Was John Buscema His Own Best Inker? 1 1

[grapeape]

5 hours ago, vodou said:

That's the correct way to put it, cuz there's really no Buscema in there anymore.

Some collector/dealers have been trying for ages to market this marriage as a match made in heaven (at large increased asks, naturally )

Naw, it's just "Alcala on SSOC". And UGH too IMO

Haha.... I agree Alcala more then John on the “Collaborative” art. Are we the only two that know that?

Ugh? Nah

haha 😆
 

 

[grapeape]

5 hours ago, vodou said:

Worthy comment of being broken out separately. Are you referring to "early" or "late" Palmer over JB on Avengers?

Because, if the latter...it's really just Palmer.

Anybody have uninked photocopies of what JB supplied to Palmer in the late 1980s for Avengers?

I bet it's the same chickenscratch (beautiful undercarriage though) as those endless other 1980s layouts we see floating around from John, usually Conan.

Used to have a bunch of these. I was going to take them to Los Bros to spruce them up but decided to give them away with every ten dollar purchase at the wife’s garage sale.

[grapeape]

5 hours ago, vodou said:

Worthy comment of being broken out separately. Are you referring to "early" or "late" Palmer over JB on Avengers?

Because, if the latter...it's really just Palmer.

Anybody have uninked photocopies of what JB supplied to Palmer in the late 1980s for Avengers?

I bet it's the same chickenscratch (beautiful undercarriage though) as those endless other 1980s layouts we see floating around from John, usually Conan.

I know collectors don’t like when you point things like this out but it’s appreciated. This stuff the roughs but “finished art” doesn’t go for $20 a page anymore. We should know what we’re actually getting before we hand over fistfuls of cash.
 

There are artists from the eighties forward who defined those eras....and then there are those whose careers and best efforts were winding down....

I absolutely cringe for the newbies getting in the deep end without proper guidance. If you’re buying a JB that’s 90% someone else but paying JB money as if it was his prime period of effort are you ok fooling yourself.

But it’s not just newbies. Newbies can be reckless but mostly they are good folks trying to figure this thing out: it’s the long time collectors from the “head in the sand” ostrich club that worry me.

This thing of ours attracts top dollar money. I see that guy show up all the time with a brand new Lamborghini built with Pinto parts. Knowledge isn’t everything, it’s the only thing..

🍇 + 🦍 appreciates Sensei Vodou

 

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by grapeape

[stinkininkin]

Vaguely relevant to this thread, I posted this John Buscema Submariner piece I inked on my Instagram and Twitter account today. It's from the classic How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, and is one of my favorite drawings JB executed in that now classic book.

 

[Brian Peck]

42 minutes ago, stinkininkin said:

Vaguely relevant to this thread, I posted this John Buscema Submariner piece I inked on my Instagram and Twitter account today. It's from the classic How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, and is one of my favorite drawings JB executed in that now classic book.

 

Wonder how many times this image has been inked by artist over the past 40+ years?

[grapeape]

36 minutes ago, stinkininkin said:

Vaguely relevant to this thread, I posted this John Buscema Submariner piece I inked on my Instagram and Twitter account today. It's from the classic How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, and is one of my favorite drawings JB executed in that now classic book.

 

“The only human worthy of my time is Scott Williams . The rest are of no consequence nor care to me. A king speaks only to those he deems honorable, and of the surface dwellers there is only one.”—-Namor

[stinkininkin]

3 minutes ago, grapeape said:

“The only human worthy of my time is Scott Williams . The rest are of no consequence nor care to me. A king speaks only to those he deems honorable, and of the surface dwellers there is only one.”—-Namor

[glendgold]

22 hours ago, stinkininkin said:

Scott, have you inked other Buscema stuff? Because this is really good.

[stinkininkin]

2 hours ago, glendgold said:

Scott, have you inked other Buscema stuff? Because this is really good.

Thanks Glen. I was supposed to ink John Buscema on an issue of Wolverine and also a now forgotten Marvel Superheroes series, both around 1989 or 1990, but my Xmen gigs and other commitments got in the way. I started some work on the Superheroes project but stopped in mid pen stroke, seen here...

 

[JadeGiant]

Gorgeous work, thanks for sharing Scott!

[Jeffro.]

I always thought that John inking his own work was fine but man did Tom Palmer really do a fantastic job on his stuff. John Buscema/Tom Palmer is one of my all time favorite penciler/inker combos.

I never liked Ernie Chan over John. Too heavy and took too much away. Definitely not an enhancement of John's pencils.

Edited August 3, 2020 by Inappropriate Spock

[Lago32]

When Big John put in the time and effort into inking his own work, it was pretty special (ie. some of his early covers and more specifically many of the plates he did). Unfortunately, I would imagine given his workload, this usually wasn't possible hence why many feel his own inks are rushed/loose (and they aren't wrong). In terms of his inkers, Klein on Avengers 58-62 and Palmer on Avengers 74-76 is the gold standard. I may be in the minority on this, but I really don't like Palmer's inks on Buscema after Avengers 76...Palmer's influence becomes increasingly evident with each subsequent issue which is not as desirable to my eye. Not sure why this happened - maybe Buscema started to feel more comfortable giving Palmer looser pencils after Av76 or maybe Palmer just started feeling more confident in his inking which started to overtake the pencils. Same thing happened with Palmer over Adams pencils on their X-men run.....compare the first few issues to the last few issues of the run and there is a significant difference in terms of amount of Palmer that shows through. There is an even greater difference between early Adams/Palmer X-men vs their Avengers run.

[zhamlau]

Is the general consensus the best inker for 60s and 70s JB is Palmer?

[stinkininkin]

33 minutes ago, zhamlau said:

Is the general consensus the best inker for 60s and 70s JB is Palmer?

The single best body of John Buscema work IMHO was the early run of Silver Surfer, and for me, the Sal Buscema inked issues are the pinnacle for John Buscema art. Your mileage may vary, but that will always be the benchmark for me. I also love Palmer (Avengers first run), Sinnott, Adkins, Klein, and (select) Buscema himself. I also thought some of the Janson ink jobs on Tarzan and Savage Sword of Conan was really cool, but very heavy handed. After that, there's a quick drop off, and honestly (controversially?) all the other various Buscema Conan inkers never worked for ME. Just my opinion folks!

[Jeffro.]

47 minutes ago, zhamlau said:

Is the general consensus the best inker for 60s and 70s JB is Palmer?

80s JB with Palmer on Avengers was great

[The Voord]

My favourite John Buscema work was the Savage Sword of Conan books inked by Alcala.