Jack Abel (July 15, 1927 – March 6, 1996)[1][2] was an American comic book artist best known as an inker for leading publishers DC Comics and Marvel Comics.He was DC's primary inker on the Superman titles in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and inked pencilerHerb Trimpe's introduction of the popular superheroWolverine in The Incredible Hulk #181 (Nov. 1974).He sometimes used the pseudonym Gary Michaels.
Biography
Early life and career
Abel's published work stretches to 1951, when he penciled and inked
He inked science fiction, romance, and war comics for Atlas, American Comics Group, Avon Comics, Harvey Comics, and Hillman Periodicals, and later in the decade became a prolific penciler for the DC war titles All-American Men of War, Our Army at War,
Our Fighting Forces, and Star Spangled War Stories.[4]
Writer Hank Chapman and Abel co-created the character Sgt. Mule – whose name, "Millie", meant she was actually not a mule (male) but a hinny (female) — appeared with various keepers including Private Mulvaney (Our Army at War #149 and 160, Star Spangled War Stories #136); Private Skinner (G.I. Combat #104); and Private Smith (Our Army at War #117).[4]
Roy Lichtenstein recomposed a panel from a story written by Bob Haney and illustrated by Abel in Star Spangled War Stories #102 (April–May 1962)[5] for his 1963 pop artlithographCrak!.[6] Similarly, Torpedo...Los! is based on Abel's art in the Haney-written story "Battle of the Ghost Ships?", in Our Fighting Forces #71 (October 1962).[7][8]
DC and Superman
Abel inked hundreds of DC stories, and eventually was chosen to succeed longtime "Superman family" inker George Klein as Curt Swan's embellisher on "Legion of Super-Heroes" in Adventure Comics (most issues, #369–380, June 1968–May 1969); Superman (most issues, #208–219, July 1968–Aug. 1969); "Superman" in Action Comics (#368–379, Oct. 1968–Aug. 1969), and occasional issues of Superboy.[4]
Later career
After a reshuffling at DC c. 1970, Abel went to Marvel. He had already inked Gene Colan there on a long stretch of Iron Man stories beginning with Tales of Suspense #73 (Jan. 1966), under the pseudonym "Gary Michaels".[4][9] As Colan recalled, "He did a lot of Iron Man with me. He had a very slick line, which was okay on Iron Man, of course. Iron Man was made of iron, so you want it to look like metal. But when it came to stone and dark corners and garbage [laughs], he wasn't the man for that".[10]
From the mid-1970s, Abel inked not only for Marvel and again DC (including its Teen Titans and The Flash), but for the smaller companies Gold Key (Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, Grimm's Ghost Stories, Mighty Samson, the licensed title The Twilight Zone); Charlton Comics (Ghost Manor, Ghostly Haunts, Haunted, Midnight Tales); Atlas/Seaboard Comics (IronJaw, Morlock 2001); and Skywald Publications (The Heap, and additionally the black-and-white horror comics magazines Nightmare and Psycho).[4] The character Cinnamon was introduced in Weird Western Tales #48 (Sept.–Oct. 1978) by writer Roger McKenzie and Abel.[11]
Baseball-fan Abel, who in the 1970s rented studio space at Neal Adams and Dick Giordano's Continuity Associates,[12] organized the Continuity softball team that played league games in Central Park.[13]
After suffering a serious stroke in 1981, Abel rehabilitated his paralyzed right hand to the extent that he was able to ink and draw again[14]—which he did through the rest of the 1980s, primarily for Marvel.
Comic strips
Outside comic books, Abel inked John Celardo from 1967–1969 on the syndicatedcomic stripTales of the Green Beret, written by Robin Moore.[15]
Awards
In 2016, Abel was nominated and tied for runner-up for the Inkwell Awards Special Recognition Award.[16]
