John Severin again (I'm reasonably sure this time) from 1973
Just got into Kull last year. Had gotten a paperback book that reprinted in publication order all of Robert E Howard's pulp stuff. Read some Kull stories and loved them. So have been picking up issues of the Kull comics when I find them for a decent price.
My first exposure to Kevin Nowlan’s work was with his covers for The (New) Defenders. In face, I bought issue #134 primarily on the strength of the cover. Nowlan was heavily influenced by Alan Weiss among others, and it really shows in his early work.
I love Kevin’s style on not just this New Mutants cover, but the book’s interior too. He got quite a bit of hate mail for it, but his minimalist, Toth-like approach is fantastic. The best example is the great Man-Bat story he did for Secret Origins #39 the following year.
A nice take on the Joker.
His best work, though, was for the “Jack B. Quick” stories in Alan Moore’s Tomorrow Stories anthology. That series was tailor-made for Kevin and his quirky sense of humor.
I generally like Nowlan's art, but found a couple of quirks to his work that really bothered me. Not his overall style -- I like that well enough. But he had a tendency to redesign characters sometimes, taking them off-model. I recall a couple of issues of Batman And The Outsiders where he did that; and the redesigns wouldn't have bothered me so much if they had been carried through afterwards, but it was quickly apparent that they weren't and that he was just indulging himself.
The other thing about his work that bothers me on an aesthetic level is that he draws people with what I can only call cold, dead eyes -- most of the time, his people look like they're drugged. It's not a detriment in someone like the Joker, but quite disturbing in characters like Superman or Halo.
He's a very powerful inker over other folks' work, too -- and again that can be incredible or unfortunate, depending on the penciller. I think his best inking (that I can recall off the top of my head) was over Dan Jurgens on the Superman vs Aliens crossover where his style was most effective to that type of story.
I generally like Nowlan's art, but found a couple of quirks to his work that really bothered me. Not his overall style -- I like that well enough. But he had a tendency to redesign characters sometimes, taking them off-model. I recall a couple of issues of Batman And The Outsiders where he did that; and the redesigns wouldn't have bothered me so much if they had been carried through afterwards, but it was quickly apparent that they weren't and that he was just indulging himself.
The other thing about his work that bothers me on an aesthetic level is that he draws people with what I can only call cold, dead eyes -- most of the time, his people look like they're drugged. It's not a detriment in someone like the Joker, but quite disturbing in characters like Superman or Halo.
He's a very powerful inker over other folks' work, too -- and again that can be incredible or unfortunate, depending on the penciller. I think his best inking (that I can recall off the top of my head) was over Dan Jurgens on the Superman vs Aliens crossover where his style was most effective to that type of story.
Kevin only did one interior Outsiders story, the first annual, which he also provided a painted cover for. He did one more cover for the original series and a couple of covers for one of the later Outsiders series, but that’s it. I don’t recall him going off-model, but I wasn’t a regular reader of the book.
As for the eyes, I don’t have a problem with the way he draws them. He does tend to draw heavier outlines of eyelids than most with very light, delicate detailing of the actual eye, so perhaps it’s that combination you don’t like. I will say that at times his figures get a little stiff in the inking process.
I can only think of two jobs he’s inked where he didn’t improve the penciler’s work. One was the Superman: Blood of My Ancestors one-shot, but in that case John Buscema died halfway through penciling the book, and Gil Kane was brought on to finish it. Kevin had to ink those two very different styles in a way that the first half of the book didn’t look completely different from the second half, so he gets a pass on that. The other was a Green Lantern story penciled by Carmine Infantino for Action Comics Weekly #642. Whereas Kevin worked very well in conjunction with Gil Kane, his style did not mesh well as all with Carmine’s. To be fair, Carmine’s pencils on that job were very loose, and Kevin had a hard time deciphering them.
The Superman/Aliens book was definitely one of his best inking (only) jobs, but I’d give the top spot to his inking of José Luis García-López for Dr. Strangefate—that’s one gorgeous book.
The one penciler he tends to add very little of his own style to is Mike Mignola. The first time Kevin inked Mike on a full story (Aliens: Salvation), Mike actually asked Kevin to redraw whatever he wanted and make it look like Kevin. But Kevin thought Mike’s pencils were perfect, and he couldn’t find any spots, outside of small details, where he could add his own flair that wouldn’t mess up the overall image. Mike actually got upset with Kevin about it, but Kevin told him it was his fault for drawing so well.
