
An inker worth mentioning here, but really not tied to any single book or penciler in my mind is Sam Grainger. Generally good to very good, I've enjoyed his embellishment over (notably) Sal Buscema in very early Bronze Avengers and of course Dave Cockrum in the seminal years of the All-New, All-Different X-Men.
Fun comments thus far!
Doug
Some of these observations'll be repeats from ones made in an earlier era-- but I just can't help myself-! And heck, I'll go ahead and lead off with a couple of Hulk-servations:
-Back when the continents shifted, and the years-long Trimpe run on the Incredible Hulk came to end, followed by the years-to-come Sal Buscema run, Joe Staton (yep, THAT Joe Staton) was the inker who helmed that visual transition. Now, anyone can see that there isn't a whole lot of similarity between Herb and Sal's penciling styles, and yet somehow. . . somehow the expected and dreaded shock simply didn't happen. Everything still looked "right", y'know? And it wasn't until years & years later that I realized a LOT of that credit goes to Mr. Staton. His inks honestly improved the effect of Herb's pencils at that point. Herb's style morphed throughout the entirety of his career, and there were times in his late Hulk run that he really wasn't at his best. Staton fixed a lot of that-- and then meshed very well with Sal's clean, on-model pencils for several months after the shift.
John Severin over Herb Trimpe a few years earlier, yeah? I think the only reason there isn't a comprehensive collection of this pairing is because it never quite managed to happen in enough consecutive issues-- there was always a break at some point. But to many of us older Hulk fans, John Severin's work on the Hulk is the book's inking gold-standard. On the letters pages of that time, his name was generally included in the salutation, along with writer, Herb, and (usually) Stan.
Joe Sinnott on the FF-- yeah, a given. Probably the only inker ever who could give Jack Kirby, John Romita, John Buscema, Rich Buckler, and (IIRC?) even John Byrne a feeling of comfortable visual uniformity. Joe Sinnott on the Avengers over Al Milgrom's pencils, years later, though? Saved the book. Didn't necessarily make it great-- but kept it afloat single-handedly during a period when both the writing and the pencils were not strong at all.
Tom Palmer on the Avengers for about a zillion years, starting in the mid-80's? Two things with that, though--- I would bet money that he was farming out his inking chores to his students/studio late in that run-- like, as we were heading into The Crossing and Timeslide and all that stuff. There were times when the inking style would vary wildly even from issue to issue. Anyone have knowledge of that?
HB (gotta go take down some outdoor Xmas decorations before HBWife gets home from errands!)
Thanks Doug. Dan Adkins was another great inker... he did some of his best work on Barry Smith's Conan. A good penciller too, on some psychedelic Doc Strange stories in Strange Tales.
Tom Palmer was one of the great all right-- on Buscema's Avengers, Colan's Doc Strange and of course anything by Neal Adams.
Trimpe was unusual in that he started off pretty good and just seemed to get progressively worse as he went on. Severin saved his work whenever he was on board.
Remember Joe Sinnott on Neal Adams' Thor? I didn't like that much, although Adams himself was chuffed with it.
Of course, the artists already mentioned are legendary inkers - Sinnott on FF will always be my favorite.
Others that come to mind, though, are Gene Day on Mike Zeck's Master of Kung Fu and Marie Severin on just about anyone!
Another topic of this nature to bring up in the future would be colorists who really made a difference in the art teams.
I always liked Josef Rubinstein's work - over Byrne on Captain America, over Golden on Micronauts, and over Marshall Rogers on Silver Surfer.
I agree with HB on Sinnott on the Avengers. And Sam Grainger, as Doug mentioned, is great; those early Sal Buscema Avengers books are inked really well (circa Avengers 69 - 72). I also like Sal inking Frenz.
