Vince Colletta: The Inker Who Ruined Jack Kirby's Art

oh hi you caught me coloring in my original first print edition of walking dead speaking of ruining things let's talk about the artist who ruined most of Jack Kirby's art hello welcome to comic tropes I'm your host Chris Jack Kirby is remembered as Jack of the King Kirby for a good reason over his many decades working in American comic books at Marvel and DC he amassed a ton of fans because of his dynamic poses and his energetic lance but of course even in his comics he was never the only artist in American comics there's a bunch of artists that create the final product of course there are colorists there are letters and this we're going to talk about today there are anchors now the anchor is somebody that will use ink to darken and embellish the penciled artwork so that it is made print-ready some of the most popular anchors of Kirby's work include Joe Cinna on Fantastic Four and Mike Roya on New Gods but there's one artist who while he had his fans is considered by many to have absolutely ruined Jack Kirby's beautifully detailed work that man was Vince Collett and today we're going to talk about the history and the techniques of this very controversial artist and I encourage you if you are ever going to watch a comic Tropes all the way to the end make it this one because Vince Caleta flamed out in a spectacularly hilarious fashion vincentico Leto was born in Sicily in 1923 and according to family legend Vince's father was a high-level mafioso who moved to America to escape law enforcement the family followed a decade later and Vince attended the New Jersey Academy of Fine Arts he ultimately found his way into the world of comics in 1952 in 1952 Jack Kirby and Joe Simon previously best known for creating Captain America launched the title young romance and it birthed the popular genre called romance comics the readership after World War 2 was older and less interested in superheroes romance comics became very popular in the early 1950s and Caleta broke in as a penciler who inked his own work on titles like intimate love and darling love the following year he began working for Atlas comics the company that would eventually renamed itself Marvel Comics Vince's first confirmed work was my love for you in love romances number 37 his work was strong and he was noted for his delicate lines realistic people and environments and his lush eyelashes that he'd give to his women by the late 50s he was also illustrating romance comics for DC Comics like falling in love or Charlton comics like love diary his last penciling job for decades was in love diary number 6 from 1959 somewhere in this period Caleta began inking the artwork of other artists exactly where is difficult to nail down this was a time period where comic books didn't give published credits to the creators that were making them so it's a little tough to nail down exactly when he started doing this but what happened was Caleta realized that he could ink faster than he could pencil and for him it was all about the payday not really the art so he became an inker where exactly did he begin doing this historians guessed that Coletta's first thinking of another artist was on one of two books either the cover of 1956 is Annie Oakley western tales number 10 oversaw broadsky's pencils or 1958 my own romance number 65 over the pencils of Matt Baker neither is confirmed however the first time Caleta inked Jack Kirby is pretty much confirmed as the cover of kid Colt outlaw number 100 in 1961 he obtained the work because his work in romance comics was solid he kept working on them into the 1970s according to fellow inker Joe sin on Caleta preferred the romance work saying he liked anything that was quick superheros took time that in a nutshell is Vince's lasting reputation whether you fall on the side of liking his artwork or finding it lacking his contemporaries will all say the same thing he was fast and he had a reputation for cutting corners to get there for Vince it was all about the money when it comes to inking the artist will primarily use two tools a brush which can a blind weight and depth and Penzer nibs which can add fine detail and texture Vince primarily used quill nibs it allowed him to work faster it served him well in some areas like making hair look soft and flowing giving delicate features to faces and giving good textures to natural things like stone or wood or leather that would all serve him well when he began inking Jack Kirby's tales of Asgard stories in journey into mystery beginning in 1964 he went on to ink the whole book by 1965 throughout Kirby's run on Thor that went into 1970 Jack Kirby was a prolific artist who would often have multiple books published in the same month so he had many anchors for comparison take a look at how Joe Sinha would add bold lines and thick shadows to bring out Kirby's unique line work along with lots of technical detail my Kroy was slavishly loyal to Kirby's pencils but was great at providing smooth lines and including lots of detail Wally wood would add delicate features and careful shading to ground Kirby's line work and bill Everett would bring a softness to characters features as well as incredibly detailed textures there were many ways to emphasize Kirby's blocky work or elaborate sci-fi machinery or to ground it with more roundness and shading Caleta certainly had fans and he was a good fit on a title that was based more in nature as compared to a more sci-fi title but any close look at his work reveals constant shortcuts shortcuts that do not serve to improve the story or improve Kirby's artwork and are obviously just there to save Caleta time one of his most frequent moves was removing characters in group scenes he would just erase work that Jack Kirby did these comparisons are photocopies of Kirby's pencils alongside the finished artwork that Caleta provided for