4 Inkers Take on Gene Colan's Pencils!

[@alanalbrecht1184]

God damn I miss videos like this. No one else is even capable of making the type of quality content and commentary that CK did. What little remaining enjoyment I get from the medium is because of you guys. The light has faded, thanks for keeping the channel up.

[@JamesHaney]

Colan's work on Don McGregor's NATHANIEL DUSK was incredible : his pencils were inked in the first miniseries, but in the second, Colan's pencils stood alone, no inks, just coloring to enhance them, creating a unique visual style that has NEVER been equaled. His work on NIGHT FORCE (with Wolfman) and RAGAMUFFINS (also with McGregor) exemplifies his one-of-a-kind approach to illustration. 🖖♾

[@ericburke9490]

Currently reading Tomb of Dracula myself and Colan’s art is so good!

[@vincentimbesi3947]

If this is your first time reading Tomb if Dracula you’re in for a treat! Gene’s art is beautiful from beginning to end and the story really gels when Marv starts to write the book. Now I need to read it again too! 😊

[@anotherbooktubechannel]

More stuff like this please! Comparing inkers side by side on a single penciller is a tremendous idea

[@BD_MEDIA.]

Gene Colan is one of my favorite artists in Silver Age Marvel, and your in depth study of his dynamics in his drawings could only have been done by fellow artists that truly know their "stuff" thoroughly 😀!!! It's always a pleasure hearing your points of view on comics. Thank you!

[@bozodeathgod]

At 11:25 we see Gene Colan dropping in a Stan and Joan cameo. An incredible artist, seeing all those background 70's people are rockin' it.

[@paulpunisher]

Re: the Schwarzenegger advert, Joe Weider (“the father of body building”) is the guy who sponsored Arnold to move to California from Austria to compete; he created the “Mr Olympia” contest, and owned the major body building/fitness magazine/publishing, weights equipment and supplement manufacturing companies. So when it says “Joe Weider creates the strong arms”, its referring to the products Arnold supposedly used. If this comic was around 1972, Weider actually got into trouble for the wording on certain products making the claims that they did on the label, using Arnold’s picture.

[@JoeyRocket]

I've been giving out my clean comics on Halloween, but my adult doubles always end up in the community box.

[@nelsonsims830]

Are you guys planning to get into John Byrne's Last Galactus Story?

[@MrJohnffrey87]

It's funny Gene once did a Disney comic with Goofy as Dracula.

[@vincentimbesi3947]

Really?! I’ve never seen that. I bet it’s really cool!

[@jamesturoczy2816]

To see examples of Gene Colan's pencil's, check out Eclipse Magazine from the early 1980's. Issues #'s 3, 5 and 8 all have Don Mcgregor's Ragamuffins in them, shot un-inked from Gene's pencils. If you can't find them, search for the comic sized reprint, "Ragamuffins" #1 from 1984 with color added.

[@IJLook]

Sydney Shores did some good work on Red Wolf

[@billyhaney5117]

Dick Giordano inked Colan at Marvel in an issue of the magazine DRACULA LIVES. It's beautiful.

[@ImYourHuckleberry_29]

I'm trying to find it online. Do u know which ish # please?

[@billstorie5161]

Now THIS is a subject that I would like to see taken further gentlemen. There are probably as many opinions as there are artist/inker combinations and taking Gene as a starting episode was a great idea. As an art fan going back to the 60's I've come across probably every combination that you can think of and put a lot of time into deliberating over Gene and his collaborators but the TLDR version is my opinion is that inkers who primarily or exclusively use brushes are the best match for Gene's pencils. Tom Palmer is of course a genius in his own right and some of his solo art on strips is well worth checking out but inkers who seem to work in a similar vein with similar inking material mesh best with Gene - Sinnott, George Klein, Romita, Mooney, Giacoia and Adkins all show Gene's art to it's best effect whilst inkers using pen nibs seem to struggle - even the great Al Williamson never quite got it right imho although it was a truly unique take as was the work of Klaus Janson, and whilst I am not aware of any collaborations I reckon that Kevin Nowlan and Terry Austin, whilst being two of my personal favourite artists, would not work well. The only exception to that is Sal Buscema who didn't ink Colan many times but when he did it looked rather nice. That might be because Sal was still in his early days and using a brush back then (although with such skill and precision that for many years I thought be used nibs - until I managed to see some original art from that period). Sal might also be an idea for this series if you continue - Janson or Palmer inking Sal looked phenomenal but he has had some horrendous inkers over his career and I reckon Sal is his own best inker, which strangely enough you could also say about Gene although like big John he was able to make more money by sticking to pencils in his heyday. Best Colan art of all was the Nathaniel Dusk series shot directly from his un-inked pencils so could you perhaps say that the best inker for Colan was...no inker at all? Hmmmm. Thanks again for all the hard work guys and for getting the old brain cells rattling!

