Vince Colletta
Encyclopedia
Vincent Joseph Colletta (October 15, 1923 - June 3, 1991) 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
. This included a few landmark early issues of Marvel Comics
' Fantastic Four
, and a long, celebrated run on the character Thor
in Journey into Mystery
and The Mighty Thor.
Colletta was born in Casteldaccia
, Sicily
, and later emigrated to the US with his family. Educated at the New Jersey
Academy of Fine Arts, Colletta entered comics in 1952, freelancing first as a penciler, inking
his own work, for the publisher Better Comics
. The following year he began his decades-long collaboration with Marvel, at the company's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics
. Primarily a romance comics
artist, he drew dozens of stories and covers for the Atlas titles Love Romances, Lovers, My Own Romance, Stories of Romance, and The Romances of Nurse Helen Grant, with his earliest confirmed Atlas romance art the six-page story "My Love for You" in Love Romances #37 (March 1954). Colletta's work also appeared in such genres as jungle adventure (Jungle Action
, Jann of the Jungle
, Lorna, the Jungle Girl) and horror
/fantasy
(Uncanny Tales
, Journey into Mystery
).
During an Atlas retrenchment in the late 1950s, Colletta freelanced as a penciler on the DC Comics
romance titles Falling in Love, Girls' Love Stories
, and Heart Throbs
, and Charlton Comics
' Love Diary and Teen Confessions. His last confirmed pencil work for decades was "I Can't Marry Now" in Love Diary #6 (Sept. 1959).
Colletta's first confirmed work as an inker of another artist's pencils is unknown, largely due to credits not being given routinely in 1950s comics. Two possibilities suggested by historians and researchers are the cover of Atlas' Annie Oakley
Western Tales #10 (April 1956), co-inking with Sol Brodsky
over Brodsky's pencils, and the three-page story "I Met My Love Again", penciled by Matt Baker, in My Own Romance #65 (Sept. 1958). Additionally assigned to ink stories in Atlas' emerging science-fiction/fantasy
and giant-monster comics, Colletta entered what fans and historians call "pre-superhero Marvel" with three Baker-penciled stories: "The Green Fog" in Journey into Mystery #50 (Jan. 1959), "I Fell to the Center of the Earth" in Tales to Astonish
#2 (March 1959), and "The Brain Picker" in World of Fantasy
#17 (April 1959).
Historians pinpoint Colletta's first inking of Jack Kirby's pencils as either the cover of Kid Colt: Outlaw #100 (Sept. 1961) or (with Colletta's credit confirmed), the cover of Love Romances #98 (March 1962).
for Marvel in the 1960s, Colletta worked on nearly every title, including some of the earliest issues of Daredevil
. Notably, he inked Kirby's Fantastic Four
#40-43, as well as The Fantastic Four Annual #3, featuring the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm and guest-starring virtually all the major Marvel Comics characters of the time.
Colletta began his six-year run on Kirby's "The Mighty Thor" feature with the "Tales of Asgard" backup in Journey into Mystery #106 (July 1964). Colletta graduated to the lead feature with #116 (May 1965). He continued through the book's retitling to The Mighty Thor with #126 (March 1966), and — except for one issue (#143) — inked it through #167 (Aug. 1969), picking up again from #176 (May 1970) to Kirby's final issue, #179 (Aug. 1970), inking John Buscema
in #178.
Colletta also inked Journey into Mystery Annual #1 (1965), which introduced Hercules to the Marvel universe
, and The Mighty Thor King-Size Annual #2.
Historians and critics consider Colletta's Thor work to be his creative highlight. Historian Nick Simon said, "For me, the Kirby/Colletta version of Thor is the definitive one." Author and Silver Age of Comic Books
historian Pierre Comtois wrote that,
Colletta would also pencil stories in many 1960s issues of Charlton Comics
' Teen-Age Love and First Kiss (at least some of which has been credited in reprints as by "Vince Colletta Studio"). He occasionally inked romance stories penciled by Joe Sinnott
, and other pencilers on such titles as Charlton's Gunmaster, and Dell Comics
' Guerrilla War, Jungle War Stories
, and Western
series Idaho.
