Thursday, October 26, 2023

Today in Comics History, October 26: Happy birthday, Jack Morelli!

Born on this day: comic book letterer and writer Jack Morelli (occasionally listed as John and nicknamed "Squid")! He's worked on Warlock and the Infinity Watch, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, The Thing, Elektra, Avengers, lots of Archie comics, and more!


from Marvel Age #34, 58, and 94 (Marvel, January 1986, January 1988, and November 1990); text by Jim Salicrup (#34), Mike Carlin (#58), and Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter (#94); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Adam Philips (#34), Paul Becton (#58), and Marie Javins (#94)




Jack co-created Marvel's Silence (shhhhh!) when he wrote the 1998 Peter Parker! Here, he shows you how to par-tay!


from Marvel Age #112 (Marvel, May 1992)

And, with Howard Mackie, became an Agent of SHIELD* in John Byrne's She-Hulk graphic novel! *Suddenly He's In Exciting Lighthearted Drama


from Marvel Graphic Novel #18 [The Sensational She-Hulk] (Marvel, 1985), script and pencils by John Byrne, inks by Kim DeMulder, colors by Petra Goldberg, letters by Janice Chiang

Perhaps Jack's most visible appearance on comics is as Spider-Man on the photo cover of this Spidey comic, with artist Joe Jusko as Captain America!!


cover of Marvel Team-Up #128 (Marvel, April 1983), photo by Eliot R. Brown

Behind the scenes of the photo shoot:




Marvel Team-Up #128; text and photos by Eliot R. Brow

A very happy birthday to you, Jack Morelli!


from What If...? (1977 series) #34 (Marvel, August 1982), script and letters by Rick Parker, pencils and inks by Jack Morelli

4 comments:

Blam said...

More ironic than anything listed by Alanis Morissette is that Mark Chiarello’s name is wrong in that caption with him and Morelli flanking the World’s Toughest Proofreader.

Bully said...

Yikes! Turn in your proofreading badge, Jack Abel!

Pj Perez said...

For some reason, when I was reading John/Jack's credits in comics as a kid, I assumed he was an old guy. Maybe just the name sounded like he'd be a contemporary of Abel. I didn't realize he was a young(ish) guy (at the time).

Bully said...

Me too, PJ! I'm glad to have done some research and correct my misconception — I thought he was one of the old guard that was around in the 1960s, but he tisn't!