Yeah wouldn't that, '...sort of show respect for the rest of us?'

Your so damn reasonable IJ.

Is "Marvel Artist" really an artist employed by Marvel Comics? Or is he just a fan who likes Marvel artists and wanted to pay them homage in his Web name?

Obviously I don't have a problem with pseudonyms, but I'm curious if we have an actual comics pro in our midst. If so, don't be shy, M.A., who are you?

Originally posted by Bring Back Zot in the "Writer - artist team associations" thread:

Quote:

I'm guessing "Marvel Artist" is Paul Smith. He and I are the only two Kirby/Colletta Thor fans on comicon.

But -- Paul Smith already posts here under his own name. Why switch to a pseudonym?

Maybe a third Colletta fan exists in fandom.

Mark is a great guy--but even Mark is capable of making mistakes. In Destroyer Duck #1 Mark wrote a story about an encounter a thinly-disguised Alex Toth had with a thinly-disguised Robert Kanigher, who refused to give him a check for a job he did in a timely manner. It was a cute little story--but regrettably--inaccurate. The actual person that was in no hurry to give Toth his due check was Julie Schwartz.

I do tend to believe most of what Mark has to say in regard to Kirby. The two were very close and in most cases--these were private conversations. Kirby would not publicly badmouth Vince Colletta--but he had fewer reservations about doing that in private (as he did about Stan Lee) and we all know that he had Vinnie fired from inking his stuff at DC. We can plainly see that Royer took over.

So what that Colletta was a hack? I think his work with Kirby on Thor was cool. It worked. What matters is whether the art is any good not the motivations of the artist are. I've read lots of comics where the artist is NOT hacking it out and it's crap, dire rubbish. As long as the work is good, I couldn't careless whether the artist is hacking it or not.

It is also noticeable that there was a significant drop off in quality in both Thor and FF at the end of Lee & Kirby's work. Were they hacking it out by then?

Yeah, but the work isn't good. It's horrible, I can't even read the Thors because of how bad the inks were.
And yes I'm sure both Lee and Kirby have hacked out work, I'd think Lee more so then Kirby.
However hacking it out once in a while to get a job done is worlds away from doing it on every job you get.

My guess that Marvel artist is Paul Smith was just a guess, because Paul also likes Colletta. Maybe Marvel Artist is Paul, maybe he/she's some other Marvel Artist, maybe he/she's a fan. I don't know.

My guess is that Marvel artist isn't actually someone who currently works for Marvel, but is more likely someone who would like to work for Marvel.

ME: Hey, Erik! I did not write any story in Destroyer Duck about a thinly-disguised Robert Kanigher or a thinly-disguised Alex Toth. The story you're referring to was written by Marty Pasko.

Yes, I can be wrong at times. And so can you.

Actually, I've written articles about the alleged incident wherein a DC freelancer supposedly dangled a DC editor out a window. I have been bemused by the fact that at least eight different DC employees of the time have said they witnessed it and they all had a different combination of freelancer and editor. Mike Sekowsky said it was Al Plastino dangling Murray Boltinoff. Gil Kane said it was Dave Vern dangling Mort Weisinger. Arnold Drake said it was Dave Wood dangling Robert Kanigher. George Kashdan said it was Bob Haney dangling Kanigher...but also pointed out that the windows in that building did not open. As I wrote in my book, Wertham Was Right, I have no idea who it was or if it even happened at all. But I've never heard anyone say the editor was Julius Schwartz...and if you have, it's just one more version of many.

As for all this nonsense about Colletta: If people like his work, fine. I didn't but hey, I probably like a lot of things you don't. It's nuts to think that we all have to be on the same page on something like this.

My only interest here is that a couple of folks -- including "Marvel Artist," who I suspect is the same person who has just started e-mailing me on the same subject -- have this idea that they can best defend the good name of Colletta by making out like it's all a conspiracy I've launched to defame the guy, and that I'm lying when I say Kirby didn't like his work, Neal Adams didn't like his work, Toth didn't like his work, etc. Anyone who's sat in panel rooms at San Diego or other cons (or has read the transcripts) has heard some of the field's greatest artists say how much they didn't like being inked by Vince. That's a matter of simple historical record. I don't think I ever even asked any of them how they felt about Colletta. They either brought his name up or a questioner in the audience did, and what they said should be reported accurately.