print for instance in this scene from Thor number 154 Loki threatens innocent bystanders in New York but when Caleta inked it he dropped a person in the first panel and simplified the striped suit on the left in the following panel Caleta removed the man who had fallen to the ground as well as the motion lines Kirby had included this example comes from Thor number 144 which shows what Caleta would do whenever he had architecture tink went from something elaborate and unique to nothing more than simple boxes if Caleta had to include a figure for the story to make sense but the figure was in the background as in this panel from the same issue the figure would be blacked out into silhouette one of the most frustrating changes would be when Kirby created vast cosmic scenes like this one in Thor number 152 showing Thor's home of Asgard Kirby went to the trouble of illustrating both the curving Rainbow Bridge and many stars Caleta didn't like to take the time to get circle templates or curved templates so most of the stars just got blocked out and the curving Rainbow Bridge lines have gaps and don't even line up properly so you might find yourself asking hey if Caleta was omitting all these details why was he still getting work well a variety of reasons first of all Jack Kirby really didn't look at the finished published product he didn't look at his own comics he was always concerned with just getting on to the next issue then there was the fact that everyone by all accounts will say that Vince Caleta was a friendly charming guy people liked him and so his editors were only too happy to keep giving him work finally this was an era where you had to hit deadlines and no matter how short notice they would give Vince Letta always hit his deadlines contemporary artist Alan Cooper Berg spoke about Caleta saying Vinnie understood that he was providing a service toward an end and that end was not in creating art that service was to meet a deadline so that the books could be printed distributed and sold on time and without penalty and at that Vince was the indispensable man you can even see notes to that effect in the copies of artwork like this covered fourth or number 148 where it reads Vinnie Monday please so for more than half a decade Vince worked on all sorts of last-minute ink jobs for Marvel as well as his regular gig on Thor he could have taken the time to ink Kirby carefully but he focused on speed and completed most of his inking work with his trademark scratchy and thin lines it worked for Thor but in 1966 he was assigned to Fantastic Four and it didn't work at all he lasted four issues and an annual there was the wedding of mr. fantastic and Invisible Girl his style simplified the tact which was what Fantastic Four was all about editor and scripters Stan Lee realized quickly the Caleta was not a good fit and he removed him he was followed by Joe Sinha who was a fantastic match just compared these to incres take on Galactus while both have Jack Kirby's dynamic pencils behind them if you look closely at the technology and machinery and Coletta's it's very simple stuff whereas Sinnott makes it look like it actually works it's a little disappointing to go back and look at that very important wedding issue this is a personal preference but I never liked the way that Vince Caleta did eyes he would basically illustrate them like a simple blank circle and I feel like they sort of look like dolls eyes or they're missing some humanity to them and it really hurts to miss that humanity in an issue that really should be emotionally charged the last of Coletta's strongest work before he really began phoning things in was arguably the four-part man-dog storyline that ran from Thor number 154 through 157 after that Marvel changed the dimensions of the paper they provided to artists and Caleta never really recovered from it for Marvel's beginnings through 1967 artists worked on artwork that was twelve and a half inches by 18 and a half inches which was reproduced in comics that were roughly six by nine inches they used to call this artwork twice up or double up in effect it meant that everything was shrunk by about fifty percent and therefore would print with slightly more detail than the original artwork but artist Murphy Anderson working on the specter at DC wanted to work smaller he kept the proportions the same and began working on art at ten inches by 15 inches the company chemical color plate which reproduced the artwork for both Marvel and DC as well as a lot of syndicated newspaper strips realized that with this size they could use less film less manpower and less time with these cost savings DC mandated all artwork would be 10 by 15 and Marvel followed suit in 1967 it did not benefit Vince Caleta still Vince Caleta hit his deadlines and that counted for a lot Caleta continued to freelance for Marvel and in 1970 he also began working for DC Jack Kirby had left Marvel on poor terms that year and began working for DC Kirby was given four titles to write and illustrate Jimmy Olsen and three new books that would focus on his idea the New Gods established pros like Frankie Okoye and Wally would ask the DC editors for the inking jobs but ultimately the jobs were given to Caleta at the time Jack Kirby was commanding the highest pay rate in comics and Caleta was willing to take close to the smallest so from a budgetary standpoint and made sense but it was not his best work it had some sloppy and splotchy line work on the first pages where we the reader got to meet new characters like Darkseid eventually Kirby's assistants like Mark Evanier were able to convince Jack that Caleta was not making Kirby's art look good but it took a little more than that argument for Jack to let Caleta go evany or show Jack Herbie some of the finished printed artwork and that open Jack Kirby's eyes a lot but it wasn't quite enough for him to let Vince Colette ago