John Buscema
Encyclopedia
John Buscema, born Giovanni Natale Buscema (December 11, 1927–January 10, 2002), was an American
comic-book artist
and one of the mainstays of Marvel Comics
during its 1960s and 1970s ascendancy into an industry leader and its subsequent expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate
. His younger brother Sal Buscema
is also a comic-book artist.
Buscema is best known for his run on the series The Avengers
and The Silver Surfer, and for over 200 stories featuring the sword and sorcery
hero Conan the Barbarian
. In addition, he pencilled
at least one issue of nearly every major Marvel title, including long runs on two of the company's top magazines Fantastic Four
and Thor
.
He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002.
, New York City
, New York
, John Buscema showed an interest in drawing at an early age, copying comic strip
s such as Popeye
. In his teens, he developed an interest in both superhero
comic books and such classic adventure
comic strips as Hal Foster's Tarzan
and Prince Valiant
, Burne Hogarth
's Tarzan
, Alex Raymond
's Flash Gordon
, and Milton Caniff
's Terry and the Pirates
.
He also showed an interest in commercial illustrators of the period, such as N.C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell
, Dean Cornwell
, Coby Whitmore
, Albert Dorne
, and Robert Fawcett
,
Buscema graduated from Manhattan
's High School of Music and Art. He also took night lessons at Pratt Institute
as well as life drawing classes at the Brooklyn Museum
. While training as a boxer
, he began painting portraits of boxers and sold some cartoons to The Hobo News. Seeking work as a commercial illustrator while doing various odd jobs, Buscema found himself instead entering the comic-book field in 1948, landing a staff job under editor-in-chief
and art director
Stan Lee
at Timely Comics
, the forerunner of Marvel Comics
. The Timely "bullpen", as the staff was called, included such fellow staffers as established veterans Syd Shores
, Carl Burgos
, Mike Sekowsky
, George Klein
, and Marty Nodell and hired, roughly two months earlier, newcomer Gene Colan
.
His first recorded credit is penciling the four-page story "Till Crime Do You Part" in Timely's Lawbreakers Always Lose #3 (Aug. 1948). He also contributed to the "real-life" dramatic series True Adventures and Man Comics (the premiere issue of which sported one of Buscema's earliest recorded comic-book covers), as well as to Cowboy Romances, Two-Gun Western (for which he drew at least one story of the continuing character the Apache Kid
), Lorna the Jungle Queen, and Strange Tales
. Until the bullpen was dissolved a year-and-a-half later, as comic books in general and superhero comics in particular continued their post-war fade in popularity, Buscema penciled and inked
in a variety of genres, including crime fiction
and romance fiction.
. He married in 1953. He continued to freelance for Timely, by now known as Atlas Comics
, as well as for the publishers Ace Comics
, Hillman Periodicals
, Our Publications/Orbit, Quality Comics
, St. John Publications
, and Ziff-Davis.
Buscema's mid-1950s work also includes Dell Comics
' Roy Rogers
Comics #74-91 (Feb. 1954 - July 1955) and subsequent Roy Rogers and Trigger #92-97 & #104-108 (Aug. 1955 - Jan. 1956 & Aug.-Dec. 1956); and the Charlton Comics
series Ramar of the Jungle and Nature Boy — the latter, Buscema's first superhero
work, created by himself and Superman
co-creator Jerry Siegel
.
Buscema next produced a series of Western
war
, and sword and sandal
film adaptations for Dell's Four Color
series. Buscema recalled, "I did a bunch of their movie books ... that was a lot of fun. I worked from stills on those, except for The Vikings. ...I think one of the best books I ever did was Sinbad the Sailor."
He drew at least one issue of the radio
, film, and TV character the Cisco Kid for Dell in 1957, as well as one- to eight-page biographies of every U.S. president through Dwight Eisenhower for that company's one-shot Life Stories of American Presidents.
During a late 1950s downturn in the comics industry, Buscema drew occasional mystery
, fantasy
, and science-fiction stories for Atlas Comics' Tales to Astonish
, Tales of Suspense
, and Strange Worlds
, and American Comics Group
's Adventures into the Unknown, and Forbidden Worlds
before leaving comics to do freelance commercial art. He began a freelance position for the major New York City
advertising
studio, the Chaite Agency, which employed top commercial artists such as Bob Peak
and Frank McCarthy
.
He returned to comic books in 1966 as a regular freelance penciller for Marvel Comics
, debuting over Jack Kirby
layouts on the "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
" story in Strange Tales
#150 (Nov. 1966), followed by three "The Incredible Hulk" stories in Tales to Astonish
#85-87 (Nov. 1966 - Jan. 1967). He then settled in as regular penciller of the The Avengers
, which would become one of his signature series, with #41 (June 1967). Avengers #49-50, featuring Hercules and inked by Buscema, are two of his "best-looking [issues] of that period".
In order to adapt to the Marvel Comics style of superhero adventure, Buscema "synthesized the essence of [Jack] Kirby's supercharged action figures, harrowing perspectives, monolithic structures, mega-force explosions, and mythological planetscapes into a formula that he instantly integrated into his own superbly crafted vision. The process brought Buscema's art to life in a way that it had never been before. Anatomically balanced figures of Herculean proportions stalked, stormed, sprawled, and savaged their way across Marvel's universe like none had previously".
Buscema would pencil an average of two comics a month in collaboration with such inkers as George Klein
, Frank Giacoia
, Dan Adkins
, Joe Sinnott
, his younger brother Sal Buscema
, Tom Palmer
, and, occasionally, Marvel production manager and sometime inker-cartoonist
John Verpoorten
.
Among Buscema's works during this period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books
are The Avengers #41-#62 (June 1967 - March 1969), which includes the introduction of the modern-day Vision
in #57 (Oct. 1968), and The Avengers Annual #2 (Sept. 1968); the first eight issues of The Sub-Mariner (May-Dec. 1968); The Amazing Spider-Man
#72-73, 76-81, 84-85 (ranging from June 1969 - June 1970), providing layouts finished by either John Romita
or Jim Mooney
, and two issues he himself finished over Romita layouts; and a new title, The Silver Surfer. That philosophical series about a Christ
-like alien roaming the world trying to understand both the divinity and the savagery of humanity was a personal favorite of Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, who scripted. Buscema penciled 17 of its 18 issues — the first seven as a 25¢ "giant-size" title at a time when comics typically cost 12¢. Former Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas
said Buscema considered Silver Surfer #4 (Feb. 1969), featuring a battle between the Silver Surfer and Thor, "as the highpoint of his Marvel work".
Toward the end of the decade, Buscema drew some fill-in issues of superhero series and also returned to familiar 1950s genres with a spate of supernatural mystery stories (in Chamber of Darkness
and Tower of Shadows
), and romance tales (in My Love and Our Love). He then returned to his signature series The Avengers for 11 issues inked by Tom Palmer
.
(#182-259). He was inked by Joe Sinnott
on the former, and variously by Sinnott, Verpoorten, Vince Colletta
, Tony DeZuniga
, and others on the latter.
Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee
, who collaborated with Buscema on many stories up to this time, wrote,
Buscema began penciling Conan the Barbarian
with #25 (April 1973) following Barry Smith
's celebrated run, and debuted as the Conan artist of the black-and-white comics-magazine
omnibus Savage Sword of Conan
with issue #1 (Aug. 1974). He would eventually contribute to more than 100 issues of each title (the former through 190, the latter through 101, then again from #190-210), giving him one of the most prolific runs for an artist on a single character. He additionally drew the Conan Sunday and daily syndicated
newspaper
comic strip
upon its premiere in 1978, and even contributed some storyboard illustrations for the 1982 Conan movie, as well as painting four covers for the Conan magazines.