Hi Gents, I confess I am really a neophyte when it comes / came to understanding the various roles in comic creation. It wasn't until a year ago, when I discovered "Groove Agents" blog (which referred me to this blog!) that I learned the inker did anything more than just trace the art with ink. I never understood an inker's style could make a big, big difference in the final product. TO that end, if anyone can refer me to something in depth on this subject I would be as grateful as a Charlie Horse can be! ALso, how do we know that Colleta erased figures and such? (I believe it, but how do we know? Are there "before and after" shots to compare? I'll go back and re-read everything above, but is there something that shows different inkers inking the same artist, to compare the impact of the inker? (E.g., I'm intrigued by Humanbelly's remarks about Joe Station keeping the Hulk looking like the Hulk whether Trimpe or Buscema was drawing him.) Thanks in advance for humoring Charlie Horse with his pursuit of comics' knowledge!!!
Great comments all!
Glenn and Doug- Chan/ Chua's work on Conan was sharp! Although I tended to prefer Tony DeZuniga, or on rare occasions, Neal Adams!
Disneymarvel- colorists would indeed be a fine topic. We will look into that...
Marti- Rubinstein did beautiful work! You're right, his Micronauts were excellent.
HB- good call on Joe Staton. One of the very best inkers on Sal...
I agree about Ernie Chan ... he did some great Batman stuff too. The first names that jumped to my mind were Austin on X-Men and Tanghal on NTT. What about Murphy Anderson over Curt Swan (or Swanderson as they were sometimes known)?
Luther Manning mentioned inkers who were also pencilers and that made me think of guys like Al Milgrom and Butch Guice, who started as inkers but moved on to penciling later. Some might say Milgrom should've stuck to inking, but I generally liked his pencils; I thought he was really good on Spectacular Spidey.
I've heard Neal Adams quote Colletta as saying to an editor:
"Look, do you want it inked well or inked quickly?"
I'm sure during the more chaotic periods in Bullpen history Mr Colletta was a knight in shining armor to editorial and production depts.
Okay, Mike name-checked Murphy Anderson before I did. Swanderson is the gold-standard Superman for me. As soon as I saw today's topic I thought "Joe Sinnott." His work on F.F. was the lynchpin for so many years, writers, and pencilers. As to Coletta on Kirby; in Amazing Heroes #100, the Jack Kirby tribute issue, there are some wonderful essays about Kirby's art and how it can be effectively inked. (I just did a quick search and I couldn't find it available in the 'net.)I recall that the author showed how Coletta would emphasise certain lines to give them more weight, and de-emphasize others to push the reader's eye to the important parts of the panel. I was never particularly fond of Mr. Coletta's work, but this article gave me a real appreciation of his talent. Charlie Horse, if you want to see the effectiveness of an inker, take a look at the issues of Superboy and the legion of Super-Heroes that were drawn by James Sherman. When Sherman was inked by Bob McLeod, it is some of the most gorgeous comics ever printed! When he was inked by Jack Abel...well, Sherman's talent is not evident. c. #225-242
CH47- I'll tell ya, I think I was well into collecting-adulthood before I really began to understand and appreciate the nuance of how much the inker brought to the visual table. When I was a kid I remember reading complaints in the letters pages about how such-&-such inker "overpowered" the penciler's style, and I had no earthly idea what they were talking about. Everyone was right there in the panel, perfectly visible-- what's all the fuss?
One of the early Spiderman annuals had a neat spoof filler-piece about what a mad creative frenzy it took to get an issue of Spidey finished, and the thing that astonished me the MOST was that the inker used a flippin' BRUSH to do all of that fine, delicate work! It revealed, in fact, that all of the webbing on Spidey's outfit was the INKER'S responsibility! (Yikes!)
Now, the transition in the Hulk was from issue #193 to #194, and Staton had been on the book (and improving it) for several issues at that point. I think the case is very similar to Joe Sinnott's, where the clearly-different penciling styles are mitigated by the familiar same-ness of the inks. It took me a long time to figure that out here. I sat there going, "why is this big change not bothering me more? It's different and yet. . . it seems the same." I'll also submit that a lot of us were familiar with Sal's Hulk in the Defenders already, so it's not like it was completely uncharted territory. More like having a recurring character in a TV show become part of the regular cast.
