Chic Stone
Encyclopedia
Charles Eber "Chic" Stone (January 4, 1923, New York City
, United States
– July 28, 2000, Prattville, Alabama
) was an American comic book
artist
best known as one of Jack Kirby
's Silver Age
inkers, including on a landmark run of Fantastic Four
.
, New York City
, New York
, Chic Stone studied at the School of Industrial Art (renamed the High School of Art and Design
), and the Works Projects Administration School, the latter under cartoonist
Chuck Thorndyke. He broke into comics in 1939, at age 16, apprenticing with the comic-book packager Eisner & Iger
. In the 1940s, he worked on the original Captain Marvel
for Fawcett Comics
, and Boy Comics for Lev Gleason Publications
. For Timely Comics
, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics
, he contributed to Blonde Phantom Comics, "Eustis Hayseed" in Joker Comics; and "Jeep Jones" in All Select Comics and Kid Komics.
and TV commercial storyboards for Filmack Studios. Stone, at this time living in Hollywood, California
, then became art director of Modern Teen
and Dig Magazine. He returned to comic books during the 1960s Silver Age
, initially with the small American Comics Group
(ACG) on titles including Adventures into the Unknown, for which he would pencil from 1962-1967. He also variously penciled and inked, uncredited, for DC Comics
, and occasionally ghosted
for artists Bob Kane
(on Batman
stories) and George Papp
(inking his Superboy
pencils).
Shortly thereafter, Stone, began inking industry legend Jack Kirby
's pencils on Fantastic Four (issues #28-38, Annual #2). He also inked Kirby on early issues of X-Men
and the feature "The Mighty Thor
" in Journey into Mystery
, and the two artists collaborated on covers across the spectrum of Marvel's comics.
Of his pairing with Kirby, Stone recalled in a 1997 interview,
Cartoonist Fred Hembeck
, describing Stone as "my favorite Kirby inker", said that "beyond the bold and expressive line Stone's varied brushwork brought to Jack's power-packed pencils, the sheer fact that, by year's end, he was inking the King on Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men, and the Thor and Captain America features in their respective home titles gave the entire line a warm and homey sense of visual cohesiveness that it's never quite managed to achieve since."
Later in the decade, Stone returned to freelancing for DC Comics, penciling an occasional Batman
story — including the lead tale in the anniversary issue Batman
#200 (March 1968). He additionally pencilled numerous stories for Tower Comics
' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
, Dynamo and NoMAN.
Other work around this time includes a run of the character Nemesis in ACG's Forbidden Worlds
and Unknown Worlds; Dell Comics
' Flying Saucers, and a Garrison's Gorillas
TV tie-in comic; and early-1970s work for Skywald Publications
' black-and-white horror
magazines Psycho and Nightmare. Stone's art for an AMT model car
-kit ad ("Grandpa Munster
'Digs' The Drag-U-La!") appeared in DC's The Atom
#24 (May 1966), Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane
#64 (April 1966), and elsewhere.
, including its "Red Circle
" and "Archie Adventure Series
" superhero lines. This lesser-known work includes a story written by future Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco
in Archie's Super Hero Special #2 (Aug. 1979), and Stone's inking fellow Silver Age veteran Dick Ayers
on a Black Hood story in Blue Ribbon Comics
#11 (Aug. 1984). Stone also worked on the regular Archie teen-humor line.
Stone was inking for Marvel as late as The A-Team
#1 (March 1984). In the early 1990s, he drew commissioned art in Silver Age Kirby-Stone style for sales through dealers.
:
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New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
– July 28, 2000, Prattville, Alabama
Prattville, Alabama
Prattville is a city in Autauga and Elmore counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 33,960. Nicknamed "The Fountain City" due to the many artesian wells in the area, Prattville is part of the Montgomery metropolitan statistical area and serves as...
) was an American comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
best known as one of Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
's Silver Age
Silver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
inkers, including on a landmark run of Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
.
Biography
Early life and career
Raised on East 23rd Street and Third Avenue in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Chic Stone studied at the School of Industrial Art (renamed the High School of Art and Design
High School of Art and Design
The High School of Art and Design is a Career and Technical Education high school located at 1075 Second Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets in Manhattan, New York City, New York.It is operated by the New York City Department of Education...