In the mid-1970s, Buscema began opting to pencil primarily layouts (pencilled pages without the shading and rendering) as opposed to finished pencils. For about ten years, he would produce an average three to four books' worth of pencils a month. He launched the feature "Black Widow" (in Amazing Adventures
in 1970), and the comics Nova
(1976) and Ms. Marvel
(1977). In additional to his regular assignments he would pencil covers and fill-in issues of titles including Captain America
, Captain Britain
(Marvel UK), Daredevil
, The Frankenstein Monster
, Howard the Duck
, Master of Kung Fu, Red Sonja
and Warlock
. He also drew a story for the science-fiction anthology
Worlds Unknown
.
Buscema contributed as well to Marvel's black-and-white comics magazines, including the features "Ka-Zar
" in Savage Tales
#1 (May 1971) and "Bloodstone
" in Rampaging Hulk #1 (Jan. 1977), and Doc Savage
#1 & 3 (Aug. 1975, Jan,. 1976). Other magazine work ran the gamut from horror
(Dracula Lives!, Monsters Unleashed, Tales of the Zombie) to humor (Crazy, Pizzaz).
Buscema left the Thor title for a time to launch the Marvel version of the Edgar Rice Burroughs
character Tarzan
in 1977. Other licensed projects include a 72-page The Wizard of Oz movie adaptation in an oversized "Treasury Edition" format with DeZuniga inking. For Power Records, which produced children's book-and-record sets, Buscema drew Star Trek
and Conan the Barbarian comics. He also contributed some superhero drawings for Pro, the NFL official magazine (1970), and pencilled some chapters of the first issue of Marvel Comics Super Special Magazine featuring the rock group Kiss
(1977).
In 1978, small-press publisher Sal Quartuccio released The Art of John Buscema, a retrospective that included an interview, previously unpublished sketches and drawings, and a cover that was also sold as a poster. Buscema's passion for drawing was such that he continued to draw and sketch in his spare time (often on the back of comic book art pages) and these images form a considerable body of work in their own right.
Buscema capped off the decade penciling writer Doug Moench
's three-issue Weirdworld
epic-fantasy tale "Warriors of the Shadow Realm" in Marvel Comics Super Special
#11-13 (June-Oct. 1979). Pacific Comics
released an accompanying portfolio of six signed, colored plates from the story.
, 1978), a primer on comic-book art and storytelling based on the comic art classes Buscema had given a few years prior,and has remained in print for over 25 years, in its 33rd printing as of 2007.
titles. The popularity of the character spurred the release of a Conan movie in 1982; Buscema provided pencils and inks for a 48-page movie adaptation.
He continued to tackle other high-profile projects such as the second Superman and Spider-Man team-up (1981), a Silver Surfer story for Epic Illustrated
#1 (1980), a King Arthur
story (Marvel Preview #22, 1980), an adaptation of the 1981 movie Raiders of the Lost Ark
, and the St. Francis of Assisi biography of Francis, Brother of the Universe (1980).
He left King Conan in 1982 after nine issues, although he remained with Marvel's Robert E. Howard franchise with a revival of the Kull series for 10 issues, and left The Savage Sword of Conan in 1984 with #101 with a series of stories that he plotted himself. After pencilling the Conan the Destroyer movie adaptation in 1984 and the Conan of the Isles graphic novel in 1987, he left Conan the Barbarian with #190 in 1987, ending a 14-year association with the character.
After nearly five years away from superheroes, except for the first two issues of the X-Men-related, four-issue miniseries Magik (Dec. 1983 - March 1984), Buscema returned to familiar ground as regular penciller on The Avengers from #255-300 (May 1985 - Feb. 1989). He was also regular penciller on Fantastic Four for its 300th issue, during a 15-issue stint from #296-309 (Nov. 1986 - Dec. 1987). Additionally, he also fit in the three-issue film adaptation Labyrinth (Nov. 1986 - Jan. 1987) and the four-issue miniseries Mephisto
(April–July 1987), starring a character he created with Stan Lee in The Silver Surfer.
Buscema reteamed with Lee on the Silver Surfer himself with the 1988 graphic novel Silver Surfer: Judgment Day, self-inked and done entirely as full-page panels. He and inker Klaus Janson
drew a Wolverine
solo feature in the biweekly anthology Marvel Comics Presents #1-10 (Early Sept. 1988 - Early January 1989) and, inking himself, #38-47 (Dec. 1989 - April 1990). He pencilled the first Wolverine ongoing series, inked by Al Williamson
from issues #1-6 (Nov. 1988 - April 1989), self-inked on #7-8 (May–June 1989), and inked by Bill Sienkiewicz
on #10-14 (Aug. to Mid-Nov. 1989). Sienkiewicz years later recalled Buscema's pencil work as "the sturdiest foundation an inker or an embellisher could possibly hope to build on, and their beauty was not in their attention to fastidiously rendered minutiae, but instead were marvels of deceptive simplicity. Each page an example of grace, elegance and power.
Buscema plotted, pencilled, inked, and colored over a period of five years in his spare time appeared that same year. He departed the Wolverine title, but not before both penciling and inking the graphic novel Wolverine: Bloody Choices (Nov. 1993).
Buscema returned to crime fiction
with The Punisher: War Zone #23-30 (Jan.-Aug. 1994, self-inking #26-29). Buscema also pencilled and inked that title's 1993 summer annual and the 1994 graphic novel A Man Named Frank, a parallel-universe
Punisher Western
tale. He also pencilled the Punisher portions of 1994's The Punisher Meets Archie
team-up. No longer attached to a regular series after his Punisher run, he penciled and inked The Avengers Annual #23 (1994) and five more black-and-white Conan adventures, serving as that Marvel franchise's final artist on The Savage Sword of Conan with #235 (July 1995) and on the short-lived spin-off Conan the Savage with #10 (May 1996). He also provided fill-in pencil jobs on the Cosmic Powers Unlimited miniseries, Doom 2099, Fantastic Four 2099, Thor, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer and a Silver Surfer/Rune special.
Buscema semi-retired in 1996, at age 68. He did pencils and inks on a black-and-white short story for Shadows and Light (1998) and made a final return to Conan with the Death Covered in Gold three-issue miniseries (1999). He penciled and inked The Amazing Spider-Man 1999 Annual (June 1999), penciled five of the six-issue Galactus
the Devourer miniseries, and a fill-in Thor.
Buscema worked with DC Comics
for the first time in 2000, initially doing both pencils and inks on a black-and-white Batman
short story (Batman: Gotham Knights #7, 2000). He reunited with Stan Lee on the 2001 one-shot Just Imagine Stan Lee and John Buscema Creating Superman. He helped produce The John Buscema Sketchbook (Vanguard Production, 2001).
He finished the pencils on 2004's Superman: Blood of my Ancestors, begun by Gil Kane
, who had since died, and had just signed on for a five-issue miniseries with Roy Thomas, JLA: Barbarians. Shortly after finishing the first issue, Buscema, diagnosed with stomach cancer
a few months earlier, died at the age of 74. An 11x17-inch lithograph print of the late 1960s/early 1970s Avengers, penciled by Buscema and painted in watercolor by Alex Ross
for the publisher Dynamic Forces, was Buscema's last professional work. He was subsequently buried with an artist's pen
in his hand.
, on Long Island
, at the time of his death, was married to Dolores Buscema, with whom he had a son, John Jr., and a daughter, Dianne. His granddaughter Stephanie Buscema is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist, who started out as an inker for her grandfather.
The documentary Frank Frazetta
, Painting with Fire (2003) is posthumously dedicated to Buscema.
