Comic Book Artist #21 Preview

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CELEBRATING

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GREAT CARTOONISTS, WRITERS & EDITORS

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EDITOR’S RANT: CBA: PHASE TWO Ye Ed goes on and on about everything changing but somehow still staying the same........................................4

Editor/Designer JON B. COOKE

A DAY IN THE LIFE: INSIDE UNIVERSE ROSS Alex Ross’s writer collaborator Steve Darnell spends the day with the artist to check out his hectic existence ....6

TWOMORROWS

LAND OF THE LOST STORIES: THE END OF THE NEVERENDING BATTLE? George Khoury gives us a look at an unpublished Superman story by Dave Gibbons, Garry Leach, & others ....10 CBA COMMUNIQUES: TIN SOLDIERS AND GOLD KEY’S COMING You though the debate over Vietnam was finally put to rest? Well, think again as a reader takes us on ..........12

Publisher JOHN & PAM MORROW Associate Editors CHRIS KNOWLES DAVID A. ROACH CHRISTOPHER IRVING GEORGE KHOURY

THE ADAM HUGHES SPECTACULAR AH-HA! ADAM HUGHES BARES ALL! In an uproarious interview, the wunderkind cover artist from Jersey talks about his life and work ....................14

Contributing Editors ROY THOMAS JOHN MORROW

ADAM HUGHES PORTFOLIO With an incredible array of work, the wildly popular artist shares with us his bodacious talent..........................39

Proofreader ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON

CELEBRATING “BIG JOHN”: THE JOHN BUSCEMA REMEMBRANCE CBA’s multi-part look at the life, work and legacy of the renowned Marvel comic book artist ....................Flip us!

Cover Art & Color ADAM HUGHES

COMIC BOOK ARTIST™ is published 10 times a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. 919-833-8092. Jon B. Cooke, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: P.O. Box 204, West Kingston, RI 02892-0204 USA • 401-783-1669 • Fax: 401-783-1287. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT the editorial office. Single issues: $9 postpaid ($11 Canada, $12 elsewhere). Six-issue subscriptions: $36 US, $66 Canada, $72 elsewhere. All characters © their respective owners. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © their respective authors. ©2002 Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows. Cover acknowledgements: Art ©2002 Adam Hughes. Wonder Woman ©2002 DC Comics. First Printing. PRINTED IN CANADA.

CBA Interview

Adam Hughes An uproarious chat with the ultimate “good girl” artist Conducted by Jon B. Cooke Transcribed by the LongBox.com staff Look, folks: We could debate the pros and cons of objectifying women in the form of comic book cheesecake till the cows come home, but one thing is certain: Whatever the intent, Adam Hughes draws absolutely mesmerizing and delightfully charming women. However provocatively staged, there’s a wholesome (and almost ironic) element to AH!’s adoration of the female form (with distinct emphasis on the bosom, natch!), and it’s infectious. Mutual pal Mark Chiarello, DC’s superb art director, introduced Ye Ed to the wunderkind artist at the 2001 International Comic Con: San Diego, and I found AH! to be, well, a bit subdued. Yet when I conducted this interview via phone in May 2002, Adam was very friendly, outgoing and downright hilarious (reminding me a bit of a character in one of Kevin Smith’s good movies), but also reflective of his standing in the industry. Adam copyedited the final transcript.

This page: Artist and model. Adam Hughes, the subject in question, poses with Julie Rapp, his oft-model for the Wonder Woman covers. This and all images in this section are courtesy of Adam Hughes.

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Comic Book Artist: Where are you originally from?

Adam Hughes: The fashionable west coast of New Jersey. I was born and raised in a little town called Florence, on the Delaware River.

CBA: Do you have any siblings?

Adam: No, not really. Like that line from the Superman movie: “Any more at home like you?” “ Uh, no, not really.”

It’s just me.

CBA: Did you have an introduction to comics at a young age?

Adam: Yeah, I actually even remember my first comic book, which was Fantastic Four #81. It’s the issue when Crystal joined the FF. I had two older cousins who outgrew comics (like all people seem to do; all normal people), and they gave me their box of comics which included scads of Fantastic Four, which I immediately fell in love with. My deepest love of comic books as a child was the Fantastic Four. There were also a couple issues of National Lampoon because this was, like, the early, early ’70s. I was wee, tiny, and I remember cracking open this National Lampoon and there was this weird fumetti comic with talking breasts or something like that. You had a breast coming out of the ocean and a whaler saying “Thar she blows!”

My mom’s talking to my cousin about Kent State or something and I’m sitting there going, “Wow, what are these?” My mom saw and flipped out, “Oh my God, he’s looking at boobs!” [laughter] And look where I am now…

CBA: Drawing boobs for a living.

Adam: It was a seminal moment. [laughter] My Uncle Bill, my mother’s only brother, taught photography at the Smithsonian and I was a frequent study of his back in the late ’60s, early ’70s. I have tons of black-&-white photographs of me, just being a kid, and this one of me sitting in a chair at my grandparents’ with the January 1970 issue of Playboy in my lap! [laughter] I’m two-and-a-half! [See pg. 16.]I’m literally fresh off the label of a Gerber’s baby food jar and ready for a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover and I’ve got this Playboy with Barbie Benton on the cover [laughter]. Everybody looks at that and goes “Hmmmm.”

CBA: That’s foreshadowing for you!

Adam: If I ever write a novel or ever publish a sketchbook, that’s going to be the author’s photo. [laughter].

CBA: So you were born in 1967?

Adam: Correct.

CBA: So when did you see these Fantastic Four comics? Was it the early ’70s when you were literally five years old?

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Bares All! on his career, medium and future Adam: I must have been four or five. There may have been comics before that, Archie and Juggie Do Paris digests at that point. I seem to remember Richie Rich, Hot Stuff, and the other sorts of stuff for kids that’s safe to read. But the one I remember reading was FF #81. That and the other comic in there that stood out, that scared the sh*t out of me, was Tales of Suspense #66, which contained the secret origin of the Red Skull. Man, that big, scary Red Skull! That Jack Kirby leering head literally haunted my nights! Jack basically just thrilled and scared the sh*t out of me.

CBA: Kirby’s just got this distinctive style. Did it grab you as a kid?

Adam: It did, I think. One of the things about Kirby’s stuff is that both the greatest artist in the world and the simplest layman can get something out of it. I think that’s why Kirby has such appeal, that’s why he’s the “King of Comics.” Jack didn’t have a target audience.

Anybody could find something to dig in Jack’s work, throughout his whole career. It jumped out at me and I really, really dug the way he and Joe Sinnott drew women. Kirby really never got the kudos that he deserved for drawing really pretty women like a lot of the stuff he did in the ’50s that I really haven’t seen a lot of. I think he dabbled in the romance stuff, I’m not really sure….

CBA: With partner Joe Simon, Kirby invented the romance genre.

Adam: He did? That shows you how smart I am. I’m editing that the hell out. [laughter] He got so known for drawing the cranky monsters and guys with pancake fingers, but look at Crystal: She’s a hoo-ah! I like her. [laughter] I think I found it compelling and was really lucky because I had that box of Marvels.

CBA: So this was primo Marvel stuff?

Adam: This was literally my little Ark of the Covenant and what was really cool was that there were some incomplete comics in there. They had (I think) FF Annual #2 without the cover which had an original story (I think) and a reprint of FF #5 which was Doctor Doom’s first appearance. Just when the FF did their time-travel thing and the Thing is doing his “Blackbeard the Pirate” deal, that’s where one of my cousins had ripped off the last of the pages and lined the cat box with it or something and I was going, “How’d they get back to their own time?!?” [laughter] It took me forever to find a reprint of FF #5 and go, “Ohh, that’s how!”

CBA: Did you immediately become a collector because of this box of comics?

Adam: Do you mean at age four, did I all of a sudden get fat, bearded, and become obsessed with Mylar? [laughter] No, I loved comics and like every kid that age I was bumming money off everyone I could find and actually volunteering to do chores so I could buy the latest stuff.

CBA: Did you get into Jack’s work at DC at the time?

Adam: I didn’t even understand the world of the comics industry. All I understood was every week some new ones showed up down at the general store and there was this flea market in the next town over that my grandmother would take me to on Sundays and this guy had a box of comics with no covers for like a quarter or however much. This is, like, mid- to late 1970s, at this point. I do remember getting a couple issues of the New Gods and totally digging them because it was by “the FF guy.” The newsstand distribution, especially for a little town in New Jersey, wasn’t entirely consistent so you might get one issue of something and never see the subsequent issues.

CBA: Did you pick up the reprints like Marvel’s Greatest Comics?

Adam: That’s where I got my fix; because Marvel was reprinting all that 1960s material back when they were hurting in the ’70s and they were reprinting everything and just flooding the market with old stuff. I think Daredevil and X-Men were bi-monthly and on the verge of cancellation. I loved the polished quality of the second half of the Kirby and Sinnott run.

Everything from the Galactus stuff to when they left the book, was absolutely brilliant to me. I was actually lucky because I got to hang out with Scott Dunbier, the editor for Wildstorm, who used to August 2002

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This page: Inked line drawing by Adam Hughes of Lara Croft, Tomb Raider.

The final piece was fully— and exquisitely—colored by the artist. Lara Croft, Tomb Raider ©2002 Core Design Limited.

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me like, “What the hell am I looking at? Is there Batman? I see two eyes.” [laughter] Mike explained to me what he was doing and then I realized, “Oh, my God! It’s art!” Before it was a field of Xs. You have to be a brave sole to fill up your art with a lot of black. That’s actually a crucial moment when you sit there and go, “I did the most amazing figure drawing of a beautiful character that I’ve ever done and now I’m going to slap some shadows on it.” I had to coerce myself into thinking that I really needed to be able to do this to help my storytelling.

