Tag: Howard Mackie
The Daily Comic Book Coffee, Part Seven
The challenge: Pick a subject and find a different artist every day for that subject. I chose "coffee." From the work of how many comic book artists can I find examples of people drinking coffee? I post these daily on Facebook, and collect them together here.
31) Rich Buckler & Joe Sinnott
"The Mind of the Monster" from Giant-Size Super-Stars #1, penciled by Rich Buckler, inked by Joe Sinnott, written by Gerry Conway, lettered by Artie Simek, and colored by Petra Goldberg, published by Marvel Comics with a May 1974 cover date.
The Incredible Hulk leaps into Manhattan and passes out in a deserted alley. Transforming back into Bruce Banner, the cursed scientist heads over to the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building headquarters, hoping Reed Richards can find a cure for his condition. Only Ben Grimm, the Thing, is home, but he welcomes Bruce, telling him "Guy's like us've gotta stick together."
The Thing asks the frazzled Banner "Ya want some java?" A grateful Banner accepts, and the Thing brews him a cup of coffee using some weird-looking Kirby-tech. "Don't look at me, Banner — it's one'a Stretcho's dohickeys." Yeah, leave it to Reed Richards to take something as simple as a coffee maker and transform it into a ridiculously complicated device!
The Think lets slip that Reed was recently working on a "psi-amplifier" to restore his lost humanity. An eager Banner decides that with a few modifications the device can cure both of them in one shot. Unfortunately they don't wait for Reed to return before proceeding with the experiment, and of course something goes wrong. Next thing you know, we have another epic battle between the Hulk and the Thing, but with a twist: the Thing's mind is in the body of the Hulk, and vise versa. Hilarity ensues… hilarity and several million dollars worth of property damage.
As explained by editor Roy Thomas in a text piece, Giant-Size Super-Stars was a monthly oversized title that would rotate through three features: the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and Conan the Barbarian. After this issue was released Marvel changed their plans. Spider-Man and Conan both received their own quarterly Giant-Size series, and Giant-Size Super-Stars also became quarterly, renamed Giant-Size Fantastic Four with issue #2.
The creators behind "The Mind of the Monster" were the regular Fantastic Four team: writer Gerry Conway, penciler Rich Buckler, and inker Joe Sinnott. They all do good work on this entertaining tale of swapped identities and smashed buildings. Buckler does a fine job showing via facial expressions and body language that the Thing and the Hulk have switched bodies. Longtime FF inker Sinnott does his usual great work finishing the art.
32) Rick Burchett
Presenting a double dose of caffeinated cliffhangers starring those two-fisted aviators the Blackhawks! Action Comics Weekly #632 is cover-dated December 1987, and Blackhawk #2 is cover-dated April 1989. Both stories are by the creative team of artist Rick Burchett, writer Martin Pasko, letterer Steve Haynie, and colorist Tom Ziuko, published by DC Comics.
I was sad to hear that longtime comic book writer Martin Pasko had passed away on May 10th at the age of 65. Among the numerous characters Pasko worked on was the revamp of the Blackhawks conceived by Howard Chaykin. Pasko chronicled the aviation adventures of Janos Prohaska and Co in serials published in Action Comics Weekly, and then in an all-too-short lived Blackhawk ongoing series.
Pasko was paired with the great, underrated artist Rick Burchett. I've always enjoyed Burchett's art. His style is simultaneously cartoony yet possessed of a sort of gritty verisimilitude (I hope I'm articulating that in an accurate manner). Pasko & Burchett chronicled the Blackhawk's post World War II adventures which saw the ace pilots becoming embroiled in the Cold War anti-Communist activities of the newly-formed CIA.
Within the pages of the Action Comics Weekly #632, the Blackhawks have been tasked with transporting chemist Constance Darabont to West Berlin to pick up an experimental batch of LSD. Unfortunately for Prosahka and his team Constance is murdered in Berlin and replaced by Nazi war criminal Gretchen Koblenz. On the flight back the diabolical Gretchen spikes the Blackhawks' coffee with the LSD, pulling a gun on Olaf Friedriksen when her deadly ruse is discovered!
