Tales of Suspense #73 (Marvel, January 1966). “Where else would one learn to ink trees?” my brother asks in his comic strip tribute. Another pencil and ink job by Jack on this vintage “Gunner and Sarge (and Pooch!)” story, this one showing yet another Abel trademark: his handling of foliage. Our Fighting Forces #91 (DC, April 1965). This wouldn’t be the only story for which Jack put on his Kubert hat and let loose, and he did have a flare for capturing some of Joe’s special dynamics in his storytelling. Pencilled and inked by Abel, Jack’s “Green Apple Ace” pays unabashed homage to DC’s master war comics illustrator, Joe Kubert. Remember how I said Jack had some regular, familiar techniques? Check out the water.
An early example of a DC Comics war tale with another ink job over penciller Bob Forgione. Jack would later make his mark in DC’s war titles, but proto-Marvel Atlas saw its fair share of combat as well, as in this tale pencilled by Bob Forgione, in which Jack served many a tour of duty.Īll-American Men of War #25 (DC, September 1955). The penciller of this early Abel ink job is unknown, but Jack was already showing some of his familiar techniques, especially in his use of a razor to scratch out speed lines to give them texture, weight and emphasis.īattlefront #35 (Atlas, September 1955). Journey into Unknown Worlds #5 (Atlas, June 1951). Here then, MY 13 FAVORITE JACK ABEL STORIES: He also contributed to such Gold Key titles as Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, Grimm’s Ghost Stories, Mighty Samson and Twilight Zone as well as Ghost Manor, Ghostly Haunts, Haunted and Midnight Tales at Charlton and IronJaw and Morlock 2001 for Atlas/Seaboard. Jack did some of his best and best-remembered work as the artist on scores of DC’s war stories.įrom there, Jack went on to ink Curt Swan on Legion of Super-Heroes and Superman before returning to Marvel where he would ink Gene Colan’s Iron Man, Herb Trimpe on The Incredible Hulk, and Paul Gulacy on Master of King Fu. He got his start in 1951 pencilling and/or inking for a wide range of the publishers of the era, including Atlas Comics, ACG, Avon, Harvey, Hillman and others on stories in every genre, from science fiction and romance, to adventure and war. Jack was an able artist (see what I did there?) but he’s primarily known as an inker. Many years later, during my early starving artists days, I sold the book for $900, which paid for my rent and groceries for three months. I might add, the book was in beautiful shape (probably an “8” or “9” in Gradingspeak), not an India ink stain on it. To my surprise, Alan did ask and Jack did sell me the book - for $10, which I borrowed from my mother. I knew better than to ask my brother for a favor (there was always a price to pay), but under his relentless predictions of disaster for the precious comic, I finally broke down and begged him to ask Jack if he would sell me the book before disaster struck. Knowing of my Showcase-collecting mania and that I was forever on the lookout for a copy of #4, the first Silver Age Flash appearance, Alan, just to torment me, mentioned that Abel had a copy of that elusive old book on his drawing board but, knowing Jack, he might absentmindedly accidentally wipe his brush on the cover any minute and ruin it forever. It was the early-‘70s, during the period Jack was renting space in Neal Adams’ Continuity Studios and my brother was working there. I didn’t know Jack very well other than a few chance meetings at DC and Marvel over the years, but he did ink a handful of my 5-page intro stories in House of Mystery during its Dollar Comics phase, as well as a couple other jobs (one made it onto my list, go figure!), but the inker did have a small impact on my life as a fan. When I recently ran the tribute to Jack my brother Alan Kupperberg created in 1996 (see below) on my Facebook page, the range of reactions from the many, many people who knew him ran from, “I loved Jack!” to “I really loved Jack!” There were few people in comics more beloved than artist Jack Abel (July 15, 1927–March 6, 1996).
K pays a BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE to one of comics’ most beloved figures…
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