Redartz: The annals of the Bronze age are filled with comic tales illustrated by immensely talented creators. Many of those creators worked at times as solo artists, laying down pencils and then inking over their own work. Names like John Buscema, Barry Smith, Joe Kubert, John Byrne- all did notable work in this manner. But more often, a penciller was paired up with another artist, an inker; who would enhance the pencilled art with inked lines in a blending of two individual artistic styles. Some pairings, predictably, were more successful than others.
Today we will consider the more effective examples. Which pencillers worked the best with which inkers? Some teams have become iconic over the course of comics history; but that can be a subjective question. Here are four of my top teams, just to get things started.
Neal Adams / Dick Giordano
Talk about a history-making combination. Adams and Giordano were the hands behind many of DC's best stories and characters, producing truly classic tales of Batman, Deadman, Green Lantern and others. Here's a dramatic opening page from one of the Green Lantern solo back-ups in Flash comics, circa 1974...
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| Flash 226 |
John Byrne / Terry Austin
This could be, possibly, the single greatest artistic team in comic art history. In my opinion, it very well may be. Byrne and Austin made magic out of whatever they worked on together. Their art styles were flawlessly matched. Many of my top favorite comic stories came from their drawing boards, including this incredible panel with Kitty Pryde and Wolverine.
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| Uncanny X-Men 131 |
Sal Buscema / Klaus Janson
Sorry about the black/white reproduction, the "Essential Defenders" doesn't feature color. But it does feature some fabulous stories, several of which are by Sal and Klaus. Janson's heavy shadows and detailed linework add solidity to Sal's pencils, and the results are spectacular.
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| Marvel Treasury Edition 12 |
Gene Colan / Tom Palmer
These two have been paired many times, on many books; due doubtlessly to their absolutely perfect melding of styles. Palmer's polish beautifully enhances Gene's cinematic pencils, anytime, anywhere. And this page highlights two characters intimately associated with them...
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| Dr. Strange 14 |
Next, here's two examples of rather unusual pairings that I found appealing...
Carmine Infantino and Klaus Janson
Infantino seems to channel a bit of his old Silver age Flash skill here, showing off DD's aerial technique. And speaking of technique, you can't beat Janson's moody inks here. A different look, but very solid.
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| Daredevil 152 |
Barry Smith and Frank Brunner
Two excellent artists, known for highly detailed work. One might think they wouldn't quite blend visually, but this page is excellent. You get Smith's design sense and Brunner's finesse. That last panel close-up is incredible.
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| Marvel Premiere 4 |
Each of the above-mentioned artists also did phenomenal work with other artists, and there are dozens of others to add to the list. That's where you come in. What other great combos can you name? How would you rank them? Which pencillers do you feel looked better with their own inks? Which inkers most effectively meshed with a variety of pencillers? What unorthodox pairings of pencil and ink found approval in your eyes? Sharpen your pencils, open that ink bottle and let's talk art!
16 comments:
No argument with any of your choices; and yes, the Byrne/Austin team gets my vote as probably the best ever in comics.
Austin, of course, did fantastic work across the board; his inks also looked fabulous on Walt Simonson's pencils (although the latter is probably his own best inker), as in the X-men/New Teen Titans crossover. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention his stunning inking of George Perez in X-men Annual #3.
As to some of the others you mentioned, while truly spectacular when combined with Klaus Janson, Sal Buscema's style really meshed well with a number of inkers (although, like Simonson, he was probably his own best inker). One I would mention, although they only worked together once as far as I know, is Steve Leialoha. Their art in the Marvel Team-up 4-parter featuring the amnesiac Black Widow (#s 82-85) is stunning.
Some of my picks:
John Buscema with either Tony de Zuniga or Alfredo Alcala in the b&w Conan stories in Savage Sword. I've read that Buscema was not happy with the overpowering effect their inks had on his pencils, but I think the end result is simply gorgeous.
George Perez and Romeo Tanghal in New Teen Titans. I don't think any explanation is necessary.
Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt. I know Giffen is not everyone's cup of tea, and he altered his style quite a bit, but those two were magic when they were paired in the Legion of Super-heroes - Mahlstedt gave Giffen's pencils really nice consistency and solidity.
Alan Davis and Mark Farmer. Magic...
Broadcasting in from the Hulk Satellite com-link:
Herb Trimpe/John Severin-- a personal all-time favorite. Of the four you cited, I would likely switch it out w/ Colan/Palmer (whom I do love, make no mistake!)
Giordano functions a LOT like Joe Sinnott, doesn't he? There's really not a penciler that he doesn't pair up well with. Hmmm-- and how is Joltin' Joe not being mentioned here somewhere, now that we think of it? Any love for Kirby/Sinnott out there? Or for (Fill in the blank)/Sinnott for several years of FF after that-?
HB
Byrne / Austin are my hands down favorites. Byrne's work never looked better than when inked by Austin. The work they produced during their heyday is definitely my all-time most loved comic book art.
I've gotta throw some love toward Rich Buckler/Joe Sinnott. Love their version of the FF.
The Mike Zeck/Gene Day team on Master of Kung Fu was brilliant!
Gil Kane inked by Dave Cockrum on the first issue of John Carter, Warlord of Mars is another favorite.
Frank Miller / Klaus Johnson on Daredevil. Klaus added a grittiness that helped take Frank to another level. Frank's earlier work seemed to be overpowered by Marvel's house style inkers.
Rich Buckler / Klaus Johnson on Deathlok. Klaus added a moodiness to the post apocalyptic world and made the rotting body of Luther Manning seem real.
Marshall Rogers / Terry Austin in Detective Comics. Terry added a slickness and polish to Marshall's work similar to his polish on Byrne.
Travis Morgan
I think Byrne/Austin would be my #1 example.
Also, Bob Layton is the definitive Iron Man artist for me, the only case where I place an inker front and center in my mind instead of a penciller. His style is quite overpowering, but I guess if I had to pick a penciller to match him with I'd go with the classic John Romita Jr./Bob Layton combo.
Others that pop to mind: Keith Giffen and Larry Mahstedt(sp?) on Legion of Superheroes
Steve Bissette and John Tottleben on Swamp Thing
And a quick shout-out to Joe Sinnott, who makes me think fondly of the Al Milgrom run of Avengers (then I read Secret Wars II and couldn't believe it was the same penciller...that Sinnott ink makes a difference!).
-david p.
Some quick side-track questions/thoughts concerning Red's examples, up there--
1) Geeze-- so how did GL get out of that Perils of Pauline opening, guys? Anyone have that issue??
2) Seriously, no kidding--- who is responsible for depicting Wolvie's body-hair? Is that the penciler or the inker? Actually-- it would HAVE to be the inker, wouldn't it? Man, THERE'S an unenviable task-!
3) This could just be where my head's at these days, but--- isn't there something in the Colan/Palmer pairing (especially in this panel) that simply SHOUTS "Shakespeare" atcha? This could be a moment (minus the vampire & super-wizard trappings) from any one of 10 or more of his plays. . . it's great!
HB
As was mentioned the other day I really like Sal Buscema and Sam Grainger together.
But can I give a shout out for Dan Green. He doesn’t get mentioned much, but he did some great work in the Bronze Age. He worked with Cockrum, Byrne and Perez over the years. And particularly on the Avengers I noticed what a great job he did. I think Avengers 185 really shows his talent.
And I too really like Joe Sinnott over everybody on the FF. I know that some people think he washed over the pencillers’ style, but I really like how he made things consistent. I admire that in some comics.
That Byrne Austin pairing made some good comic art and made those stories come alive. For another good Byrne pairing, his work with Karl Kesel on the 6 issue Legends limited series allowed those two to, basically, "draw DC".
And one other one to throw out there, George Perez and Pablo Marcos on the Avengers was not a bad book.
And I highly personal favorite, Vince Colleta inked Mark Bright on an issue of Dazzler that wasn't bad, not bad at all. Of course, during that run, the artist chair was a revolving door.