The Superman/Aliens book was definitely one of his best inking (only) jobs, but I’d give the top spot to his inking of José Luis García-López for Dr. Strangefate—that’s one gorgeous book.
I've posted a lot of García-López recently, so I’ll skip him and move on to Art Adams. Art did an awesome adaptation of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, my second-favorite of the Universal monster movies.
I’m a sucker for Godzilla, and Art drew probably the best Godzilla story ever, Godzilla Color Special #1.
His Monkeyman and O’Brien series for Dark Horse’s Legends line was a whole lot of fun. I wish he’d do more of it.
I wouldn’t mind more Jonni Future stories either. Art’s work on those for Tom Strong’s Terrific Tales was mind-blowing. He was looking at a lot of Italian artist Serpierri’s work during that time, and incorporated some of that look into his own style. Gorgeous stuff.
Just recently read this trade. And I think it is based on an unfinished Robert E Howard story. It is a fun comic and a great introduction to Solomon Kane. I hope someday the Solomon Kane film gets a release in region 1. I have had the region 2 dvd for almost 2 years now,and it is a great film.
Just recently read this trade. And I think it is based on an unfinished Robert E Howard story. It is a fun comic and a great introduction to Solomon Kane. I hope someday the Solomon Kane film gets a release in region 1. I have had the region 2 dvd for almost 2 years now,and it is a great film.
The trailer I saw for the film looked pretty cool, but I haven’t been able to see it. Was it fairly true to the source material?
My first John Byrne comic, and still one of my favorite Byrne covers, Iron Fist #8 (Oct. 1976)—pencils by Byrne, inks by Dan Adkins. As a six-year-old, how could I not pick up a comic with a cover like this?
John’s Sensational She-Hulk was one of the few bright spots at Marvel in the early ’90s, and is still probably my favorite of his work for Marvel. It’s a pity he only stayed on for eight issues. And while I’ve heard many fans say John should never be allowed to ink his own work, I disagree, with this cover being one of the reasons why.
His work on Namor is my prime example though. His use of Duo-Tone shading in his inking made the look of the book very distinctive from everything else on the stands. And I really liked his take on Namor. The series tends to get somewhat overlooked, but I think it was some of his best work.
The cover to Namor #22, by the way, is an homage to Gil Kane/John Romita’s cover to Iron Fist #2.
Though it didn’t really catch on, I enjoyed John’s Danger Unlimited series for the Legend line quite a bit, particularly the Torch of Liberty back-up stories. I would not be surprised at all if those back-ups and the Torch of Liberty Special were a big influence in the creation of the Ultimate version of Captain America. The Torch of Liberty stories were only written by John. The art was by Kieron Dwyer, who at the time was John’s step-son. For the covers, John only penciled with Gary Cody painting over the pencils.
John’s Sensational She-Hulk was one of the few bright spots at Marvel in the early ’90s, and is still probably my favorite of his work for Marvel. It’s a pity he only stayed on for eight issues. And while I’ve heard many fans say John should never be allowed to ink his own work, I disagree, with this cover being one of the reasons why.
I'm afraid that I'm one of those folks. I've never liked Byrne's inking on his own work. It's always felt too rushed, too sketchy, too -- doodle-ey (with apologies to Ned Flanders). The quality of strength that's always been present in his work seems to fade when he inks -- I think it may be because he doesn't pencil as tightly or as completely when he knows he'll be doing the final inks, and that he resorts to shortcuts when drawing. Plus, I just find his quality of ink line to be unappealing. His work comes off much stronger with the likes of Terry Austin or Joe Rubinstein inking him. Curiously, his inking over other artists, such as Curt Swan and George Perez, comes off much better; probably because their pencils were much tighter.
John’s Sensational She-Hulk was one of the few bright spots at Marvel in the early ’90s, and is still probably my favorite of his work for Marvel. It’s a pity he only stayed on for eight issues. And while I’ve heard many fans say John should never be allowed to ink his own work, I disagree, with this cover being one of the reasons why.
