Alfredo Alcala's work never fails to give me pause -- pause to look around an entire page or panel, pause to appreciate. One of the masters! As I said on Monday, I am no authority on inkers or their craft. But I can appreciate effort, and Alcala always included details - no short cuts, ever. In each of the examples presented below we are blessed by Alcala as penciler and inker. I'm sure many of us have thrilled to his embellishment of John Buscema's pencils in Savage Sword of Conan; here we get the artist alone, and it's beautiful work.
Images, as labeled, courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
Daily posts, and already on the mighty Alfredo Alcala - top marks so far Doug.
ReplyDeleteLove a bit of Alfredo... or better still, a lot of Alfredo!
Funnily enough, the first work of his I can recall reading was on Planet of the Apes - the Marvel Beneath... adaptation in the British reprint - which made an immediate impression. As did his, er, Giant-Size Man-Thing (ho ho) #3 with Steve Gerber shortly after, which sticks in my mind as one of the best US colour comics of the 70s.
But of course it was the black & whites that best showed off the play of textures in his work - who didn't like his brilliant inking on Buscema's Conan? (Well, apart from Buscema himself apparently...)
And then in a similar vein there was Alcala's solo art on Voltar in Warren mag The Rook, which was simply jaw-dropping (those not familiar with Voltar can be nice to their eyes and check it out at www.diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2011/09/black-and-white-wednesday-comes-end.html )
-sean
Sean, I've actually scheduled an image from Voltar to tweet later today as publicity for this post. And yes - it is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteAs we discussed John Buscema yesterday, dare I say that Alfredo Alcala was JB's best inker? I know Tom Palmer will get some attention, and maybe there are those who associate Ernie Chua with Buscema. But as I've read the first few years of Savage Sword, it's Alcala's work I keep coming back to in admiration.
Doug
I always liked Alcala's penciling on Conan as well as his inking. His inks on America vs. the JSA were pretty good too ... gave the stories some consistency, even with the different pencilers.
ReplyDeleteMike, I almost always think of Alcala as inhabiting the world of the B&W comics. It's always a surprise when I find his work in four color comics.
ReplyDeleteDoug
Alcala's work is simply breath-taking. I've also heard that Buscema didn't like his (and, I believe DeZuniga's) inks over his pencils, but the Conan stories with art Buscema and Alcala in Savage Sword look fantastic.
ReplyDeleteGood evening (to you, anyway) Edo!
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've read of Buscema, he only preferred his own inks or his brother, Sal's. No one else. Which is a pity, because the Alcala collaborations are breathtaking. I could understand a bit his dislike for DeZuniga and also Pablo Marcos - I never have a problem telling their inks apart from another artist. Their faces in particular tend to be distinct.
Doug
You can see how an artist might have a problem with an inker like Alcala - irrespective of quality - as his style tended to overpower that of the penciller. In Buscema's case, I always thought his work was strong enough to still be recognizable.
DeleteAs it happens, I think Alcala's first work at Marvel was over Big John's pencils on the colour Ka-Zar...
-sean
Here’s a good question: Those of us who’ve been reading comics and paying attention to the credits for a few decades seem pretty adept at identifying inkers and their impact. But can you name an inked who was solid yet nondescript? I really can’t think of anyone where I’d say they exerted virtually no telltale influence.
DeleteDoug
Alfredo Alcala, fine work indeed. Those Savage Sword stories really showed off the Buscema/Alcala team. Alfredo definitely qualifies as a strong inker, and could overpower a lesser penciller. But Buscema shines right through.
ReplyDeleteSean- wow, I forgot about Alcala doing that Giant Size Man-Thing book. Good recall there...
Anybody know if Alcala did much work at DC? Seems I remember seeing his credit somewhere, perhaps in a House of Mystery or some such. Could be wrong, though...
Alcala, like many of the Filipino artists, put so much texture and detail into their work. It must have been a labor of love.
DeleteDoug
Redartz, you're right about DC anthology titles - Alcala drew stuff regularly for books like House of Secrets, Weird Western (El Diablo!) and even Plop in the mid-70s; and in the 80s he inked Gene Colan's Batman and replaced John Totleben on Swamp Thing.
Delete-sean
Very nice art. I don’t know much about Alcala - his name should come up more frequently. My knowledge around him is from DC’s suspense comics like Unexpected, House if Mystery, Ghosts etc. I think his style fit those books well.
ReplyDeleteI also liked his inking on one of the early Ka-Zar series.
I definitely need to search out more B&W series.
Martinex -
ReplyDeleteTry as I might, I failed on three separate attempts last night to reply to you. Sometimes iOS and Blogger just do not see eye to eye!
Anyway, I'm like you: Back in the 70s I would usually look at some of the B&W mags at the grocery store, but I never owned one. I think most of it had to do with very limited funds, and asking for 75c for one book seemed counter-productive when I could get three comics for that amount. I'd add that, given the more mature content and the fact that I was between 9 and 12 years old, I sort of viewed the magazines as forbidden fruit.
But there is so much great stuff in reprints now, I'm loving the discovery... even if over 40 years past due!
Doug