Blackhawk #2 ends on a much less life-threatening note, but certainly one that is just as dramatic. Over morning coffee Janos and the Blackhawks' assistant director Mairzey ponder the current whereabouts of the missing Natalie Reed, as well as wondering what will become of Natalie's infant son. Mairzey tells Janos that she has been considering adopting the baby. Suddenly an unidentified figure enters the room and announces "I was always afraid to tell you this before… but I'm the father of Natalie's baby…"
(Cue melodramatic music!!!)
The Blackhawk serials written by Grell & Pasko and drawn by Burchett were among the best material to run in Action Comics Weekly. I'm happy they've finally been collected together with the excellent Blackhawk miniseries by Chaykin. Hopefully a second collected edition will reprint the ongoing series by Pasko & Burchett.
33) Jack Davis
Today's art comes from "Dig That Cat… He's Real Gone" in The Haunt of Fear #21, drawn by Jack Davis, written by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines, lettered by Jim Wroten, and colored by Marie Severin, published by EC Comics with a Sept-Oct 1953 cover date.
When I was a kid I preferred the sci-fi stories from Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, but as I got older I developed a taste for EC's horror titles. I guess my dry, offbeat sense of humor came to align more closely with EC's macabre pun-cracking horror hosts.
"Dig That Cat… He's Real Gone" is the story of Ulric the Undying, who makes his fortune staging very public, very violent deaths from which he miraculously recovers each time. In a flashback, we see that Ulric was previously a nameless bum on skid row who was approached by Dr. Emil Manfred. Over a cup of coffee, Manfred claimed that he had discovered the secret of a cat's nine lives, and offered to surgically transplant that ability into the bum, with the end goal of gaining wealth & fame. Manfred is successful and "Ulric the Undying" is created, but this being an EC horror story, of course things eventually take a very nasty turn for all involved.
Jack Davis was a frequent contributor to EC's horror anthologies, illustrating many of their most famous, or perhaps infamous, stories. Davis was certainly adept at creating moody atmospheres perfectly suited to Al Feldstein's scripts. His artwork was also appeared regularly in EC's satirical comic books Mad and Panic. Following the demise of EC's comic book line he drew trading cards for Topps. From the 1960s onward David, who was renowned for his caricatures, did a great deal of advertising work, movie posters and magazine covers. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 91.
34) Ross Andru & Frank Giacoia
Amazing Spider-Man #184, penciled by Ross Andru, inked by Frank Giacoia, written & edited by Marv Wolfman, lettered by John Costanza, and colored by Glynis Wein, published by Marvel Comics with a September 1978 cover date.
I recently learned of this storyline thanks to Brian Cronin of Comic Book Resources. In the previous issue Peter Parker had asked Mary Jane Watson to marry him, but she turned him down. A despondent Peter returned home, only to discover someone was waiting for him in his apartment! On the splash page of this issue, we discover who: Betty Brant, secretary to Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson, and Peter's girlfriend from way back when. Betty, who is all glammed up, has let herself into Peter's apartment and made herself a cup of coffee to await his return. Now that he's home, Betty greets him with a very warm welcome.
There's just one itsy-bitsy problem here: Betty married Ned Leeds a few weeks earlier, and she is supposed to be in Europe with him on their honeymoon.
Yeah, that's the old Parker luck at work, all right. You propose to the woman you love but she turns you down, and when you return home you find your recently-married ex-girlfriend has broken into your place, raided your supply of coffee, and is looking to have a fling with you. Oy vey!
The subplot of Betty attempting to hook up with Peter, and Peter being very tempted in spite of that whole "just married" thing, went on for nearly a year. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that it all ends badly for poor Peter.
Penciling this tale of torrid emotions and pilfered caffeine is veteran comic book artist Ross Andru. After two decades of working for DC Comics on such titles as Wonder Woman, G.I. Combat, The Flash and Metal Men (the last which he co-created with writer Robert Kanigher), Andru came to Marvel in 1971. He penciled Amazing Spider-Man for five years, from 1973 to 1978; this was one of his last issues. Andru is paired here with well-regarded inker Frank Giacoia, who had previously embellished ASM during the early part of Andru's half-decade run.