I'm afraid that I'm one of those folks. I've never liked Byrne's inking on his own work. It's always felt too rushed, too sketchy, too -- doodle-ey (with apologies to Ned Flanders). The quality of strength that's always been present in his work seems to fade when he inks -- I think it may be because he doesn't pencil as tightly or as completely when he knows he'll be doing the final inks, and that he resorts to shortcuts when drawing. Plus, I just find his quality of ink line to be unappealing. His work comes off much stronger with the likes of Terry Austin or Joe Rubinstein inking him. Curiously, his inking over other artists, such as Curt Swan and George Perez, comes off much better; probably because their pencils were much tighter.
I would argue the opposite. I think too many times inkers have put too much polish on John’s pencils and stolen some of the energy and life from his linework. Even Terry Austin has been guilty of this on occasion. Terry has done some great work over John’s pencils, but he’s not the best inker for John in every situation. Likewise with Rubinstein. Personally, I think Jerry Ordway handles his pencils the best of anyone. Jerry’s inks give a polished look without subtracting any from the texture of John’s pencils.
John is a big admirer of Joe Kubert and John Buscema, and I think he tries to get a bit of the feel with his inks that those two got with theirs. I'm not putting John in the same class inking-wise as Kubert and Buscema, but both of them had rough, bold, organic styles of inking, and it wouldn’t surprise me if John aspires to achieve a similar quality in his inking.
To be honest, I think most of the people who complain about John’s inking are doing so out of nostalgia and/or emotional attachment for the Byrne/Austin X-Men work. They have it in their heads that all of John’s work should look like that moment in time. Well, John’s penciling has changed since those days. There’s more texture in his pencils these days, and that carries through in his inks as well.
I’ve seen a lot of John’s pencils, both done for other inkers and for his own inking, and there is very little difference between the two. His pencils are pretty tight either way. He does very little extra drawing in the inking stage. His inking does tend to beef up the linework a bit, but otherwise it’s pretty much true to his pencils.
Yeah, that’s a good one. I’ve never been a fan of Gumby, but the comic book series wasn’t bad. The story behind how Art came to work on Gumby is actually pretty funny. It starts several years earlier when he was working on the second issue of Longshot. While he was working on the pages, he would occasionally draw a Gumby Superman or Gumby Spider-Man or Gumby whatever on the pages (in the corners of the pages). He took the pages with him on a visit to Mike Mignola in Oakland, and they went to Comics and Comix (a local comic shop) where Art showed the pages to Diana Schutz, who worked there at the time. Years later, Schutz was working as an editor at Comico, and she remembers Art drawing those little Gumby figures, so she figures she’ll get the license to do Gumby comics so that Art will want to work for Comico. Well, Art didn’t want to draw a Gumby comic, because he thought he’d get pigeon-holed as a humor artist if he did, but he didn’t want to tell Schutz that. So Art decides to insist on a writer that he is sure will be too busy to take on the job, and he settles on Bob Burden, who was writing and drawing Flaming Carrot, thinking that Bob would turn it down and he wouldn’t have to draw Gumby. Half an hour later Schutz calls Art and says, “Bob, would love to do it,” so Art was stuck doing the book after all. But at least he enjoyed doing it, and, of course, it didn’t hinder his career in the least.
John’s Sensational She-Hulk was one of the few bright spots at Marvel in the early ’90s, and is still probably my favorite of his work for Marvel. It’s a pity he only stayed on for eight issues. And while I’ve heard many fans say John should never be allowed to ink his own work, I disagree, with this cover being one of the reasons why.
I'm afraid that I'm one of those folks. I've never liked Byrne's inking on his own work. It's always felt too rushed, too sketchy, too -- doodle-ey (with apologies to Ned Flanders). The quality of strength that's always been present in his work seems to fade when he inks -- I think it may be because he doesn't pencil as tightly or as completely when he knows he'll be doing the final inks, and that he resorts to shortcuts when drawing. Plus, I just find his quality of ink line to be unappealing. His work comes off much stronger with the likes of Terry Austin or Joe Rubinstein inking him. Curiously, his inking over other artists, such as Curt Swan and George Perez, comes off much better; probably because their pencils were much tighter.
