In 2003's JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR # 39, Neal Adams, an artist as influential and revered in his own right as any comic artist ever has been, explains that he did not always appreciate the art of Jack "King" Kirby. "It was the CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN with Wally Wood's inking that made Kirby palatable to me." He calls the Kirby/Wood combination "fantastic" and describes it as "a new style of comic art to my eyes." Adams concludes with, "So the first coming of Jack's importance in the field to me came from Wood's magical filter." I keep tellin you, Wood was Kirby's best inker! Apparently I'm not the only one who thought this.
Agreed.
ReplyDeleteI'm not 100% that there aren't one or two that don't bring out a special Kirbyness that's slightly obscured by the Woodness of Wood inking, but I agree that their teamwork was brilliant, and way, way up on my list of all-time great art teams, and certainly not give nearly the credit it deserves.
If you can accept that Wood turned Kirby's work into a 50-50 piece of art, not just good inking to great pencils, then yes he is tbe best inker ever. Look at his comic strip with Woody, Sky Masters, for more of this.
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