CBA: Were you attracted to Alex Toth’s work and the other heavy black guys?

Adam: No, I really wasn’t. It took me a while longer to understand what those guys were about. It was one of those things. I look at their work now and go, “I could learn so much from these guys.”

I’m very much aware of my own shortcomings in that there are probably artists right now whose work I don’t get or pay attention to that in ten years I’ll be going, “Oh, my God! I so get Monet!” [laughter] At no point in my life have I thought that I’m in full possession of all the facts. So it’s a growing process for me. It will never stop until the day I die. I know that ten years from now, I will get into some comic book artists that right now I go, “Well it’s nice, but I don’t get anything from it.” I’ll be at a point where I can learn from them down the road and that’s really what it all boils down to. The comic book artists that I love the most at the points of my life were guys that I could learn from. When I felt like I had learned the most that I could possibly learn, I moved on. I basically lost interest in their work and moved on to somebody else. It’s all about me learning from somebody’s work.

CBA: Would you characterize most of the artists that influenced you have realistic styles?

Adam: No, I once used the term realistic until somebody came and told me that a better term was naturalistic. I used to think that Steve Rude drew the most realistic people ever, but, no, he doesn’t. They have a natural quality to them.

I would look at Horatio Hellpop and think, “What are those little things on his hips? What are those little things? I don’t know what they are.” Neil or somebody said, “Those are obliques. We all have them. Super-heroes shouldn’t be built like action figures, they actually have these little muscles on the sides of their abs.” I was like, “Really?” and then I went and looked at pictures of real guys and you know what? They do! Not everybody’s torso ends in a pair of trunks. [laughter] Naturalism is the term that I think works best. You can get lost, especially if you are somebody doing life drawings or using your eyes to draw the world, you can get lost in the pursuit of realism. It’s not about that. It’s about you interpreting the world through your art and making somebody think it’s natural, believable. Making somebody think that these squiggles and lines on the paper are actually a person who is saying these words. That’s why I think naturalism is a better description.

CBA: That describes quite a lot people in the field, wouldn’t you say? To what extreme would you characterize naturalistic? Is Robert Crumb naturalistic?

Adam: I’ve never thought about that. I don’t know.

CBA: I’m just wondering how cartoony it gets.

Adam: I don’t know. Art is such a grey area and so subjective that sometimes it’s hard to put brackets on a definition. To say this guy falls within the definition, that guy falls out. I haven’t looked at enough of Crumb’s work to say where he falls. It’s one of those things. I don’t art but I know it when I see it. When I see something that appears naturalistic to me as opposed to abstract or cartoon style work, it’s hard to say. You wouldn’t call Chuck Jones’s artwork naturalistic, but yet in a strange sort of grey way it is because it convinces you that this duck is real and he talking to me about how greedy he is. In the context that we are using the term, it’s guys like Steve Rude and Jaime Hernandez who are naturalistic, and they introduced me to it and then I started looking at other guys. I remember finding an Alex Raymond Flash Gordon collection.

I had never seen Raymond’s work before and I was blown away. I could see where others were influenced by that work. Then I went and found some of Raymond’s Rip Kirby and other work and these people, these comic strip characters, really convinced me that they are really talking to each other, the folds in their clothing, the way they are lighting their pipes and tipping their hats, that seems real to me even though it’s not drawn in any less of an abstract line than R. Crumb or Bill Watterson or whomever. It’s all the same pen and ink line. It’s all an abstract line describing a form but something about, they pull off a person like an Alex Raymond, where those lines really convince me that a person is doing what they’re doing and saying what they’re saying.

CBA: Did you see any appeal in Milton Caniff’s work?

Adam: Not at the time, and for a really awful, terrible reason. When I was a kid, I used to love this 24

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Marvel comic book called The Invaders but I hated—hated—Frank Robbins’ art on it. So when I looked at Caniff all I could see is Frank Robbins! [laughter] I thought, “It’s that guy who drew Captain America in all those weird poses!” Those twisted legs and he’d be jumping around like a ballerina with the splotchy ink lines. Karl Kesel is the guy that got me to look seriously at Caniff’s work. He had all the Terry and the Pirates stuff and I was finally at a point that I could understand it. I can see the art in Robbins’ work now too.

I’m growin’.

CBA: This was well into your professional career?

Adam: Yeah, but like I said, it’s such an ongoing process for me. It never ends.

CBA: When did you did your first real mainstream professional job?

Adam: After Apple Comics, it’s been one assignment after another since then. Lots of b-&-w comics during that B-&-W Boom for companies that no longer exists. I did my first color work at Comico on Mike Barr’s Maze Agency. It was a good old fashioned guy-girl detective book. That was my big color gig, back then it was really big to be in color, as we were all coming out of the b-&-w movement. I was penciling, and that work led to me being hired to draw Justice League America.

CBA: This was after Kevin Maguire’s run?

Adam: Right. I was hired to draw wacky, expressive faces to match Kevin Maguire’s style.

CBA: Did you admire Kevin’s work as it was coming out?

Adam: I sure did, because I was selling Kevin’s work. In the comic shop, I was selling Justice League and I’d open the book up and say, “Look at this guy! He’s drawing all this amazing, funny stuff and the characters actually look like they’re saying what’s in the balloons.” It was just a really neat approach and a breath of fresh air at that time.

CBA: How did you score that gig?

Adam: During that Chicago Summer of ’88 Con I was talking about, I met Bill Willingham who was really riding high off The Elementals at that point.

Bill was doing some work at DC for Andy Helfer, and he said, “Let me introduce you to Andy.” I showed Andy my work and, as he was editing Justice League at the time, Andy was the main guy responsible for that big hit. He said, “Whenever you’re free, give me a call.” What was really funny was that ever since I have started doing that stuff for Blood of Dracula in the Summer of ’87, I haven’t been without work. I’ve been lucky that I’ve been going from one assignment to another with the exception of when Maze Agency got put on hiatus.

I got a call from the editor, Mike Eury— CBA: Was that due to the financial troubles of Comico?

Adam: Yes. Mike said, “The book has to be put on hiatus. We’re really sorry about this. Please don’t tell anybody about this for a couple of days because we don’t want other Comico writers and artists finding out about this until we tell them. We’re trying to get in touch with them as well.” So I was out of work and was like, “Oh sh*t, I’m out of work!” So I just sat around sharpening pencils and playing with eraser shavings and an hour-and-a-half later, I get a call from Andy Helfer saying, “Hey, I hear you’re free.” [laughter] I said, “I wasn’t supposed to tell anybody.” Andy said, “Come up to DC. We want to talk to you.” So in my 15 years in comics, the longest I’ve been out of work is an hour-and-ahalf. [laughter] But it was a rough hour-and-a-half!

I was ready to sell the children. [laughter] So I immediately started to work on Justice League for Andy.

CBA: How was Andy as an editor? He seems quite a nice, easy-going guy.

Adam: He is. I certainly gave him a lot of gray hairs with my shenanigans, but he’s a fun guy and pretty much knows what he’s doing. I think that first year with him and J.M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen and Kevin Maguire—that was the Golden Age for him. I was patently aware that I was the replacement guitarist of the Rolling Stones. [laughter] Those guys loved that August 2002

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first year together. They really had a good thing going.

CBA: How long did you stay doing interior pages?

Adam: About 12 issues, I think, plus covers. I then did a Star Trek graphic novel for DC Comics (which was me addressing my childhood and all the Star Trek stuff). Then I went over to Dark Horse and did Ghost for a while. That’s when I realized that I’m so bent out of shape about making these pages beautiful that I’m really of no use to anybody.

CBA: Were you satisfied with your sequential work?

Adam: Not really. I hated the compromises that I had to make to get it done. I’m one of those people who wants it all to be beautiful.

I can’t accomplish that under the best of circumstances so when you’re doing a book on a deadline, it just doesn’t work.

CBA: After working on Justice League and Star Trek, did your star rise? Did you believe that you were getting attention?

Adam: I felt at that point that I was “last year’s girl.” I felt that was the most popular that I was ever going to get was as a pseudofan favorite artist of Justice League. I thought that was the the best it was going to get and it was going to be downhill from there.

CBA: Did you give up the assignment or pass on to do other things or was it just a parting of the ways?

Adam: I had a choice of doing another year of Justice League or doing the Star Trek

Opposite page: Top are AH’s pencils for Voodoo #2 cover; bottom is the inked version of another Voodoo cover, #3; inset is Voodoo drawing from AH’s sketchbook. Art ©2002 Adam Hughes. Voodoo ©2002 the respective copyright holder.

Below: Preliminary AH sketchbook drawing of the X-Men/WildC.A.Ts: The Modern Age cover. Art ©2002 Adam Hughes. WildC.A.Ts ©2002 Wildstorm Productions, an imprint of DC Comics. X-Men ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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PORTFOLIO Cover art for Wonder Woman #154. Š2002 DC Comics.

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This page: A page from AH’s sketchbook featuring Powergirl gushing over the Maid of Steel. Art ©2002 Adam Hughes. Characters ©2002 DC Comics.

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This page: Lady Rawhide is interrupted in this AH pencil sketch for Lady Rawhide #2 cover. Art ©2002 Adam Hughes. Character ©2002 the respective copyright holder.

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Heroine Addiction

The Adam Hughes Checklist The definitive index to the artwork of AH! by Larry Dempsey Compiled by Larry Dempsey [Many thanks to Larry Dempsey for permission to use his authoritative—and exhaustive—Adam Hughes checklist taken from his (currently without a home page) Web site.

Kudos to Aussie Royd Burgoyne for his welcome help.

