Jerry Ordway started his comic book career working in fanzines and small press comics in the early – mid 1970s on titles like “Tim Corrigan's Superhero Comics “ and his own self-published fanzine “Okay Comix”. However, it was in 1980 when he attended a DC comics talent search at the Chicago Comicon that his talents were recognised and he was offered work as an inker on DC’s anthology comics including "House of Mystery", "Weird War Tales" , and "Mystery in Space". After the success of his inking work he was offered work as the pencil artist (and inker) on DC’s “All-Star Squadron” , “Infinity, Inc” (which he co-created with Roy Thomas) “DC Comics Presents”, “ Secret Origins “ and “Crisis on Infinite Earths” . Below are some of my favourite pages from this amazing artist that effortlessly merges the classic comic story telling and art of the 1960s/1970's with that of modern day comics:
I first became aware of Ordway’s amazing art (and writing) in 1986, when along with writer/artist John Byrne and writer Marv Wolfman, he helped revamp the Superman franchise on the “The Adventures of Superman” title (a continuation of the original Superman title). His work on this title ( art and writing) was simply stunning as can be seen by the above splash page from issue 448 and issues 450 and 454 below.
In 2012 Ordway drew the Challengers of the Unknown for “ DC Universe Presents” issues 6, 7 & 8. This series contained some of Ordway’s best art as can be seen from the page below from issue 6.
Jerry Ordway is probably best known for his amazing work on DC's "Justice Society Of America" comic, which is one of the very few superhero comics I pick up (especially is Mr Ordway is on the book as can be seen in the last 2 JSA illo's below). The pages below are from JSA issue 23 (2009), JSA issue 25 and JSA (Vol 4) issue 2 (2023 -which features 4 pages of excellent Ordway art) ) - The Power Girl splash above is from the JSA Annual issue 1 (2008).
A final selection of Ordway splash pages: "All New Atom" issue 19 (2008), "Tom Strong" (ABC) issue 20 , " Wildstar - Sky Zero " (Image - 1993) issue 2 and "Adventure Comics" (Vol 2 issue 5) from 2010.
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Jerry Ordway blew me away when he began as the inker on All-Star Squadron. Like Tom Palmer at Marvel, he added a refined patina to any artist he worked with. He was too good to last as an inker. Truly one of the best artists of his generation, a generation that gave us some outstanding folks.
ReplyDeleteHe is one of the all the all time greats up there with the likes of Neal Adams, John Buscema etc for me Rip. Not just a great artist but a wonderful storyteller.
ReplyDeleteYou've persuaded me to take a closer look at Jerry Ordway’s work, McScotty. The only book of his that I’m sure I have is his adaptation of the 1989 Batman film (the original comic from ‘89, not the recent hardback reprint which includes his original artwork). I may very well have a few of the JSA books he did in the 2000s (which were bought by my younger son).
ReplyDeleteMy prime comic collecting years were 1971-1980, 1986-1990, and then sporadically 2003-onwards; Jerry Ordway never really figured on my radar. But if you’re putting him in the same league as Adams and Buscema, I certainly need to take another look.
Thanks for highlighting different artists on your blog - it’s a good prompt for me to expand my knowledge of other artists outside those who were my core favourites in the Bronze Age.
I think you'll enjoy his work baggsey. I only really started reading DC (preceding indie books) again when John Byrne started working on Supermam around 1986 for a few years. From there I came across Ordways work and have been a fan ever since and pick up most things he does if I see it on sale . His "Power of Shazam" and Superman\Adventures of Superman comics are really good , the best Superman imho since Swan\Amderson.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK the Ordway Superman issues sell for around £2.50 and issue so I assume it will be similar in US.