HB
WardHill Terry, thanks for mentioning Bob McLeod, he is an oft overlooked inker who did some nice work on New Mutants, Conan, Jungle Action and on many Marvel covers.
Charlie Horse 47, we are glad you found us here. I am sure others can offer more insight into inking and the impact and various talents. I cannot recall when I first saw some images of Colletta's work - finished work and the originals with background figures and details no longer there. I would recommend a book "The Thin Black Line: Perspectives on Vince Colletta (Comics' Most Controversial Inker)" by Robert L. Bryant from TwoMorrows Publishing. It covers Colletta's great work on Thor as well as his penchant for removing details to speed up the process. There are excerpts you can find on-line.
I might've overlooked them but a few new names for the list:
Syd Shores was a longtime Marvel talent who had a real impact as an inker in the late 60's just as the company was expanding. His lush lines added depth to Kirby, Colan, Ayers and many other dandy pencil artists.
Frank McLaughlin is still with us and added a great edge to the work of Sal Buscema at Marvel and Dick Dillin at DC. The creator of Judomaster and a great artist in his own right, he was an effective and polished inker.
Don Heck is not often remembered as an inker but he was a dang good one and Kirby's pick to go with him to DC, but Kirby's west coast status precluded it, which made room for the great Mike Royer to have an impact. Heck had a rough line which added luster to many artists like Werner Roth and Ross Andru.
Frank Giacoia gets left off a lot, but he was a capable talent who added real heft to many comic book pages. He inked them all (Kirby, Buscema, Steranko, the lot) and was apparently content to ink, or so I've heard.
Sam Grainger has been mentioned but I want to add my love to his work, which was ideal for Sal Buscema's early Avengers work. Grainger died much too young.
Rip Off
A lotta great inkers mentioned here...Klaus Janson is a favorite of mine. I've always liked his work.
I also really liked Ernie Chan's inks on Sal Buscema's Hulk. I thought he really added depth and character to the pencils while retaining the sheer kinetic energy that made Sal's work great.
I seem to remember Chan doing some inking for Sal's brother, John, on Conan, which I thought was pretty good!
Great post!
M.P.
HIya,
To Colin Bray,
The original source of that quote, perhaps there's more than one, I don't know, was Rich Buckler and it went something like this:
John Verpoorteen to Buckler: When will you finish penciling that book?
Buckler to Verpoorteen: Do you want it done good or do you want it done fast?
Verpoorteen to Buckler: I want it done now.
Source of quote, Rich Buckler. Confirmed by Buckler and found in a blog that he wrote that was a very nice commentary on Vince Colletta and the extent that he was willing to go to to accommodate the pencil artists when he was Art Director at DC. In Buckler's case he secured the services of Bernie Wrightson as inker on a Buckler's Batman story.
I'm not going to be offering more commentary on this subject because it does get my stomach acid churning.
Seeya,
pfgavigan
Best inking ever: Wallace Wood on Jack Kirby's Skymasters. Heck, that's just about the best comics artwork of all time. Google images if you don't know it yet. Imagine if Wood had hung around inked the early FFs...!!!!!
A last thought in the realm of pencilers who may have been hidden-genius inkers: Has anyone beside me ever seen the few issues of Tales to Astonish where Bill Everett did the inking on Greenskin's feature? For some reason, they absolutely grab me. It's been awhile since I've pulled them out-- but I recall them being extremely fresh and clean and somehow not quite of their own era. Almost in the world of illustration w/out looking too ornate or fussy. It is SO too bad that he passed away just as Marvel was coming into it's glory. . .
HB
Humanbelly - Bill Everett also inked one or two of Kirby's last Thor issues, to good effect. The Sub-mariners that Everett penciled AND inked in the '70s are amazing.
What, no love for Mike Esposito? I dunno, I just love workhorses like him, guys whose skill might not be top tier like Big John, but who kept churning them out so much that their work became the defacto look for the titles they worked on.