Notes: r: means “reprinted from:”; tpb means “trade paperback”; hc means “hardcover”] #

DESCRIPTION/STORY TITLE

DATE

COMIC BOOKS & MAGAZINES A-1 TRUE LIFE BIKINI CONFIDENTIAL (Atomeka Press) 1 cover, pin-up 1990 ACTION MASTER (Evolution Comics) 2 cover pencils 1991 ALTER EGO (TwoMorrows) 9 pin-up (r: ’98 Heroes Con program book pin-up) 7/01 AMAZING HEROES (Fantagraphics) 136 pin-up 2/29/88 164 pin-up 5/1/89 189 cover AMAZING HEROES SWIMSUIT SPECIAL (Fantagraphics) 1 pin-ups 2 pin-ups 3 pin-up 6/92 AMAZING SPOOF HEROES SWIMSUIT ISSUE (Fantagraphics) 4 cover pencils 1993 BARBI TWINS SWIMSUIT COMIC ART CALENDAR (Topps) nn pin-up 1995 BATMAN CHRONICLES GALLERY (DC Comics) 1 back cover co-pencils/co-inks 5/97 BATMAN VERSUS PREDATOR (DC Comics/Dark Horse) 2 pin-up 1992 BATMAN VS. PREDATOR COLLECTED ED. (DC/Dark Horse) nn pin-up (r: Batman Versus Predator #2] 1993 BEST OF AMAZING HEROES SWIMSUIT SPEC. (Fantagraphics) nn cover, pin-ups BEST OF DARK HORSE PRESENTS (Dark Horse Comics) Vol. 3 (r: Dark Horse Presents #50) 1993 BIG BAD BLOOD OF DRACULA (Apple Comics) 2 “A Chronology of Dracula” 9/91 BLOOD OF DRACULA (Apple Comics) 4 5 “Count Dracula” pencils 8/88 7 “Count Dracula” pencils 10/88 8 “Count Dracula” pencils 11/88 9 “Count Dracula” pencils 1/89 10 “Count Dracula” pencils 3/89 11 “Count Dracula” pencils 5/89

CHASSIS (Millennium) 1 cover 1996 CHASSIS VOL. II (Hurricane Comics) 1 cover 6/98 CLASSIC STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (Dark Horse Comics) 2 cover 7/94 CLASSIC STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (Dark Horse Comics) nn boxed set edition tpb inside back cover 11/95 (r: Classic Star Wars: A New Hope #2 cover) CLASSIC STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI (Dark Horse) 1 cover 10/94 CLASSIC STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI (Dark Horse) nn Boxed set edition tpb inside back cover 11/95 (r: Classic Star Wars: Return of the Jedi #1 cover) COMICS GREATEST WORLD: GHOST (Dark Horse Comics) nn main story pencils***title?

6/93 CYNDER/NIRA X (Immortelle Studios)***listed only as Cynder 1 variant cover 1996 DANGER GIRL (Image Comics) 3 cover 8/98 DARK HORSE PRESENTS (Dark Horse Comics) 50 "Hip-Deep in the Consciousness Stream” 4/91 co-writer/pencils DEATH GALLERY (DC Comics) 1 pin-up 1994 DEATH HAWK (Adventure) 1 pencils***title?

5/88 DETECTIVES (Alpha Productions) 1 cover 4/93 DIRTY PAIR: RUN FROM THE FUTURE (Dark Horse Comics) 1 variant cover pencils 1/00 DOC SAVAGE: THE MANUAL OF BRONZE (Millennium) nn pin-up (r: Pat Savage: Woman of Bronze #1) 8/92 DRACULA IN HELL (Apple Comics) 2 cover pencils 3/92 THE DREAMING (DC Comics) 55 co-pencils/co-inks on pgs 10-11 12/00 DV8 (Image Comics) 1 cover pencils (“Pride”) 8/96 EAGLE (Crystal Publications) 6 pin-up (first published work) 6/87 9 background pencils 9/87 10 background pencils 10/87 11 background pencils 11/87 12 background pencils?

12/87 EAGLE: THE DARK MIRROR SAGA (Comic Zone) 1 cover 12/92 2 cover 2/92 3 cover 4/92 4 cover 7/92

ELEMENTALS VOL. 2 (Comico) 12 cover, interior pencils, back cover 2/90 17 cover 5/91 FLAXEN: ALTER EGO (Caliber Comics) 1 back cover 1995 FOX KIDS MAGAZINE nn? pin-up Win/99 nn? cover Spr/00 FRANK CHO: ILLUSTRATOR (Insight Studios Group) nn “Brush Strokes and Paint,” writer, chapter intro 6/00 (tpb & hc) GAMORRA SWIMSUIT SPECIAL (Image Comics) 1 pin-up 6/96 GATECRASHER: RING OF FIRE (Black Bull Entertainment) nn cover (tpb) 11/00 GEMINAR 72-PAGE SPECIAL (Image Comics) nn half-page art (pg. 68) 7/00 GEN13 BIKINI PIN-UP SPECIAL (Image Comics) nn pin-up 1997 GEN13 YEARBOOK ’97 (Image Comics) nn third-page art (pg. 40) 6/97 GEN13 : ORDINARY HEROES (Image Comics) 1 cover, interior: writer/pencils****story title?

2/96 2 cover pencils, writer/pencils****story title?

GHOST (Dark Horse Comics) 1 cover, interior pencils 4/95 2 cover, interior pencils 5/95 3 cover pencils, interior pencils/co-inks (Ghost versus 6/95 Nemo seq.)

5 cover 8/95 6 cover 9/95 7 cover 10/95 GHOST HANDBOOK (Dark Horse Comics) nn cover, pin-up, back cover 8/99 GHOST SPECIAL (Dark Horse Comics) 1 cover 7/94 GHOST STORIES (Dark Horse Comics) nn cover, "Story One: I'm Already Dead" interior pencils,4/95 sketches (tpb r: Comics Greatest World: Ghost) GHOST/BATGIRL (Dark Horse Comics/DC Comics) 1 half-page art 8/00 GHOST: BLACK OCTOBER (Dark Horse Comics) nn (tpb r: Ghost #6 and 7 covers) 1/99 GHOST: NOCTURNES (Dark Horse Comics) nn (tpb r: Ghost #1 and 3) 5/96 G.I. JOE (Marvel Comics) 111 pin-up 4/91 GLAMOUR INTERNATIONAL 19 pin-up (r: Who’s Who in the DC Universe #4) 10/92

Maze Agency ©2002 Mike W. Barr

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REMEMBERING JOHN BUSCEMA

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No.21 August 2002

$6.95 In The US

All characters ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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NUMBER 21

L E G E N D

CELEBRATING

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J O H N

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GREAT CARTOONISTS, WRITERS & EDITORS

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REMEMBERING JOHN BUSCEMA: A CBA TRIBUTE FRED HEMBECK’S DATELINE@!!?* Sir Fred memorializes those great “scowling” characters drawn by Big John Buscema..........................................3 CBA RETROSPECTIVE: THE LIFE OF LEGENDARY “BIG JOHN” BUSCEMA Chris Irving talks to the friends of the renowned Marvel artist about the man behind the art ..............................4 CBA TESTIMONIALS: REMEMBERING BUSCEMA Over 25 of the artists’ peers recall the life and work of the Marvel legend ........................................................14 CBA INTERVIEW: A TALK WITH JOHN BUSCEMA Alan Woollcombe shares a 1994 conversation with the artist, conducted at the UK Comic Art Convention ......26 SAL BUSCEMA INTERVIEW: MEMORIES OF BROTHER JOHN Tom DeFalco talks with John’s brother and the “other” Buscema, a legendary Marvel artist in his own right ....34 ARTIST SHOWCASE: JOHN BUSCEMA SKETCHBOOK Some of the best Buscema art ever done was his warm-up sketches on the back of his comic book pages ........36 Cover: A lovely portrait painting of John Buscema by his friend—and one of Big John’s best inkers—Tom Palmer. Our profound appreciation goes out to Mr. Palmer for all of his support and contributions to this issue. Characters ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2002 Tom Palmer. Above: John Buscema commission piece featuring the Cimmerian, Conan. Courtesy of Mike Arnold. Conan ©2002 Conan Properties, Inc. Art ©2002 the Estate of John Buscema.

Please send all letters of comment, articles and artwork to: Jon B. Cooke, Editor, Comic Book Artist, P.O. Box 204, West Kingston, RI 02892-0204 Phone: (401) 783-1669 • Fax: (401) 783-1287 • E-mail: jonbcooke@aol.com

Editor/Designer JON B. COOKE Publisher

TWOMORROWS JOHN & PAM MORROW Cover Painting TOM PALMER Transcribers LONGBOX.COM JON B. KNUTSON BRIAN K. MORRIS SAM GAFFORD STEVEN TICE Logo Designer/Title Originator ARLEN SCHUMER Editorial credits on flip side

COMIC BOOK ARTIST™ is published 10 times a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. 919-833-8092. Jon B. Cooke, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: P.O. Box 204, West Kingston, RI 02892-0204 USA • 401-783-1669 • Fax: 401-783-1287. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT the editorial office. Single issues: $9 postpaid ($11 Canada, $12 elsewhere). Six-issue subscriptions: $36 US, $66 Canada, $72 elsewhere. All characters © their respective owners. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © their respective authors. ©2002 Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows. Cover acknowledgements: Art ©2002 Tom Palmer. All characters ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. First Printing. PRINTED IN CANADA.

CBA Retrospective

The Life of Legendary Christopher Irving takes a journey to discover the artistry

by Christopher Irving John N. Buscema was born on December 11, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York. It was less than two years before the infamous “Black Thursday” would bring about the beginning of the Great Depression, and during the advent of the adventure comic strip. Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie and Roy Crane’s Wash Tubbs had debuted two years before baby John Buscema, while Dick Caulkin’s Buck Rogers and Hal Foster’s Tarzan strips would make their first appearance within the next couple of years. Foster’s Prince Valiant and Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon (itself created in response to the aforementioned 24th Century space adventurer) were early inspirations of Buscema’s.