35) Alex Saviuk & Al Wlliamson
Web of Spider-Man #91, penciled by Alex Saviuk, inked by Al Williamson, written by Howard Mackie, lettered by Rick Parker, and colored by Bob Sharen, published by Marvel Comics with an August 1992 cover date.
Following up on our last entry, it's another Spider-Man page featuring Peter Parker, Betty Brant, coffee and… oh no, Betty's throwing herself at Peter again, isn't she?
Okay, what's actually going on here is that Betty has been working undercover on a story for the Daily Bugle. She's investigating the organization belonging to the international assassin the Foreigner, the man behind the murder of her husband Ned Leeds. When Betty happens to run into Peter in the street she locks lips with him and drags him into a nearby diner so that she can give him the information she's been collecting to pass on to Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson. Unfortunately the people who are following Betty see through her ruse and attack the coffee shop. What follows is Spider-Man spending the rest of the issue trading blows with a pair of the Foreigner's armored goons in the java joint, which of course gets demolished. I hope the owners had their insurance premiums paid up!
Betty had spent a long time after her husband's death traumatized & vulnerable. This was the beginning of a new direction for her, as she quit being Jonah's secretary, became more assertive, and began a career as an investigative journalist for the Bugle.
The pencils are by Alex Saviuk, a really good artist who had a long run on Web of Spider-Man, from 1988 to 1994. I think Saviuk's seven year stint on often gets overlooked because this was at the same time McFarlane, Larsen and Bagley were also drawing the character, and with their more dynamic, flashy styles they consequently receiving more attention. That is a shame, because Saviuk turned in solid, quality work on Web of Spider-Man. I enjoyed his depiction of the character.
As we can see from this page, Saviuk was also really good at rendering the soap opera and non-costumed sequences that are part-and-parcel of Peter Parker's tumultuous personal life.
Author Ben Herman: In My Not So Humble OpinionPosted on May 28, 2020 Categories comic booksTags Action Comics Weekly, Al Feldstein, Al Williamson, Alex Saviuk, Amazing Spider-Man, Ben Grimm, Betty Brant, Bill Gaines, Blackhawk, Blackhawks, coffee, comic books, DC Comics, EC Comics, Fantastic Four, Frank Giacoia, Gerry Conway, Howard Mackie, Hulk, Jack Davis, Joe Sinnott, Marie Severin, Martin Pasko, Marv Wolfman, Marvel Comics, Rich Buckler, Rick Burchett, Rick Parker, Ross Andru, Roy Thomas, Spider-Man, The Haunt of Fear, The Thing, Tom Ziuko, Web of Spider-ManLeave a comment on The Daily Comic Book Coffee, Part Seven
Tom Lyle: 1953 to 2019
I was very sorry to hear that longtime comic book artist Tom Lyle passed away earlier this month.
As with a number of other comic book artists who got their start in the 1980s, Lyle's earliest work was published by Bill Black at AC Comics. In late 1986, following a meeting with Chuck Dixon at a Philadelphia convention, Lyle began working for Eclipse Comics. He penciled back-up stories in Airboy featuring the Skywolf character, followed by a three issue Skywolf miniseries, and a few other related books for Eclipse.
I personally didn't have an opportunity to see this work until 2014, when IDW began releasing the Airboy Archives trade paperbacks. Looking at those Skywolf stories, I was impressed by how solid & accomplished Lyle's work was that early in his career, both in terms of his storytelling and his attention to detail. In regards to the later, a good example of this is seen in the above page from Airboy #13 (Jan 1987). Lyle and inker Romeo Tanghal do great work rendering both the airplane and the Himalayan Mountains.
The Skywolf back-ups and miniseries were all written by regular Airboy writer Chuck Dixon, who Lyle would collaborate with again in the future.
In late 1988 Lyle, working with writer Roger Stern and inker Bob Smith, introduced a new Starman, Will Payton, to the DC Comics universe. Although not a huge hit, Starman was nevertheless well-received by readers, and the title ran for 45 issues, with Lyle penciling the first two years of the run. Starting with issue #15 Lyle was paired up with inker Scott Hanna. The two of them made a very effective art team, and they would work together on several more occasions over the years.
