Ditko art in TOS 49

[smithdatura]

I recently picked up a nice VG+ copy of TOS 49 (Iron Man/Angel) here on the boards and took it out to read this morning. I was pleasantly surprised to see Steve Ditko was the artist for the main story, but the actual rendering of his work was a shadow of classic Ditko. The inker for the piece was Paul Reinman, a name I wasn't familiar with... and one I would definitely not want to find associated with too many other of the masters!

 

Kind of goes to show you just how important some of these less-renowned names were when it came to the careers of giants like Ditko and Kirby (another of my faves whose work could look awful in the wrong hands) - inked by the right guy and a piece is "classic", inked by someone else and it's absolute drek!

 

No real point to my post, but it's Saturday!

[El Toro Rojo]

Keep in mind, a lot of Ditko pencils are a step above stick figures sometimes. He's the type that added a lot in the inking, so it was very easy for an inker to overpower him. His TOS stuff varies wildly...check out the jobs inked by Ayers & Heck to see how different they look.

[smithdatura]

Good point. I guess that underscores what a true artist Ditko was. In looking back at my favorite work of his (ASM, Strange Tales), I think he must have inked just about everything.

 

Oddly enough, I think one of the better inkers to "get" Ditko was Jackson Guice, who did some nice work on Speedball in the late '80s.

 

[El Toro Rojo]

Yup, Guice was great on him, as well as P. Craig Russell on ROM.

[rodan57]

Keep in mind, a lot of Ditko pencils are a step above stick figures sometimes. He's the type that added a lot in the inking, so it was very easy for an inker to overpower him. His TOS stuff varies wildly...check out the jobs inked by Ayers & Heck to see how different they look.

 

Very true.

 

 

 

I have forgotten from where I've borrowed these images but I think it was Blake Bell's old site.

[rodan57]

And here's the man.

 

[John R]

And here's the man.

 

 

[rjpb]

Reinman's own stuff looks far better than his inks on Ditko would indicate.

 

He is responsible for one of the more iconic covers of the GA

 

 

And his 50s stuff for Atlas has a Krigstein bent.

 

 

but he was definitely not suited for inking in the Marvel style - here he is on Kirby

 

 

and the aforementioned Ditko pencils in TOS 49

 

[Scrooge]

Yes, do not judge Reinman on his inking in the Marvel period.

 

Several of the old guard never quite fit into inking roles over someone else's pencils. In a way, getting into the Marvel period is "depressing" as a lot of individuality and therefore richness of the bullpen disappeared and that's why I much prefer the Atlas era for the unique voices that expressed themselves more freely. Reinman is one who didn't transition well nor Werner Roth, etc ...

 

Here's an earlier page from Reinman. You see there an artist with already a good 10 year in the business. He is competent, self-assured and in charge of the page, unlike when he had to deal with Ditko's bare page. You have to admit that Ditko's spartan pages would be a challenge to most inkers on where to put the emphasis and as a result those non-Ditko inked jobs do come out flat, esp. when you ask a man used to work his own way for 20 years.

 

[smithdatura]

Lots of cool insight in this thread!

 

Interesting about Reinman doing that GA Solomon Grundy cover - I hadn't realized that, though I was familiar with the cover and actually hoping to one day pick up a (beater) copy (doubt I could afford HG!). Not sure if all of you are familiar with this book, but it is absolutely fantastic and talks a lot about some of the work you're alluding to above published by Avon, Charlton, Fawcett, etc. during the precode era:

 

Four Color Fear

 

I see Amazon is out of stock but I highly recommend seeking out a copy.

[That Ron Dude]

Reinman had his days, from the 1940's on. If I am not mistaken, he was the first penciler on The Mighty Crusaders. I am also pretty sure he inked Hulk #1, X-Men #1 and most of the very early Avenger comics.

 

The early inkers included Ayers, Chris Rule, George Klein, Chick Stone, George Roussos and Sol Brodsky. I think Reinman fit right in with them and did a perfectly competent job. Put it this way, when I was a kid, reading those comics, I never looked at one inked by Reinman and said, "Hey, there is something funny about this one".

 

A few years later the inks of Sinnott, Palmer, Adkins, Giordano and a few others brought tracing with ink to a new level. Though I am not familiar with the specifics of today's inkers I have been told that some of them will spend as much as three days on a page. It is no wonder that they have reached a level of control even beyond the one's I admired as a teenager.

 

 

[rodan57]

 

but he was definitely not suited for inking in the Marvel style - here he is on Kirby

 

 

 

I look this and I don't see a problem. His line is far more controlled than Ayers.

 

I think that Ditko did not provide him with any background, spotting or any nuances of anatomy.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Ditko's contribution was closer to layouts than pencils on #49. Marvel credits of the period are not always the most reliable.