Cancer claimed “Big” John’s life this past January 10th, and his passing leaves behind a legacy of artwork (mostly for Marvel Comics) and generations of fans, both personal and professional.

“John Buscema was one of the most natural people I’ve ever known,” Stan Lee, a frequent collaborator with the artist, reflected. “Totally unaffected and totally honest. He spoke whatever was on his mind truthfully, though people often thought he was kidding. One example was when he said he hated doing super-hero comics. He really meant it. He never enjoyed drawing costumed heroes. He preferred things that he considered natural, like Conan.

Mainly, though, he really wanted to paint; painting was his true love. He often told me he couldn’t wait to retire so that he could spend his time painting. As for the kind of person he was— he was a genuinely decent human being and a great friend; a sincere, loyal, helpful, gruff bear of a man with a warm and gentle soul.”

“He was a man of very strong convictions, and he knew what he loved and didn’t love,” cartoonist Stan Goldberg of Archie fame said. “When he did love it, he gave it his heart and soul. What he didn’t love, he had certain descriptions of how he’d handle that. People who met him for the first time and heard him describing what he didn’t love would say ‘That guy is terrible, look what he just said.’

“But he was the biggest, sweetest, kindest man you could ever imagine. I haven’t felt this way about losing a friend in a long time. He was our friend.” “[John was] a big teddy bear, and someone who’s imposing when you meet him, but a big pussycat when you get to know him,” Mad magazine artist Mort Drucker observed. “He had a wonderful sense about him, very modest and a delightful man.

“He didn’t suffer fools lightly,” Irwin Hasen, cartoonist behind Dondi and DC Comics’ “Wildcat” said. “He had this 4-B

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“Big” John Buscema and experiences of one of the greatest comic artists of all

wonderful hearty laugh. He was a warm, friendly guy, but you couldn’t be a wise guy with him. He’d put you down if you started to be a smart-ass. He was just one of those rare guys, and I’m so grateful that I finally met him after so many years of my life.”

Bill Seay, chair of the Berndt Toast Gang of artists, also focused on John as a professional.

“A tall, imposing guy, beautifully trimmed beard. He was a genial, delightful person to spend time with, and loved to talk about the illustrators of the 1940s. He really idolized some of those people, like Dean Cornwell, Floyd Davis, Albert Durer, and loved to discuss their work. He spent hours and hours in the museums studying the old masters. In addition to studying the old masters, he loved the illustrators of that period in illustration.

“He was a wonderful person, just delightful.”

Four-Color, Roy Rogers), American Comics Group (Forbidden Worlds and Adventures into the Unknown) and St. John’s. By 1958, after the crippling attacks on comics by Dr. Frederic Wertham and government authorities, along with the creation of the Comics Code Authority, coupled with the advent of television and homogenizing of the medium, Buscema left funny books behind and re-entered the marketing and advertising world. Yet even his innate ability to produce quickly could not provide steady enough work.

Opposite page: Commission piece

by John Buscema commemorating a number of his most fondlyrecalled Marvel characters.

Characters ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. Below: Conan commission piece. Conan ©2002 Conan Properties, Inc. Both courtesy of Mike Arnold. Art ©2002 the Estate of John Buscema.

As a youth, Buscema attended Manhattan’s High School of Music and Art, as well as took nightly lessons at the Pratt Institute for a year-and-a-half, topped off with another year studying life drawing at the Brooklyn Museum.

Buscema worked in advertising for a short time; his advertising work included everything from paperback book covers to layout work for Seagrams’ Whiskey.

In 1948, John Buscema became a staffer at Timely Comics, the company that would eventually become Marvel. His association with the comics house was only short-lived: After a year-and-a-half, Martin Goodman laid off the entire staff of artists, reducing them to freelancer status after the comics mogul discovered a closet-full of half-finished and rejected story art (accumulated because young editor Stan Lee felt obligated to keep the staffers earning their daily bread, regardless if the produced material would ever see print or not). According to the Grand Comics Database, Buscema’s first published work was 1950’s Two-Gun Western for Timely/ Marvel, although the artist once claimed in an interview that his first work was a story about grave-robbers at Lincoln’s tomb. It is possible that, with the plenitude of reprints done throughout the various companies, John’s work was not printed until years after its completion. Or just as possible, it was unsigned and remains unaccredited.

Artist and a former student of John Buscema, Bob Hall, cites Buscema’s self-discipline during this early period: “I remember him saying that he worked with an alarm clock when he was starting, and once he had the experience of taking forever to do something. He realized you can’t survive by doing that, so he trained himself to draw faster. He literally did time himself. I don’t know if this is exactly what he said, I may be tweaking things (but, John was highly disciplined, so this might be true), but that when the alarm went off, that drawing was done. He was good enough to be able to time himself and get a drawing. He wasn’t going to screw around after that. He felt that, in order to exist in the business and be fast, you had to discipline yourself to draw fast. For a while you may turn out bad drawings, but that’s the way to do it.”

Buscema stayed freelance in the then-dwindling comics market, working for such publishers as Dell (where he drew August 2002

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CBA Testimonials

Remembering Buscema Over 25 of the master’s peers reminisce about John and his art Below: Certainly one of JB’s most fondly-recalled comic books are his short but sweet run on the early Sub-Mariner issues. Here’s a detail of his cover art on Sub-Mariner #1, as inked by Marvel production manager Sol Brodsky. ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Stan Lee

writer, editor, publisher John Buscema, one of the greatest artists the comic book world has ever known, was a complete anomaly.

While doing illustrations that many of the old masters would have been proud to call their own; while doing illustrations that served as models and inspirations for new, aspiring artists as well as experienced old-timers; while doing illustrations that depicted stories so well that one would think they were done by a screen director who also happened to be a fantastic artist; while doing illustrations that never resorted to flash or exaggerated style to cover up imperfections in his drawing (because such imperfections seldom if ever existed); John Buscema constantly surprised those who were his greatest fans by stating that he was simply in comics for the money— for his real love was painting!

Therein lies much of the greatness of John Buscema. Such a master of visual storytelling was he, such a perfect depicter of the human form at rest and in action, that even though his heart may not have been totally in his work, his skill, dedication and brilliance were in every figure and every panel he drew.

Knowing John as I did, and knowing his subtle and offbeat sense of humor, I feel there’s always a chance that his gruff remarks were just his way of putting on his panting public, but whether or not that’s the case, my hat is off to a masterful artist, a wonderful man who never gave his colleagues or his fans less than his absolute best—an artist who brought dignity, beauty and genius to our field—an artist who will never be forgotten as long as comics exist.

Excelsior!

John 14-B

Romita John Romita

artist, art director John Buscema’s name conjures up so many feelings that it’s hard to chose. A peerless draftsman, obviously, he was also a fine storyteller.

While he often “put down” comics as unimportant his work said something else. Powerful, majestic, subtle and beautiful characters filled his pages and always with sensitivity. The real Buscema showed on those pages.

Professionals like us should be immune to a fellow artist’s illusions, but I fell in love with his heroines and rooted for his heroes.

Only Caniff and John could do that to me.

One of a kind and truly an artist’s artist… that’s how I think of John Buscema.

Our hearts are with Dolores and the family. We miss him terribly.

Joe Sinnott

artist To fully appreciate the brilliance of John Buscema, you had to work with him. I had the good fortune to collaborate with him on many of his greatest characters. To see the incomparable draftsmanship in the originals of The Mighty Thor, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Conan, Ms. Marvel, Nova, and others was a most rewarding experience. Much of my most satisfying work was with John. He was in a class by himself!

No one was more forthright than John. I’ll forever miss him.

Neal Adams

artist, writer, publisher It is significant to know and understand how the world may deal brutally with its talented creatives and what danger we face when it happens. It, of course, is not required of the world that we support and coddle our talented artists. So, in all honesty, there should not be any guilt to be parsed out. In fact, the more you coddle and support talent, the more you spoil it, so supporting and coddling is not a good idea.

There is a middle ground that for John Buscema, as an artist, and I, as a fan, was torn away.

As a kid, I got my hands on a comic book called Mr. Muscles. It was about, as you might suspect, a guy with a lot of… muscles.

Thing was, the artist seemed to know where all the muscles go. I realized this by instinct, not by knowledge. This character had incredibly beautiful muscles, but no one, no one in comics knew this much, not even my heroes at the time.

One comic… and then he was gone!

As a kid, I got into comics sporadically because my family was in Germany with the occupation forces. When we got back to the States, the world of comics had changed. Whole comic companies had closed down. It was the Dark Ages. Archie, Harvey, DC, Dell, and Gold Key had survived. Oops! And Timely… who cared about them?

Couple of others, Charlton, whatever.

I moved on to high school, an art high school. New friends, etc.

Third year, 12th grade. The Steve Reeves Hercules movie came out. Oh my God, it was great. Real men with real muscles. And Steve Reeves. What healthy guy didn’t know about Steve Reeves?! From the black-&-white pages of the Muscle and Fitness magazine (or whatever it was called then).

Then Dell printed the Hercules comic book based on the movie.

But, good lord! It’s that guy… that Hercules artist. The guy who knew anatomy. The guys in my group went totally apesh*t. We couldn’t believe Dell had hired the right artist for the right job. We were numb at the thought.

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Then, he was gone. Poof! Who was he? Did he draw anything else?

Nothing surfaced. Archivists will tell you differently, but this is the truth: He was a Will-o’-the-Wisp… we didn’t even know his name. But that Hercules book burned like a beacon. Jack Kirby and Wally Wood’s Challengers, Kubert, Heath, then Drucker on the war books, Kubert inking Carmine on the first issue of The Flash, random appearances by Williamson and a few others… and that Hercules book. No, he didn’t draw Steve Reeves, more’s the pity… but he drew Hercules.