In 2002 and 2004, the Haxtur Awards presented the Special John Buscema Award.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic-book 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...
and one of the mainstays 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...
during its 1960s and 1970s ascendancy into an industry leader and its subsequent expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
. His younger brother Sal Buscema
Sal Buscema
Silvio "Sal" Buscema is an American comic book artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he enjoyed a ten-year run as artist of The Incredible Hulk...
is also a comic-book artist.
Buscema is best known for his run on the series The Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
and The Silver Surfer, and for over 200 stories featuring the sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural...
hero Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...
. In addition, he pencilled
Penciller
A penciller is an artist who works in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms.The penciller is the first step in rendering the story in visual form and may require several steps of feedback with the writer. These artists are concerned with layout to showcase...
at least one issue of nearly every major Marvel title, including long runs on two of the company's top magazines 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...
and 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....
.
He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002.
Early life and career
Born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, 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...
, John Buscema showed an interest in drawing at an early age, copying comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s such as Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
. In his teens, he developed an interest in both superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
comic books and such classic adventure
Adventure
An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...
comic strips as Hal Foster's Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
and Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur, or simply Prince Valiant, is a long-run comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretch of that story now totals more than 3700 Sunday strips...
, Burne Hogarth
Burne Hogarth
Burne Hogarth was an American cartoonist, illustrator, educator, author and theoretician, best known for his pioneering work on the Tarzan newspaper comic strip and his series of anatomy books.-Biography:...
's Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
, Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond
Alexander Gillespie "Alex" Raymond was an American cartoonist, best known for creating Flash Gordon for King Features in 1934...
's Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
, and Milton Caniff
Milton Caniff
Milton Arthur Paul Caniff was an American cartoonist famous for the Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon comic strips.-Biography:...
's Terry and the Pirates
Terry and the Pirates
Terry and the Pirates is the title of:* Terry and the Pirates , the comic strip created by Milton Caniff* Terry and the Pirates , a radio serial based on the comic strip...
.
He also showed an interest in commercial illustrators of the period, such as N.C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell
Norman Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening...
, Dean Cornwell
Dean Cornwell
Dean Cornwell was an American illustrator and muralist. His oil paintings were frequently featured in popular magazines and books as literary illustrations, advertisements, and posters promoting the war effort. Throughout the first half of the 20th century he was a dominant presence in American...
, Coby Whitmore
Coby Whitmore
Maxwell Coburn Whitmore, Jr. was an American painter and magazine illustrator known for his Saturday Evening Post covers, and a commercial artist whose work included advertisements for Gallo Wine and other national brands...
, Albert Dorne
Albert Dorne
Albert Dorne was an American Illustrator.He was born in the slums of New York City's East Side, and had a troubled childhood plagued with tuberculosis and heart problems. He would cut classes to study art in the museums, eventually quitting school altogether to support his family...
, and Robert Fawcett
Robert Fawcett
Robert Fawcett trained as a fine artist but achieved fame as an illustrator of books and magazines.Born in England, he grew up in Canada and later in New York. His father, an amateur artist, encouraged Robert's interest in art. While in Canada, he was apprenticed to an engraver...
,
Buscema graduated from Manhattan
Manhattan
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...
's High School of Music and Art. He also took night lessons at Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
as well as life drawing classes at the Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
. While training as a boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, he began painting portraits of boxers and sold some cartoons to The Hobo News. Seeking work as a commercial illustrator while doing various odd jobs, Buscema found himself instead entering the comic-book field in 1948, landing a staff job under editor-in-chief
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
and art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
at 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 forerunner 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...
. The Timely "bullpen", as the staff was called, included such fellow staffers as established veterans Syd Shores
Syd Shores
Sydney Shores was an American comic book artist known for his work on Captain America both during the 1940s, in what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books, and during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books....
, Carl Burgos
Carl Burgos
Carl Burgos was an American comic book and advertising artist best known for creating the original Human Torch in Marvel Comics #1 Carl Burgos (né Max Finkelstein, April 18, 1916, New York City, New York; died March 1984) was an American comic book and advertising artist best known for creating...
, Mike Sekowsky
Mike Sekowsky
Michael Sekowsky was a Jewish American comic book artist best known as the exclusive penciler for DC Comics' Justice League of America during most of the 1960s, and as the regular writer and artist on Wonder Woman during the late 1960s and early 1970s.-Early life and career:Mike Sekowsky began...
, George Klein
George Klein (comics)
George D. Klein was an American comic book artist and cartoonist whose career stretched from the 1930s and 1940s' Golden Age of comic books...
, and Marty Nodell and hired, roughly two months earlier, newcomer Gene Colan
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...
.
His first recorded credit is penciling the four-page story "Till Crime Do You Part" in Timely's Lawbreakers Always Lose #3 (Aug. 1948). He also contributed to the "real-life" dramatic series True Adventures and Man Comics (the premiere issue of which sported one of Buscema's earliest recorded comic-book covers), as well as to Cowboy Romances, Two-Gun Western (for which he drew at least one story of the continuing character the Apache Kid
Apache Kid (comics)
This entry is for the comic-book character. For the unrelated, real-life person, see The Apache Kid . For other usages, see The Apache Kid ....
), Lorna the Jungle Queen, and Strange Tales
Strange Tales
Strange Tales is the name of several comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. It introduced the features "Doctor Strange" and "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.", and was a showcase for the science fiction/suspense stories of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and for the...
. Until the bullpen was dissolved a year-and-a-half later, as comic books in general and superhero comics in particular continued their post-war fade in popularity, Buscema penciled and inked
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
in a variety of genres, including crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
and romance fiction.
1950s
Buscema served in the U.S. Army in 1951 before receiving an honorable discharge due to ulcerPeptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
. He married in 1953. He continued to freelance for Timely, by now known as Atlas Comics
Atlas Comics (1950s)
Atlas Comics is the term used to describe the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic...
, as well as for the publishers Ace Comics
Ace Comics
Ace Comics was a comic book series published by David McKay Publications between 1937 and 1949 — starting just before the Golden Age era of comics...
, Hillman Periodicals
Hillman Periodicals
Hillman Periodicals, Inc. was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher...
, Our Publications/Orbit, Quality Comics
Quality Comics
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1939 to 1956 and was an influential creative force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books....
, St. John Publications
St. John Publications
St. John Publications was an American publisher of magazines and comic books. During its short existence , St. John's comic books established several industry firsts. Founded by Archer St. John , the firm was located in Manhattan at 545 Fifth Avenue. After the St...
, and Ziff-Davis.
Buscema's mid-1950s work also includes 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...
' Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
Comics #74-91 (Feb. 1954 - July 1955) and subsequent Roy Rogers and Trigger #92-97 & #104-108 (Aug. 1955 - Jan. 1956 & Aug.-Dec. 1956); and the Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
series Ramar of the Jungle and Nature Boy — the latter, Buscema's first superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
work, created by himself and Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
co-creator Jerry Siegel
Jerry Siegel
Jerome "Jerry" Siegel , who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S...
.
Buscema next produced a series of Western
Western comics
Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century...
war
War comics
War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II.-American war comics:Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began including stories of wartime adventures in the multi-genre...
, and sword and sandal
Sword and sandal
The Peplum , also known as Sword-and-Sandal, is a genre of largely Italian-made Historical or Biblical Epics that dominated the Italian film industry from 1957 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by the "Spaghetti Western"...
film adaptations for Dell's Four Color
Four Color
Four Color, also known as Four Color Comics and One Shots, was a long-running American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962...
series. Buscema recalled, "I did a bunch of their movie books ... that was a lot of fun. I worked from stills on those, except for The Vikings. ...I think one of the best books I ever did was Sinbad the Sailor."
He drew at least one issue of the radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, film, and TV character the Cisco Kid for Dell in 1957, as well as one- to eight-page biographies of every U.S. president through Dwight Eisenhower for that company's one-shot Life Stories of American Presidents.