I would argue the opposite. I think too many times inkers have put too much polish on John’s pencils and stolen some of the energy and life from his linework. Even Terry Austin has been guilty of this on occasion. Terry has done some great work over John’s pencils, but he’s not the best inker for John in every situation. Likewise with Rubinstein. Personally, I think Jerry Ordway handles his pencils the best of anyone. Jerry’s inks give a polished look without subtracting any from the texture of John’s pencils.
John is a big admirer of Joe Kubert and John Buscema, and I think he tries to get a bit of the feel with his inks that those two got with theirs. I'm not putting John in the same class inking-wise as Kubert and Buscema, but both of them had rough, bold, organic styles of inking, and it wouldn’t surprise me if John aspires to achieve a similar quality in his inking.
To be honest, I think most of the people who complain about John’s inking are doing so out of nostalgia and/or emotional attachment for the Byrne/Austin X-Men work. They have it in their heads that all of John’s work should look like that moment in time. Well, John’s penciling has changed since those days. There’s more texture in his pencils these days, and that carries through in his inks as well.
I’ve seen a lot of John’s pencils, both done for other inkers and for his own inking, and there is very little difference between the two. His pencils are pretty tight either way. He does very little extra drawing in the inking stage. His inking does tend to beef up the linework a bit, but otherwise it’s pretty much true to his pencils.
I'm not arguing against the fact that most artists are better when they handle their own inking; I just disagree that Byrne is in that group. And I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree on the matter of the quality of his inking.
My first Walt Simonson comic was Hercules Unbound #9 (Feb.-Mar. 1977), where he was inked (heavily) by Wally Wood, but my first Simonson comic with a Simonson cover was Star Wars #16 (Oct. 1978). The interiors were inked by Bob Wiacek (my favorite of Walt’s inkers other than Walt himself), but Walt handled the cover art solo (pun intended). Yes, it featured the Lepi smuggler Jaxxon, a character I actually liked, even though I would always think, “Why are they using a giant green rabbit?” But this was a pretty cool story, especially for the eight-year-old Star Wars fanatic I was at the time.
I always liked Walt’s take on the Joker. The Joker was usually drawn so skinny and frail looking that I had trouble believing his punches would have any effect whatsoever on Batman, no matter how much manic craziness was behind them. Walt drew the Joker with a bit of weight to him and made him more threatening in my eyes. Walt’s design for the cover of Batman #366 (Dec. 1983) is interesting in that all the action is at the top of the page with the logo pushed to the bottom—something rarely done in those days.
Thor #350 is the type of cover you would never see in today’s market, where the entire background, figures and all, is colored in two tones of purple to make the foreground characters pop. We used this cover as a template for Walt’s Modern Masters cover.
For Malibu’s Bravura line, Walt brought back his pet project Star Slammers. It’s a good, albeit brief, series if you like intelligent, action-oriented sci-fi.
As much as I love his Thor run, I think Orion may be the best work of Walt’s career so far. When I saw the full-size scans of his pencils for the battle between Orion and Darkseid in issue #5, I was blown away. If IDW really wants me to shell out the big buck for their Artist Editions, they should do a volume of Walt’s pencils and include that issue. There is so much power and energy in Walt’s raw pencils, and a lot of it gets lost in the inking stage, even when Walt inks himself.
I love Walt Simonson's work. Now this is an example where the artist's work looks best when he does his own inking, though he has had some excellent inkers over the years, most notably Bob Wiacek. The Hercules Unbound era -- a book I really enjoyed at the time -- was very heavily overwhelmed by Wally Wood (who generally overwhelms everyone he inks), but I think that was an intentional direction. (Or so I assume; wasn't the editor on that series Joe Orlando?) The only other time I can remember seeing Simonson's pencils so overwhelmed was during his first stint on Thor when he was inked by Tony DeZuniga, and, again, I think that was intentional, trying to maintain a John Buscema feel to the series.
One of the best cover jobs I remember him doing -- and there were so many terrific covers by Simonson -- was his covers for Valiant during the Unity crossover, where he did covers for all eight monthly titles, and the covers fit together like a jigsaw. (Frank Miller had done the same thing for the previous month.)
Thought I'd add a few Simonson covers to the ante:
First part of a four-part story that ran through all of the Superman books that month, about Superman being a one-man Justice League, inspired by a Silver Age story of the same name.