(Wey hey hey, baby hang on
Wey hey hey, baby hang on
Empty heart, beat tight as a drum
Said empty love, she'd shine like a song
Wey hey hey, baby hang on (to anything)
Our love shines like rain
In those spanish eyes
Spanish eyes
Wey hey hey, here she comes
She comes in colors
You know she gonna turn the daylight on
'cause I love the way you talk to me
And I love the way you walk on me
And I need you more
Oh, than you need me
Our love shines like rain
In those spanish eyes
Spanish eyes
I'll cross the world for green and gold
But it's those Spanish eyes
That get me home...home again
Wey hey hey, baby hang on
Wey hey hey, you know that
The night is young
Dazzled by lights that shine in your eyes
I'm standing in the shadows
And wait for the night
Forever in fever, forever in heat
You pick me up to put me out on the street
Wey hey hey, baby hang on, hang on
Wey hey hey, baby hang on, hang on
'cause I love the way you talk to me
And I love the way you're mean to me
And I need you).
PS: HB, if I remember, "my best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl" who read the issue and she thinks he was okay... or something...
I led a charmed life. I started reading comics in earnest around ASM 100 and Marvel's stable of artists were John Buscema, Colan, Kirby, Romita Sr., Tuska. I never, ever realized that inkers made a difference until I started reading this blog 2 years ago.
I think I've asked before, but if anyone can point me to a sight were I can see the impact of inkers I would be grateful!
I mean, I can't tell you why Vince Colleta is despised. I thought his inks on Kirby's Thor like around issues 150ish were great, though I would simply have attributed it all to Kirby until learning not to, these past two years.
Ha-- thanks Prowl- I am a portrait of relief.
And that's a good question about Colleta, CH47-- I've always had a sense that fans-in-the-know (which I'm not) did not care for Vinnie's personality or ego or something-- which made it easy to not like his work. I think most folks like his work over Kirby on THOR quite a lot-- although there's been a TON of ire as well, since there were proven instances where he would take short-cuts and either erase (literally) or black-out a lot of detailed elements that Jack had drawn. I really liked him on THOR a lot--- it gave the book what I now recognize as an adventure Comic Strip look, like Prince Valiant. . . which was wonderfully appropriate for that title.
His style is often described as "scratchy"-- but I don't think that aptly captures it. To me it's more fussy and feathery-- often a clutter of texture lines. IIRC, we had him over George Tuska (and others?) for some issues of THE CHAMPIONS, which did not help a book that struggled from issue #1.
And for me personally, he remains half the duo that could be the antithesis to today's topic: "Worst penciler/inker pairings". He was the inker on top of Don Perlin for what was actually MOST of WEREWOLF BY NIGHT's run (more than half). And it was just dreadful. Especially after the cool, organic fluidity and moodiness of Mike Ploog for the beginning of that run. Perlin's figures were as stiff as store mannequins, and Colleta's texture work seemed like it was based on cheesecloth or window screen--- and was generally messy and unclear (IMO). It was one of my "favorite" titles, I think, only because I had declared it so early on. Not 'cause I was actually enjoying it. . .
HB
Many thanks for all the great comments, all! Many fine mentions. I fully agree with the praise for Joe Sinnott. Also agree with those who admire the teaming of Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt. That Legion run was phenomenal.
Great discussions, way to pick up the ball and run with it. Carry on!
Great topic. I'll add Sinnott inking either Buscema brother on FF & The Incredible Hulk.
Wonderful topic! I always seem to be late to the party. What time do you typically start posting (I'll adjust for GMT)? I agree with all the wonderful teams mentioned. How about Irv Novick and Frank McLaughlin's work on Batman, which evoked such a brooding atmosphere?
Anthony
Ah... I observe a six hour time difference from the UK!
Anthony- thanks for joining in today! The posts hit at 6:00 am US eastern time. At least....I think that's right!
And good call on Irv Novick. Some fine work indeed.
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