Keith Pollard - now here's a guy whose work I always looked forward to. And put that in context. The man followed Ross Andru on Amazing Spider-Man, John Buscema on Thor, and Buscema and George Perez on the Fantastic Four. Many artists might shy from those three assignments, give the stature of the departing artists. But man... Keith Pollard jumped onto all three books and made them his own. It's no wonder the powers-that-be at Marvel Comics had no problem entrusting the man with Amazing Spider-Man #200, Fantastic Four #200, and Thor #300.As I was winding down on my initial comics buying mania in the late 1970s, it was Pollard who was the guy left minding the store on many of the books I was buying. I've always felt it a shame his career wasn't longer. Truly, I can't say enough good things about how much enjoyment he brought me when I was elementary school and middle-school aged. Fond memories!
Enjoy a sampling of his sketches and original art today. And as always, my gratitude knows no bounds for all the collectors around the interwebs who make these documents available for all of us to enjoy. They retain all ownership; I'm just thankful that I can Ooh and Aah at them!
I've always regarded Pollard in much the same way as I do Sal Buscema--always turning in good, reliable work and showing a remarkably expressive style in his treatment of both story and characters. What a pleasure those anniversary issues were to read, covering all the bases as he did. A fine profile on your part, Doug.
ReplyDeleteI think that is a spot-on comparison. Like Sal, there was a period when Pollard seemed to be everywhere. He had a stint on the short-lived Inhumans series that was pleasing, too.
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Agree!
ReplyDeleteLike you noted, Pollard took over art duties on two of Marvel's banner titles, Amazing Spider-man and FF, and as well as Thor, another major character, and still found time to do other jobs, like the Hulk magazine work you posted above. Like Sal Buscema, for a time he was one of Marvel's work-horses, but he never phoned it in.
ReplyDeleteI've always found his style very pleasing to the eye, and I think it's a shame that he never attained the fame and superstar status of two other artists, Perez and Byrne, who also started working in a big way from the mid-1970s onward.
And yet again, Doug, thanks for the thorough image search. There's a few things here I hadn't seen before, and I'm particularly fond of the convention sketches of Thor and Cyborg.
Thanks as always, Edo. I try to do some deep digs for art samples. As you know, those Internet rabbit holes often have branching tunnels. It's fun to see what can be found!
DeleteDoug