In 1970, Colletta — who had been freelancing for DC Comics
since 1968 on the romance titles Falling In Love, Girls' Love Stories, Secret Hearts and Young Romance — stepped up his inking for the company following Jack Kirby
's move there from Marvel Comics
. Colletta inked Kirby's two black-and-white magazine
one-shots, In the Days Of The Mob and Spirit World (both October 1971), and, more notably, also inked the initial issues of the Kirby Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen
and the "Fourth World
" titles: The Forever People, Mister Miracle
and The New Gods. While Colletta's rates were good and he brought "an innocent Marvel Age look to Jack's new heroes", he was prone to "erasing background characters" and transforming "[b]ustling crowd scenes [into] easier silhouettes". Kirby confidante Mark Evanier
and inker Wally Wood
eventually convinced a reluctant Kirby to ask DC Publisher Carmine Infantino
to remove Colletta from inking Kirby's titles. He was replaced by inker Mike Royer
, causing some fans to write to DC in complaint, denouncing Kirby for "abandoning the Marvel-style look".
Colletta went on to ink a large array at DC, including a variety of Batman
, Superman
and Green Lantern
titles; the TV tie-in series Isis
and Super Friends
; and nearly every issue of Wonder Woman
from #206 (July 1973) to #270 (Aug. 1980), over pencilers including Don Heck
, Dick Dillin
, Curt Swan
, Jose Delbo and Michael Netzer (Nasser).
He was named DC's art director
in May 1976, resigning the post in May 1979. His time there included discovering future industry star Frank Miller
. As one-time Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter
described, Miller had broken in with "a small job from Western Publishing
, I think. Thus emboldened, he went to DC, and after getting savaged by Joe Orlando
, got in to see art director Vinnie Colletta, who recognized talent and arranged for him to get a one-page war-comic job".
Before and after his tenure, Colletta continued to do a small amount of inking for Marvel, as well as for Skywald Publications
' black-and-white horror magazine Psycho. Well into the 1980s, Colletta continued to ink a wide assortment of comics for both DC and Marvel. His last known credit is a Marvel humor one-shot, Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe (July 1989).
Art Cappello was Colletta's frequent background assistant. Wally Wood
was among those who also assisted or ghosted for Colletta, who maintained an art studio in Manhattan
.
told author Marc Flores, who writes under the pen name
Ronin Ro, "When I penciled the romance stories, I used to tell myself, Vince wrecked what I did. ... He would eliminate people from the strip and use silhouettes, everything to cut corners and make the work easier for himself." Writer Len Wein
told an interviewer what he enjoyed most about working on Luke Cage
was, "Getting to work with the wonderful George Tuska
, before Vinnie Colletta got his hands on the pencils and ruined them".
Jack Kirby partisans are particularly vocal. Mark Evanier
said, "In 1970 when Steve Sherman and I met Steve Ditko
, he asked us about the new Kirby books that were then about to debut at DC. When we told him Colletta was handling the inking, he winced and said that he would probably not look at the comics. Back when he was working for Marvel, Ditko said he'd pick up the latest issues in the office and always check the credits before taking the comics home. If he found Colletta's name — especially as Kirby's embellisher — he would make a point of putting the comic back, or even in a wastebasket. And he'd make sure Stan [Lee
] saw what he was doing and knew the reason why."
Conversely, Colletta's admirers point to the speed with which Colletta was often required to work, and the results he could produce when given time. Critic Tony Seybert wrote that "for tales set in the distant past of myth and legend, Colletta's soft delicate inks evoke the vapors of ancient times [and are] just as effective on Asgard
ian crags as on the sylvan glades of Olympus
. The Kirby/Colletta Thor
is a mighty blond deity with a hint of Norse faerie-dust. Hercules
is a roughly hewn sculpture, almost incomplete, like one of the unfinished prisoners of Michelangelo
."
Comic book creator
A comic book creator is someone who creates a comic book or graphic novel.The production of a comic book by one of the major comic book companies in the U.S...
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....
best known as one of industry legend Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
's frequent inkers during the 1950s-1960s period called 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...
. This included a few landmark early issues 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...
' 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 a long, celebrated run on the character Thor
Thor (Marvel Comics)
Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
in Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery was an American comic book series published by Atlas Comics, and later its successor Marvel Comics. It featured horror, monster, and science fiction stories...
and The Mighty Thor.
Early life and career
Casteldaccia
Casteldaccia is a town and comune in the province of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy. It is the seat of the Vini Corvo wine producer, and the Tomasello Pasta factory....
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, and later emigrated to the US with his family. Educated at the New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
Academy of Fine Arts, Colletta entered comics in 1952, freelancing first as a penciler, inking
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...
his own work, for the publisher Better Comics
Nedor Comics
Nedor Publishing was a comic book imprint of publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines under a variety of company names that he also used for the comics...
. The following year he began his decades-long collaboration with Marvel, at the company's 1950s iteration, 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...
