Posted on 10/23/2020

Early Colan inked by Vinnie "the Destroyer".  Colan told me, "I never liked Colletta inking me.  He was always known to be fast....and it showed !!"

Personally, I was always a big Colletta fan.  He had the ability to find the minimum amount of lines to ink in each figure while still grasping the intent of the pencil artist.  But Gene drew in tone more than in line.  So it was very difficult for any inker, although I always liked Giacoia and Sinnott on Colan.

Posted on 10/23/2020

While I wouldn't call myself a fan, I don't think I ever had a problem with any of Vince's work.  I certainly don't think he had anything to apologize for in his long and distinguished inking career.  As with any inker, it's just that his particular style didn't work with everyone.  You can say that about a lot of inkers with very distinctive inking styles.  And at the end of the day, it really does all come down to personal taste.

Posted on 10/23/2020

Colletta's style did not sit well with Colan.  Without pushing it, that much I could tell when I discussed this with Gene.  But I think the vast majority of comic book art critics would agree that Colletta's best was on Kirby's Thor run.  For myself, I much preferred Colletta to Royer on the Fourth World series.  I find it one of the great tragedies in comic book history that Wood was denied at least one book to ink in that series.  But, as you say, it really does all come down to personal taste.

As far as Colan himself, I recently painted an homage to him on my Comicartfans site.  I used one of his best illustrations from his run on Iron Man as a basis for the painting.  Colan's drawings were filled with dynamic energy, unusual perspective, and dramatic chiaroscuro.  Colan could make any drawing dynamic, like your example above.  He is greatly missed.

Posted on 10/23/2020

Funny you should mention Thor, as most of the knocks I've heard (from others) about Colletta inks were from his Thor work.  But again, I didn't really have a problem with any of it.  I enjoyed their early run on that book.

Total agreement with you on Colan.  Artistically, I think he's right up there with the rest of the old guard Marvel Bullpen.  But from an art collecting standpoint, his pieces just never seem to hold up to the likes of Kirby, Ditko, Romita, Kane, Buscema, etc.  But probably in higher demand than other Marvel veterans like Heck, Tuska, and Trimpe, Severin, etc.