Pencils
Marvel Comics
Between 1987 and 1995, Bair drew a number of covers for Marvel Comics, pencilling, inking and occasionally painting several.[1] Producing most of his Marvel work during the early 1990s, Bair provided the art for a story in the 1990 Daredevil Annual. Writer Gregory Wright commented "I don't think that story could have worked at all if it weren't for the terrific artwork of Michael Bair".[3] Bair then pencilled Alpha Flight for a year, and provided pencils to various Marvel Comics series including The Avengers Annual #20, Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. vol. 2 #12, The Punisher War Journal #34, and Uncanny X-Men #280.[1]
He contributed pencils and inks to the Wild Cards anthology for Epic Comics, before - c. 1991 - switching mostly to inking duties, including on Sleepwalker
Other
Around 1994, Bair ceased his association with Marvel and DC in favor of Valiant/Acclaim, pencilling and inking issues and covers for X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, and Blood and Roses, among others.[2]
DC Comics
Bair's major work in the 1980s was providing interior pencils and often inks for DC Comics. In particular, he had a long run working on a number of Golden Age-connected characters with Roy Thomas.[2] Penciling Infinity, Inc. gave way to some of his most notable works, co-creating the Young All-Stars and Young Allies in the pages of Young All-Stars with Roy and Dann Thomas.[1]
Bair also worked as a penciler on Firestorm, and his inks appeared in Captain Atom in the late 1980s, during which time he inked the Catwoman mini-series written by Mindy Newell
Marvel Comics
Between 1987 and 1995, Bair drew a number of covers for Marvel Comics, pencilling, inking and occasionally painting several.[1] Producing most of his Marvel work during the early 1990s, Bair provided the art for a story in the 1990 Daredevil Annual. Writer Gregory Wright commented "I don't think that story could have worked at all if it weren't for the terrific artwork of Michael Bair".[3] Bair then pencilled Alpha Flight for a year, and provided pencils to various Marvel Comics series including The Avengers Annual #20, Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. vol. 2 #12, The Punisher War Journal #34, and Uncanny X-Men #280.[1]
He contributed pencils and inks to the Wild Cards anthology for Epic Comics, before - c. 1991 - switching mostly to inking duties, including on Sleepwalker
Other
Around 1994, Bair ceased his association with Marvel and DC in favor of Valiant/Acclaim, pencilling and inking issues and covers for X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, and Blood and Roses, among others.[2]
Inks
Bair recalled in 2004 that, "[t]he first ten years of my career was all pencilling — I didn't know how to ink". Having, early in his career, shown samples to Jim Shooter (then Marvel's Editor-in-chief), Bair recalled nearly twenty years later that Shooter "said, 'Those pencils look pretty good', and then when I showed him my inking, he said, 'But stay away from the inks'".
These comments, he says, "felt like a personal challenge, so on my own I worked on my inks and creators like Mark Texeira, who I worked with in the past, strongly influenced how I approached inking. The more I learned about inks, the more I wanted to ink my own work — there's a reason why you don't see too many people pencilling and inking their own work — it's just too much to do on a monthly schedule". The time-consuming nature of this led Bair to largely move away from penciling in favor of inking the pencils of others.
During the mid-1990s, Bair inked David W. Mack at Caliber Press and William Tucci at Crusade Entertainment on their respective comics: Kabuki and Shi.[2] After working for various smaller publishers, Bair penciled and inked a couple of comics for Harris Comics' Vampirella.[1]
Back to DC
In mid-1997, Bair working for DC Comics again, cementing his almost-exclusive switch from pencils to inks with the miniseries The Kents over pencils by Timothy Truman and half of JLA: Year One with series artist Barry Kitson. He inked most of the first two years of the James Robinson/David Goyer-written JSA revival over pencils by regular series artist Steve Sadowski. In 2002, Bair inked covers by Tom Grummett for Power Company, before first teaming with penciller Rags Morales on Geoff Johns and James Robinson's Hawkman relaunch.[2] Morales said "when I saw the magic that Michael Bair added to my work, I knew I had to stick with this dude".[4] Johns compared his artistic collaborators to the stars of the book, saying "there are four stars to this book. Hawkman,
Influence
In a tour of his studio, artist Simone Bianchi highlighted a photograph, explaining "it is a photo of myself and Mike Bair that was taken in New York in Summer 2004: that was a very important moment in my career and I owe a lot to this great artist and friend so I like having it in my studio."[9]
