Best Buscema Conan inker?

[BCarter27]

Lots of great Buscema Conan art for sale this summer. Big price on that first appearance of Belit page Sunday at Heritage.

 

I feel like I read these books too long ago to make an educated purchase though. Buscema had such a long run on Conan... main title, the Movie Special, King Conan, and SSOC. And often the inker could make or break the page.

 

So who was Big John's best Conan inker?

 

And is it fair to compare the wash work in SSOC with the main title?

[J.Sid]

Great question. I am the farthest thing from an expert in this area. I have the first BW collection of the SSOC material and I think it's amazing, but I can't disagree with some friends who say it doesn't look as much like Buscema as it ought to.

[mtlevy]

Cool topic - I know some folk are obsessed with Alcala inks...and some don't like Chan much. I like Dezuniga in SSOC but perhaps because it is a nostalgia sweet spot

 

 

[Brian Peck]

For me Big John is the best Conan inker.

 

 

 

 

No including John, its tough I would go with Ernie Chan on the original Conan the Barbarian series up to the Death of Belít and Roy leaving just after issue #100. Ernie's style changed alot after that. Tony Dezuniga would be very close 2nd on early Savage Sword of Conan. Alcala is a great inker but I think he changed Buscema art too much.

 

 

 

[Unca Ben]

Personally, I think the best John Buscema inker was John Buscema.

 

Klein over Buscema was pretty nice, but I don't believe that team ever happened on Conan.

The Crusty Bunkers or Tom Palmer inks looked pretty nice, but I liked Buscema/Palmer better on the Avengers than on Conan. And the Tribe/Crusty Bunkers looked too much like Neal Adams than Buscema, IMO.

Ernie Chan, Pablo Marcos, et al, tended to overpower Buscema's pencils as well, especially later on when I believe John loosened up on his pencilling.

 

I'm talking more about the Conan the Barbarian comic book than Savage Sword, as I didn't collect the magazine like I did the comic.

-all my opinion, of course. But I'd take John inking himself on Conan all day long.

 

edit: beat me to it!

 

 

 

 

 

[LostDreams]

The best IMHO was John Buscema inking himself...check out the several SSOC issues where he inked himself (for example issues like 61, 70, 73) and the dozens of covers from the main Conan run that he inked over his own pencils (e.g. the incredible cover to Conan 96 and a personal favorite in Conan 137)...not to mention the Conan portfolio put out by SQP (1980) which was pure BIG John pencils and inks. The wash tonal work you mentioned was in many instances grey markers as evidenced by the originals from SSOC 73.

 

If you were fortunate enough to had gone to San Diego Con 25 years or so ago and went to the Czarnecki brothers table, you would have seen piles and piles and piles of BIG John's Conan work for a mere pittance...like $5-$10 for an interior panel page.

[vodou]

This came up in a recent CFA-APA mailing and the writer hitting all the various inkers really opened my eyes to some of the "softer" inks on JB's Conan. Bob Camp being one of them, perhaps my favorite? Dezuniga another (though a heavier "style" than Camp). JB is best on JB imo, then the softer inkers that leave most all of JB in place. The Filipinos were really heavy-handed (spatula inks as one artist commented to me!) and really killed the subtle JB underneath. Interesting results, not necessarily bad, so good for reading but not what I want when I'm buying JB OA. This includes Alcala, which is a darling JB inker for many, just not me.

 

Brian's Chan examples...what can you say, they are GREAT, but definitely a bit "heavy" too.

[Matches_Malone]

JB over JB look the best in my opinion. Early Ernie Chua look amazing as well.

[zhamlau]

Yeah, Im still in the Ernie camp on his inkers. Earlier clearly better, but the rounded flow of things, how rough and patchwork/gnarled the world looked when he inked. I just think it lent itself perfectly to Conan, where everything was hand made and should look like it was.

[KirbyJack]

I recently let go of my Conan run, but had to keep a couple issues that I re-read the most. It turns out they were both inked by Big John himself.

[aardvark88]

1. Alfredo Alcala.

2. Rudy Nebres

3. Ernie Chua/Chan

[Bird]

John Buscema has said that he thought Rudy Nebres was the best inker of his work in comics. This was told to me by someone who was at the dinner when Big John said this and heard it distinctly. (The fact that the person who told me was Rudy Nebres may be relevant, but I believe him.)

 

If anyone wants a commission from Rudy he is all over the East Coast this summer, go get something from this living master! I'll help with the pick up and mailing if you need help as Rudy doesn't like to handle that himself, no charge. Just get the man some work everyone!

[J.Sid]

Personal preferences aside, which phases of Buscema Conan command the most money at auction?

 

 

[Brian Peck]

Early art from the main title Conan The Barbarian, especially if it contain Belít.

[KidColt32]

Happy to see that Brian and others have the right answer on all of this--Big John was definitely his own best inker! Only problem is that he did little (if any?) interior inks over himself in CONAN THE BARBARIAN, which for many people is "the" Conan title. Personally I loved his run of covers in the 80s that he inked himself--but from a story/nostalgia perspective, Brian nailed it--his start on the title up through the Death of Belit. The Belit period commands a premium, as several recent auctions have shown (seems a rash of those pages have come up in different places lately).

 

Just re-read some of those Belit issues recently and it was really quite good, both in terms of art and story. Brawny and violent stuff.

 

Brian, congrats on your new Belit page! An awesome page, even without Conan...

[Brian Peck]

Thanks, I can overlook no Conan with Belít in all panels. I agree wish John inked some of the Queen of the Black Coast stories. My favorite Conan issue he inked is Savage Sword of Conan #61 "The Wizard Fiend of Zingara!"