R.I.P. Carmine Infantino

[dreamticket]

Another one bites the dust:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=44738

His artwork was an aquired taste, at least for me. As I didn't read DCs growing up, I first became aware of him via Spiderwoman, where his style suited the rather off-beat character.

I know his B&W style was different again, and I know I've come across it but can't think of for the life of me where. Maybe Warren?

[Raven]

I know his B&W style was different again, and I know I've come across it but can't think of for the life of me where. Maybe Warren?

Star-Lord? As reprinted in Star Wars Weekly?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w7ZPSgJ71q8/T ... ew1524.jpg

[dreamticket]

I know his B&W style was different again, and I know I've come across it but can't think of for the life of me where. Maybe Warren?

Star-Lord? As reprinted in Star Wars Weekly?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w7ZPSgJ71q8/T ... ew1524.jpg

Yes, definitely that, but also in Savage Sword of Conan (Lair of the White Worm) which I'd have read in the British Conan mag.

Having checked, he also did a lot for Creepy and Eerie in the mid-to-late 70s so I would have seen him there as well - though not at the time.

[philcom55]

Yes. Jim Warren offered him as much work as he could handle when he lost his executive post at DC. Jim was a big fan of his work from way back and arranged for some inspired choices of inker; he even produced a number of special 'Strange Sports' themed issues in honour of the old Julius Schwartz series that Infantino had drawn. At that time most people in the industry thought he was 'washed up' as an artist so it represented a significant statement of faith in his abilities.

All the same, I still can't help wondering what his version of Spider-man would have been like if he'd accepted Stan Lee's job offer during the 1960s when he was still at the height of his artistic powers.

- Phil Rushton

[Raven]

All the same, I still can't help wondering what his version of Spider-man would have been like if he'd accepted Stan Lee's job offer during the 1960s when he was still at the height of his artistic powers. - Phil Rushton

Probably one of those Silver Age/Alter Ego v. Bronze Age/Back Issue things, Phil, but I think he was at the height of his artistic powers in that highly stylised late Seventies-ish period, when his work was bolder and more experimental, with striking layouts and crazy angles, and looked like this:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DHjwd-vZBJs/T ... w15067.jpg

this:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mmxeh5pBRvU/U ... n36-01.jpg

and this:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VtPUgiQ5tDA/U ... Conan1.png

I have the Showcase Presents Adam Strange volume, full of 1961-2 material, and for me, late period Infantino out-dazzles it by a long way! It seems fairly common that fans of his vintage DC work aren't necessarily so keen on his '70s/Marvel work, though.

[Lew Stringer]

Those examples are quite heavily inked or finished by other artists though Raven.

I was just reading an Infantino strip the other day, in Crime Does Not Pay vol.3, reprinted from 1943. A very early work before he fully developed his style.

[Raven]

Those examples are quite heavily inked or finished by other artists though Raven.

I was just reading an Infantino strip the other day, in Crime Does Not Pay vol.3, reprinted from 1943. A very early work before he fully developed his style.

Yes, I realise he did the pencils (as with his early Sixties work), but being a great penciller is no mean feat - and though people have mentioned the influence of his inkers, whatever he was doing during that period, with whichever inker: Star Wars, Star-Lord, Spider-Woman, Nova, etc. ... they still seemed to have the same consistent latter-day Infantino look/techniques/shapes/designs/anatomies/cheekbones!

I've seen some of his 40s stuff - Charlie Chan, etc.

[stevezodiac]

I've been a big Infantino fan since the late sixties - he drew the Super Powers comic but it was inked by Pablo Marcos who, I think, ruined it. Occasionally I come across a cameo of his in a Marvel comic from the late 70s early 80s.

[philcom55]

Infantino was one of a tiny number of artists whose work I always bought. I loved him in the 1950s and 1960s, felt bereft when he stopped drawing to become DC's publisher, and loved him again in the 1970s when he returned to the drawing board. Having said that, though, I think that Carmine himself agreed that he was at his absolute peak during the late 1960s and never quite got back to that point again.

His contemporary Gil Kane thought that artists were like athletes in that their craft required constant practice, and that in the case of Infantino some of his creative 'muscles' suffered an irreparable degree of atrophy during his years in management. Personally I tend to think that something was lost but something was gained as well - though it's certainly true that his work lost a great deal of detail and precision: so much so, in fact, that on Star Wars virtually all the spaceships are known to have been drawn by the inkers over very cursory 'layouts'.

In some ways people have a false idea of his earlier work because of Julius Schwartz's constant choice of 'safe' inkers like Giella and Anderson to tidy up his rough edges. At his best - particularly when inking himself - he really was was one of the most dynamic stylists in the business! (If I get chance I'll post some examples to show what I mean)

- Phil R.

he drew the Super Powers comic

...Oh dear, yes! I'm afraid that even I have to admit he'd started to lose it by that stage (as had Jack Kirby for that matter). Looking at some of those mid-1980s toy tie-ins can be really depressing!

[Lew Stringer]

Those examples are quite heavily inked or finished by other artists though Raven.

I was just reading an Infantino strip the other day, in Crime Does Not Pay vol.3, reprinted from 1943. A very early work before he fully developed his style.

Yes, I realise he did the pencils (as with his early Sixties work), but being a great penciller is no mean feat - and though people have mentioned the influence of his inkers, whatever he was doing during that period, with whichever inker: Star Wars, Star-Lord, Spider-Woman, Nova, etc. ... they still seemed to have the same consistent latter-day Infantino look/techniques/shapes/designs/anatomies/cheekbones!

Yes, agreed. I wasn't diminishing his skill, just pointing out that the particular examples you showed had considerable input from other artists, more than the usual penciller/inker combo.

[paw broon]

As, in my opinion, the best Flash artist, Infantino, if for no other reason, deserves to be remembered as one of the greats. That cover to Flash of 2 Worlds is stunning, although it probably helped that it was inked by Murphy Anderson.
The cover to Mystery in Space 90 is so graceful.
See them here with other examples if you scroll down and click on the image:-
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.co ... omics-207/
Mystery in Space 90 was the first team-up with Adam Strange and Hawkman - what more could you want in a comic?

[philcom55]

Mystery in Space 90 was the first team-up with Adam Strange and Hawkman - what more could you want in a comic?

What indeed? It really was 'such stuff as dreams are made on'!



,,,And what about the classic case of 'the Batman Annual that never was'?



- Phil R.

[philcom55]

Just in case anyone thinks that Carmine's work didn't appear in mainstream British comics here's a Smash! cover which featured part of his brief run on the Batman newspaper strip:



- Phil Rushton