| Vince Colletta | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Vincent Colletta (1923-10-15)October 15, 1923 Casteldaccia, Italy |
| Died | June 3, 1991(1991-06-03) (aged 67) Westwood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Area | Penciller,Inker |
| Pseudonym | Vinnie Colletta |
Notable works | Thor Wonder Woman |
Vincenzo Colletta[1] (October 15, 1923 – June 3, 1991)[1] was an Americancomic book artist andart director. He was one ofJack Kirby's frequentinkers during the 1950s-1960sSilver Age of comic books. This included some significant early issues ofMarvel Comics'Fantastic Four, and a long, celebrated run on the characterThor inJourney into Mystery andThe Mighty Thor.
Vincente Colletta was born inCasteldaccia,Sicily, the son of Rosa and Francesco "Frank" Colletta, the latter "a pretty high-levelMafioso", according to family lore. Colletta Sr emigrated from Sicily to escape local law enforcement and settled inBrooklyn,New York City, where his wife and child joined him 10 years later. The family then moved to New Jersey and opened an Italian market, severing any ties to the Mafia.[2]
Vince Colletta served in the Army Air Corps during World War II; he served in the South Pacific and Guam, and according to his son "his art graced the side of many USAF bombers." After he was discharged, he attended theNew JerseyAcademy of Fine Arts.[3]
Colletta entered comics in 1952, freelancing first as apenciler,inking his own work, for the publisherBetter Publications, on the titlesIntimate Love andOut of the Shadows,[3] and for publisherYouthful Magazines' imprint Pix-Parade, on the titleDaring Love.[4]
The following year he began his decades-long collaboration with Marvel, at the company's 1950s iteration,Atlas Comics. Primarily aromance comics artist, he drew dozens of stories and covers for the Atlas titlesLove Romances,Lovers,My Own Romance,Stories of Romance, andThe Romances of Nurse Helen Grant, with his earliest confirmed Atlas romance art the six-page story "My Love for You" inLove Romances #37 (March 1954). Colletta's work also appeared in such genres as jungle adventure (Jungle Action,Jann of the Jungle,Lorna, the Jungle Girl) andhorror/fantasy (Uncanny Tales,Journey into Mystery).[4][5]
During an Atlas retrenchment in the late 1950s, Colletta freelanced as a penciler on theDC Comics romance titlesFalling in Love,Girls' Love Stories, andHeart Throbs, andCharlton Comics'Love Diary andTeen Confessions. His last confirmed pencil work for decades was "I Can't Marry Now" inLove Diary #6 (Sept. 1959).[4]
Colletta's first work as an inker of another artist's pencils is unknown, largely due to credits not being given routinely in 1950s comics. Two possibilities suggested by historians and researchers are the cover of Atlas'Annie Oakley Western Tales #10 (April 1956), co-inking withSol Brodsky over Brodsky's pencils, and the three-page story "I Met My Love Again", penciled byMatt Baker, inMy Own Romance #65 (Sept. 1958). Additionally assigned to ink stories in Atlas' emergingscience-fiction/fantasy and giant-monster comics, Colletta entered what fans and historians call "pre-superhero Marvel" with three Baker-penciled stories: "The Green Fog" inJourney into Mystery #50 (Jan. 1959), "I Fell to the Center of the Earth" inTales to Astonish #2 (March 1959), and "The Brain Picker" inWorld of Fantasy #17 (April 1959).[4]
Historians pinpoint Colletta's first inking of Jack Kirby's pencils as either the cover ofKid Colt: Outlaw #100 (Sept. 1961)[4] or (with Colletta's credit confirmed), the cover ofLove Romances #98 (March 1962).[5]
Members of artistWally Wood's studio were among those who assisted or ghosted on Colletta's mid-1960s Charlton stories.[6] Artists who assisted or ghosted through Colletta's own studio included Maurice Whitman in 1964,Hy Eisman from 1960 to 1964, and at various timesMatt Baker,Dick Giordano, andJoe Sinnott,[7][8] as well asKyle Baker.[9]
As aninker for Marvel in the 1960s, Colletta worked on nearly every title, including some of the earliest issues ofDaredevil. He inked Kirby'sFantastic Four #40–44, as well asFantastic Four Annual #3, featuring the wedding ofReed Richards andSusan Storm and guest-starring virtually all the major Marvel Comics characters of the time.[4]
