Sal Buscema is a God 1 1

[KirbyJack]

Post, Joey! Post!

Great stuff. I used to own a Hulk and a Defenders page by Sal, but his ravenous fans made me offers I couldn’t refuse. The Defenders page featured Hulk, Doc, Nighthawk, I think the Valkyrie, and The Head Men! Someone here did a want-to-buy for Head Men stuff, and I made his day.

[J.Sid]

On 4/16/2022 at 9:14 AM, stinkininkin said:

That said, he WAS capable of doing very solid professional work, which makes it sad that the majority of his career would be spent being nothing more than a publisher friendly hack.

Ouch!
Yes, there are some really great Thor pages Vince inked... Unfortunately were are only 3-4 of these per issue.

[joeypost]

[Timely]

You rarely see Sal on Batman!

[Timely]

 

Edited April 20, 2022 by Timely

[Drummy]

This is fun -- love me some Sal!  Thanks for sharing, everyone.

Here's my only page of his, the page 1 splash to MTU #40 w/Mike Esposito on inks:

[Jeffro.]

On 4/16/2022 at 12:14 PM, stinkininkin said:

On 4/16/2022 at 12:07 PM, Rick2you2 said:

What’s so terrible about Coletta? A lot of his work was done during a time when the art was not considered the way it is now—it was part of a package of story content and pictures sold to kids who were looking for a little adventure, or girl’s romance, or sci if, or whatever? And from what I have read, he was quick—a good character trait for entertainment selling for 12 cents. And by the way, he could draw beautiful women, in that old fashioned style. As for Sal, eh. I always thought he made the Hulk look like a pea-brained, overly muscled child.  

Nothing wrong with Coletta as long as you don't mind him obliterating entire Kirby backgrounds and characters. Yes, he was useful in terms of getting books out on time, which matters, but his work speaks for itself. That said, he WAS capable of doing very solid professional work, which makes it sad that the majority of his career would be spent being nothing more than a publisher friendly hack.

Not only Kirby but any penciler he worked over. He did a hatchet job (yes my opinion but also the opinion of many others) on every piece he worked on. 
He was fast and apparently he was valuable as a guy who could get book done on time but fast doesn't equate to quality.

To be fair, some of his 50's work isn't bad but by the time he got to the 70s? Uh no. Just no.

Edited May 5, 2022 by JEFFROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Jeffro.]

On 4/16/2022 at 12:07 PM, Rick2you2 said:

As for Sal, eh. I always thought he made the Hulk look like a pea-brained, overly muscled child.  

That's pretty much what the Hulk was back then

[MAR1979]

Huge fan of Sal's 1978-1979 work when he was inked by old pro's like Esposito, Stone and Abel.

 

Edited April 16, 2022 by MAR1979

[boomtown]

My favorite period for Buscema art was when he did the Avengers in the early 1970s with inks by Grainger. Squadron Sinister, Invaders, Scorpio, he was at his finest. By the mid 1970s he had developed a bunch of short cuts because he was producing so much work.

[Rick2you2]

On 4/16/2022 at 12:14 PM, stinkininkin said:

Nothing wrong with Coletta as long as you don't mind him obliterating entire Kirby backgrounds and characters. Yes, he was useful in terms of getting books out on time, which matters, but his work speaks for itself. That said, he WAS capable of doing very solid professional work, which makes it sad that the majority of his career would be spent being nothing more than a publisher friendly hack.

I can’t fault Coletta for being a product of his times, even if he was a bit over enthusiastic in his approach. We don’t fault the publishers (at least not much) for destroying or keeping art because they were afraid boards could get into the hands of others who would reissue the stories and keep all the profit. When was the last time anyone wrote something like: “But Lee’s name is forever tarnished by destroying (or keeping in warehouses)…” And why were Kirby’s backgrounds so detailed if he knew there were deadlines that inkers had to meet? Couldn’t he take that into account when designing those panels? Kirby, the better artist, had his own cheats, too, like those giant sound effects that were quicker to draw than it took to pencil in characters. What went on back then isn’t acceptable today, but does that really make Coletta a hack in his time?

