Today in Comics History, October 15: Happy birthday, Vince Colletta!

Born on this day in 1923: Vince Colletta, longtime artist and (controversial) inker for the big comics publishers, especially Marvel and DC, where he worked over the artwork of many major artists!


from (left) Marvel Comics Memory Album Calendar 1977 (Marvel, 1976); and
(right) Marvel Age #58 (Marvel, January 1988), text by Mike Carlin, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme, colors by Paul Becton



Colletta did extensive work at DC in the 1970s, including inking Jack Kirby's New Gods books...


from DC Comics cover-dated October 1980
...and Mike Grell's Warlord. Grell even snuck in a character he based on Vince! (It wasn't complimentary.)




from Warlord (1976 series) #44 (DC, April 1981), script and pencils by Mike Grell, inks by Vince Colletta, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Ben Oda
According to Tom Scioli's from-Jack-Kirby's-POV graphic novel biography, Kirby wasn't a big fan either.


from Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics (Ten Speed, July 2020), script and art by Tom Scioli
Also, Alan Kupperberg snuck him into a Spider-Man issue as a used car salesman! (Let me know in the comments if you know which issue this is, please!)

But he did get tickets to the earth-shattering Superman-Muhammad Ali prize fight for the fate of the world! Can you spot 'im?

cover of All-New Collectors' Edition #C-56 (DC, March 1978), layout by Joe Kubert, pencils by Neal Adams, inks by Neal Adams (?) and/or Cory Adams (?), logo design by John Workman
(Click top picture to GOAT-size)
Colletta also worked for several decades at Marvel, from the '50s through the '90s!



from (top) "Bullpen Bulletins" in Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1983;
(bottom) Marvel Age #35 (Marvel, February 1986)
An obituary of Vince by Stan Lee:


from "Bullpen Bulletins" in Marvel Cmics cover-dated January 1992
Folks who know me know I generally make jokes about Colletta's artwork, but on his birthday here, let me genuinely say that I really like and enjoy his expressive, vibrant pencilled artwork on romance titles like Love Romances, Love Tales, Lovers, My Love, My Love Story, My Own Romance, Our Love Story, The Romances of Nurse Helen Grant, Secret Story Romances, Stories of Romance, Teen-Age Romance, True Secrets, True Tales of Love, and, um, World's Greatest Songs. yes, truly, it was a totally different sales market.


Happy birthday, Vince Colletta!


from "Meet the Gang in the Merry Marvel Bullpen" in Marvel Tales Annual #1 (Marvel, September 1964)
And out of respect for your birthday, I tried not to poke fun at your penchant for grievously erasing backgrounds and characters when inking original art.

Except for this:

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from FOOM #7 (Marvel, September, 1974)