Colletta began his six-year run on Kirby's "The Mighty Thor" feature with the "Tales of Asgard" backup inJourney into Mystery #106 (July 1964). Colletta graduated to the lead feature with #116 (May 1965). He continued through the book's retitling toThe Mighty Thor with #126 (March 1966), and — except for one issue (#143) — inked it through #167 (Aug. 1969), picking up again from #176 (May 1970) to Kirby's final issue, #179 (Aug. 1970), inkingJohn Buscema in #178. Colletta also inkedJourney into Mystery Annual #1 (1965), which introducedHercules to theMarvel universe, andThe Mighty Thor King-Size Annual #2.[4]
Historians and critics consider Colletta's Thor work to be a creative highlight. Historian Nick Simon said, "For me, the Kirby/Colletta version of Thor is the definitive one."[10] Author andSilver Age of Comic Books historian Pierre Comtois wrote that,
. . . Colletta's hair-thin, detailed inking style . . . seemed devoid of large areas of black, [which are] used to give figures weight and heft but an artistic concept yet to be fully explored by the time of theMiddle Ages, an era whose crudewoodcuts most reflected the art style needed by theThor strip[. It] captured the elusive quality of otherworldly drama that the strip would increasingly demand as[Stan] Lee and[Jack] Kirby took it away from the everyday world ofsupervillains to a mythic plane where the forces of evil were on a far more gargantuan scale. Despite the serendipity of the two men's styles, Colletta would later be criticized, with good reason, for compromising Kirby's artistic vision by eliminating much of the detail that the artist put into his work. Be that as it may, what Colletta chose to keep, he rendered in such a way that showed off aspects of Kirby's art that no inker before or since has ever been able to reproduce.[11]
Colletta would also pencil stories in many 1960s issues ofCharlton Comics'Teen-Age Love andFirst Kiss (at least some of which has been credited in reprints as by "Vince Colletta Studio"). He occasionally inked romance stories penciled byJoe Sinnott, and other pencilers on such titles as Charlton'sGunmaster, andDell Comics'Guerrilla War,Jungle War Stories, andWestern seriesIdaho.[4]
In 1970, Colletta — who had been freelancing forDC Comics since 1968 on the romance titlesFalling In Love,Girls' Love Stories,Secret Hearts andYoung Romance — stepped up his inking for the company followingJack Kirby's move there fromMarvel Comics. Colletta inked Kirby's two black-and-whitemagazineone-shots,In the Days of the Mob andSpirit World (both Oct. 1971), and the initial issues of Kirby’sSuperman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen and "Fourth World" titles:The Forever People,Mister Miracle andThe New Gods. While Colletta's rates were good and he brought "an innocent Marvel Age look to Jack's new heroes", he was prone to "erasing background characters" and transforming "[b]ustling crowd scenes [into] easier silhouettes".[12] Kirby assistantMark Evanier and inkerWally Wood eventually convinced a reluctant Kirby to ask DC PublisherCarmine Infantino to remove Colletta from inking Kirby's titles.[12] He was replaced by inkerMike Royer, causing some fans to write to DC in complaint, denouncing Kirby for "abandoning the Marvel-style look".[12] Colletta's frequent assistant Art Cappello did much of the background inking on these comics.[13]
Colletta went on to ink a large array at DC, including a variety ofBatman,Superman andGreen Lantern titles; theTV tie-in seriesIsis andSuper Friends; and nearly every issue ofWonder Woman from #206 (July 1973) to #270 (Aug. 1980), overpencilers includingDon Heck,Dick Dillin,Curt Swan,José Delbo andMichael Netzer (Nasser).[4]
He was named DC'sart director in May 1976, resigning the post in May 1979.[14] His time there included discovering future industry starFrank Miller. As one-time Marvel editor-in-chiefJim Shooter described, Miller had broken in with "a small job fromWestern Publishing, I think. Thus emboldened, he went to DC, and after getting savaged byJoe Orlando, got in to see art director Vinnie Colletta, who recognized talent and arranged for him to get a one-page war-comic job".[15]
Before and after his tenure, Colletta continued to do a small amount of inking for Marvel, as well as forSkywald Publications' black-and-whitehorror magazinePsycho. Well into the 1980s, Colletta continued to ink a wide assortment of comics for both DC and Marvel. His last known credit is a Marvelhumor one-shot,Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe (July 1989).[4]