Many years later, Stan sucked John back into comics and the rest is history….

Yes… but you know the mid-’50s to the mid-’60s, all things being equal, I think—I know—that the light of John Buscema would have shined brighter by three times! John’s rise came at the plummet of the comic book medium.

I think we all owe Stan the Man a round of applause for urging John back for one more try at the golden ring.

And try he did and succeeded, and as they say of Davy Crockett, “He made himself a legend forever more.”

Will I blame our industry for delaying this flame? Yes. Because now the flame is out. And I, selfishly, do not want it to be so.

John: That last bear hug we gave each other last San Diego, it should have not been our last. But, I’ll say this, Big Guy: You sure did good work. You sure did damn good work.

Ernie Colón

artist, writer, editor I was given an issue of Conan the Barbarian to do while at my brief stay at Marvel. At first, I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to draw this great icon of Hyborean adventure. Then, as John Buscema’s unparalleled work on Conan began to seep into my consciousness, beads of sweat began to appear on my forehead.

With good reason.

Fred Astaire has just completed his act and the audience is wild with cheers and applause. The stage manager then points to me and says,“Okay, kid: Let’s see what you can do.”

My response, appropriately enough, is, “Hah…?”

I did the story. I did my best and it was okay. John came back from vacation—or wherever—sat down to continue his amazing work on Conan, and the universe was once more in order.

I was, and am, a fan.

David Lloyd

artist I met John Buscema at a festival in Gijon, Spain. A nice guy and typical of his generation of comics artists, workmen in a trade is how they largely see themselves, despite the enormous number of people their skills have influenced over the years. John didn’t know my work, so my constant desire for instant approval from the elite and respected craftsmen of my youth was frustrated once again.

All those invited to the festival were separately interviewed on stage as examples of their creations were displayed on a big screen. If he sees mine, I thought, he might August 2002

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tell me he liked it when I talk to him later. He saw some of my interview and saw some of my work, but he left before the end. He might have been hungry, he might have had an appointment to keep, he might have been tired from jet lag and wanted to rest. But it could just have been that he wasn’t greatly impressed with what I do. Of course, I didn’t ask him what he’d thought of what he’d seen at my interview or why he’d left before it finished but, even now, five years later, I still occasionally wonder what he had thought and wish I’d heard a few complimentary words from him about my efforts.

That’s what John Buscema was to me, one of the awe-inspiring greats by which we judge our own value, to keep us on our toes in an industry in which it’s very easy to become flat-footed and trudge a well-worn path. John may not be with us any more but his example will stick around for as long as his work is published and there are artists like me around to learn something from it.

John Workman

artist, writer, letterer, art director When I was much younger, I used to daydream quite a lot about changing the minds of those who saw comic book reading as a worthless pursuit. This attitude really bothered me, and I set out, within the confines of my imagination, to inform the ignorant about the truly great things that had been done with the comics form. From recent memories, I gathered examples of stories that had real value and worth for any reader of any age. A couple of those stories that ranked high on my list (most especially for their visual wonders) were drawn

by John Buscema, and I was stunned a few years later to find that he saw them as complete failures.

In a couple of issues of the early Marvel black-&-white magazine Savage Tales, John Buscema drew some Conan stories that were inked by Alfredo Alcala. When I saw them, I couldn’t believe the sheer beauty of the images.

It was as if Joseph Clement Coll had come back to life and taken to drawing comics. The product of the two men working together was the most amazing collaboration that I’ve ever seen. The surprising thing was the fact that the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.

Neither Buscema nor Alcala could

Above: Gorgeous splash-page detail of Wolverine, penciled by JB and inked by Klaus Janson.

From Wolverine #1. Courtesy of a generous fan whose name was misplaced at presstime. Our apologies, amigo, and please tell us who you are and we’ll get you your comp issue of CBA. ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Left: Beautiful commissioned JB pencil piece of ol’ Greenskin, courtesy of Mike Arnold. Art ©2002 the Estate of John Buscema. Hulk ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. 15-B

CBA Interview

Talking with Big John That loveable curmudgeon at the ’94 UK Comic Art Convention Opposite page: Enrico Savini shares this JB commission piece featuring the Thunder God and two of the Warriors Three. Bob McLeod did some revision work.

Below: A poignant representation of the passing of a master comic book artist. This unfinished commission by JB featured his favorite assignments at Marvel Comics.

Courtesy of Mike Arnold. Art ©2002 Estate of John Buscema.

Thor, Silver Surfer ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. Conan ©2002 Conan Properties, Inc.

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Conducted by Alan R. Woollcombe On Oct. 2, 1994 John Buscema was in London as star guest at UKCAC (United Kingdom Comic Arts Convention). Securing John was a major coup for the organizers, who had lined him up on panels and signings throughout what must have proved a very long day.

During a break, we sat in a corner and he good-naturedly granted the following interview. The artist was good-humored, sharp, and not above catching me out occasionally—in short, far from the intimidating ogre of rumor. The interview appeared originally in the March 1995 issue (#37) of the long-defunct British magazine Comic World.

This is the verbatim transcript [if slightly edited by Y.E.]—ARW Alan R. Woollcombe: I read an interview with Steve

Englehart recently. He said that in the mid-1970s you and he were both hired by Jenette Kahn at DC briefly, but then Stan [Lee] came back to you with a bigger offer of money.

John Buscema: That’s a fabrication. I never worked for DC in my entire life. I was approached three times: once many years ago by Carmine Infantino and twice by Jenette Kahn. (Actually, I shouldn’t say Jenette Kahn, it was one of her editors.) I did meet Jenette twice, and twice we couldn’t, err, come to any sort of, err… They couldn’t take me away from Marvel, okay? What I had at Marvel I could never get at DC. Alan: What do you have at Marvel?

John: One of the things I have at Marvel is Conan, which I love.

DC wanted me to work on Superman which I think is probably as dull as Spider-Man—I wouldn’t be happy working on it. Also, the benefits that I have, which is very difficult for another company to match, really. I’ve been there a long time and they’ve been very generous with me, and DC could never match what I have at Marvel.

Alan: Have you ever worked for another comic company?

John: Oh, before—many years ago I worked with quite a few companies, but every one of them closed up like a domino effect.

This was back in the ’50s. [chuckles] Alan: Did you ever work with Joe Kubert?

John: No, no, never worked with Joe Kubert. It’s a funny thing—if I’ve been in the field for 47 years, I think Joe has been in it for about 50 years or better. I met him [for the first time] about five years ago.

I met [DC editor] Julie Schwartz at a convention and I mentioned that I would love to meet Joe Kubert. He told me that the next time I got up to the city [New York] to give him a call and he would make sure that Joe would be there, and we would meet. In fact we did, we had lunch together and I was very impressed with Joe. I think he’s a fabulous artist, I think he’s fantastic, and I think he’s the same thing as a man. He’s really a very interesting person, and we seemed to get along very well.

I had an embarrassing situation. Joe has a school [the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art] and he asked me if I would be willing to have a graduation exercise or some-thing with the students, would I be willing to go to [New] Jersey [where the school is] and be a guest speaker? I agreed, and then I had to back out because I was so busy and that’s quite a distance—I would have had to kill an entire day and I just couldn’t have afforded that day. And he said “Well, maybe next time”—and I had to turn him down a second time because of the same situation. He never called me again! [chuckles] So I feel kind of embarrassed—I don’t want to meet him face to face! [laughter] Alan: You mentioned you were bored by Spider-Man, but you did ink some early issues of Amazing Spider-Man….

John: No, I have never inked any job except mine up at Marvel.

I penciled—I forget who inked, maybe….

Alan: Mickey Demeo?

John: Mickey Demeo was Frank Giacoia by the way, did you know that?

Alan: I thought Frankie Ray was Frank Giacoia.

John: And I think he was also… wait a minute, Mickey Demeo is Esposito. That is not a real [name]—somebody is using a double, like Frank Giacoia used Frankie Ray, and Demeo is the same situation.

Alan: And Gene Colan used Adam Austin.

John: Yes, I know that. And John Buscema used John Buscema! [chuckles] I don’t know why the hell they do it. Well I do know about Giacoia, I know why that happened but I won’t go into it, because it’s COMIC BOOK ARTIST 21

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Above: Some rarely-seen JB & Tom Palmer work—at least stateside—are their collaborations on Marvel’s British comics, including the above Captain Britain splash page (courtesy of Mr. Palmer) and these Mighty World of Marvel covers (courtesy of Rob Kirby). ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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his personal affair.

Alan: But you did pencil Amazing Spider-Man? John: Yes, I did pencil Spider-Man—I did maybe half a dozen issues, but all I did was breakdowns. I didn’t do finished pencils. I can’t remember who inked, but I know I didn’t. In fact I was very upset doing Spider-Man, I thought it would blow my mind if I kept working on it. I mentioned it to Roy Thomas, and he told Stan Lee and Stan Lee took me off the Spider-Man. Alan: So what is it about Spider-Man? John: I think it’s dull, I don’t like the character.

Look, I feel that way about most super-heroes. The only one I have a bit of interest in—a bit—would be Thor because of Asgard.

Whenever I did Thor and they had it on Asgard, I enjoyed doing it.

They’d take him off Asgard and put him on Earth, I was bored to tears with it.

Alan: What about The Avengers?

John: I never had a care for it—in fact, I hated it because they had so many damn characters running all over the place.

I can’t remember the past two or three books that I’ve done, I completely obliterate everything from my mind….

Alan: Well, that sounds like a promising introduction for my questions about your career!

John: [Laughter] Oh, that I can [do]. My career started in ’48 with Marvel, which was Timely at the time. They were in the Empire State Building at the time, on the fourth floor—I remember that, I can never forget that!