Lyle then worked on a couple of jobs for Marvel. He penciled an eight page Captain America story in Marvel Comics Presents #60 written by John Figueroa and inked by Roy Richardson. This was followed by a three part serial that ran in Marvel Comics Present #77-79 featuring the usual teaming up of Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos with Dracula. Written by Doug Murray and inked by Josef Rubinstein, the serial saw the Howlers having to work with the lord of the vampires against the Nazis.
In 1990 Lyle worked on the five issue Robin miniseries for DC Comics, featuring Tim Drake's first solo story. The miniseries reunited Lyle with Chuck Dixon and Bob Smith. It was a huge hit, gaining Lyle a great deal of attention & acclaim. Within the story Dixon & Lyle introduced the villains King Snake and Lynx, both of whom would become recurring foes in the Batman rogues gallery. Also around this time Lyle drew the covers for an eight issue Justice Society of America miniseries. Lyle's next project was for Impact Comics (or, if you prefer, !mpact Comics) a DC Comics imprint featuring revamped versions of Archie Comics' oddball line of superheroes. Lyle was the artist & plotter of The Comet, an interesting reimagining of the character. Scripting The Comet was Mark Waid. Beginning with the second issue Scott Hanna came on as the inker / finisher.
I was 15 years old when the Impact line started, and I really enjoyed most of the books. The Comet was definitely a really good, intriguing series. Lyle & Hanna once again made a great art team. Regrettably, despite apparently having some long-term plans for the series, Lyle left The Comet after issue #8. It fell to Waid, now the full writer, to bring the series to a close when the Impact books were unfortunately cancelled a year later.
Lyle's departure from The Comet was probably due to his increasing workload on the Batman group of titles. During this time he penciled "Shadow Box," a three part follow-up to the Robin miniseries that ran in Batman #467-469. After that he was busy on the high-profile four issue miniseries Robin II: The Joker's Wild. As the title implies, this miniseries saw Tim Drake's long-awaited first encounter with Gotham City's Clown Prince of Crime, the villain who had murdered the previous Boy Wonder.
Following on from this, the team of Dixon, Lyle & Hanna worked on Detective Comics #645-649. One of the highlights of this short run was the introduction of Stephanie Brown aka The Spoiler. Stephanie would go on to become a long-running, popular supporting character in the Bat-books, eventually becoming a new Batgirl. After completing a third Robin miniseries, Lyle moved over to Marvel Comics, where he immediately established himself on the Spider-Man titles. He penciled the Amazing Spider-Man Annual #27, once again working with Scott Hanna. Written by Jack C. Harris, another former DC mainstay, the annual introduced the new hero Annex.
This was followed by Lyle & Hanna drawing Spider-Man #35-37, which were part of the mega-crossover "Maximum Carnage." Lyle also penciled the Venom: Funeral Pyre miniseries, and drew a few covers for the Spider-Man Classic series that was reprinting the original Lee & Ditko stories.
The adjective-less Spider-Man series had initially been conceived as a vehicle for which the super-popular Todd McFarlane could both write and draw his own Spider-Man stories. However he had then left the series with issue #16 to co-found Image Comics, and for the next two years the title served as something of anthology, with various guest creative teams. Finally, beginning with issue #44, Lyle & Hanna became the regular art team on Spider-Man, with writer Howard Mackie joining them.
Truth to tell, this was actually the point at which I basically lost interest in the Spider-Man books. The padded-out "Maximum Carnage" event, followed soon after by the meandering "Clone Saga," caused me to drop all of the Spider-Man series from my comic shop pull list. Nevertheless, I would on occasion pick up the odd issue here & there, and I did enjoy Lyle's work on the character. He also did a good job depicting the villainous Hobgoblin and his supernatural counterpart the Demogoblin.
Despite my own feelings about "The Clone Saga," I know it has its fans. Lyle definitely played a key part in that storyline. When Peter Parker's clone Ben Reilly returned he assumed the identity of the Scarlet Spider. It was Lyle who designed the Scarlet Spider's costume. I know some people thought a Spider-Man type character wearing a hoodie was ridiculous but, as I said before, the Scarlet Spider has his fans, and the costume designed by Lyle was certainly a part of that.