. Primarily a romance comics
Romance comics
Romance comics is a comics genre depicting romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published through the first three decades of the Cold War...
artist, he drew dozens of stories and covers for the Atlas titles Love Romances, Lovers, My Own Romance, Stories of Romance, and The Romances of Nurse Helen Grant, with his earliest confirmed Atlas romance art the six-page story "My Love for You" in Love Romances #37 (March 1954). Colletta's work also appeared in such genres as jungle adventure (Jungle Action
Jungle Action
Jungle Action is the name of two comic book series published by Marvel Comics and its 1950s precursor, Atlas Comics. The latter-day version is the first series starring the Black Panther, the first Black superhero in mainstream comics, created by the writer/artist team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in...
, Jann of the Jungle
Jann of the Jungle
Jann of the Jungle is a fictional comic book jungle girl protagonist created by writer Don Rico and artist Jay Scott Pike in the anthology title Jungle Tales #1 , published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics....
, Lorna, the Jungle Girl) and 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...
/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...
(Uncanny Tales
Uncanny Tales
Uncanny Tales may refer to one of the following publications:* Uncanny Tales , an American pulp magazine* Uncanny Tales , a Canadian pulp magazine...
, Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery was an American comic book series published by Atlas Comics, and later its successor Marvel Comics. It featured horror, monster, and science fiction stories...
).
During an Atlas retrenchment in the late 1950s, Colletta freelanced as a penciler on the 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...
romance titles Falling in Love, Girls' Love Stories
Girls' Love Stories
Girls' Love Stories was a romance comic book published by DC Comics in the United States. Started in 1949 as DC's first romance title, it ran for 180 issues, ending with the Nov-Dec 1973 issue. The stories covered such topics as girls worrying about getting a man, or marrying out of pressure, not...
, and Heart Throbs
Heart Throbs
Heart Throbs was a romance comic published by Quality Comics and DC Comics from 1949 to 1972. Quality published the book from 1949–1957, when it was acquired by DC. Most issues featured a number of short comics stories, as well advice columns, text pieces, and filler...
, and 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...
' Love Diary and Teen Confessions. His last confirmed pencil work for decades was "I Can't Marry Now" in Love Diary #6 (Sept. 1959).
Colletta's first confirmed work as an inker of another artist's pencils is unknown, largely due to credits not being given routinely in 1950s comics. Two possibilities suggested by historians and researchers are the cover of Atlas' Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...
Western Tales #10 (April 1956), co-inking with Sol Brodsky
Sol Brodsky
Sol Brodsky was an American comic book artist who, as Marvel Comics' Silver Age production manager, was one of the key architects of the small company's expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate. He later rose to vice president, operations and vice president, special projects...
over Brodsky's pencils, and the three-page story "I Met My Love Again", penciled by Matt Baker, in My Own Romance #65 (Sept. 1958). Additionally assigned to ink stories in Atlas' emerging science-fiction/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 giant-monster comics, Colletta entered what fans and historians call "pre-superhero Marvel" with three Baker-penciled stories: "The Green Fog" in Journey into Mystery #50 (Jan. 1959), "I Fell to the Center of the Earth" 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...
#2 (March 1959), and "The Brain Picker" in World of Fantasy
World of Fantasy
World of Fantasy was a science fiction/fantasy comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor company, Atlas Comics. Lasting from 1956 to 1959, it included the work of several notable comics artists, including industry legends Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Bill Everett.The...
#17 (April 1959).
Marvel Comics
As an inkerInker
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...
for Marvel in the 1960s, Colletta worked on nearly every title, including some of the earliest issues of 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...
. Notably, he inked Kirby's 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...
#40-43, as well as The Fantastic Four Annual #3, featuring the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm and guest-starring virtually all the major Marvel Comics characters of the time.
Colletta began his six-year run on Kirby's "The Mighty Thor" feature with the "Tales of Asgard" backup in Journey into Mystery #106 (July 1964). Colletta graduated to the lead feature with #116 (May 1965). He continued through the book's retitling to The Mighty Thor with #126 (March 1966), and — except for one issue (#143) — inked it through #167 (Aug. 1969), picking up again from #176 (May 1970) to Kirby's final issue, #179 (Aug. 1970), inking John Buscema
John Buscema
John Buscema, born Giovanni Natale Buscema , 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...
in #178.
Colletta also inked Journey into Mystery Annual #1 (1965), which introduced Hercules to the Marvel universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
, and The Mighty Thor King-Size Annual #2.
Historians and critics consider Colletta's Thor work to be his creative highlight. Historian Nick Simon said, "For me, the Kirby/Colletta version of Thor is the definitive one." Author and 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...
historian Pierre Comtois wrote that,
Colletta would also pencil stories in many 1960s issues of 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...
