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Phil Southern
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 205
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| Posted: 19 December 2012 at 11:15am | IP Logged | 1
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Over in the new artwork thread, you discussed Frank McLaughlin inking some of the pages of Man Of Steel, and it reminded me of something about which I've long been curious. I'm aware that Dick Giordano had his assistants and apprentices work on pages quite often (I'm thinking here of Terry Austin's contributions to Superman Vs. Spider-Man).
As a penciller, what was your reaction to having a collaborator, like an inker, ghost out the work? You've always seemed to give credit where it was due, such as the inking assists of Keith Williams in the days of yore.
I can't help and project my own feelings of disappointment whenever I find out the "name" isn't always the "talent". I have these romantic notions of a craftsman producing his work, I guess!
Thanks so much!
Phil
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 19 December 2012 at 12:49pm | IP Logged | 2
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When I agreed to do Superman, Dick Giordano, as head honcho of DC, asked me who I would want as my inker. Immediately I said "You!" And with a big smile, Dick agreed.Toward the end of the conversation, tho, knowing Dick's history, I added, "When I say 'you', I mean YOU. Will you promise me that you'll do it all yourself?" "Of course," Dick beamed. "This is an important project! I'm excited about working on it!" Then the inks started to come along and I realized Dick's promise had been made of smoke and sunbeams. He was obviously farming it out -- "Dick Art" as this was known around the Office -- and the "important" project was getting no better from him than on anything else he'd inked in a lot of years. It was the one of many disappointments that grew around the Superman assignment.
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Phil Southern
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 205
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| Posted: 19 December 2012 at 1:21pm | IP Logged | 3
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Thanks for the answer.
I am, without exception, surprised and saddened when I hear about comic artists having others work under their name. And I mean, EVERY SINGLE TIME it gets me!
As a wee lad, attempting to produce my own comics, I had thought that they were made, whole cloth, by one person, as I myself made them. With a greater understanding of the process, there was still an appreciation of the craft, skill and talent inherent in each of the jobs that led to my favorite comics.
As an adult, I've realized that your work, and the works of Jim Aparo (that guy could do everything!) are the closest to my innocent conception of what a comic creator is. Your name is a stamp of quality!
Phil
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Brian Miller
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Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 31170
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| Posted: 19 December 2012 at 1:52pm | IP Logged | 4
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Was there anything in that series Giordano actually DID put ink to paper on?
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Daniel Gillotte
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Joined: 11 October 2005
Location: United States
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| Posted: 19 December 2012 at 3:36pm | IP Logged | 5
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Do others on the board know of other artists like Giordano? I'm curious to know who was likely drawing it on their own vs. having others do substantial portions of the work. Not comic BOOKS, but my esteem for Charles Schulz grew over the years when I found out that he was (until the end) drawing every line unlike Jim Davis who hadn't drawn Garfield after his first few years with the strip.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 19 December 2012 at 4:55pm | IP Logged | 6
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Don't imagine Dick's actions were all that extraordinary. One of the big eye-openners for me, getting into the Biz, was learning how many artists, both pencilers and inkers, used ghosts. We all know the horror stories about Bob Kane, but he was less uncommon than we might wish. It was things of this nature that informed my own policy of "credit where credit is due" -- no only for me, but for everyone.
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Kevin Sharp
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Joined: 09 December 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 326
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| Posted: 19 December 2012 at 6:22pm | IP Logged | 7
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I don't know if the "real" Giordano would've made any difference (because he never seemed a great fit for JB's pencils anyway), but the inks are the one element that keeps MOS from being a creatively *perfect* series for me.
Edited by Kevin Sharp on 19 December 2012 at 6:22pm
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Ian Penman
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| Posted: 19 December 2012 at 7:14pm | IP Logged | 8
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Wally Wood used assistants. Dan Adkins and Raph Reece amoingst others.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 19 December 2012 at 8:40pm | IP Logged | 9
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Wood was widely reported to have said "Don't draw what you can swipe, don't swipe what you can trace, don't trace what you can cut and paste, and don't do any of that if you can hire someone to do it for you."No report on how deeply his tongue may have been in his cheek.
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Brennan Voboril
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| Posted: 19 December 2012 at 8:44pm | IP Logged | 10
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So who did the inking on Man of Steel then? Frank McLaughlin? Did Giordano ink any of it? Any whole issues?
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Jason Czeskleba
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| Posted: 20 December 2012 at 1:09pm | IP Logged | 11
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I'm sure Giordano did some of it. Most likely he did faces of the main characters, and maybe their bodies at times, while the assistants did the bodies, secondary characters and backgrounds. That's usually the way it worked.
Another guy who used assistants is Murphy Anderson. Both Dave Cockrum and Al Milgrom got their starts working for him. Mike Esposito and Frank Giacoia used assistants on backgrounds. Gil Kane had Howard Chaykin and Joe Staton as assistants (most notably, Staton reports he ghosted the entire issue of Spider-Man #150).
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Flavio Sapha
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Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: Brazil
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| Posted: 20 December 2012 at 1:17pm | IP Logged | 12
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I think Larry Hama and Mike Zeck were also in the Wood studio.
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Topic Closed)