some of this is because Jack Kirby grew up in depression-era America and he didn't want to be responsible for taking away another man's income what sealed his fate was that at the same time that Vince Caleta was inking Jack Kirby's artwork he was freelancing at Marvel and he would visit the Marvel offices and he would actually show the new pages that Kirby was creating to the editors at Marvel - Kirby that was disloyal and that was just a line too far except even then he didn't completely fire Caleta he had editor carmine infantino grant him permission to let Caleta go on all three new gods titles but allowed him to stay on Jimmy Olsen during this period Kirby seems to have simplified some of his backgrounds perhaps now knowing that Caleta was unlikely to Inc them Kirby also began experimenting with photostat backgrounds which probably thrilled Caleta since it meant there was less to ink even though Vince Caleta essentially got a demotion he still had worked with Kirby on some important work like the debut of the New Gods and Kirby's experimental 1971 crime anthology book in the days of the mob by the late 1970s Caleta had established himself as the inker on Wonder Woman and even accepted a position at DC as art director by all accounts this job was attained mostly by being a likable guy but he refused to stop inking there aren't many stories about Caleta contributing much to DC while he was art director his biggest claim is discovering Frank Miller and giving him some of his first work but there are an equal number of stories frustrated with Coletta's rushed work that he now had permission to give himself like working on Mike grell's warlord series Grell hated what Caleta turned his work into but Caleta refused to give him a different anchor unless he could get himself ahead by three months worth of work ahead of his deadlines and so Grell did just that by the early 1980s Caleta had stepped down from his art director duty and was purely freelance inking primarily at Marvel Comics where he befriended the young new editor-in-chief Jim shooter someday I will do an episode about Jim shooter he did a lot for Marvel during his tenure as editor in chief but he was also a divisive figure and eventually he just went a little too far rubbed some people the wrong way and he got fired but here's where Vince Coletta's career comes to a dramatic end as well because if Caleta had a good quality it was his loyalty and he was tremendously loyal to Jim shooter so he penned a very angry letter to the other Marvel editors chastising them for letting Jim shooter go it's basically a very crude and crass letter so I thought I would class it up by having it read in a distinguished British accent thank you to my friend Harry Partridge let's hear some of that letter Marvel editors you are the droppings of the creative world you were destined to float in the cesspool till urine logged and finally sink to the bottom with the rest of the [ __ ] but Along Came Jim shooter who rolled up his sleeves and rescued you Vince goes on for several paragraphs to argue about how great Jim shooter was and how ungrateful the other Marvel employees were for all that he did for them not the slightest whimper or cry or tear came out of this man with you still biting at his ankles he put on his coat and walked away displaying more class and poise in defeat then all of you did in victory Jesus had won Judas Jim had many those that speared him and worse those that watched I stuck by him and for that you've nailed me on the same cross I thank you for that it's an honor to be crucified with Jim shooter a man who none of you will ever be Vince Caleta Vince Caleta remains a divisive figure he certainly did have his fans back in the day during his Thor run he seems to have gotten a bunch of fan mail at the same time a bunch maybe most of his contemporary artists did not want Vince Caleta going near them with his inks they thought that it would ruin their hard work you know a lot of artists would like to use a brush to ink because it can give things a more organic weight the quill nib has its place but for Vince Caleta that was the primary tool that's what he was known for but you know what he had his good qualities he was by all accounts very friendly he always hit his deadlines if you'd like to learn more about Vince Caleta I learned a lot with this book the thin black line by Robert L Bryant jr. if you'd like to hear maybe a more nuanced account because this gives actual interviews from people that both liked his work as well as people that didn't this offers that it also has a lot more visual examples than what I was able to share with you in this relatively short video so that's a book I'd recommend if you want to learn more about Vince Caleta I would also say that if you want to be able to see his artwork as cleanly as possible to look into the old Marvel essentials reprints of things like Thor and maybe even Fantastic Four because those were printed in black and white there's no color in that so you can really take a close look at his techniques it is interesting if you're at all interested in how an inker presents their work those essential volumes are very valuable for looking at all sorts of incres techniques anyway I often show fan art but I'm doing a new thing where I'm only going to show it every time I've got ten pieces I'm not quite there yet so probably next episode I will share some fan art with you until then please if you would be so kind as to hit like and subscribe that really helps this channel I do have things like a patreon or coffee if you want to support the channel it really helps tremendously January has been incredible thank you all for supporting this channel so much trust me it sincerely appreciated I've got a lot of really cool big episodes coming up so thank you for sticking with me and until I see you next time keep reading comics [Music] you