[RBerman]

On 4/16/2022 at 4:11 PM, Rick2you2 said:

We don’t fault the publishers (at least not much) for destroying or keeping art because they were afraid boards could get into the hands of others who would reissue the stories and keep all the profit. 

I do.

As for Sal Buscema, he certainly nailed the 70s Marvel house style and faithfully executed it as he was being paid to do. By the time I was reading in the mid 80s, artists like Byrne, Sienkiewicz and Art Adams were allowed to go their own way, which made Sal seem predictable by comparison, moreso due to his ubiquity on so many projects. But when paired with inkers who could soften his angularity, the results could be quite nice even by the evolving standard. I'm happy to have a handful of his pages from that period.

 

[stinkininkin]

On 4/16/2022 at 2:11 PM, Rick2you2 said:

I can’t fault Coletta for being a product of his times, even if he was a bit over enthusiastic in his approach. We don’t fault the publishers (at least not much) for destroying or keeping art because they were afraid boards could get into the hands of others who would reissue the stories and keep all the profit. When was the last time anyone wrote something like: “But Lee’s name is forever tarnished by destroying (or keeping in warehouses)…” And why were Kirby’s backgrounds so detailed if he knew there were deadlines that inkers had to meet? Couldn’t he take that into account when designing those panels? Kirby, the better artist, had his own cheats, too, like those giant sound effects that were quicker to draw than it took to pencil in characters. What went on back then isn’t acceptable today, but does that really make Coletta a hack in his time?

How many inkers did Kirby have in those days? Assuming they were all dealing with the same deadline time constraints, can you name ANY other inker who would just ignore Kirby's pencils and decide not to ink characters and backgrounds, and even with that time saver, STILL suck at the basic job of inking? Did Coletta suck 100% of the time? Nope. But his batting average wasn't even at the Medoza line. Suggesting that Kirby should design easier panels to make life easier for his hack inker? Sorry, I just can't go there with you chief.

[tth2]

On 4/17/2022 at 2:24 AM, Timely said:

You rarely see Sal on Batman!

I hadn't realized he'd done any work for DC!  He and John were always the quintessential Marvel BA artists.

[Dr. Love]

On 4/16/2022 at 12:19 PM, Jeffro. said:

To be fair, some of his 50's work isn't bad

pencils and inks, 1954

[Rick2you2]

On 4/16/2022 at 9:55 PM, stinkininkin said:

How many inkers did Kirby have in those days? Assuming they were all dealing with the same deadline time constraints, can you name ANY other inker who would just ignore Kirby's pencils and decide not to ink characters and backgrounds, and even with that time saver, STILL suck at the basic job of inking? Did Coletta suck 100% of the time? Nope. But his batting average wasn't even at the Medoza line. Suggesting that Kirby should design easier panels to make life easier for his hack inker? Sorry, I just can't go there with you chief.

You’re the pro, as well as a student of the subject. So, I’ll defer to your knowledge and expertise. However… it’s Mendoza line. 

[Drummy]

Great Atlas story by Sal above -- just noticed that the machine at the end tells Master X that it's "March 6, 2022" and he should get up...wish I had such luxuries in 2022... 

Dan

[tth2]

On 4/17/2022 at 9:05 PM, Drummy said:

Great Atlas story by Sal above -- just noticed that the machine at the end tells Master X that it's "March 6, 2022" and he should get up...wish I had such luxuries in 2022... 

Dan

I noticed the date too.  People from 1954 would be very disappointed with how little progress we've actually made in the subsequent almost-70 years.

Although we do have "soap of germ-killing ingredients" today, but are told not to use them because they contribute to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

[MAR1979]

redacted

Edited April 17, 2022 by MAR1979

[Bill Robinson]

I love Sal too. I came in later and was never much of a Hulk fan. His run on Spectacular Spidey with Dematteis is what I know him for. It's one of my favorite comic runs of all time. Justice for Vermin! Also, all the Harry Osborn Goblin stuff during that run was incredible. Someone above referred to some of his art as Angular which is indeed the way I'd describe it. Super expressive and even a little aggressive. I really loved it.