John Buscema's little brother? One could say that, but Sal Buscema has certainly made a name in his own right. Known as a dependable professional, Sal had long stints on the Spider-Man titles, the Defenders, Captain America, and of course the Incredible Hulk. Changing his style through the years to keep pace with reader sensibilities, Sal remained a fixture on Marvel's monthlies into the 21st century. One of my favorites - reliable ol' Sal. I always knew what I was going to get, and that was his endearing trait as an artist.
'Bronze Age' great? Well, sure, but he's been around and active long enough, and produced such an immense body of work that I think we can safely just call him one of the greats - no adjectives or qualifiers, kind of like his big brother John, or Neal Adams, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I've said it before many times, but man, I love Sal's work - you mentioned all of his major runs, and I would just add his lengthy stint on Rom as well. And his Hulk is, for me, the definitive version of that character.
I agree, Edo - Sal's work is timeless. I was not a regular Hulk reader as a child, so in my mind it's usually Trimpe's Hulk that I see. But when I think of Marvel Team-Up or the Peter Parker book, it's Sal's versions of Spidey and the Marvel Universe that comes to mind.
DeleteDoug
As I've mentioned before, Sal's later stuff (like his long run on Spectacular Spidey) didn't really work for me, but I always liked his earlier work. Hulk, Defenders, MTU, Thor ... all really good stuff.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Sal as an inker. The first Conan story I ever read was "The Lair Of The Beast-Men" drawn by Barry Smith and inked by Sal Buscema. Sal inked quite a few of those early Conan stories and Smith's pencils and Sal's inks went together beautifully in my opinion :)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, Colin. And one of the few inkers (himself being the other) that John Buscema actually liked!
DeleteDoug