Alan: Was Stan [Lee] in charge at the time?

John: Yes, he was. That was April 1948, and he gave me my first job at Marvel, on staff, for a salary. I started off with $75 a week, a hell of a lot of money in those days.

Alan: Were you sweeping the floors?

John: No, no, I was drawing with all the greats.

When I walked into that room, I was on another plane when I saw those great comic book men that I had grown up with, you know—Carl Burgos (on the Human Torch)…

Alan: Bill “Sub-Mariner” Everett?

John: Well, Bill Everett—I met him but he wasn’t on staff, he was freelancing. Syd Shores (great draftsman)…

Alan: Did he ever ink any of your work?

John: No… Yes! A few years ago, before he passed away, I think he inked one or two things that I did, I don’t remember exactly which ones. Danny DeCarlo was there, Mike Sekowsky was up there—what a roomful of talent! Absolutely fabulous—I was in another world with these guys.

Alan: Do you remember your first story?

John: My very first story was a four- or five-pager about these men who decided they were going to rob Abraham Lincoln’s grave, and I had the toughest time drawing Abraham Lincoln! [chuckles] The editor took a penny out of his pocket and said “This is what Abraham Lincoln looks like!” [laughter] Anyway, it was a rough four pages and I hated it, but I couldn’t wait to see it published. But we were not allowed to touch the books when they came in—they would bring all the new books into the office, place them on a table in the foyer, and no one could touch them.

Today you get every book in creation—you get them from DC, you get them from Marvel, you get them from the other publishers.

I’m piled with books from all the publishers.

In those days you couldn’t touch them, you had to go out and buy the book if you wanted it, so that’s what I did—I went out and bought my first book!

Alan: Were you penciling and inking?

John: I was just penciling. I was with Marvel, Timely, for about a year-and-a-half, and then they put everyone out on freelance. I freelanced and then I started moving to other companies. I worked for small outfits—one was Our Publications (which was later known as Orbit). I worked for Western Printing (which was Dell).

Alan: Anything for EC? COMIC BOOK ARTIST 21

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John: No. DC. Alan: Harvey?

John: I might have, but I don’t remember. I worked for several small outfits, and I don’t remember the names or what I did at those places.

Alan: And did you specialize in any particular field?

John: No, it was anything. Science-fiction, Western, crime, romance....

Alan: 3-D? John: No, I never did a 3-D book.—But they had a large variety of stories in them. Not today—today it’s just super-heroes. In those days you could do almost anything—it was very interesting, I enjoyed it.

Alan: What about film adaptations?

John: Yes, I did a hell of a lot of those in the early ’50s for Western Printing. I did the one with Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas, The Viking, with Ernest Borgnine as the father. I did Helen of Troy, I did one with Victor Mature. I did quite a few. Also classics adaptations—I did work on the book The Count of Monte Cristo.

Alan: Did you work on anybody else’s super-heroes, like the DC ones in the ’50s?

John: No. In fact I went up to DC at a very bad period—they told me they couldn’t use me, they had just enough work for the people that they employed. It was a bad period in comics. Marvel had nothing—they had just a few books each month and they had the guys working on them. I think Don Heck was one of the guys that they employed. I’m not sure if Jack Kirby was doing anything for them. All I know is that Stan said “John, we don’t have that much work, and I’m sorry I can’t give you any.” That was ’58, I think— that’s when I went out into another field. I went into advertising. I was fortunate in getting into a very large studio, loaded with talent, great illustrators. It was a wonderful period of my life—I learned how to paint. I did a lot of things: I did paperback covers, layouts, editorial illustration, textbook illustrations, all kinds of stuff. I enjoyed it a lot.

Alan: That was from ’58 to...?

John: ’66. It was a very difficult life. Advertising was a cyclical thing, where you worked maybe six or seven months and then you sat on your hands for the rest of the year. So those few months that you worked, you made a year’s salary—but you were never home. I was never home: my son was born in 1964—and for his first year I don’t remember my son, I never saw him. Really! That’s the truth! I would get home and he would be asleep, I would leave and he would be asleep. The weekends would come around and I could go home, but I’d be working.

I started out on salary for about a year-and-a-half. Then I left and I went freelancing, but I had space in the city, and you had to be available to the client. When that client approached the studio for a job, you had to be there for that client. He may not give you anything for a whole week—and then on the weekend you’d get loaded with work. I worked for a client for two years on a freelance basis, I missed one deadline and never got another account—and it wasn’t my fault, I was snowbound. He lost the account because I was late with the job and he never gave me another job. It was a real cutthroat business. Today the studio system as I used to know it (we used to work for all the agencies) doesn’t exist, because a lot of the work is being done in-house—for example, TV storyboards.

Alan: What prompted you to get back into comics?

John: There was a situation. I lived in the suburbs, I was commuting by train and it was a three hour trip into the city, door to door, and then three hours back. I just couldn’t continue that way—I did it for six years, then I started commuting by car, [which] was a bit better but not that much better. My wife and I had planned “Well, we’ve had it—I just don’t want to do this commuting.” My wife was upset because she never saw me, I didn’t see the kids, she was rearing up two children without me. I said, “Look, the only solution is, let’s get rid of the house and we’ll move closer in to the city.”

Just about that time, I got a call from Marvel. Sol Brodsky, the production manager, called and I went up there. I was afraid, I didn’t want to leave what I had—I had a very good situation, I had clients.

They made me a fabulous offer—Stan said “What do you earn?” and gave me a better offer. It was a very difficult decision. I said “I will do the books—but I’m not going to leave my job.” So I kept commuting, but it was such a hassle that finally I realized that they were serious, August 2002

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they had plenty of work and I dropped the advertising. I didn’t want to move back into the city—I wanted to stay out where I am. I love it out there, it was very rural at that time and a great place to bring up kids. (This is Long Island.)

Anyway, I went into the comics and I’ve been happy ever since.

That started in ’66.

Alan: And you’ve worked for Marvel ever since?

John: I’ve worked for Marvel ever since, and only Marvel. I haven’t done anything for anyone else.

Alan: What was the first book you did on your return?

John: One of the first books I did was “Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD” [in Strange Tales]. After that, I did a “Hulk,” and after that I don’t remember what I worked on. It was a short time after I was there that they put me on The Avengers, and I worked with [writer] Roy Thomas for quite a while on that.

Above: A portrait of Big John by Michael Maikowsky. Courtesy of and ©2002 the artist. Below: Perhaps the finest Buscema homage was drawn by Italian artist Claudio Castellini in a 1996 Silver Surfer one-shot (the artist is seen here with JB in a recent pic.)

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Above: Artist Mike Royer discusses JB’s short stint as Marvel romance artist as one of Buscema’s high points in the field. Cover art to My Love #15, courtesy of Albert Moy. ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Alan: How did you get onto The Silver Surfer?

John: [The Avengers] was very popular, doing very well, and Stan came up with the idea of doing a large book on the Silver Surfer.

Books were, I think, a dime at the time and this was a 25¢ book— which was outrageously expensive, but he said it would be successful.

He took me off The Avengers and I started with The Silver Surfer.

I did sixteen issues and Jack Kirby did the last one—it was a desperation move on Stan’s part, trying to resuscitate the book, but the character was never popular with the public. Today it’s one of the better books up at Marvel, but at the time I guess they weren’t prepared for it.

Alan: Why did you change your style of drawing the Surfer himself?

John: Can I tell you what happened? When Stan gave me The Silver Surfer, I assumed this guy was coated with silver. I assumed everybody would assume that, right? Well, Stan wasn’t happy. He said, “It’s not silver, John, it’s a white plastic styrofoam covering” [laughter] It wasn’t my idea! The book started off like a house on fire, and each issue sold less, less and less. Stan was nitpicking, you know? I said “Stan, okay, fine.” I wish he had told me this from the beginning, I would have made it plastic—as if anyone could tell the difference! You’re the only guy who ever mentioned that. [laughter] Alan: Is The Silver Surfer one of your favorites?

John: Yes, I enjoyed doing The Silver Surfer because it had a hell of a lot of freedom, especially in the first couple of books. Stan more or less gave me a rough outline of what he wanted, and I took it from there and developed the books. But then, as I say, the sales were going down and he was getting more and more control over the story plot. We got to a point where Stan would give me a plot over the phone and he’d say “What do you think, John?” I’d say, “Okay, Stan” or “Gee, Stan, I don’t think that’s going to work” and we’d work it over the phone. It got to a point where it just had to stop— it wasn’t going anywhere. I feel strongly that the public wasn’t prepared for a book like that.

Alan: You also took over Fantastic Four and Thor.

John: Jack Kirby left and I took the Fantastic Four and Thor. It was a real black period for Marvel—Stan called me in and said “Jack left and we want you to take over these books.” You’re following Jack Kirby, man—that’s a rough situation. But he felt I could do it and the books survived, they didn’t die.

Let me tell you something: Everything I’ve done, I haven’t seen.

I don’t know what the hell it looks like, I don’t want to know what it looks like, I couldn’t care what I’ve done… .[laughs] Alan: So you don’t have a collection of your work at home?

John: I have a couple of things that I saved. The Silver Surfers have been gone for years—now I understand they’re worth quite a bit of money with people collecting them, but at the time I couldn’t care less. Maybe because I’ve been in it for so long, but I have no interest in….

Alan: Is it fair to say that you look at it as simply your nine-tofive job?

John: That’s it, that’s it. It’s a job that keeps me out of debt, and that’s the only thing I look at it as.

Alan: Do you do painting or something like that for relaxation?