During a late 1950s downturn in the comics industry, Buscema drew occasional mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
, fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, and science-fiction stories for Atlas Comics' Tales to Astonish
Tales to Astonish
Tales to Astonish is the name of two American comic book series and a one-shot comic published by Marvel Comics.The primary title bearing that name was published from 1959-1968...
, Tales of Suspense
Tales of Suspense
Tales of Suspense is the name of an American comic book series and two one-shot comics published by Marvel Comics. The first, which ran from 1959 to 1968, began as a science-fiction anthology that served as a showcase for such artists as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Don Heck, then featured...
, and Strange Worlds
Strange Worlds
Strange Worlds was the name of two American, science-fiction anthology comic book series of the 1950s, the first published by Avon Comics, the second by a Marvel Comics predecessor, Atlas Comics...
, and 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...
's Adventures into the Unknown, and 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 :...
before leaving comics to do freelance commercial art. He began a freelance position for the major 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...
advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
studio, the Chaite Agency, which employed top commercial artists such as Bob Peak
Bob Peak
Robert "Bob" M. Peak was an American commercial illustrator best known for innovative design in the development of the modern movie poster....
and Frank McCarthy
Frank McCarthy (artist)
Frank McCarthy born New York City 1924 died of lung cancer on 17 November 2002 in Sedona, Arizona was a prolific American artist and realist painter renowned for advertisements, magazine artwork, paperback covers, film posters, and paintings of the American West.He studied under George Bridgman and...
.
1960s
Buscema spent approximately eight years in the commercial-art field, freelancing for the Chaite Agency and the studio Triad, doing a variety of assignments: layouts, storyboards, illustrations, paperback book covers, etc. in a variety of media. Buscema called this time "quite a learning period for me in my own development of techniques".He returned to comic books in 1966 as a regular freelance penciller for 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...
, debuting over 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....
layouts on the "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. can refer to:*Nick Fury, the character*Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., four Marvel comic book series, featuring the eponymous character, that started in 1968, 1983, 1989 and 2000*Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D...
" story in Strange Tales
Strange Tales
Strange Tales is the name of several comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. It introduced the features "Doctor Strange" and "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.", and was a showcase for the science fiction/suspense stories of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and for the...
#150 (Nov. 1966), followed by three "The Incredible Hulk" stories in Tales to Astonish
Tales to Astonish
Tales to Astonish is the name of two American comic book series and a one-shot comic published by Marvel Comics.The primary title bearing that name was published from 1959-1968...
#85-87 (Nov. 1966 - Jan. 1967). He then settled in as regular penciller of the The Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
, which would become one of his signature series, with #41 (June 1967). Avengers #49-50, featuring Hercules and inked by Buscema, are two of his "best-looking [issues] of that period".
In order to adapt to the Marvel Comics style of superhero adventure, Buscema "synthesized the essence of [Jack] Kirby's supercharged action figures, harrowing perspectives, monolithic structures, mega-force explosions, and mythological planetscapes into a formula that he instantly integrated into his own superbly crafted vision. The process brought Buscema's art to life in a way that it had never been before. Anatomically balanced figures of Herculean proportions stalked, stormed, sprawled, and savaged their way across Marvel's universe like none had previously".
Buscema would pencil an average of two comics a month in collaboration with such inkers as George Klein
George Klein
George Johann Klein, was a Hamilton, Ontario-born Canadian inventor who is often called the most productive inventor in Canada in the 20th century. Although he struggled through high school and got a grade C he managed to get in at UofT in Toronto to become an inventor...
, Frank Giacoia
Frank Giacoia
Frank Giacoia was an American comic book artist known primarily as an inker. He sometimes worked under the name Frank Ray, and to a lesser extent Phil Zupa, and the single moniker Espoia .-Early life and career:Frank Giacoia studied at Manhattan's School of...
, Dan Adkins
Dan Adkins
Dan Adkins is an American illustrator who worked mainly for comic books and science-fiction magazines.-Early life and career:...
, Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott is an American comic book artist. Working primarily as an inker, Sinnott is best-known for his long stint on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, from 1965 to 1981 , initially over the pencils of industry legend Jack Kirby...
, his younger brother Sal Buscema
Sal Buscema
Silvio "Sal" Buscema is an American comic book artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he enjoyed a ten-year run as artist of The Incredible Hulk...
, Tom Palmer
Tom Palmer (comics)
-Biography:Although Palmer has done a small amount of pencilling work , the vast majority of his artistic output since the 1960s has been as a comic book inker...
, and, occasionally, Marvel production manager and sometime inker-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...
John Verpoorten
John Verpoorten
John Verpoorten was a comic book artist and editorial worker best known as Marvel Comics' production manager during the latter part of the Silver Age of Comic Books and afterward, during a seminal period of Marvel's expansion from a small publishing concern to a multinational popular culture...
.
Among Buscema's works during this period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books
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...
are The Avengers #41-#62 (June 1967 - March 1969), which includes the introduction of the modern-day Vision
Vision (Marvel Comics)
The Vision is the name of three fictional characters that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics.-Publication history:The first Vision was created by the writer-artist team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in Marvel Mystery Comics #13 The Vision is the name of three fictional characters that...
in #57 (Oct. 1968), and The Avengers Annual #2 (Sept. 1968); the first eight issues of The Sub-Mariner (May-Dec. 1968); The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring the adventures of the fictional superhero Spider-Man. Being the mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a monthly periodical and was published continuously until it was...
#72-73, 76-81, 84-85 (ranging from June 1969 - June 1970), providing layouts finished by either John Romita
John Romita
John Romita may refer to:*John Romita, Sr., comic book artist best known for his art on The Amazing Spider-Man for Marvel Comics in the 1960s...
or Jim Mooney
Jim Mooney
James Noel "Jim" Mooney was an American comic book artist best known as a Marvel Comics inker and Spider-Man artist, and as the signature artist of DC Comics' Supergirl, both during what comics historians and fans call the Silver Age of comic books...
, and two issues he himself finished over Romita layouts; and a new title, The Silver Surfer. That philosophical series about a Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
-like alien roaming the world trying to understand both the divinity and the savagery of humanity was a personal favorite of Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, who scripted. Buscema penciled 17 of its 18 issues — the first seven as a 25¢ "giant-size" title at a time when comics typically cost 12¢. Former Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
said Buscema considered Silver Surfer #4 (Feb. 1969), featuring a battle between the Silver Surfer and Thor, "as the highpoint of his Marvel work".
Toward the end of the decade, Buscema drew some fill-in issues of superhero series and also returned to familiar 1950s genres with a spate of supernatural mystery stories (in Chamber of Darkness
Chamber of Darkness
Chamber of Darkness was a horror/fantasy anthology comic book published bi-monthly by Marvel Comics that under this and a subsequent name ran from 1969-1974...
and Tower of Shadows
Tower of Shadows
Tower of Shadows was a horror/fantasy anthology comic book published by Marvel Comics under this and a subsequent name from 1969-1975. It featured work by such notable creators as writer-artists Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, Johnny Craig, and Wally Wood, writer-editor Stan Lee, and artists including...
), and romance tales (in My Love and Our Love). He then returned to his signature series The Avengers for 11 issues inked by Tom Palmer
Tom Palmer (comics)
-Biography:Although Palmer has done a small amount of pencilling work , the vast majority of his artistic output since the 1960s has been as a comic book inker...
.
1970s
With Jack Kirby's departure from Marvel in 1970, Buscema succeeded him on both of Kirby's titles: Fantastic Four (penciling issues #107-141, following John Romita Sr.) and The Mighty ThorThor (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....