The cover to Solar, part of the Unity crossover; get all eight books for that month to piece together a much larger image.
The cover to the first issue of X-Factor; the third part of a story that brought Jean Grey back from the dead and revealed that she had not been and was not now the Phoenix. (Or so we thought...)
Star Slammers -- a project that Simonson originally did as a school project, and later published through the original Marvel Graphic Novel series. He later revived it through Malibu's Bravura imprint for a few issues of an ongoing series.
I can remember seeing Simonson's first published work when I was in grammer school, and he couldn't have been a whole lot older than I was -- in an issue of Magnus, Robot Fighter, amid a bunch of drawings sent in by readers. Sorry that I can't specify the specific issue, but it's been too many years...
John’s Sensational She-Hulk was one of the few bright spots at Marvel in the early ’90s, and is still probably my favorite of his work for Marvel. It’s a pity he only stayed on for eight issues. And while I’ve heard many fans say John should never be allowed to ink his own work, I disagree, with this cover being one of the reasons why.
I'm afraid that I'm one of those folks. I've never liked Byrne's inking on his own work. It's always felt too rushed, too sketchy, too -- doodle-ey (with apologies to Ned Flanders). The quality of strength that's always been present in his work seems to fade when he inks -- I think it may be because he doesn't pencil as tightly or as completely when he knows he'll be doing the final inks, and that he resorts to shortcuts when drawing. Plus, I just find his quality of ink line to be unappealing. His work comes off much stronger with the likes of Terry Austin or Joe Rubinstein inking him. Curiously, his inking over other artists, such as Curt Swan and George Perez, comes off much better; probably because their pencils were much tighter.
I would argue the opposite. I think too many times inkers have put too much polish on John’s pencils and stolen some of the energy and life from his linework. Even Terry Austin has been guilty of this on occasion. Terry has done some great work over John’s pencils, but he’s not the best inker for John in every situation. Likewise with Rubinstein. Personally, I think Jerry Ordway handles his pencils the best of anyone. Jerry’s inks give a polished look without subtracting any from the texture of John’s pencils.
John is a big admirer of Joe Kubert and John Buscema, and I think he tries to get a bit of the feel with his inks that those two got with theirs. I'm not putting John in the same class inking-wise as Kubert and Buscema, but both of them had rough, bold, organic styles of inking, and it wouldn’t surprise me if John aspires to achieve a similar quality in his inking.
To be honest, I think most of the people who complain about John’s inking are doing so out of nostalgia and/or emotional attachment for the Byrne/Austin X-Men work. They have it in their heads that all of John’s work should look like that moment in time. Well, John’s penciling has changed since those days. There’s more texture in his pencils these days, and that carries through in his inks as well.
I’ve seen a lot of John’s pencils, both done for other inkers and for his own inking, and there is very little difference between the two. His pencils are pretty tight either way. He does very little extra drawing in the inking stage. His inking does tend to beef up the linework a bit, but otherwise it’s pretty much true to his pencils.
I'm not arguing against the fact that most artists are better when they handle their own inking; I just disagree that Byrne is in that group. And I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree on the matter of the quality of his inking.
And I’m not arguing that John is the best inker of his work in every situation—I wouldn’t want him inking Fantastic Four or Superman, say—but I do think he’s a much better inker than he typically gets credit for. As to the quality, it’s all subjective.
I can remember seeing Simonson's first published work when I was in grammer school, and he couldn't have been a whole lot older than I was -- in an issue of Magnus, Robot Fighter, amid a bunch of drawings sent in by readers. Sorry that I can't specify the specific issue, but it's been too many years...
I love Walt Simonson's work. Now this is an example where the artist's work looks best when he does his own inking, though he has had some excellent inkers over the years, most notably Bob Wiacek. The Hercules Unbound era -- a book I really enjoyed at the time -- was very heavily overwhelmed by Wally Wood (who generally overwhelms everyone he inks), but I think that was an intentional direction. (Or so I assume; wasn't the editor on that series Joe Orlando?) The only other time I can remember seeing Simonson's pencils so overwhelmed was during his first stint on Thor when he was inked by Tony DeZuniga, and, again, I think that was intentional, trying to maintain a John Buscema feel to the series.
