Ahh, good ol' Vinnie... that picture and his look just oozes: "Whaddayamean dem Thor backgrounds have too much ink on 'em? Ya sayin' dat Jack Koiby pencilled people and half a' Asgard on em, eh? Well... lemme make this poi-fectly clear: Nobody saw nuttin, ya hear me?"
Sheesh, now I got the Sopranos tune in my head, thanks a bunch pally Vinnie Colletta :)
I remember an interview with George Perez from Comics Interview where he talked about the Vinnie controversy.
The interviewer asked him: "What about Vinnie Colletta's inking?"
And George goes:
"Unfortunately, with the credit that at least he does it fast, Vinnie has a tendency of homogenizing work and everyone looks the same - no matter who draws it, it looks like Vince Colletta. At the time, I was just so happy doing the Avengers that I didn't mind it. My art started improving on the Avengers, - I started to learn how to draw, I became more conscious of what my style was at the time and I really wanted it to be more intact."
Ouch, but Perez was kind.
"Vince Colletta is a great equalizer; if you're a bad artist he'll bring you up to his level, but if you're a better artist he'll bring you down to his level, which makes him very valuable to an industry that needs the work produced (...) He's valuable in his own right, but not valuable to me. And he wouldn't be the only one."
Perez benefitted from Colletta's inking, that much is obvious, but then many pencilers get big heads once fame comes their way - George had less than kind things to say about lots of inkers. Regarding the Vince Colletta and Jim Shooter photograph, there are probably fewer than five photos of Vinnie in existence which is amazing, especially since he spent so many years as a photographer. Kudos for finding that one! As an inker, his artistic range was from "better than anyone else by a mile" to "workmanlike" depending on time constraints and how interested he was in the material, I guess. No other inker could have done the cover of Thor 126, for example - Kirby had to have been delighted being inked like that.
I was always a fan of Colletta's art work. There are many stories of how gregarious he was but he certainly doesn't look happy in that photo. Was it taken before or after Shooter imploded as editor in chief?
Ahh, good ol' Vinnie... that picture and his look just oozes: "Whaddayamean dem Thor backgrounds have too much ink on 'em? Ya sayin' dat Jack Koiby pencilled people and half a' Asgard on em, eh? Well... lemme make this poi-fectly clear: Nobody saw nuttin, ya hear me?"
ReplyDeleteSheesh, now I got the Sopranos tune in my head, thanks a bunch pally Vinnie Colletta :)
Sometimes I cringed. Sometimes I didn't notice. Sometimes I thought I thought it was great.
DeleteIt probably had a lot to do with him catching up on deadlines missed by other artists.
A Sopranos reference was missing.
DeleteHa! I always did cringe when I saw Vinnie's name in the credits... His style always overpowered the penciler rather than complimented it..
ReplyDeleteI remember an interview with George Perez from Comics Interview where he talked about the Vinnie controversy.
ReplyDeleteThe interviewer asked him: "What about Vinnie Colletta's inking?"
And George goes:
"Unfortunately, with the credit that at least he does it fast, Vinnie has a tendency of homogenizing work and everyone looks the same - no matter who draws it, it looks like Vince Colletta. At the time, I was just so happy doing the Avengers that I didn't mind it. My art started improving on the Avengers, - I started to learn how to draw, I became more conscious of what my style was at the time and I really wanted it to be more intact."
Ouch, but Perez was kind.
"Vince Colletta is a great equalizer; if you're a bad artist he'll bring you up to his level, but if you're a better artist he'll bring you down to his level, which makes him very valuable to an industry that needs the work produced (...) He's valuable in his own right, but not valuable to me. And he wouldn't be the only one."
Perez benefitted from Colletta's inking, that much is obvious, but then many pencilers get big heads once fame comes their way - George had less than kind things to say about lots of inkers. Regarding the Vince Colletta and Jim Shooter photograph, there are probably fewer than five photos of Vinnie in existence which is amazing, especially since he spent so many years as a photographer. Kudos for finding that one! As an inker, his artistic range was from "better than anyone else by a mile" to "workmanlike" depending on time constraints and how interested he was in the material, I guess. No other inker could have done the cover of Thor 126, for example - Kirby had to have been delighted being inked like that.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that Vinnie GAVE more to Kirby's art than he TOOK from it - regardless of whatever changes he made.
ReplyDeleteI was always a fan of Colletta's art work. There are many stories of how gregarious he was but he certainly doesn't look happy in that photo. Was it taken before or after Shooter imploded as editor in chief?
ReplyDeleteThis photo was taken a few months before Shooter was removed as Editor-In-Chief.
ReplyDelete