(#182-259). He was inked by Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott is an American comic book artist. Working primarily as an inker, Sinnott is best-known for his long stint on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, from 1965 to 1981 , initially over the pencils of industry legend Jack Kirby...
on the former, and variously by Sinnott, Verpoorten, Vince Colletta
Vince Colletta
Vincent Joseph Colletta was an American comic book artist and art director best known as one of industry legend Jack Kirby's frequent inkers during the 1950s-1960s period called the Silver Age of comic books...
, Tony DeZuniga
Tony DeZuniga
Tony DeZuniga is a Filipino comic-book artist best known for his work for DC Comics, where he co-created the characters Jonah Hex and Black Orchid.-Early life and career:...
, and others on the latter.
Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
, who collaborated with Buscema on many stories up to this time, wrote,
Buscema began penciling Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian (comics)
Conan the Barbarian was a Marvel Comics title starring the sword-and-sorcery character created by Robert E. Howard. It debuted in Oct. 1970 and ran for 275 issues until Dec...
with #25 (April 1973) following Barry Smith
Barry Windsor-Smith
Barry Windsor-Smith, born Barry Smith is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best known work has been produced in the United States....
's celebrated run, and debuted as the Conan artist of the black-and-white comics-magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
omnibus Savage Sword of Conan
Savage Sword of Conan
The Savage Sword of Conan was a black-and-white magazine-format comic book series published beginning in 1974 by Curtis Magazines, an imprint of Marvel Comics, and then later by Marvel itself. Savage Sword of Conan starred Robert E...
with issue #1 (Aug. 1974). He would eventually contribute to more than 100 issues of each title (the former through 190, the latter through 101, then again from #190-210), giving him one of the most prolific runs for an artist on a single character. He additionally drew the Conan Sunday and daily syndicated
Print syndication
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
upon its premiere in 1978, and even contributed some storyboard illustrations for the 1982 Conan movie, as well as painting four covers for the Conan magazines.
In the mid-1970s, Buscema began opting to pencil primarily layouts (pencilled pages without the shading and rendering) as opposed to finished pencils. For about ten years, he would produce an average three to four books' worth of pencils a month. He launched the feature "Black Widow" (in Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.The earliest Marvel series of that name introduced the company's first superhero of the late-1950s to early-1960s period fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books...
in 1970), and the comics Nova
Nova (comics)
Nova is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Upon becoming a member of the galaxy's Nova Corps , the youth gained enhanced strength, flight, injury resistance, and a specialized uniform with life support.In May 2011, Nova placed 98th on IGN's Top 100 Comic...
(1976) and Ms. Marvel
Ms. Marvel
Ms. Marvel is the name of a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and designed by artist Gene Colan, the non-powered Carol Danvers debuted as a member of the United States Air Force in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 and as Ms. Marvel—a...
(1977). In additional to his regular assignments he would pencil covers and fill-in issues of titles including Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
, Captain Britain
Captain Britain
Captain Britain , briefly known as Britannic, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe, he first appeared in Captain Britain Weekly, #1...
(Marvel UK), Daredevil
Daredevil (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 .Living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood...
, The Frankenstein Monster
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
, Howard the Duck
Howard the Duck
Howard the Duck is a comic book character in the Marvel Comics universe created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik. The character first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 and several subsequent series have chronicled the misadventures of the ill-tempered, anthropomorphic, "funny...
, Master of Kung Fu, Red Sonja
Red Sonja
Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword, is a fictional character, a high fantasy sword and sorcery heroine created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, and loosely based on Red Sonya of Rogatino in Robert E. Howard's 1934 short story "The Shadow of the Vulture"...
and Warlock
Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock, originally known as Him, is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #66 and #67 Adam Warlock, originally known as Him, is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel...
. He also drew a story for the science-fiction anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
Worlds Unknown
Worlds Unknown
Worlds Unknown was a science fiction comic book published by Marvel Comics in the 1970s that adapted classic short stories of that genre, including works by Frederik Pohl, Harry Bates, and Theodore Sturgeon.-Publication history:...
.
Buscema contributed as well to Marvel's black-and-white comics magazines, including the features "Ka-Zar
Ka-Zar
Ka-Zar is the name of two jungle-dwelling comics fictional characters published in the United States. The first appeared in pulp magazines of the 1930s, and was adapted for his second iteration, as a comic book character for Timely Comics, the 1930s and 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics...
" in Savage Tales
Savage Tales
Savage Tales is the title of three American comics series. Two were black-and-white comics-magazine anthologies published by Marvel Comics , and the other a color comic book anthology published by Dynamite Entertainment.-Marvel/Curtis:The first of the two volumes of Savage Tales ran 11 issues, with...
#1 (May 1971) and "Bloodstone
Ulysses Bloodstone
Ulysses Bloodstone is a fictional character, an immortal monster-hunter in the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:John Warner has explained the development of Ulysses Bloodstone: "Len Wein and Marv Wolfman came up with the spark that would become Bloodstone—the premise of a man who fights...
" in Rampaging Hulk #1 (Jan. 1977), and Doc Savage
Doc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
#1 & 3 (Aug. 1975, Jan,. 1976). Other magazine work ran the gamut from 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...
(Dracula Lives!, Monsters Unleashed, Tales of the Zombie) to humor (Crazy, Pizzaz).
Buscema left the Thor title for a time to launch the Marvel version of the Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
character Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
in 1977. Other licensed projects include a 72-page The Wizard of Oz movie adaptation in an oversized "Treasury Edition" format with DeZuniga inking. For Power Records, which produced children's book-and-record sets, Buscema drew Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
and Conan the Barbarian comics. He also contributed some superhero drawings for Pro, the NFL official magazine (1970), and pencilled some chapters of the first issue of Marvel Comics Super Special Magazine featuring the rock group Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
(1977).
In 1978, small-press publisher Sal Quartuccio released The Art of John Buscema, a retrospective that included an interview, previously unpublished sketches and drawings, and a cover that was also sold as a poster. Buscema's passion for drawing was such that he continued to draw and sketch in his spare time (often on the back of comic book art pages) and these images form a considerable body of work in their own right.
Buscema capped off the decade penciling writer Doug Moench
Doug Moench
Douglas Moench , better known as Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok.-Biography:...
's three-issue Weirdworld
Weirdworld
"Weirdworld" was a fantasy series created by Doug Moench and Mike Ploog for Marvel Comics, set in a dimension of magic.-Publication history:...
epic-fantasy tale "Warriors of the Shadow Realm" in Marvel Comics Super Special
Marvel Comics Super Special
Marvel Comics Super Special was a 41-issue series of one-shot comic-magazines published by Marvel Comics from 1977 to 1986. They were cover-priced $1.50 to $2.50, while regular color comics were priced 30 cents to 60 cents, Beginning with issue #5, the series' title in the its postal indicia was...
#11-13 (June-Oct. 1979). Pacific Comics
Pacific Comics
Pacific Comics was an independent comic book publisher that flourished from 1981-1984. It was also a chain of comics shops and a distributor. It began out of a San Diego, California, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill and Steve Schanes...
released an accompanying portfolio of six signed, colored plates from the story.
Teaching
In the mid-1970s, Buscema ran the John Buscema Art School, which advertised for students in the pages of many Marvel titles. Stan Lee made appearances as a guest lecturer at Buscema's school, and some of the school's graduates (including Bob Hall and Bruce Patterson) went on to become professional cartoonists. Buscema then collaborated with Lee on the book How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (Marvel Fireside BooksMarvel Fireside Books
The Marvel Fireside Books Series was a series of full-color trade paperbacks featuring Marvel Comics stories and characters co-published by Marvel and the Simon & Schuster division Fireside Books from 1974 to 1979....
, 1978), a primer on comic-book art and storytelling based on the comic art classes Buscema had given a few years prior,and has remained in print for over 25 years, in its 33rd printing as of 2007.