Wood was not doing his best work by that point, and he had assistants helping him on that stuff (backgrounds mostly) when he was too drunk or too deep in depression to do it himself. And, yes, Joe Orlando was the editor. Wally Wood was hired because he was Wally Wood, and that’s what DC wanted from him. The problem was he was only a shadow of his former self.
I can remember seeing Simonson's first published work when I was in grammer school, and he couldn't have been a whole lot older than I was -- in an issue of Magnus, Robot Fighter, amid a bunch of drawings sent in by readers. Sorry that I can't specify the specific issue, but it's been too many years...
Comments
Inked by Joe Giella
Inked by Murphy Anderson
Inked by Chuck Cuidera
Inked by Joe Giella
Pablo Marcos
Rudy Nebres
Did this cover which is the final issue of Savage Sword of Conan. I have always liked Rudy Nebres art.
I love Kevin’s style on not just this New Mutants cover, but the book’s interior too. He got quite a bit of hate mail for it, but his minimalist, Toth-like approach is fantastic. The best example is the great Man-Bat story he did for Secret Origins #39 the following year.
A nice take on the Joker.
His best work, though, was for the “Jack B. Quick” stories in Alan Moore’s Tomorrow Stories anthology. That series was tailor-made for Kevin and his quirky sense of humor.
The other thing about his work that bothers me on an aesthetic level is that he draws people with what I can only call cold, dead eyes -- most of the time, his people look like they're drugged. It's not a detriment in someone like the Joker, but quite disturbing in characters like Superman or Halo.
He's a very powerful inker over other folks' work, too -- and again that can be incredible or unfortunate, depending on the penciller. I think his best inking (that I can recall off the top of my head) was over Dan Jurgens on the Superman vs Aliens crossover where his style was most effective to that type of story.
As for the eyes, I don’t have a problem with the way he draws them. He does tend to draw heavier outlines of eyelids than most with very light, delicate detailing of the actual eye, so perhaps it’s that combination you don’t like. I will say that at times his figures get a little stiff in the inking process.
I can only think of two jobs he’s inked where he didn’t improve the penciler’s work. One was the Superman: Blood of My Ancestors one-shot, but in that case John Buscema died halfway through penciling the book, and Gil Kane was brought on to finish it. Kevin had to ink those two very different styles in a way that the first half of the book didn’t look completely different from the second half, so he gets a pass on that. The other was a Green Lantern story penciled by Carmine Infantino for Action Comics Weekly #642. Whereas Kevin worked very well in conjunction with Gil Kane, his style did not mesh well as all with Carmine’s. To be fair, Carmine’s pencils on that job were very loose, and Kevin had a hard time deciphering them.
The Superman/Aliens book was definitely one of his best inking (only) jobs, but I’d give the top spot to his inking of José Luis García-López for Dr. Strangefate—that’s one gorgeous book.
The one penciler he tends to add very little of his own style to is Mike Mignola. The first time Kevin inked Mike on a full story (Aliens: Salvation), Mike actually asked Kevin to redraw whatever he wanted and make it look like Kevin. But Kevin thought Mike’s pencils were perfect, and he couldn’t find any spots, outside of small details, where he could add his own flair that wouldn’t mess up the overall image. Mike actually got upset with Kevin about it, but Kevin told him it was his fault for drawing so well.
I’m a sucker for Godzilla, and Art drew probably the best Godzilla story ever, Godzilla Color Special #1.
His Monkeyman and O’Brien series for Dark Horse’s Legends line was a whole lot of fun. I wish he’d do more of it.
I wouldn’t mind more Jonni Future stories either. Art’s work on those for Tom Strong’s Terrific Tales was mind-blowing. He was looking at a lot of Italian artist Serpierri’s work during that time, and incorporated some of that look into his own style. Gorgeous stuff.
Mike Mignola
Dave Stewart
Just recently read this trade. And I think it is based on an unfinished Robert E Howard story. It is a fun comic and a great introduction to Solomon Kane. I hope someday the Solomon Kane film gets a release in region 1. I have had the region 2 dvd for almost 2 years now,and it is a great film.
John’s Sensational She-Hulk was one of the few bright spots at Marvel in the early ’90s, and is still probably my favorite of his work for Marvel. It’s a pity he only stayed on for eight issues. And while I’ve heard many fans say John should never be allowed to ink his own work, I disagree, with this cover being one of the reasons why.