Lyle remained on Spider-Man through issue #61. He then jumped over to the new Punisher series that was written by John Ostrander. Unfortunately by this point the character had become majorly overexposed, and there was a definite "Punisher fatigue" in fandom. Ostrander attempted to take the character in new, different directions, first having him try to destroy organized crime from within, and then having him work with S.H.I.E.L.D. to fight terrorists, but the series was cancelled with issue #18. Nevertheless I enjoyed it, and I think Lyle, paired with inker Robert Jones, did some really good work drawing it.
Lyle next wrote & penciled a four issue Warlock miniseries for Marvel in 1998, which was again inked by Jones. After that Lyle & Jones worked on several issues of the ongoing Star Wars comic book for Dark Horse. He also worked on several issues of Mutant X for Marvel.
Unfortunately in the early 2000s Lyle began having trouble finding work in comics. Honestly, this is one of the most exasperating things about the industry. Here was an artist who for over a decade did good work on some of the most popular characters at both DC and Marvel, and then suddenly he finds himself not receiving any assignments. It's a story we've regrettably heard variations of over and over again. It's a genuine shame that freelancers who time and again were there for publishers do not find that loyalty rewarded.
Fortunately for Lyle he was able to successfully transition into another career. He began teaching sequential illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2005, a position he remained at for the next decade and a half.
Tragically in September of this year Lyle suffered a brain aneurysm. After undergoing surgery he was placed in a medically induced coma. Unfortunately he never recovered, and he passed away on November 19th. He was 66 years old.
The sad fact is that health care in this country has become more and more unaffordable for most people. After her husband passed away Sue Lyle was left with astronomical medical bills. Tom's brother-in-law set up a Go Fund Me to help Sue. I hope that anyone who reads this who is in a position to help out will contribute.
Lyle was a longtime friend of June Brigman & Roy Richardson, who also got into the comic book biz around the same time. After Lyle passed away, Brigman shared a few memories of him on Facebook:
"Roy and I were friends with Tom and his wife Sue for, oh…about thirty years. Tom and I followed a similar path, working for Marvel and DC, then SCAD, Tom in Savannah, me in Atlanta. It was Tom who encouraged me to go for a teaching position at SCAD, an experience that I'm very grateful for. And it was Tom's example that made me, at the ripe ol' age of 59, finally finish my MFA in illustration. I like to think that we helped give Tom a start in comics. But really, all we did was give him a place to stay when he first visited Marvel and DC. He went on to become a rock star of the comics industry. And while yes, he definitely left his mark on the world of comics, I think his real legacy is his students. They were all so fortunate to have Professor Lyle. Not everyone who can do, can teach. Everything Tom taught came from his experience. He was a master of perspective, he had impeccable draftsmanship, and boy, could he tell a story. And, most importantly, he loved teaching, and truly cared about his students."
I only met Tom Lyle once, briefly, and a comic book convention in the early 1990s. Several years later I corresponded with him via e-mail. At the time I purchased several pages of original comic book artwork from him. Tom was easy to deal with, and his prices were very reasonable. Regrettably over the years I've had to sell off all of those pages to pay bills, but it was nice having them in my collection for a while.
Tom Lyle was definitely a very talented artist. Everyone who knew him spoke very highly of him as a person. He will certainly be missed.
Author Ben Herman: In My Not So Humble OpinionPosted on November 29, 2019 December 26, 2019 Categories comic books, obituariesTags Airboy, Batman, Chuck Dixon, comic books, DC Comics, Demogoblin, Detective Comics, Eclipse Comics, Hobgoblin, Howard Mackie, Impact Comics, June Brigman, Justice Society of America, Mark Waid, Marvel Comics, Marvel Comics Presents, Punisher, Robert Jones, Robin, Romeo Tanghal, Roy Richardson, Scarlet Spider, Scott Hanna, Skywolf, Spider-Man, The Comet, Tom Lyle, Venom2 Comments on Tom Lyle: 1953 to 2019