Vinnie Colletta is like the Rodney Dangerfield of comics, i.e. he gets no respect!
- Mike 'colourists and letterers next!' from Trinidad & Tobago.
Aye Glenn! Those Everett Submariners are simply magic! I remember Stan's soapbox saying Everett had passed and really being "bummed."
I suppose the Vince Colletta problem for me is that my own association is with the painfully long stretch he had on Werewolf By Night (well, more than the last half of the entire run, really) inking over Don Perlin's pencils. I've opined often that this may have been of the most ill-suited pairings in comics, IMO. And NEITHER artist had a natural facility for a horror title at all, regardless.
But "scratchy" doesn't begin to get across the way Vinnie's inks read on that series. I was actually surprised later on when I discovered that he was the inker that looked so darned good on a lot of the old Thor adventures. (In fact, would he have been the inker for Thor's first big throw-down w/ the absorbing man? The one where the first chapter opens with him fixing Mjolnir at a Pittsburgh steel mill?)
HB
Charlie Horse -- I only just discovered those late Everett Subbies recently. I wonder if they've even been reprinted? I think not.
Anonymous Humanbelly -- I remember flipping through some Werewolf By Nights and being appalled. Really just no excuse for that low standard of art in a published comic. Don Perlin was hardly an inspired artist. Jim Mooney was also rather insipid in the Bronze Age, although I hear he was good decades earlier on Supergirl.
I think Jim Mooney and Mike Esposito did a lot of Marvel Team-up issues between them (now wait-- they weren't the ones that were the same guy, were they?), and the inking tended to be. . . serviceable at best by then.
HB
Humanbelly.... not the same guy, but Mike Esposito was known as Mickey Demeo in the '60s.
Glenn- You're right on target with praise for Kirby/Wood. That fantastic cover for Avengers 20- top notch. Kirby power and Wood elegance.
HB- "Serviceable" is a fair term for some of Esposito's later work. Not bad, but nothing to cut out and hang on the wall. I did like some of Jim Mooney's inks, even though he tends to overpower some pencillers...
Bill Everett on Gene Colan's pencils...did the Black Widow ever look better?
And Tom Palmer could make anyone look good - for evidence I submit X-Men #64, where he did wonders for Don Heck.
Redartz -- the Odd thing about Avengers #20 is it was penciled by Don Heck and inked by Wallace Wood! It's not real good either, clearly Woody had little enthusiasm about the job. Lord knows why he was reduced to that kind of role. His EC work is still unsurpassed 60+ years later
By the eyes alone, Jim Mooney can be spotted a mile away. In that regard, that's most where I see his "overpowering".
Vinnie always did beautiful women in the eyes dept.
Doug
Amen on Everett's inks on Colan's rendering of Natasha!!! Truly superior and gorgeous!
I don't know if ever reprinted but they aren't "expensive " on eBay and I would really really recommend getting the originals. I can't imagine spending more than $30 for the lot if you are patient bidder. The art is superlative; stories quite decent; you'll love it from page 1!
HB - you are a font of wisdom and insight! I learn more every day! Thanks!
Hello,
Just wanted to give a shout-out to John Totleben. I loved the Steve Bissette/John Totleben team on Swamp Thing. When I was looking over my Swamp Thing #53 (my first issue I read) I noticed that one was full art by Totleben, which is when I realized that perhaps he was the heavy influence I was enjoying so much in the other issues.
Besides Swamp Thing, I've only ever seen him on Miracleman and a Munden's Bar back-up in Grimjack. But his style is very distinct (how would you describe it, sort of a sweeping/shading/cross-hatching sort of thing?) and certainly suited the moody types of stories Alan Moore was telling at the time.
I've since seen some Totleben-less Bissette work (like in Swamp Thing Annual #4) and he is, of course, excellent, but Totleben added a very distinct mood.
Love all the inkers mentioned on this post. Sinnot over Milgrom rules!
-david p.
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