1980s
Buscema abandoned regular superhero work in order to spearhead art duties on all three ConanConan (Marvel Comics)
Conan is a fictional character based on Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian. He was introduced to the comic book world in 1970 with Conan the Barbarian, written by Roy Thomas, illustrated by Barry Smith and published by Marvel Comics....
titles. The popularity of the character spurred the release of a Conan movie in 1982; Buscema provided pencils and inks for a 48-page movie adaptation.
He continued to tackle other high-profile projects such as the second Superman and Spider-Man team-up (1981), a Silver Surfer story for Epic Illustrated
Epic Illustrated
Epic Illustrated was a comics anthology in magazine format published in the United States by Marvel Comics. The series lasted for 34 issues, from Spring 1980 to February 1986....
#1 (1980), a King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
story (Marvel Preview #22, 1980), an adaptation of the 1981 movie Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
, and the St. Francis of Assisi biography of Francis, Brother of the Universe (1980).
He left King Conan in 1982 after nine issues, although he remained with Marvel's Robert E. Howard franchise with a revival of the Kull series for 10 issues, and left The Savage Sword of Conan in 1984 with #101 with a series of stories that he plotted himself. After pencilling the Conan the Destroyer movie adaptation in 1984 and the Conan of the Isles graphic novel in 1987, he left Conan the Barbarian with #190 in 1987, ending a 14-year association with the character.
After nearly five years away from superheroes, except for the first two issues of the X-Men-related, four-issue miniseries Magik (Dec. 1983 - March 1984), Buscema returned to familiar ground as regular penciller on The Avengers from #255-300 (May 1985 - Feb. 1989). He was also regular penciller on Fantastic Four for its 300th issue, during a 15-issue stint from #296-309 (Nov. 1986 - Dec. 1987). Additionally, he also fit in the three-issue film adaptation Labyrinth (Nov. 1986 - Jan. 1987) and the four-issue miniseries Mephisto
Mephisto (comics)
Mephisto is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Silver Surfer #3 and was created by Stan Lee and John Buscema, loosely modeled on Mephistopheles - a character from the Faust legend.Debuting in the Silver Age of comic books,...
(April–July 1987), starring a character he created with Stan Lee in The Silver Surfer.
Buscema reteamed with Lee on the Silver Surfer himself with the 1988 graphic novel Silver Surfer: Judgment Day, self-inked and done entirely as full-page panels. He and inker Klaus Janson
Klaus Janson
Klaus Janson is a German-born American comic book artist, working regularly for Marvel Comics and DC Comics and sporadically for independent companies...
drew a Wolverine
Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
solo feature in the biweekly anthology Marvel Comics Presents #1-10 (Early Sept. 1988 - Early January 1989) and, inking himself, #38-47 (Dec. 1989 - April 1990). He pencilled the first Wolverine ongoing series, inked by Al Williamson
Al Williamson
Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...
from issues #1-6 (Nov. 1988 - April 1989), self-inked on #7-8 (May–June 1989), and inked by Bill Sienkiewicz
Bill Sienkiewicz
Boleslav Felix Robert "Bill" Sienkiewicz [pronounced sin-KEV-itch] is an Eisner Award-winning American artist and writer best known for his comic book work, primarily for Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and Elektra: Assassin...
on #10-14 (Aug. to Mid-Nov. 1989). Sienkiewicz years later recalled Buscema's pencil work as "the sturdiest foundation an inker or an embellisher could possibly hope to build on, and their beauty was not in their attention to fastidiously rendered minutiae, but instead were marvels of deceptive simplicity. Each page an example of grace, elegance and power.
Later career
Buscema began his sixth decade in the field by joining Roy Thomas for a return to The Savage Sword of Conan with #191 (Nov. 1991) for a 20-issue run. Conan the Rogue, a graphic novelGraphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
Buscema plotted, pencilled, inked, and colored over a period of five years in his spare time appeared that same year. He departed the Wolverine title, but not before both penciling and inking the graphic novel Wolverine: Bloody Choices (Nov. 1993).
Buscema returned to crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
with The Punisher: War Zone #23-30 (Jan.-Aug. 1994, self-inking #26-29). Buscema also pencilled and inked that title's 1993 summer annual and the 1994 graphic novel A Man Named Frank, a parallel-universe
Multiverse (Marvel Comics)
Within Marvel Comics, most tales take place within the fictional Marvel Universe, which in turn is part of a larger multiverse. Starting with issues of Captain Britain, the main continuity in which most Marvel storylines take place was designated Earth-616, and the multiverse was established as...
Punisher Western
Western comics
Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century...
tale. He also pencilled the Punisher portions of 1994's The Punisher Meets Archie
The Punisher Meets Archie
Archie Meets the Punisher, or The Punisher Meets Archie, was a one-shot comic book intercompany crossover published under two separate covers by Marvel Comics and Archie Comics, but with the same interior content. It featured the unlikely meeting of Marvel's murderous vigilante, the Punisher, and...
team-up. No longer attached to a regular series after his Punisher run, he penciled and inked The Avengers Annual #23 (1994) and five more black-and-white Conan adventures, serving as that Marvel franchise's final artist on The Savage Sword of Conan with #235 (July 1995) and on the short-lived spin-off Conan the Savage with #10 (May 1996). He also provided fill-in pencil jobs on the Cosmic Powers Unlimited miniseries, Doom 2099, Fantastic Four 2099, Thor, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer and a Silver Surfer/Rune special.
Buscema semi-retired in 1996, at age 68. He did pencils and inks on a black-and-white short story for Shadows and Light (1998) and made a final return to Conan with the Death Covered in Gold three-issue miniseries (1999). He penciled and inked The Amazing Spider-Man 1999 Annual (June 1999), penciled five of the six-issue Galactus
Galactus
Galactus is a fictional character appearing in comic books and other publications published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character debuted in Fantastic Four #48 , the first of a three-issue story later known as "The Galactus...
the Devourer miniseries, and a fill-in Thor.
Buscema worked with 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...
for the first time in 2000, initially doing both pencils and inks on a black-and-white 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...
short story (Batman: Gotham Knights #7, 2000). He reunited with Stan Lee on the 2001 one-shot Just Imagine Stan Lee and John Buscema Creating Superman. He helped produce The John Buscema Sketchbook (Vanguard Production, 2001).
He finished the pencils on 2004's Superman: Blood of my Ancestors, begun by Gil Kane
Gil Kane
Eli Katz who worked under the name Gil Kane and in one instance Scott Edward, was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s and every major comics company and character.Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and...
, who had since died, and had just signed on for a five-issue miniseries with Roy Thomas, JLA: Barbarians. Shortly after finishing the first issue, Buscema, diagnosed with stomach cancer
Stomach cancer
Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...
a few months earlier, died at the age of 74. An 11x17-inch lithograph print of the late 1960s/early 1970s Avengers, penciled by Buscema and painted in watercolor by Alex Ross
Alex Ross
Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross is an American comic book painter, illustrator, and plotter. He is praised for his realistic, human depictions of classic comic book characters. Since the 1990s he has done work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an...
for the publisher Dynamic Forces, was Buscema's last professional work. He was subsequently buried with an artist's pen
Pen
A pen is a device used to apply ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Historically, reed pens, quill pens, and dip pens were used, with a nib of some sort to be dipped in the ink. Ruling pens allow precise adjustment of line width, and still find a few specialized uses, but...
in his hand.
Family
Buscema, who lived in Port Jefferson, New YorkPort Jefferson, New York
The Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson is located in the town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the 2000 United States Census, the village population was 7,837...
, on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, at the time of his death, was married to Dolores Buscema, with whom he had a son, John Jr., and a daughter, Dianne. His granddaughter Stephanie Buscema is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist, who started out as an inker for her grandfather.
