Rich Buckler
| Rich Buckler | |
|---|---|
 Buckler at the Big Apple Con, November 14, 2008. |
|
| Born | February 6, 1949 Detroit, Michigan |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Writer, Penciller |
| Pseudonym(s) | Ron Validar |
| Notable works | All-Star Squadron Astonishing Tales (Deathlok) Fantastic Four Superman vs. Shazam! World's Finest Comics |
| Official website | |
Rich Buckler (born February 6, 1949)[1] is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four in the mid-1970s and, with writer Doug Moench, co-creating the character Deathlok in Astonishing Tales #25. Buckler has drawn virtually every major character at Marvel and DC, often as a cover artist.
Contents |
[edit] Career
Buckler broke into comics as a teenager with the four-page historical story "Freedom Fighters: Washington Attacks Trenton" in the King Features comic book Flash Gordon #10 (Nov. 1967).
When given the chance in 1974 to draw The Fantastic Four, Buckler fulfilled a decade-long dream;[2] he stayed on the title for two years. During this period, Buckler was known as well for his original creation, Deathlok. Other notable work from this period includes his collaboration with writer Don McGregor on the acclaimed Black Panther series in Jungle Action. Also during this period, Buckler hired the young George Pérez as his studio assistant.[3]
At DC, he and Roy Thomas launched All-Star Squadron with a special insert in Justice League of America #193 (Aug. 1981)[4] which led to the new team's own title the following month.[5] Buckler worked for Archie Comics in 1983-1984, when that publisher briefly revived its Red Circle Comics superhero line. In 1985 he returned to Marvel and had a short but memorable run on the title The Spectacular Spider-Man with writer Peter David, where they produced the "The Death of Jean DeWolff" storyline. He also served as editor for a short-lived line of comics by Solson Publications, where in 1987 he created Reagan's Raiders.[6]
He is the author of two books: How to Become a Comic Book Artist[7] and How to Draw Superheroes .[8]
[edit] Controversy
Buckler has a reputation as a "swipe" artist,[9] with his early work in particular filled with "homages" to artists such as Jack Kirby,[10] John Buscema, and Neal Adams.[11] After being publicly accused of the practice by The Comics Journal in 1983,[12] Buckler denied the charges[13] and sued the magazine for libel.[14] He later dropped the suit.[15]
[edit] Bibliography
Comics work (interior pencil art) includes:
[edit] DC
- Action Comics (Atom) #447 (1975)
- All-Star Squadron #1-5, 36 (full art); Annual #3 (among other artists) (1981–84)
- All-New Collectors Edition (Superman vs. Shazam!) #C-58 (1978)
- America vs. the Justice Society, miniseries, #1 (among other artists) (1985)
- Batman #265, 267, 329; (Robin) #239-242 (1972–80)
- DC Comics Presents #12, 33-34, 45, 49, Annual #1 (1979–82)
- DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman - The '80s #1 (2011)
- DC Special (Captain Comet) #27 (1977)
- DC Super Stars (Gorilla Grodd) #14 (1977)
- Detective Comics (Hawkman) #434, 446, 479 (1973–78)
- Flash #271-272 (1979)
- Hardware #10, 12 (1993–94)
- House of Mystery #199, 258 (1972–78)
- House of Secrets #90 (1971)
- Jonah Hex #11 (1978)
- Justice League of America #188-191, 193, 210-212 (1981–83)
- Kobra #5 (1976)
- The New Adventures of Superboy #9 (1980)
- New Gods #15 (1977)
- Omega Men #34 (1986)
- Secret Origin of Superman (Leaf Comic Book Candy) (1980)
- Secret Society of Super Villains #5-9 (1977)
- Star Hunters #4-7 (1978)
- Superman (Superman) #364, 369 (1981–82); (Fabulous World of Krypton) #246, 251, 352 (1971–72, 1980); (Bruce Superman Wayne) #363 (1981)
- Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane (Rose and Thorn) #117-121 (1971–72)
- Tales of the Teen Titans #51-54 (1985)
- Time Warp #1 (1979)
- The Unexpected #123, 126, 135, 157, 174 (1971–76)
- Warlord #89-90, 97 (1985)
- Weird War Tales #23, 123 (1974–83)
- Weird Western Tales (Jonah Hex) #37 (1976)
- Wonder Woman #300 (among other artists) (1983)
- World's Finest Comics (Hawkman) #257-258; (Superman and Batman) #259-261, 263-264, 266-267, 269-272, 275-276, 278, 280, 285-286 (1979–82)
[edit] Marvel
- Amazing Adventures (Killraven) #25 (1974)
- Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America: Dr. Doom's Revenge (distributed with a computer game by Paragon Software) (1989)
- Astonishing Tales (Ka-Zar) #13 (along with John Buscema), 16; (Deathlok) #25-28, #30-36 (1972–76)
- Avengers #101-104, 106, 302-304, Giant-Size #1 (1972–89)
- Avengers, vol. 3, #27 (2000)
- Battlestar Galactica #6-7 (1979)
