Tom Smith Colorist over Fred Hembeck

For this "under the radar" pick, I am going with a double-commission I own... but the focus I would like to place is on the colorist Tom Smith.

I've long loved the Brave and the Bold series. When I got the chance to pick up a Fred Hembeck homage of the cover to issue 86 (featuring Deadman and Batman), I jumped all over it. Because Fred is awesome. Deadman is awesome. Batman is awesome. And this cover is Awesome!

THEN I saw that colorist Tom Smith was on the CAF site so I reached out to him to color it. That really took this piece to the next level for me. It was around that time that I really took notice of how the colorists are often the unsung heroes of the comic book creators. Don't get me wrong. I think the penciller and inkers are A-MA-ZING. But in the same breath should be credit to the colorist.

So here is my own personal shout out to all the colorists and the wonderful work they do to bring comic books to a "next level" for me.