DC
- Batman Gotham Knights (Batman Black and White) #7 (2000)
- Just ImagineJust Imagine...Just Imagine Stan Lee is a comic book published by DC Comics. It was the first work by Stan Lee, co-creator of numerous popular Marvel Comics characters, for DC Comics, in which he reimagined several DC superheroes including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and The...
Stan LeeStan LeeStan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
and John Buscema creating Superman, one-shot, (2001) - SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
: Blood of my ancestors, graphic novel, (along with Gil KaneGil KaneEli Katz who worked under the name Gil Kane and in one instance Scott Edward, was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s and every major comics company and character.Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and...
) (2003, posthumous)
Dell
- Four ColorFour ColorFour Color, also known as Four Color Comics and One Shots, was a long-running American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962...
#684: Helen of TroyHelen of Troy (film)Helen of Troy is a 1956 Warner Bros. epic film, based on Homer's Iliad. It was directed by Robert Wise, from a screenplay by Hugh Gray and John Twist, adapted by Hugh Gray and N. Richard Nash...
(1956), #762: The SharkfightersThe SharkfightersThe Sharkfighters is a 1956 American film about U.S. Navy scientists working to invent a shark repellent to help protect military personnel at sea. Directed by Jerry Hopper, it starred Victor Mature, James Olson, and Claude Akins-Plot:In 1943, U.S...
; #775: Sir Lancelot and BrianThe Adventures of Sir LancelotThe Adventures of Sir Lancelot is a British television series first broadcast in 1956, produced by Sapphire Films for ITC Entertainment and screened on the ITV network...
, #794: The Count of Monte CristoThe Count of Monte Cristo (film)The Count of Monte Cristo is a novel by Alexandre Dumas.The Count of Monte Cristo may also refer to:- Films :*The Count of Monte Cristo , a silent film starring Hobart Bosworth...
, #910: The VikingsThe Vikings (film)The Vikings is an adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer in 1958 Technicolor, produced by and starring Kirk Douglas, and based on the novel The Viking by Edison Marshall, based in its turn on legendary material from the sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons. Other actors included Tony Curtis,...
, #927: Luke ShortLuke ShortWestern frontiersman Luke L. Short was a noted gunfighter, who had worked as a farmer, cowboy, whiskey peddler, army scout, dispatch rider, gambler and saloon keeper at various times during the four decades of his life.- Early life :...
's Top Gun (adapted from novel Test Pit by Luke Short), #944: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, #1006: HerculesHercules (1958 film)Hercules is a 1958 Italian epic fantasy feature film based upon the Hercules myths and the Quest for the Golden Fleece. The film stars Steve Reeves as the titular hero and Sylva Koscina as his love interest Princess Iole. Hercules was directed by Pietro Francisci and produced by Federico Teti...
, #1077, 1130: The DeputyThe Deputy (TV series)The Deputy is a 1959-1961 half-hour NBC western series featuring Henry Fonda as Chief Marshal Simon Fry of the Arizona Territory and Allen Case as Deputy Clay McCord, a storekeeper who tried to avoid using a gun.-Production:...
, #1139: SpartacusSpartacus (film)Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...
(1956–60)
Marvel
- Amazing AdventuresAmazing AdventuresAmazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.The earliest Marvel series of that name introduced the company's first superhero of the late-1950s to early-1960s period fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books...
(Black Widow) #1-2 (1970) - The Amazing Spider-ManThe Amazing Spider-ManThe Amazing Spider-Man is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring the adventures of the fictional superhero Spider-Man. Being the mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a monthly periodical and was published continuously until it was...
#72-73, 76-81 (layouts only); #84-85 (1969–70) - Astonishing TalesAstonishing TalesAstonishing Tales is an American anthology comic book series published by Marvel Comics originally from 1970-1976. Its sister publication was Amazing Adventures vol. 2...
(Ka-ZarKa-ZarKa-Zar is the name of two jungle-dwelling comics fictional characters published in the United States. The first appeared in pulp magazines of the 1930s, and was adapted for his second iteration, as a comic book character for Timely Comics, the 1930s and 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics...
) #12-14m 16 (1972–73) - AvengersAvengers (comics)The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
#41-44, 46-47, 49-62, 74-77, 79-85, 94, 97, 105, 121, 124-125, 152-153 (1967–76); #255-279, 281-300, Annual #23 (1985–89), #385 (with Mike DeodatoMike DeodatoMike Deodato , sometimes credited as Mike Deodato Jr., is the professional pseudonym of Brazilian comic book artist Deodato Taumaturgo Borges Filho.-Biography:...
) (1995) - Captain AmericaCaptain AmericaCaptain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
#115 (1969), #217 (1978) - Captain MarvelMar-VellCaptain Marvel is a fictional character owned by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and designed by artist Gene Colan and first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) is a fictional character owned by Marvel Comics. The character was created...
#18 (along with Gil Kane) (1969) - Conan the Barbarian #25-36, 38-39, 41-56, 58-63, 65-68, 70-78, 84-86, 88-91, 93-126, 136, 140-144, 146-153, 155-159, 161-163, 165-179, 181-185, 187-190; Annual #2, 4, 5, 7 (1973–87)
- Conan the Barbarian Movie Special #1-2 (1982)
- DaredevilDaredevil (Marvel Comics)Daredevil is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 .Living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood...
#136-137 (1976); #219 (1985) - Doc SavageDoc SavageDoc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
, vol. 2, #1, 3 (1975–76) - Dracula Lives #3, 6 (1973–74)
- Epic IllustratedEpic IllustratedEpic Illustrated was a comics anthology in magazine format published in the United States by Marvel Comics. The series lasted for 34 issues, from Spring 1980 to February 1986....
#1 (Silver SurferSilver SurferThe Silver Surfer is a Marvel Comics superhero created by Jack Kirby. The character first appears in Fantastic Four #48 , the first of a three-issue arc that fans call "The Galactus Trilogy"....
), #9, 11-13 (1980–82) - Fantastic FourFantastic FourThe 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...
#107-130, 132, 134-141, 160, 173-175, 202, Annual #11 (1971–79); #296-309 (1986–87); #416 (1996) - Howard the DuckHoward the DuckHoward the Duck is a comic book character in the Marvel Comics universe created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik. The character first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 and several subsequent series have chronicled the misadventures of the ill-tempered, anthropomorphic, "funny...
#3 (1976) - Hulk!Rampaging HulkThe Rampaging Hulk is a black-and-white magazine published by Curtis Magazines from 1977–1978. With issue #10, it changed its format to color, and title to The Hulk!, and ran another 17 issues before it folded in 1981...
#23 (1980) - King Conan #1-9, 17 (1980–83)
- Kull the Conqueror, vol. 2, #1-3, 5-7, 9-10 (1983–85)
- Man-ThingMan-ThingThe Man-Thing is a fictional character, a monster in publications from Marvel Comics. Created by writers Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway and artist Gray Morrow, the character first appeared in Savage Tales #1 , and went on to be featured in various titles and in his own series, including...
#12-13 (1973–74) - Marvel Comics PresentsMarvel Comics PresentsMarvel Comics Presents was an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics originally from 1988 to 1995; it returned for a second volume in 2007-2008.-Volume 1:The first volume was released on a biweekly basis and lasted for 175 issues...
(WolverineWolverine (comics)Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
) #1-10, 38-47 (1988–90) - Marvel Comics Super SpecialMarvel Comics Super SpecialMarvel Comics Super Special was a 41-issue series of one-shot comic-magazines published by Marvel Comics from 1977 to 1986. They were cover-priced $1.50 to $2.50, while regular color comics were priced 30 cents to 60 cents, Beginning with issue #5, the series' title in the its postal indicia was...
