John Buscema’s work seems to have been part of my comic buying life for more years than I care to remember having first encountered his art in the pages of the
“Amazing Spider-Man” issue 80 in 1970 and then a few months later in “
Silver Surfer” issue 12. In subsequent years I probably took Buscema’s art for granted as he constantly produced fantastic art and stories month after month without missing a beat. Last month after I managed to obtain a long wanted reading copy of “Silver Surfer” issue 4, (Surfer and Thor ) I was reminded just how truly amazing Big Johns art was.
John Buscema’s 17 issue run (out of 18 issues) on the original Silver Surfer series is among the most memorable of the genre. Issue 4 (February 1969) features some of Buscema’s best ever art , and a
stunning cover.
Buscema completed two remarkable runs on the Avengers comic, the first in the ’60s/’70s, and later, in the ’80s. It will probably come as no surprise to read that for me his first run on the title was the pinnacle of the entire series and remains to this day, the template for any team comic book. - Above: Avengers # 62 (March 1969).
Avengers #97 (March 1972) - Illustration at the header to this blog is from this issue as well. This issue is probably my all-time favourite comic by John Buscema, it contains some amazing art which is all the more impressive when you realise that he was asked to completed this issue when Neal Adams (who was drawing the book from issue 93) was struggling to make a deadline.
In 1970, Buscema took up Kirby’s mantle on the Fantastic Four. Many fans consider Big John’s work on the FF to be some of his least impressive, but for me Buscema’s dynamic style, perfectly complemented by Sinnott’s inks took the FF to another level. Kirby may well have been the "King" with regard to the FF, but John Buscema wasn’t far behind as can be seen by the splash pages below - above from "Fantastic Four" #120 (January 1973).
Fantastic Four #122 (May 1972)
Fantstic Four # 174 (September 1976).
Buscema’s exceptional take on Thor and the gods and demi-gods of Asgard remains some of my favourite comic books of all time. Kirby was a hard act to follow but I think in this case Big John may just have outperformed the “King”. Above illo from Thor #187 (April 1971)
Theres not a lot that can be said about John Buscema's exceptional run on Conan, its simply the stuff of comic book legend. Above splash is from "Conan the Barbarian" #25 (April 1972).
Conan the Barbarian # 30 (Sept 1971)
As good as Buscema's work was on the colour Conan monthly, once he teamed up with Alfredo Alcala on the black and white "Savage Sword of Conan" magazine, their work reached another level. Above splash page from "Savage Sword of Conan" #16
"Savage Sword of Conan" #23
I was probably about seven years old when I walked into my local newsagents in Cambuslang (near Glasgow) with my pocket money firmly he...
Following on from my last post featuring some of my favourite Marvel comic book covers from 1973, I thought I would show some of DC's ...
Nearly a half-century on I still consider 1973 to be the year that cemented my destiny in becoming a lifetime comic book fan. It was a yea...
To be honest, I think Big John eventually eclipsed Kirby as Marvel's premier artist, though his art was quite tame at the beginning compared to his later work. (He was more like Curt Swan in layouts I think.) However, once he absorbed Kirby's dynamics, there was no holding him back. He freely admitted to copying Jack, saying that he sometimes swiped panels from JK (layout-wise), but drawing them in his own style. Great images.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with that Kid. I just found Buscema's style more adaptive to different genres than Kirby's. I couldn't imagine Jack doing Conan etc.
DeleteThe fourth Conan splash page is from "Iron Shadows In The Moon" originally published as "Shadows In The Moonlight" in 1934 and it's my favourite of Robert E Howard's original Conan stories (I was re-reading it just a few weeks ago). The brilliant Marvel version drawn by Big John and Alfredo Alcala was first published in #4 of the US Savage Sword Of Conan magazine and later in #1 of the UK Conan monthly but I first read it when it was published in colour in the 1978 Conan Treasury Edition. The Conan licence is currently owned by Titan Comics and they've recently launched a new Conan The Barbarian comic with art by Rob De La Torre who is obviously influenced by John Buscema - in fact his art is so similar to Big John's that you'd think it really was him!
ReplyDeleteThanks Colin , I left that tag out when adding that page. I will add this later. I think I still have my copy of the UK first issue of SSOC , along with the 4th (and issues 2-35) of the US version. I missed that treasury edition though . I picked up the Titan first issue of Conan I thought it was pretty good with as you say, some great John Buscema inspired art.
ReplyDelete"Big John" was my favorite comic book artist. I plugged into the rugged and dynamic artwork he was kicking out with the Avengers (awesome stuff) and later when he took over Conan. As wonderful as Barry Smith was, Buscema was the definitive Conan comic artist. It was the perfect meshing of talent and content. In partnership with inker Alfredo Alcala he produced arguably the best Conan comics ever done. You correctly identify Silver Surfer #4 as game-changing. I think that's the fist time his brother Sal inked him and I'm sorry we didn't see more of that. George Klein was dandy, but I've always been cool to Joe Sinnot's work on Buscema. No shade on either talent, they just didn't blend well to my eye. Tom Palmer was great as well as were so many others. Buscema was best when he inked himself but page rates and Bronze Age deadlines didn't allow that.
ReplyDeleteFor more on my rosy opinion of John Buscema see the link:
https://ripjaggerdojo.blogspot.com/2019/04/favorite-comic-artist-countdown-1-john.html
I can't recall anything Mr Buscema drew in his prime, that wasn't great. I read almost all his Avengers tales in the "Avengers" UK weekly and it was amazing how he managed to keep up the quality on such a relentless work schedule. I remember an early reprint of a Hulk tale from the "Tales to Astonish" title that he drew that appeared in an early issues of the UK comic "Mighty World of Marvel" (1973) where I'm sure fans and pros alike could see this guy was going to be special, and he was.
ReplyDeleteI read your top ten (in the link) and had forgotten that Big John was your number 1 fav artist - I can heartily recommend that link , and your excellent blog to anyone reading this.
Paul, John Buscema also drew several Captain Britain stories after the comic had dropped its' colour pages (beginning with #24). I'd love to have seen Captain Britain drawn by Big John during the comic's colour period from #1-23 but it was rather awesome that he'd drawn CB at all!
ReplyDeleteI remember that Colin, I even picked up a few issues as his art looked so good .
ReplyDelete