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George Tuska was born on this date in 1916. Tuska was an important artist at Marvel and many companies before that during the Golden Age of Comics. Tuska was one of the reliable workhorses that were required to keep comics on the racks. He was the mainstay artist on Iron Man in those years when I paid attention to the title.
George Tuska is a pro's pro, one of those rock-solid talents who inform the field in a way which makes waves well beyond their time. As it turns out Tuska's time was pretty large, as he had a career which sprawled from the Golden Age well into the late Bronze Age and well beyond on the comic strip derived from the Justice League and Superman comics. And always his stuff was there, just like it had been before. I first encountered Tuska on Iron Man, and he remains to my eye the best artist the title ever had. I know there many Bob Layton lovers among us, and I pay proper heed to how Layton was able to redefine the look and bring a shiny gloss, but no single artist in my opinion ever drew armor which looked heavier or more like metal. It wasn't shiny, but it had an angularity and heft which didn't communicate fabric, but something else. Tuska drew great thugs, baddies who carried "heaters" and hung out with "dames". If I had to choose one artist to draw my adaptation of The Maltese Falcon, I'd get Tuska.
Above is my first Iron Man comic and my introduction to both Tuska and writer Archie Goodwin.
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I have always enjoyed Tuskas art ( less so when inked by Vince Colletta) . My intro to Mr Tuskas art was in the pages of Teen Titans where he produced some very nice pages. But like yourself it's It on Man I most associate him with. Some lovely covers shown.
ReplyDeleteHis Teen Titans is quite impressive. I only came to it years after it was produced in collections, but still great. He produced one or maybe two issues of Justice League as well.
DeleteYou used a befitting term for him: a "workhorse". He cranked out reams of consistent work. An underrated artist, IMHO.
ReplyDeletei started reading Iron Man with its first stand alone issue, so I got lots of Tuska goodness, backed up by cool Archie Goodwin scripts. Goodwin once mentioned that he sometimes did thumbnail sketches for artists as suggestions for possible setups. Goodwin might have helped edge Tuska into the Kirby-esque world of the Marvel House Style-- or not.
ReplyDeleteThat's entirely possible. Archie Goodwin was an amazing talent, perhaps the most talented editor in comics. He did move around a lot, but that was just the business.
DeleteThanks Mister Jagger. Your work and enthusiasm is much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome.
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