John: I wish I could, I wish I had the time for that. But when you’re working from 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning, and I don’t take a long lunch break, I work straight through, I have a bite, I take off maybe 20-30 minutes, then I’ll have another 15- to 20-minute nap later in the afternoon, and then I work right until five. That’s it. After that, I don’t have the energy—or the desire—to do anything really, I become a blob, okay? [chuckles] Until the next day, when I start the whole routine all over.

Alan: So what do you do for relaxation? Are you into theatrical productions?

John: No, no, no, no. No way, no how—but I’ve been teaching. It’s a workshop I got involved with last year. Jack Beal, a very well known painter in America, has this workshop, and I applied for his class. He called me up and said “Are you John Buscema who wrote How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way?” I said “Yes, I am.” He said, “I want you to teach,” which was a shock to me. So I took a stab at it and last year I taught design (this is not for comics, by the way). This year I taught anatomy, which I enjoyed. It’s sort of a vacation and I love to teach. I’ll probably do it for maybe another couple of years. At the moment, that’s what I’m doing outside of comics.

Alan: Going back to your work, what are your ambitions still?

John: I don’t want to do comics. I have no ambitions to do comics, I have had enough comics to last me for the rest of my life. I’m looking forward to retirement eventually—I’m thinking in the next couple of years. Because of circumstances I have… I want to retire, and what I would love to do, the ideal situation for me, anyway, is [that] I love to teach and I love to paint. I want to paint, I want to draw, I want to do what I want to do. I don’t want anyone to tell me, “John, here’s an assignment—do it.” I don’t want to work that way any more, I’ve had it, all my life I’ve worked that way. That’s all I want—I’ll be the happiest guy in the world. I don’t give a damn if I don’t sell a painting, I don’t give a damn if I sell a painting, I have no desire to sell anything. All I want to do is do it for myself, give it away to my friends if they want it…. That’s all I want to do.

Alan: Would you like to say anything about your brother Sal? John: In what respect? As a brother or as an artist? [laughter] Alan: Well, you mentioned that you don’t see much of him because you’re in different parts of the country.

John: We’re quite a distance apart, yeah.

Alan: His style has changed incredibly over the years…

John: Yeah, [it’s] become very stylized. [long pause] COMIC BOOK ARTIST 21

August 2002

Alan: Is there anything you would like to say about his artwork?

John: Ah, no, because I’m too close to him. If I say anything, if I don’t say it the right way, someone might say “Well, it’s because it’s his brother” You know what I’m saying? So I would just leave it that I’m very happy that he is successful at what he’s doing. It seems that as the years go by, he has become more and more popular with Spider-Man. Great, this is what I want—but I’m not going to go beyond that. I’m not going to say he’s a genius or anything, because I’m the only genius in the family! [laughter] Got you there, didn’t I? Alan: Why didn’t you get onto Conan right from the start?

John: I was approached by Roy Thomas with the project to do Conan. He mailed a couple of the paperbacks to me and I read ’em and I loved it. I told Roy “This is what I want, something that I can really sink my teeth into, especially the way [Conan creator Robert E.] Howard writes it.” I could visualize this.

Well, apparently at the time, Marvel was owned by Martin Goodman, and he felt that my rate was too high to take a gamble on some new kind of [project]. It was entirely different, it wasn’t a super-hero or anything that had been done before. The closest thing to that would be Tarzan. Anyway, he had no confidence in spending too much money on the book, and that’s where Barry Smith came in—[he was] very cheap. I know what he got paid, and I’d be embarrassed to tell you how much it was, because I’d be embarrassed for Marvel. I told that to Stan, too, but that’s beside the point.

Anyway, he did the book and it became popular.

I don’t know why Barry left and they gave it to me, but I was originally the first one. And I’ve enjoyed it ever since.

I love doing it.

Alan: And you did it more or less continuously up until a few years ago.

John: Yeah. When Roy left Marvel, left Conan, the writers that picked it up didn’t understand the character.

They were tearing him down, every story just annoyed me.

It was a helter-skelter thing, picking him up here, dropping him off there. It wasn’t even Conan! In fact, I had a disagreement with the editor—he said Conan was not really the main character in this concept, he was just a catalyst for other adventures. In other words, he’s not really the important one, it’s the period—that was his concept! It didn’t make sense to me. This character is a very interesting character—he may be a barbarian but I love this character.

So I said “To hell with it! I’ve had it,” and I walked out. I didn’t walk out, I said I wanted something else and they took me off and gave me something. That’s one thing about Marvel, they’re very understanding. I worked on Wolverine and The Punisher and a couple of other things, I don’t remember what the other things were. I wasn’t happy.

Roy Thomas came back and I was very happy to hear it, and I decided this might be the time to go back to Conan. [Conan editor] Richard [Ashford] was very kind… At the moment, I’m happy with Conan. Next week, I may change my mind!

Alan: Are you working on anything else?

John: No, nothing.

Alan: What about How to Draw More Marvel Comics or anything like that?

John: To do it on my own is a pretty big undertaking. I’d have to draw the entire thing. It’s a very successful book, it’s been selling since 1976-77, something like that, and it’s selling better every year, which I cannot understand because Simon and Shuster, the publisher, does not spend one dime to promote the book! Marvel doesn’t promote it, because Marvel hasn’t got any interest in it, just Stan Lee and myself.

Alan: Who have been your influences as an artist?

John: Now, are you talking about comics or are you talking about general?

Alan: I’m talking about comics.

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John: Comics. Well, the guys I admired when I first started were Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, Burne Hogarth…. As far as comics go, Jack Kirby was a great influence when I went back in ’66. In fact, I readily admit it to anyone (I really don’t care if they believe me or not), if it wasn’t for Kirby, I wouldn’t be in comics. Because what I did, when I went back to comics, the stuff was dead, dull, and I just didn’t know how to tell a story. And if it wasn’t for Kirby’s stuff, maybe I would have gotten it from someone else—but I got it from Kirby. I was at least successful in what I was doing, because of Kirby, and I have a tremendous admiration for the man.

Many people have asked me “Who do you think is the best draftsman in comics?” and I’ve always said Jack Kirby. They ask me “Why the hell do you say that?” My reasoning is: drawing is communication, just like using words. If you can’t communicate with someone with words, you’re not a writer. Kirby communicates with pictures, and when he draws a picture he communicates his idea— you know instantly what the hell is going on in that panel. He’s a great draftsman because he tells you exactly what he wants you to know, and you know instantly. That’s my idea of a great draftsman.

Anatomy? I know (I’m not mentioning any names) men who have absolutely flawless draftsmanship but can’t tell a story to save their lives. This is not art. What the hell good is having an extensive

Above: Ye Ed’s favorite run by John Buscema was the master’s work—as inked by George Klein— in the circa 1969 Avengers comics, written by Roy Thomas. Actually, JB’s work with Tom Palmer on the same title kicks massive booty, too! Page from The Avengers #59 ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Above: Two pages of JB and Tom Palmer’s art job on the Arthurian epic, Quest for the King, published in Marvel Preview #22. Courtesy of Tom. ©2002 the respective copyright holder. Below: Conan sketch given to Claudio Castellini.

Courtesy of Claudio. Art ©2002 the Estate of John Buscema.

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vocabulary if you can’t express yourself? It’s the same analogy: what the hell good is knowing anatomy if you don’t know what to do with the figure?

Alan: Who do you rate amongst current artists?

John: Young guys coming up… I admire John Romita, Jr., I think he’s a marvellous talent and what amazes me is he’s so far different than his father.

Usually the fathers are a great influence, like Kubert—you can see his sons were influenced by the father. But John Romita, Jr., you don’t see his father at all.

Anyway, I admire the Kubert sons, although I think they’re prostituting their talent because of what the editors want. They’re losing that wonderful draftsmanship that they had, but that’s what the editors want.

Bill Sienkiewicz, I think, is an absolute marvellous talent, but I don’t think he should be in comics. I think he should be a painter.

He’s a fabulous talent.

There are a couple of other guys, I cannot remember their names….

Alan: Frank Miller?

John: I will not get on to Frank Miller—he may be a good writer but he’s a lousy artist.

Alan: John Byrne I would think would be more your cup of tea….

John: N-no, no. Let’s not get into names. Cutesy stuff does not go with me, okay? Who the hell was it..? He was doing Wolverine but he left, he went off with these young guys….

Alan: Oh, Image. Jim Lee? John: No, no! [Ringing, gothic horror tones and laughter]… He uses a lot of blacks, solid blacks….

Alan: Mike Mignola?

John: Good, great, but there’s another guy…. Anyway, there are a few guys out there that I see—I can’t remember their names because I don’t really apply myself, I don’t pick up the books and read them. I flip through, if I see something I’m interested in, I’ll look at it.

Alan: And seeing as how this is a British magazine, are there any British artists...?

John: I’m not familiar…. Don’t embarrass me! [laughter] I’m familiar with a couple of people in Europe, for example De La Fuente and [Jean] Giraud. Outside of those guys, I don’t know too many.

I’ve seen a lot of great stuff….

Alan: So much for comics artists. What about comics writers?

John: I can’t tell you any, because I don’t read ’em. The only ones I’m familiar with are the guys I’ve worked with—Roy Thomas, Stan Lee. I do not read comics—I have no desire, I have no interest and I couldn’t care less. I don’t know what that sounds like, but that’s the way I feel.

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CBA Interview

Memories of Brother John Younger brother and Marvel artist Sal remembers life with John Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in the (now on-hiatus) Webzine, Greyhaven, and is reprinted here with Tom’s permission. ©2002 Tom DeFalco.