' Teen-Age Love and First Kiss (at least some of which has been credited in reprints as by "Vince Colletta Studio"). He occasionally inked romance stories penciled 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...
, and other pencilers on such titles as Charlton's Gunmaster, and 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...
' Guerrilla War, Jungle War Stories
Jungle War Stories
Jungle War Stories was a Dell Comics American comic book first published in 1962. It was the first American war comic to cover the Vietnam War...
, and Western
Western comics
Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century...
series Idaho.
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...
since 1968 on the romance titles Falling In Love, Girls' Love Stories, Secret Hearts and Young Romance — stepped up his inking for the company following Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
's move there from 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...
. Colletta inked Kirby's two black-and-white 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...
one-shots, In the Days Of The Mob and Spirit World (both October 1971), and, more notably, also inked the initial issues of the Kirby Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen
Jimmy Olsen
Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character who appears mainly in DC Comics’ Superman stories. Olsen is a young photojournalist working for the Daily Planet. He is close friends with Lois Lane, Clark Kent/Superman and Perry White...
and the "Fourth World
Jack Kirby's Fourth World
"The Fourth World" is the popular name given to a metaseries of interconnecting comic book titles written and drawn by Jack Kirby and published by DC Comics from 1970 to 1973. The characters and concepts were later integrated into the DC Universe....
" titles: The Forever People, Mister Miracle
Mister Miracle
Mister Miracle is a fictional superhero published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Mister Miracle #1 and was created by Jack Kirby.-Publication history:...
and The New Gods. While Colletta's rates were good and he brought "an innocent Marvel Age look to Jack's new heroes", he was prone to "erasing background characters" and transforming "[b]ustling crowd scenes [into] easier silhouettes". Kirby confidante Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
and inker Wally Wood
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...
eventually convinced a reluctant Kirby to ask DC Publisher Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
to remove Colletta from inking Kirby's titles. He was replaced by inker Mike Royer
Mike Royer (comics)
Michael "Mike" W. Royer Michael "Mike" W. Royer Michael "Mike" W. Royer (born 1941, Lebanon, Oregon;The entry at the Lambiek Comiclopedia erroneously lists Canada as his birthplace. Royer specifies "his birth state, Oregon" in his official site's biography. is an comic book artist and inker, best...
, causing some fans to write to DC in complaint, denouncing Kirby for "abandoning the Marvel-style look".
Colletta went on to ink a large array at DC, including a variety of 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...
, 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...
and Green Lantern
Green Lantern
The Green Lantern is the shared primary alias of several fictional characters, superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The first Green Lantern was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 .Each Green Lantern possesses a power ring and...
titles; the TV tie-in series Isis
Isis (DC Comics)
Isis is a DC Comics superhero, as well as a separate Egyptian goddess also living in the DC Universe. The recent superhero character is modeled closely after the main character of The Secrets of Isis, a live-action American Saturday Morning television program that served as the second half of The...
and Super Friends
Super Friends
Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1986 on ABC as part of its Saturday morning cartoon lineup...
; and nearly every issue of Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....
from #206 (July 1973) to #270 (Aug. 1980), over pencilers including Don Heck
Don Heck
Don Heck was an American comic book artist best known for co-creating the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, and for his long run penciling the Marvel superhero-team series The Avengers during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books.-Early life and career:Born in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New...
, Dick Dillin
Dick Dillin
Richard Allen "Dick" Dillin was an American comic book artist best known for an extraordinarily long 12-year run as the penciler of the DC Comics superhero-team series Justice League of America. He drew 115 issues from 1968 up until his death, bridging the venerable title's Mike Sekowsky and...
, Curt Swan
Curt Swan
Douglas Curtis Swan was an American comic book artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 1950s through the 1980s.-Early life and career:Curt Swan, whose Swedish...
, Jose Delbo and Michael Netzer (Nasser).
He was named DC's 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....
in May 1976, resigning the post in May 1979. His time there included discovering future industry star Frank Miller
Frank Miller (comics)
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...
. As one-time Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter
Jim Shooter
James Shooter is an American writer, occasional fill-in artist, editor, and publisher for various comic books. Although he started professionally in the medium at the extraordinarily young age of 14, he is most notable for his successful and controversial run as Marvel Comics' ninth...
described, Miller had broken in with "a small job from Western Publishing
Western Publishing
Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company was a Racine, Wisconsin firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Western Publishing also produced children's books and family-related entertainment products as Golden Books Family Entertainment...