[@cghirardo5951]

I always considered Gene Colan a master of motion.

[@jimmanley558]

Great to see a spotlight on Gene Colan. He and so many others have done great work and are overlooked by the wider community.

[@frankstrysik1558]

Giordano inked Colan at Marvel and Wally Wood inked him on an issue of Captain America, that was interesting to see.

[@drzontar]

Syd Shores inked Jack Kirby on some Captain America stories (in TALES OF SUSPENSE, I think). He wasn't a good fit, IMO. He was more interested in shading and texture than the action and dynamics that Jack was going for.

[@michaelgarza6735]

It's kind of amazing to see just how much of Colan's signature style comes through no matter who is inking him...

[@JorgeVelezMusic]

Great idea for an episode!

[@Therealmrmeow]

Great concept for a video and super fun to watch. How about a comparison based around one character and the different artists that drew them? You've touched on it many times but how about an in depth look?

[@reprintranch]

I like this Syd Shores inking a heck of a lot more than I liked his work on Kirby's Captain America circa 1968. Also, gotta give a shout-out to Captain America 127 (cover-dated July 1970), wherein Wally Wood provides the inks for Gene Colan's Cap pencils, with stunning results. It was Woody's only work on the title, and it might have been the only time he inked Colan anywhere, though I'm not certain.

[@sleepyreader666]

Maybe take a look at Joe Sinott over Gene Colan.

[@anthonytee6798]

suggestion - if you do more of this type of video show a few examples of the artists pencils just to set a baseline

[@dwaynemuth8775]

Captain America 117-125,Colan inked by Joltin Joe Sinniott! Al Williamson on prestige format Tomb of Dracula 1-4! Wallace Wood on Cap 127 or 128 unique! Dick Giordano inks Gene at DC on covers,Nathaniel Dusk comes to mind! Great 👍 video! Keep reading and making comix!

[@Gootie29]

Great contrast and comparison. Thanks for posting this

[@taylorjohn4108]

Giordano inked Colan on at least one issue of Strange Tales / Brother Voodoo in the '70s and the results were...yesss!

[@TheTonyFigueroa]

Wally Wood inked a Captain America Colan story. As you might expect it ended up more Wood than Colan.

[@UncleErnie68]

It was interesting when I saw Colan's work in Warren's early Creepy and Eerie. His own finishes were very free.

[@jdc4483]

Syd Shores was not all that wonderful artist but one of the best inkers on Don Heck.

[@skooter6235]

Gene Colon was a great artist

[@garyduggan897]

Probably a pretty basic question here: When inking someone else's pencils in this period, was it always / usually directly onto the same board covering up the original pencil drawing? Or was the inking done over some kind of reproduction / copy of the pencil drawing so that the original pencils still remain untouched and intact as a separate board? Confused about how some of those original pencils can exist. Always thought they were inked over to become final art for reproduction. Am I misinterpreting the whole old-school process or is there a couple of different variations of how it was done? I'm talking about before digital obviously!

[@trevor_nielson]

Colon's greatest inker was probably Tony De Zuniga. seemed to just "Get" Colon's mark making.

[@ImYourHuckleberry_29]

Yesss. Loved them on Batman.

[@ImYourHuckleberry_29]

I'd say in my limited readership that Palmer and Janson are Gene's best inkers. Also De Zuniga.

[@Gyork_]

Back when they spam advertised in comics like they were pornsites, attacking all possible insecurities with all sorts of scams and grifts.

[@frederickwarrick1294]

i was personally told by an inker that when working with Colan he first spread rubber cement over the entire page then peeled it off... what was left was what he inked.... BTW this was an Eisner Award winning cartoonist