His work on Namor is my prime example though. His use of Duo-Tone shading in his inking made the look of the book very distinctive from everything else on the stands. And I really liked his take on Namor. The series tends to get somewhat overlooked, but I think it was some of his best work.
The cover to Namor #22, by the way, is an homage to Gil Kane/John Romita’s cover to Iron Fist #2.
Though it didn’t really catch on, I enjoyed John’s Danger Unlimited series for the Legend line quite a bit, particularly the Torch of Liberty back-up stories. I would not be surprised at all if those back-ups and the Torch of Liberty Special were a big influence in the creation of the Ultimate version of Captain America. The Torch of Liberty stories were only written by John. The art was by Kieron Dwyer, who at the time was John’s step-son. For the covers, John only penciled with Gary Cody painting over the pencils.
Rick Geary is one of my all-time favorites.
John is a big admirer of Joe Kubert and John Buscema, and I think he tries to get a bit of the feel with his inks that those two got with theirs. I'm not putting John in the same class inking-wise as Kubert and Buscema, but both of them had rough, bold, organic styles of inking, and it wouldn’t surprise me if John aspires to achieve a similar quality in his inking.
To be honest, I think most of the people who complain about John’s inking are doing so out of nostalgia and/or emotional attachment for the Byrne/Austin X-Men work. They have it in their heads that all of John’s work should look like that moment in time. Well, John’s penciling has changed since those days. There’s more texture in his pencils these days, and that carries through in his inks as well.
I’ve seen a lot of John’s pencils, both done for other inkers and for his own inking, and there is very little difference between the two. His pencils are pretty tight either way. He does very little extra drawing in the inking stage. His inking does tend to beef up the linework a bit, but otherwise it’s pretty much true to his pencils.
1978 Ernie Chan and Rudy Nebres again
I always liked Walt’s take on the Joker. The Joker was usually drawn so skinny and frail looking that I had trouble believing his punches would have any effect whatsoever on Batman, no matter how much manic craziness was behind them. Walt drew the Joker with a bit of weight to him and made him more threatening in my eyes. Walt’s design for the cover of Batman #366 (Dec. 1983) is interesting in that all the action is at the top of the page with the logo pushed to the bottom—something rarely done in those days.
Thor #350 is the type of cover you would never see in today’s market, where the entire background, figures and all, is colored in two tones of purple to make the foreground characters pop. We used this cover as a template for Walt’s Modern Masters cover.
For Malibu’s Bravura line, Walt brought back his pet project Star Slammers. It’s a good, albeit brief, series if you like intelligent, action-oriented sci-fi.
As much as I love his Thor run, I think Orion may be the best work of Walt’s career so far. When I saw the full-size scans of his pencils for the battle between Orion and Darkseid in issue #5, I was blown away. If IDW really wants me to shell out the big buck for their Artist Editions, they should do a volume of Walt’s pencils and include that issue. There is so much power and energy in Walt’s raw pencils, and a lot of it gets lost in the inking stage, even when Walt inks himself.
One of the best cover jobs I remember him doing -- and there were so many terrific covers by Simonson -- was his covers for Valiant during the Unity crossover, where he did covers for all eight monthly titles, and the covers fit together like a jigsaw. (Frank Miller had done the same thing for the previous month.)
First part of a four-part story that ran through all of the Superman books that month, about Superman being a one-man Justice League, inspired by a Silver Age story of the same name.
The cover to Solar, part of the Unity crossover; get all eight books for that month to piece together a much larger image.
The cover to the first issue of X-Factor; the third part of a story that brought Jean Grey back from the dead and revealed that she had not been and was not now the Phoenix. (Or so we thought...)
Star Slammers -- a project that Simonson originally did as a school project, and later published through the original Marvel Graphic Novel series. He later revived it through Malibu's Bravura imprint for a few issues of an ongoing series.
I can remember seeing Simonson's first published work when I was in grammer school, and he couldn't have been a whole lot older than I was -- in an issue of Magnus, Robot Fighter, amid a bunch of drawings sent in by readers. Sorry that I can't specify the specific issue, but it's been too many years...
I have been in awe of his work the early 70s.
Still am.