- Black Goliath #4 (1976)
- Black Knight, miniseries, #3-4 (1990)
- Black Panther, vol. 2, #36 (2001)
- Captain America #243, 355 (1980–89)
- Captain America: The Medusa Effect (along with M. C. Wyman) (1994)
- Conan The Barbarian #40 (1974)
- Daredevil #101 (1973)
- Doc Savage #8 (1974)
- Dracula Lives #1 (1973)
- Epic Illustrated #29 (1985)
- Fantastic Four #142–144, 147–153, 155–159, 161–163, 168–169, 171, 325, 329-335; Giant-Size #1, 3; Annual #22 (1974–89)
- Fear #11, 22 (1973–74)
- Freddy Krueger's A Nightmare on Elm Street, miniseries, #1-2 (along with Tony DeZuniga) (1989)
- Incredible Hulk Annual #11 (1982)
- Invaders #5 (1976)
- Iron Man #196-197 (1985)
- Journey into Mystery, vol. 2, #5 (1973)
- Jungle Action, vol. 2, (Black Panther) #6-8 (full pencils), 22 (along with Billy Graham) (1973–76)
- Luke Cage, Power Man #30 (1976)
- Marvel Comics Presents #24-31 (1989)
- Marvel Comics Super Special (Kiss) #1, 17 (among other artists) (1977–80)
- Marvel Spotlight (Deathlok) #33 (among other artists) (1977)
- Marvel Super-Heroes (X-Men) #6 (1991)
- Marvel Tales #242 (along with Michael Netzer (Nasser)) (1990)
- Marvel Team-Up (Spider-Man & Nightcrawler) #89 (along with Mike Nasser) (1980)
- Micronauts Annual #2 (along with Steve Ditko) (1980)
- New Mutants #76-77 (1989)
- Saga of The Original Human Torch, miniseries, #1-4 (1990)
- Saga of The Sub-Mariner, limited series, #1-12 (1988–89)
- Savage Sword of Conan #182 (1991)
- Spectacular Spider-Man #103, 107-111, 116-117, 119, 122; Annual #1, 10 (1979–90)
- Supernatural Thrillers #5 (1973)
- Tales of the Zombie #4 (1974)
- Thor #227-230 (1974)
- Vampire Tales #2-3, 5 (1973–74)
- What If? (Eternals) #24; (Thor) #25; (Namor) #29; (Spider-Man) #30 (1980–81)
- Where Monsters Dwell #15 (1972)
- X-Factor #50 (1990)
[edit] Other Publishers
- Creepy #36, 38, 75 (Warren, 1970–75)
- Eerie #29, 48-49, 53 (Warren, 1970–74)
- Hybrids: The Origin #3-4 (Continuity, 1993)
- Mighty Crusaders #1-7 (Archie, 1983–84)
[edit] Notes
- ^ Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5trAbNQWw. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
- ^ Thomas, Roy. "Marvel Bullpen Bulletins," Marvel comics cover-dated January 1974.
- ^ O'Neill, Patrick Daniel. "Career Moves" (interview with George Pérez), Wizard Magazine #35 (July 1994).
- ^ "All-Star Squadron, DC's new World War II-era superhero series debuts in May in a 16-page preview insert in Justice League of America #193." as noted in "Thomas Revives WWII Superheroes" Catron, Michael Amazing Heroes #1 June 1981 pp. 28-29
- ^ Manning, Matthew K.; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1980s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. "The creative team of writer Roy Thomas and artist Rich Buckler on All-Star Squadron offered readers a nostalgic glimpse back in time, albeit through the slightly distorted lens of Earth-2's history."
- ^ Reagan's Raiders at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
- ^ Buckler, Rich (1986). How to Become a Comic Book Artist. Solson. ISBN 0961567112.
- ^ Buckler, Rich (1987). How to Draw Super-Heroes. Solson. ISBN 0961567155.
- ^ Cooke, Jon B. "Dan Adkins' Strange Tales: The Artist on his Visits to the World of Wood and the House of Ideas", Comic Book Artist Collection TwoMorrows Publishing, 2005, p. 42.
- ^ O'Neill, Patrick Daniel. "Career Moves" (interview with George Pérez), Wizard Magazine #35 (July 1994):
Question: What did you do as Buckler's assistant?
Pérez: Basically, I helped him with layout. Or I'd go through his swipe file — batches of comics — looking for suitable swipes for the story he was doing. Since at the time he was doing Thor and Fantastic Four, that meant lots of Jack Kirby books. - ^ Gillis, Peter B. Letter about Rich Buckler swipes, The Comics Journal #45 (March 1979), pp. 22.
- ^ "Plagiarism: Rich Buckler Signs his Name to Jack Kirby's Work," The Comics Journal #83 (Aug. 1983), pp. 33-35.
- ^ "Rich Buckler Answers His Critics," The Comics Journal #86 (November 1983), pp. 28-31.
- ^ "Rich Buckler Sues Comics Journal and two of its Writers for Libel," The Comics Journal #88 (Jan. 1984), p. 13.
- ^ "Buckler Drops Comics Journal Libel Suit," The Comics Journal #93 (Sept. 1984), pp. 11-12.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Rich Buckler at the Comic Book DB
- Official website
- An interview with Rich Buckler about his time on The Fantastic Four
- Rich Buckler - Surreal Art Collective
| Preceded by John Buscema |
Fantastic Four artist 1974–1976 |
Succeeded by George Pérez |
| Preceded by Keith Pollard |
Fantastic Four artist 1989 |
Succeeded by Walter Simonson |
