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Mister Miracle v1 #1, 1971 - One of Jack Kirby's Fourth World characters, Mister Miracle was always among his most colorful creations. This super escape artist is assisted and befriended by Oberon, one of the few little people in mainstream comics. Despite the promising cover, the art in this first appearance evokes little excitement. The story's only splash is a rather mundane opening page. The layouts rigidly adhere to four and six panel grids with few variations. Kirby's drawings are noticeably repetitious and Vince Colletta's mediocre inking hurts more than helps. This is 1 of 18 Mister Miracle issues by Kirby. /// key 1st appearance, 1st cover Scott Free as Mister Miracle, 1st appearance Oberon, 1st issue / Kirby gallery- - - - - - - - - -
Kirby cover pencils (Vince Colletta inks) = ***
"Murder Missile Trap" story pencils (Vince Colletta inks) 22 pages = **
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Mister Miracle #1 - Jack Kirby art & cover + 1st appearance
Reviewed by Ted F
on
11:16 AM
Rating:
Reviewed by Ted F
on
11:16 AM
Rating:
5 comments:
I hate to see someone devote their time to a blog about inking and then come off looking like he/she knows nothing about it. Vince Colletta mediocre? Go back and look at the original books, not the Masterworks crap, and then write an intelligent article. Anyone can play follow the leader and say something uncomplimentary about Vinnie but guys in the know, well, they just know. He was one of the greats.
I largely based my review on this particular issue, although most of the Kirby/Colletta work I've seen on Thor, Fourth World books, etc. are collectively less impressive than the Kirby/Sinnott Fantastic Four issues (1960s) and the Kirby/Royer issues (1970s), among others. You certainly have strong opinions on Colletta's work and I would not begrudge him his fans, but he's just not one of my personal favorites.
My 2 cents, while it's not 1960's THOR, Mr. Miracle was more than capably inked.
Vince Colletta was a long-time and consummate professional artist. By the 1970's at least, his inking was quite clean and smooth. This could be good or bad depending upon the penciller he was inking over. His inking smoothed out the rough edges of new or weak artists, like a Greg LaRocque, but it also smoothed out the dynamics and power of good artists. An obvious example would be Colletta's inks on Mike Grell's art in The Warlord. Compare your typical Grell/Colletta issue with one where Grell inked himself. There is so much more life and interest in the Grell-inked work than in the Grell/Colletta work.
In any case, when it came to Kirby, you really needed an inker who could match his over-the-top, powerful style. Realistic and semi-realistic artists like Colletta were not a good match for Kirby.
What about Neal Adams? The Kirby/Adams covers on Jimmy Olsen were terrific in my opinion.
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