Below and opposite page: Vignettes from John Buscema’s cover to his magnum opus, Silver Surfer #4, featuring his exquisite penciling of the epic Thor/Surfer battle. JB often cited this as the highpoint of his Marvel work. ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Conducted by Tom DeFalco John Buscema was born on December 11, 1927 and died on Jan. 10, 2002. He was, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest illustrators the comic book industry has ever known. For the past few months, I’ve been working on a book entitled, Comic Book Creators on Spider-Man. It consists of interviews with a lot of fun people who have worked on everybody’s favorite webhead. Naturally, I interviewed Sal Buscema for it. During the course of our conversation, we started talking about John. Since my book is about Sal’s thoughts and his work on Spidey, this part of the conversation didn’t really belong in it. But I thought you might like to hear it just the same….—T.D. Tom DeFalco: How many years were there between you and John?

Sal Buscema: Eight years, minus one month. He was born in December and I was born in January. John got his first job with Timely Comics when he was twenty years old.

I was the big guy on the block because my brother did comic books.

Tom: Cool.

Sal: Yeah, it was kind of neat. John left comics in the 1950s when the whole industry kind of folded for awhile. He went into advertising and worked in an office, doing commercial illustrations, but he didn’t really enjoy it. Did I ever tell you how he accidentally ran into Stan Lee? They actually bumped into each other by

accident in mid-Manhattan. What are the chances of that happening?

The odds have to be astronomical. They got to talking on the street and Stan told John that comic books were doing very nicely again and he’d love to have John come back and do some work for him.

John was commuting four hours a day from Port Jefferson to New York at the time and it was killing him. He hated that commute. He decided take another crack at comics so that he’d be able to work at home.

Tom: You often inked John’s pencils after you got into the industry.

Did you find it intimidating to be working with your older brother?

Sal: There were times when just talking to him could be intimidating. You know what John was like.

Tom: A quiet and easy-going guy.

Sal: Yeah, right. I remember getting a call from John because he didn’t care for the way Joe Sinnott was inking his stuff on the Silver Surfer. This is not to disparage Joe. Joe is a fantastic inker and a tremendous talent, but John felt Joe’s inking kind of overpowered his pencils. Joe has one way of drawing and John has his way. John used to go through the roof if you changed one tiny thing on his pencils.

Anyway, he complained to Stan about it and said he wanted me to be given a crack at it. John even hated what I did to his pencils. He didn’t really like anybody inking his stuff. He had to ink it himself.

He was such a faultless draftsman. He hated what I did, but I guess I must have done a creditable job because some of our Silver Surfers are considered classics.

Tom: Especially Silver Surfer #4, which is where he fights Thor.

Sal: Yeah, and I wish people could have seen the pencils on that book. John penciled it very tight because he didn’t want there to be any guesswork on my part. He also loved that particular story. He loved the character of the Surfer and he also loved Thor. Thor was one of his favorite characters and John really immersed himself in this book. He did such a beautiful job that it actually pained me to have to ink it. I wish Marvel could have just reproduced the pencils. They were tight enough to reproduce. I mean his pencils were just absolutely beautiful and I followed them meticulously. I did not change a thing. There was no reason to change anything. All I tried to do was not ruin them. All an inker can do in that kind of situation is to try not to ruin the beautiful quality of the pencils.

Tom: Silver Surfer #4 was certainly a beautiful job.

Sal: Yeah, John and I talked about it for years. We were both very proud of that particular job.

Tom: I’m surprised to hear that John loved the Surfer and Thor because he always used to tell everybody that he hated super-heroes.

Sal: Yeah, right. You couldn’t always listen to John. He used to page through the comics and get annoyed over the way some guys drew Thor.

He thought Thor should always look like an Adonis, but John’s favorite character was obviously Conan. He got a big kick out of drawing Thor, and he liked doing the Silver Surfer, but Conan was always his favorite. Of course, he would never actually say that.

Tom: Of course not. John always pretended that he hated doing comics.

Sal: John’s passion was drawing.

Literally to almost his dying day, this COMIC BOOK ARTIST 21

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guy always had to be drawing. It was his life! I think he would have died much earlier if he had been unable to sit down and draw. He had to get that pencil in his hand and a blank piece of paper. I’ve never seen anybody have a passion for something the way he had for drawing, and that passion existed within him ever since he was a kid.

I remember it as a kid. I remember watching him draw ever since I was old enough to understand what he was doing. He’d come home from school and draw. My mother would be on his back do his homework but he’d just sit there and draw comic book characters. He was amazing. This great passion for drawing is why he was such a monumental talent. I’m being very, very candid about this now—John did not hate comic books as he tried to make everybody believe! John drew comics because the money was good and he was able to work at home. He did not think comic books were a great art form, but I never believed for an instant that he hated them. He could not have become the great illustrator he was if he hated what he was doing.

He would not have taken the pains that he took, and he couldn’t have done the kind of work that he did, if he really thought comics were crap.

Tom: Yeah, there was quite a bit of difference between what John said and what he really thought and felt. I remember the time he and I worked on a Wolverine graphic novel that was called Bloody Choices. John penciled it, and decided that he also wanted to ink it himself. Ralph Macchio was our editor and he showed me the inks when they came in. I started looking through the pages and I didn’t recognize some of the figures. I compared the inked pages to copies that I had made of the pencils and I realized that John had changed almost every figure in the book. It was like he had redrawn the entire job when he inked it. He had even cut out certain figures and taped in new panels because he didn’t like the way they looked the first time he inked them.

Sal: John was certainly dedicated to his craft. I wish he could have done some serious painting or even sculpting. I think he could have been a modern day Michelangelo. He had that much talent. Whatever you may think about comic books, they’re a commercial product. We have to meet deadlines and the work doesn’t always turn out as good as we wish it would. I used to tell people I’d love to be able to spend a week on one page, but that wasn’t practical. I wish John could have done some serious art, the kind of paintings you see in galleries and museums. I think he would have really left his mark in that area. He was that kind of a talent.

Tom: I agree with you. I don’t know if you were aware of this, but John would decide to retire every couple of years. He’d call me up and say he was finished with comics. He’d tell me not to send him anymore plots. I would ask him what he planned to do, and he’d tell me that he had already signed up for an oil painting class or a sketching class.

Sal: Why the hell did he have to take a sketching class?

Tom: I asked him the same question, and he told me that he needed to loosen his hand up. He wanted to sketch for himself, but he had to get into the right frame of mind. Two or three weeks later, he calls me back and starts yelling at me because he didn’t have a plot to draw.

Sal: Like it was all your fault right?

Tom: I tell him that I’ll get him a plot by tomorrow and I ask him about his sketching class. He tells me he walked out of it because the teacher was an idiot.

Sal: I can hear him saying that.

Tom: Yeah, the teacher was an idiot because he took one look at John’s work and wanted him to teach the course.

Sal: The teacher sounds pretty smart to me.

Tom: I’m with you. I told John that he probably should teach a sketching class and he called me an idiot.

Sal: [laughs] You’re killing me over here, Tom. I can hear him saying that. John was one of a kind, wasn’t he?

Tom: I always remember the first time we worked together. He read my plot and called me. I asked him what he thought of the story and he goes, “It ain’t Shakespeare, but I think I can save it.”

Sal: One thing you can say about John, he was so tactful. He was a real diplomat. I often been thankful that he didn’t work for the UN. We would have had World War III a long time ago.

Tom: The only writer I ever heard him compliment was Roy August 2002

COMIC BOOK ARTIST 21

Thomas. He really enjoyed working with Roy, and always said such nice things about Roy’s work behind his back. I once asked John if he ever told Roy how he felt? “Why should I bother?” John said, “The guy’s an idiot.”

Sal: John thought everybody was an idiot. We were once having a political discussion and he’s lambasting everybody, including whoever was the

President at the time. He thought he should be the one running the country. I told him that he’d get my vote. That was John! IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, CLICK THE TO face ORDER Tom: It was hard to keepLINK a straight when THIS he came into the ISSUE IN PRINT OReditors DIGITAL FORMAT! office. He used growl at all the and complain about all the inkers and tell everyone how much he hated doing comics. I once called him on it, and told him he was full of sh*t.

Sal: What did he say?

Tom: He burst into laughter because he knew he was full of sh*t.

He was just a big teddy bear.

Sal: You had him figured out. He really was a teddy bear. He was a very imposing guy. You couldn’t help but notice him when he walked into a room. But a lot of it was bravado. Believe it or not, John was a very, very shy individual. That tough exterior was just an image he built for himself.

Tom: I went over to his house one time during one of his retirement periods. He tells me that he’s getting ready to pull out his oils, and do some serious work. I spot a bunch of sketches on his desk. They’re all recent drawings of Conan and he was kind of embarrassed when I askedHUGHES, him about ALEX them. He didn’t&want me to #21: ADAM ROSS, know that he was drawing Conan in his spare time.

JOHN BUSCEMA HUGHES ART ISSUE, interview, Sal: I’llADAM bet he also had some with Thora comprehensive and Silver Surfer sketches hidden unpublished art, & CHECKLIST! Also, a “Day in the Life” of away. This guy used to eat, sleep and breathe drawing.

ALEX ROSS (with plenty of Ross art)! Plus a tribute to the life It didn’t and career one of on Marvel’s greatest artists, matter what wasofgoing around him.

He JOHN wouldBUSCEMA, get bored with it testimonials from his friends and peers, art section, and biand startwith sketching.

He’d turn on the television and quickly loose ographical essay. HUGHES and TOM PALMER flip-covers! interest and head into his studio. John did that almost every night.

(104-page magazine) SOLD OUT He just couldn’t stop drawing.

(Digital Edition) $3.95 http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_56&products_id=537 Tom: When you turn over a lot of his original comic book artwork, you find these amazing sketches on the backs of the pages.

Sal: They’re better than some of the stuff that he did on the front.

That’s because he was doing it for his own enjoyment. He’d get a spark of inspiration and turn the page over and draw whatever was in his skull. He was unique in that respect. I’ve never met anybody like him and I’m not just saying that because he was my brother. I’m trying to be very objective about it.

John was a tremendous talent, and he just loved to draw.

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