In late 1987 after editor-in-chiefJim Shooter was fired from Marvel, Colletta sent Marvel a scathing, profanity-laced letter highly critical of the company's action, which became widely circulated.[16]
Colletta was regarded as one of the American comics industry's fastest inkers and a reliable professional to call upon when a comic was in danger of missing a printing deadline. He nonetheless has been criticized by a range of fellow professionals and comic historians for erasing various details in a penciler's work, both in order to lessen the inking burden and to help meet time constraints during an industry era when printers charged then-prohibitive thousands of dollars for missed deadlines, which resulted in idle presses.[17] As comics artistJoe Sinnott told author Marc Flores, who writes under thepen name Ronin Ro,[18] "When I penciled the romance stories, I used to tell myself, Vince wrecked what I did. ... He would eliminate people from the strip and use silhouettes, everything to cut corners and make the work easier for himself."[12] WriterLen Wein told an interviewer what he enjoyed most about working onLuke Cage was, "Getting to work with the wonderfulGeorge Tuska, before Vinnie Colletta got his hands on the pencils and ruined them".[19]
Colletta was reassigned from inkingThe Tomb of Dracula when publisherStan Lee determined Colletta had taken unacceptable shortcuts on issue #9.[20]Gene Colan, penciler on the series (and on several earlier projects inked by Colletta), remarked many years later that "when he wanted to he could do very good work, but he didn't take his time with my stuff."[21]
Jack Kirby partisans are particularly vocal.Mark Evanier said, "In 1970 when Steve Sherman and I metSteve Ditko, he asked us about the new Kirby books that were then about to debut at DC. When we told him Colletta was handling the inking, he winced and said that he would probably not look at the comics. Back when he was working for Marvel, Ditko said he'd pick up the latest issues in the office and always check the credits before taking the comics home. If he found Colletta's name — especially as Kirby's embellisher — he would make a point of putting the comic back, or even in a wastebasket. And he'd make sure Stan [Lee] saw what he was doing and knew the reason why."[22]
Conversely, Colletta's admirers point to the speed with which Colletta was often required to work, and the results he could produce when given time. Critic Tony Seybert wrote that "for tales set in the distant past of myth and legend, Colletta's soft delicate inks evoke the vapors of ancient times [and are] just as effective onAsgardian crags as on the sylvan glades ofOlympus. The Kirby/CollettaThor is a mighty blond deity with a hint of Norse faerie-dust.Hercules is a roughly hewn sculpture, almost incomplete, like one of the unfinished prisoners ofMichelangelo."[23]
Colletta himself described his methods as a necessity of the industry. When asked to describe his philosophy of inking, he said, "Well, first of all, some inkers like to pick and choose... and they'll take their time, no matter what the deadline is, even if the editor is in a jam, or a colorist is waiting for pages to come in so they can earn a living, too. I can't be that way."[24]
By the early 1950s, Colletta was married to his wife, Viola. The couple had a son, Franklin and two daughters, Roseannette and Cynthia.[2] Circa 1962, the family began living at 3 Old Woods Road, inSaddle River, New Jersey.[25]
Some time after having recovered from a heart attack, Colletta was diagnosed with cancer; three weeks later, on June 3, 1991, aged 67, he died at Pascack Valley Hospital inWestwood, New Jersey.[26] At least one obituary, inThe Comics Journal, erroneously stated he died at age 65 and in "late June", and claimed the cause was heart disease.[26]
Colletta was posthumously awarded theInkwell Awards Special Recognition Award in 2016. His son, Frankie, extended his thanks on the awards' official site.[27]
I ghosted a lot of people, friends of mine. In '58-'59, Vince Colletta called me — everybody was scrounging around looking for work, and he had an account up at Charlton doing romance books. He would ink them and I would pencil them. I worked through Vince because it was his account, but he would send the scripts to me and I would pencil them, I would mail them back down to him in New Jersey and he would ink them.
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