Channel: ComicTropes

Views: 1,163,441

Keywords: vince colletta, jack kirby, comic books, review, analysis, techniques, inking, thor, journey into mystery, fantastic four, marvel comics, dc comics, new gods, forever people, mister miracle, darkseid, jim shooter

Id: RZs836b449M

Length: 20min 31sec (1231 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 02 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Fukubei_Hattori]

Haven’t seen the video yet, but now I have his theme song stuck in my head.

[u/[deleted]]

My personal pick for THE best comics channel on YouTube.

[u/Andrenachrome]

Throw a few bucks to him.

It's a great vid. Can't wait for more.

[u/Sons_of_the_Desert]

Always enjoy this guy's videos.

[u/Bukdiah]

Comic Tropes is such a damn stud lol. I cannot wait for his Birds of Prey video. My favorite ladies!

[u/axlkomix]

Need more "educational" material like this on our little sub here. Love Comic Tropes.

Most of our discussions devolve into complaining about one of three things: JRJR, Rob Liefeld, or Bendis aging up Jon.

[u/KanyevsLelouche]

That letter he wrote is such a banger lol. “JESUS ONLY HAD ONE JUDAS, JIM SHOOTER HAD MANY”

[u/ccnfler]

Wait, wait, wait.....Mike Grell was 3 months ahead of schedule once???

[u/nukefudge]

Eff me, that's nasty. I'd never heard of that before. This means that whenever someone talks about "Kirby style" without referring the inking affair, we should be somehow wary?

Like, this recent one from Strip Panel Naked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnNWNv4n-qU

Or are we to understand that the "editorial" function of this inker in particular helped the Kirby style? Was this perhaps a conclusion that was reached previously, and people sort of forgot it was a thing?

This is a wee bit unsettling! :)