, I think. Thus emboldened, he went to DC, and after getting savaged by Joe Orlando
Joe Orlando
Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...
, got in to see art director Vinnie Colletta, who recognized talent and arranged for him to get a one-page war-comic job".
Before and after his tenure, Colletta continued to do a small amount of inking for Marvel, as well as for Skywald Publications
Skywald Publications
Skywald Publications is a 1970s publisher of black-and-white comics magazines, primarily the horror anthologies Nightmare, Psycho, and Scream. It also published a small line of comic books and other magazines....
' black-and-white horror magazine Psycho. Well into the 1980s, Colletta continued to ink a wide assortment of comics for both DC and Marvel. His last known credit is a Marvel humor one-shot, Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe (July 1989).
Art Cappello was Colletta's frequent background assistant. Wally Wood
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...
was among those who also assisted or ghosted for Colletta, who maintained an art studio in 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...
.
Controversy
Colletta, regarded as one of the American comics industry's fastest inkers and a reliable professional to call upon when a comic was in danger of missing a printing deadline, has remained a controversial figure even after his death. In essence, the controversy centers on Colletta's erasing various degrees of a penciler's work, both in order to lessen the inking burden and to help meet time constraints during an industry era when printers charged then-prohibitive thousands of dollars for missed deadlines, which resulted in idle presses. As comics artist Joe SinnottJoe 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...
told author Marc Flores, who writes under the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Ronin Ro, "When I penciled the romance stories, I used to tell myself, Vince wrecked what I did. ... He would eliminate people from the strip and use silhouettes, everything to cut corners and make the work easier for himself." Writer Len Wein
Len Wein
Len Wein is an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men...
told an interviewer what he enjoyed most about working on Luke Cage
Luke Cage
Luke Cage is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Archie Goodwin and artist John Romita, Sr., he first appeared in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1...
was, "Getting to work with the wonderful George Tuska
George Tuska
George Tuska , who early in his career used a variety of pen names including Carl Larson, was an American comic book and newspaper comic strip artist best known for his 1940s work on various Captain Marvel titles and the crime fiction series Crime Does Not Pay, for and his 1960s work illustrating...
, before Vinnie Colletta got his hands on the pencils and ruined them".
Jack Kirby partisans are particularly vocal. Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
said, "In 1970 when Steve Sherman and I met Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
, he asked us about the new Kirby books that were then about to debut at DC. When we told him Colletta was handling the inking, he winced and said that he would probably not look at the comics. Back when he was working for Marvel, Ditko said he'd pick up the latest issues in the office and always check the credits before taking the comics home. If he found Colletta's name — especially as Kirby's embellisher — he would make a point of putting the comic back, or even in a wastebasket. And he'd make sure 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....
] saw what he was doing and knew the reason why."
Conversely, Colletta's admirers point to the speed with which Colletta was often required to work, and the results he could produce when given time. Critic Tony Seybert wrote that "for tales set in the distant past of myth and legend, Colletta's soft delicate inks evoke the vapors of ancient times [and are] just as effective on Asgard
Asgard
In Norse religion, Asgard is one of the Nine Worlds and is the country or capital city of the Norse Gods surrounded by an incomplete wall attributed to a Hrimthurs riding the stallion Svadilfari, according to Gylfaginning. Valhalla is located within Asgard...
ian crags as on the sylvan glades of Olympus
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, about 100 kilometres away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks. The highest peak Mytikas, meaning "nose", rises to 2,917 metres...
. The Kirby/Colletta 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....
is a mighty blond deity with a hint of Norse faerie-dust. Hercules
Hercules (Marvel Comics)
Hercules is a fictional character that appears in publications by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Journey into Mystery Annual #1 and was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby....
is a roughly hewn sculpture, almost incomplete, like one of the unfinished prisoners of Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
."
External links
- Evanier, MarkMark EvanierMark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
. "POV Online" (column), March 19, 2003 - Larsen, ErikErik LarsenErik J. Larsen is an American comic book writer, artist and publisher. He is best known for his work on Savage Dragon, as one of the founders of Image Comics, and for his work on Spider-Man for Marvel Comics.-Early life:...
. "One Fan's Opinion" (column), Comic Book ResourcesComic Book ResourcesComic Book Resources, also known as CBR is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book-related news and discussion.-History:Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1996 as a development of the Kingdom Come Message Board, a message forum that Weiland had created to discuss DC...
, May 9, 2008 - Netzer, Michael. "Vince Colletta Remembered", Michael Netzer Online Portal, February 17, 2010
- Archive of McQuarrie, Jim, "Registered Nurse", "Oddball Comics" (column) #1156, May 14 2007