), and the Works Projects Administration School, the latter under cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
Chuck Thorndyke. He broke into comics in 1939, at age 16, apprenticing with the comic-book packager Eisner & Iger
Eisner & Iger
Eisner & Iger was a comic book "packager" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the late-1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books...
. In the 1940s, he worked on the original Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel (DC Comics)
Captain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2...
for Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s...
, and Boy Comics for Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Gleason, was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including Daredevil, Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics....
. For Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, he contributed to Blonde Phantom Comics, "Eustis Hayseed" in Joker Comics; and "Jeep Jones" in All Select Comics and Kid Komics.
Silver-Age Stone
Stone largely left comics during the 1950s to become an art director for magazines including True Experience and The American Salesman, and to publish a magazine, Boy Illustrated, which folded after two issues. He did commercial art for Grey AdvertisingGrey EMEA
Grey EMEA is the largest division of Grey Group, a global advertising and marketing agency and member of the WPP network...
and TV commercial storyboards for Filmack Studios. Stone, at this time living in Hollywood, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, then became art director of Modern Teen
Modern Teen
-History:Modern Teen, published circa 1957-1965, was one of the first magazines aimed at a teenage audience. Covers often featured popular musicians and actors such as Elvis Presley and Sandra Dee...
and Dig Magazine. He returned to comic books during the 1960s Silver Age
Silver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
, initially with the small American Comics Group
American Comics Group
American Comics Group was a New York City-based comic book publisher which operated during the Golden and Silver Age of comic books. ACG published one of the first horror comics titles, Adventures into the Unknown. Another of ACG's claims to fame was the character of Herbie Popnecker, who starred...
(ACG) on titles including Adventures into the Unknown, for which he would pencil from 1962-1967. He also variously penciled and inked, uncredited, for DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, and occasionally ghosted
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
for artists Bob Kane
Bob Kane
Bob Kane was an American comic book artist and writer, credited as the creator of the DC Comics superhero Batman...
(on Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
stories) and George Papp
George Papp
George Edward Papp was a U.S. comic book artist. Best known as one of the principal artists on the long-running Superboy feature for DC Comics, Papp also co-created the Green Arrow character with Mort Weisinger and co-created Congorilla along with writer Whitney Ellsworth.Papp began his comic...
(inking his Superboy
Superboy
Superboy is the name of several fictional characters that have been published by DC Comics, most of them youthful incarnations of Superman. These characters have also been the main characters of four ongoing Superboy comic book series published by DC....
pencils).
Shortly thereafter, Stone, began inking industry legend Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
's pencils on Fantastic Four (issues #28-38, Annual #2). He also inked Kirby on early issues of X-Men
Uncanny X-Men
Uncanny X-Men, first published as The X-Men, is the flagship Marvel Comics comic book series for the X-Men franchise. It is the mainstream continuity featuring the adventures of the eponymous group of mutant superheroes...
and the feature "The Mighty Thor
Thor (Marvel Comics)
Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
" in Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery was an American comic book series published by Atlas Comics, and later its successor Marvel Comics. It featured horror, monster, and science fiction stories...
, and the two artists collaborated on covers across the spectrum of Marvel's comics.
Of his pairing with Kirby, Stone recalled in a 1997 interview,
Cartoonist Fred Hembeck
Fred Hembeck
Fred Hembeck is an American cartoonist best known for his parodies of characters from major American comic book publishers. His work has frequently been published by the firms whose characters he spoofs. His characters are always drawn with curlicues at the elbows and knees...
, describing Stone as "my favorite Kirby inker", said that "beyond the bold and expressive line Stone's varied brushwork brought to Jack's power-packed pencils, the sheer fact that, by year's end, he was inking the King on Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men, and the Thor and Captain America features in their respective home titles gave the entire line a warm and homey sense of visual cohesiveness that it's never quite managed to achieve since."
Later in the decade, Stone returned to freelancing for DC Comics, penciling an occasional Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
story — including the lead tale in the anniversary issue Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
#200 (March 1968). He additionally pencilled numerous stories for Tower Comics
Tower Comics
Tower Comics was an American comic book publishing company best known for Wally Wood's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, a strange combination of secret agents and superheroes; and Samm Schwartz's Tippy Teen, an Archie Andrews clone...
' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is a fictional team of superheroes that appeared in comic books originally published by Tower Comics in the 1960s. They were an arm of the United Nations and were notable for their depiction of the heroes as everyday people whose heroic careers were merely their day jobs...
, Dynamo and NoMAN.
Other work around this time includes a run of the character Nemesis in ACG's Forbidden Worlds
Forbidden Worlds
Forbidden Worlds was a fantasy comic from the American Comics Group, which won the 1964 Alley Award for Best Regularly Published Fantasy Comic. It published 145 issues between July/Aug. 1951 to Aug. 1967.- Publication history :...
and Unknown Worlds; Dell Comics
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...
' Flying Saucers, and a Garrison's Gorillas
Garrison's Gorillas
Garrison's Gorillas was an ABC TV series broadcast from 1967 to 1968; a total of 26 hour-long episodes were produced. It was inspired by the 1967 film The Dirty Dozen, which featured a similar scenario of training Allied prisoners for World War II military missions.The Garrison's Gorillas pilot...
TV tie-in comic; and early-1970s work for Skywald Publications
Skywald Publications
Skywald Publications is a 1970s publisher of black-and-white comics magazines, primarily the horror anthologies Nightmare, Psycho, and Scream. It also published a small line of comic books and other magazines....
' black-and-white horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
magazines Psycho and Nightmare. Stone's art for an AMT model car
Model car
A model car or toy car is a miniature representation of an automobile. Other miniature motor vehicles, such as trucks, buses, or even ATVs, etc. are often included in the general category of model cars...
-kit ad ("Grandpa Munster
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
'Digs' The Drag-U-La!") appeared in DC's The Atom
Atom (comics)
The Atom is a name shared by several fictional comic book superheroes from the DC Comics universe.There have been five characters who have shared the Atom codename. The original Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt, was created by Ben Flinton and Bill O'Connor and first appeared in All-American Publications'...
#24 (May 1966), Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
#64 (April 1966), and elsewhere.
Later career
In the late 1970s and 1980s, Stone began a long association with Archie ComicsArchie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
, including its "Red Circle
Red Circle Comics
Red Circle Comics was an imprint used by Archie Comics Publications, Inc. to publish non-Archie characters, especially their superheroes, in the 1970s and '80s.-Phase 1: 1970s:...
" and "Archie Adventure Series
Mighty Comics
Mighty Comics Group, sometimes referred to as Archie Adventure Series and Radio Comics, refer to the attempt by Archie Comics to revamp and publish superhero comics in the mid-1960s...
" superhero lines. This lesser-known work includes a story written by future Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco
Tom DeFalco
Tom DeFalco is an American comics writer and editor, well known for his association with Marvel Comics and in particular for his work with Spider-Man.-Career:...
in Archie's Super Hero Special #2 (Aug. 1979), and Stone's inking fellow Silver Age veteran Dick Ayers
Dick Ayers
Richard "Dick" Ayers is an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four, and as the signature...
on a Black Hood story in Blue Ribbon Comics
Blue Ribbon Comics
- Volume 2 : Archie Comics :The second series to carry the Blue Ribbon Comics name was initially published by the Archie Comics imprint Red Circle Comics. It ran for 14 issues cover-dated November 1983 to December 1984...
#11 (Aug. 1984). Stone also worked on the regular Archie teen-humor line.
Stone was inking for Marvel as late as The A-Team
The A-Team (comics)
The A-Team TV series and film have been adapted into several comics.-Marvel Comics:In 1983-1984 Marvel Comics released an A-Team title which ran for 3 issues. Due to the huge popularity of both comics and The A-Team show at that time, information which lists this as a "3-issue mini-series" is...
#1 (March 1984). In the early 1990s, he drew commissioned art in Silver Age Kirby-Stone style for sales through dealers.
Quotes
Jimmy PalmiottiJimmy Palmiotti
James "Jimmy" Palmiotti is an American writer and inker of comic books, who also does writing for games, television and film.-Early life:Palmiotti is a graduate of the High School of Art and Design in New York City.-Career:...
:
Audio
- Audio of Merry Marvel Marching Society record, including voice of Chic Stone (dead link as of at least January 5, 2010)
External links
- Evanier, MarkMark EvanierMark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
. "Smart Comix", "P.O.V. Online" (column), September 27, 2005
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