The Many Styles of Rich Buckler

Rich Buckler has been called many things, notably a swiper of other artists' work or ideas. I'd prefer to call him a talent, able to produce whatever style the job demanded or his editors asked of him. For many Bronze Age Babies, we cut our teeth on Buckler's Fantastic Four. When I came to that mag, Buckler was just coming out of his phase where he aped Jack Kirby. One could do worse. But just before Buckler left the book (turning it over to a young George Perez), his style had changed, coming into a bit more distinct look.

Of course, Buckler was virtually omnipresent on Marvel's 1970s covers, competing with Gil Kane and Kirby for ubiquity. As the 70s gave way to the 80s, Buckler landed at DC where he again turned in stellar work. While Rich Buckler will most likely never be mentioned among the masters, he must be considered one of the Bronze Age greats, for sheer output alone. And if you dig deep, you may be surprised at just how much he put his hands on - corner boxes, covers on mags you'd least expect (the All-New, All-Different X-Men, for example), and big projects like DC's Limited Collectors' Edition treasuries.

Samples of Buckler's work (below) include:

Avengers 104 (1972), inked by Joe Sinnott
Fantastic Four 150 (1974), inked by Sinnott
Saga of the Original Human Torch 2 (1990), inked by Danny Bulanadi
All-New Collectors' Edition C-58 (1978), inked by Dick Giordano
Action Comics 486 (cover)(1978), inked by Frank Giacoia
Tarzan 25 (cover)(1979), inked by Bob McLeod