#1-2, 9, 11-13, 18, 21, 35, 40 (1977–86) - Marvel FanfareMarvel FanfareMarvel Fanfare is the title of two comic book series published by Marvel Comics. Both versions of Marvel Fanfare were anthology, showcase titles featuring a variety of characters from the Marvel universe.-Volume One:...
#51, 53 (1990) - Marvel PreviewMarvel PreviewMarvel Preview was a magazine-sized black-and-white showcase comic book published by Curtis Magazines, an imprint of Marvel....
#22-23 (1980) - Marvel SpotlightMarvel SpotlightMarvel Spotlight is the name of several comic book series published by Marvel Comics as a try-out book for new characters. The first series ran for 33 issues from November 1971 to April 1977...
#30 (1976) - Monsters UnleashedMonsters UnleashedMonsters Unleashed was a black-and-white magazine published by Curtis Magazines from 1973-1975. The focus of Monsters Unleashed was on Marvel's own monsters: Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, and Frankenstein's monster...
#1-2, 4-5 (1973–74) - NovaNova (comics)Nova is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Upon becoming a member of the galaxy's Nova Corps , the youth gained enhanced strength, flight, injury resistance, and a specialized uniform with life support.In May 2011, Nova placed 98th on IGN's Top 100 Comic...
#1-2 (1976) - Punisher: War ZoneThe Punisher War ZoneThe Punisher War Zone is a comic book spin-off series featuring the Punisher, a fictional character published by Marvel Comics. The first installment of the series ran for 41 issues with two 64-page annuals. Multiple writers contributed to this series during its three-year run from 1992 to 1995...
#23-30; Annual #1 (1994) - Red SonjaRed SonjaRed Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword, is a fictional character, a high fantasy sword and sorcery heroine created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, and loosely based on Red Sonya of Rogatino in Robert E. Howard's 1934 short story "The Shadow of the Vulture"...
#12-13, 15 (1978–79) - Savage She-Hulk #1 (1980)
- Savage TalesSavage TalesSavage Tales is the title of three American comics series. Two were black-and-white comics-magazine anthologies published by Marvel Comics , and the other a color comic book anthology published by Dynamite Entertainment.-Marvel/Curtis:The first of the two volumes of Savage Tales ran 11 issues, with...
(Ka-ZarKa-ZarKa-Zar is the name of two jungle-dwelling comics fictional characters published in the United States. The first appeared in pulp magazines of the 1930s, and was adapted for his second iteration, as a comic book character for Timely Comics, the 1930s and 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics...
) #1, 6-8 (1971–75) - Savage Sword of ConanSavage Sword of ConanThe Savage Sword of Conan was a black-and-white magazine-format comic book series published beginning in 1974 by Curtis Magazines, an imprint of Marvel Comics, and then later by Marvel itself. Savage Sword of Conan starred Robert E...
#1-5, 7, 10-13, 15-24, 26-28, 30-36, 38-43, 45, 47-58, 60-67, 70-74, 76-81, 87-88, 90-93, 95-96, 98-101 (1974–84); #190-200, 202-210, 222, 225, 234-235 (1991–95) - Silver SurferSilver SurferThe Silver Surfer is a Marvel Comics superhero created by Jack Kirby. The character first appears in Fantastic Four #48 , the first of a three-issue arc that fans call "The Galactus Trilogy"....
#1-17 (1968–70) - Silver Surfer, vol. 2, #110 (1995); Judgment Day, graphic novel (1988)
- Spectacular Spider-Man #121 (among other artists) (1986)
- Sub-Mariner #1-8, 20, 24
- Tales to AstonishTales to AstonishTales to Astonish is the name of two American comic book series and a one-shot comic published by Marvel Comics.The primary title bearing that name was published from 1959-1968...
(Incredible Hulk) #85-87 (1966–67) - TarzanTarzan (comics)Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in 23 sequels. The character proved immensely popular and quickly made the jump to other media, including comics.-Comic strips:...
#1-18, Annual #1 (1977–78) - ThorThor (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....
#178, 182-213, 215-226, 231-238, 241-253, 256-259, 272-278, 283-285, Annual #5, 8, 13 (1970–85); #490 (1995) - Tower of Shadows #1-2 (1969)
- What IfWhat If (comics)What If, sometimes rendered as What If...?, is the title of several comic book series published by Marvel Comics, exploring "the road not traveled" by its various characters...
(Conan) #13 (1979) - WolverineWolverine (comics)Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
#1-8, 10-16, 25, 27 (1988–90)
Legacy
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media...
, Painting with Fire (2003) is posthumously dedicated to Buscema.
Awards
- 1968: Alley AwardAlley AwardThe Alley Award was an American series of comic book fan awards, first presented in 1962 for comics published in 1961. Officially organized under the aegis of the Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences, under executive secretary Jerry Bails, and later Paul Gambaccini and David Kaler, the award...
for Best Full-Length Story, for Marvel Comics' The Silver Surfer #1: "Origin of the Silver Surfer", by Stan Lee & John Buscema (tied with DC ComicsDC ComicsDC 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...
' The Brave and the BoldThe Brave and the BoldThe Brave and the Bold is the title shared by many comic book series published by DC Comics. The first of these was published as an ongoing series from 1955 to 1983...
#79: "Track of the Hook", by Bob HaneyBob HaneyRobert G. "Bob" Haney was a US comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics. He co-created the Teen Titans as well as characters such as Metamorpho, Eclipso, Cain, and the Super-Sons.- Early life and career :...
& Neal AdamsNeal AdamsNeal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who...
): also Best New Strip for The Silver Surfer - 1969: Alley Award for Best Full-Length Story for The Silver Surfer #5: "...And Who Shall Mourn for Him?," by Stan Lee, John Buscema & Sal Buscema (Marvel Comics)
- 1974: Shazam Award for Best Penciller (Dramatic Division).
- 1977: Eagle Award for Favourite Single Comicbook Story for Howard the Duck #3: Four Feathers of Death, with Steve GerberSteve GerberStephen Ross "Steve" Gerber was an American comic book writer best known as co-creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck....
- 1978: Inkpot AwardInkpot AwardThe Inkpot Award, bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International, is given to some of the professionals in comic book, comic strip, animation, science fiction, and related pop-culture fields, who are guests of that organization's yearly multigenre fan convention, commonly known as...
- 1997: "Author that We Loved" award at the Spanish Haxtur AwardHaxtur AwardThe Haxtur Award is a Spanish award for comics published in Spain. It is awarded annually at the Salón Internacional del Cómic del Principado de Asturias ....
s - 2002: inducted into the Eisner Award Hall of Fame
In 2002 and 2004, the Haxtur Awards presented the Special John Buscema Award.
Audio/video
- YouTube: "Drawing Superheroes (2 of 3)", featuring Buscema. Retrieved on 2008-11-24
Further reading
- Big John Buscema, Palma de Mallorca: Ajuntament de Palma, 2009. ISBN 978-84-87159-38-1
External links
- Jack Kirby Collector #18 (Jan. 1998): John Buscema interview Retrieved on 2008-11-25 WebCite archive
- "Trimmings: John Buscema", overset material from Buscema interview, The Comics JournalThe Comics JournalThe Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels...
#226 (Aug. 2000). Retrieved on 2008-11-25 WebArchive archive. WebCite archive - Gravett, Paul. "John Buscema: Illustrator whose pen made superheroes masters of the universe" (obituary), The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(Apr. 17, 2002). WebCite archive. - "The Silver Age Marvel Comics Cover Index: John Buseama", Samcci.comics.org: Silver Age Cover Gallery, Retrieved on 2008-11-26; original site unresponsive 2008-12-02; from the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...