Posted on 3/22/2012

My guess is fine cross hatching like that in such a small space is more indicative of Adams than Giordano.

Posted on 3/22/2012

That's interesting. Do you feel that Neal did partial inks here and there when working on Batman and Green Lantern? It feels that way to me and this fine linework in the background seems to have been inked in an instinctive rather than deliberate manner.

Posted on 3/22/2012

Bigger Adams fans than me would know better. But my personal rule (i.e. opinion) for Adams/Giordano art is: the really fine lines are Adams inks using a Rapidograph or some mechanical pen. My opinion is Giordano was more of a brush man than Adams. So Adams would do his thing (primarily with a pen) whenever he wanted and Giordano would do his thing (primarily with a brush). I'm wondering if there has been any Adams interview where he discussed his inking style. And if he discussed how much collaboration there has been between him and Giordano or Tom Palmer. Was it 50/50 ?? 60/40?? Adams/Giordano is distinctly different than Adams/Palmer. If I were to go out farther on a limb, I would say Adams inked most of the background in that panel. Not necessarily because it looks to be inked with a pen. But also because Adams had an opportunity to ink it before Giordano. What I mean is... if Neal didn't ink the backgrounds at all, they would look more Giordano-ish.

Posted on 3/22/2012

I like this discussion in the public forum. Hopefully we will get others to join in ever now and then. I've read many, many interviews with Adams and never has he mentioned anything about how much collaboration in inking when inked by Dick or Tom. I am no expert on Adams/Palmer, but consider myself knowledgeable on Adams/Giordano. While I don't think it was 50/50 or 60/40 I do think that there are pages in Green Lantern and in Batman stories that look like there is a lot of Neal. We know that Adams thumbnailed his pages. Neal has said that he liked the energy of the thumbnails and tried to translate that energy to the finished pencils. It could be that this panel was so vaguely implied in the thumbnails that Adams felt he would "draw" them in with his pen. I need to study Dick's pencil and ink work from this time period to get a better understanding of his approach. Thank you for your comments.

Posted on 3/23/2012

It seems to me that in almost any book Neal penciled, you'll probably find some inks by him. Sometimes even full, uncredited pages like the wrap up of the Phantom Stranger issue he drew. There's definitely a lot of Adams inks in Superman/Muhammad Ali as Adams admitted in a Twomorrows interview a while back. To my eye, this panel looks like Giordano inks. Adams' classic fine lines were made with an old school Gillotte 290 pen made before they changed the formula(from an interview with Dave Sim).