As promised, here are Terry Austin’s inks over Matthew Dow Smith’s pencils for the Albany Comic Con Magdalena #1 variant cover. (Click on the images for hi-res versions)
| Matt’s pencils | Terry’s inks |
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First time Terry has ever inked Matt. Not much for me to say about the piece; you can compare the pencils to the inks yourself and see how Terry approached it. Terry’s a pen inker, as opposed to using a brush, a tool he’s never been comfortable with, according to what he’s told me. You can also see where he utilized a razor-blade skip technique toward the base of the background buildings, actually gouging the paper to lend texture to the piece. If I’m remembering the story correctly, Terry learned the razor-blade skip from classic inker Jack Abel up in the Marvel bullpen. I met Jack during his later days, when he worked as a proofreader up at Marvel. Incredibly kind man.
Maybe that’s an inker trait, because Terry is very literally, the kindest, most gentle soul I know. He’s “Uncle Terry” to my kids, and one of my best friends in the world. All of which is, of course, in addition to being a legendary inker, one of the best to ever work in the business. His pairings with John Byrne on Uncanny X-Men and the late, great Marshall Rogers on Detective Comics are invariably mentioned among the tops runs in comics history. I’d also add his work with Paul Smith on Doctor Strange, and Rick Leonardi on Cloak & Dagger to that list. A couple of single issues that Terry inked are also among my all-time favorites: the X-Men/Teen Titans crossover (with Walter Simonson) and Daredevil #191 (with Frank Miller).
I’ve been fortunate enough to have Terry’s inks grace a number of stories I’ve written, including a good chunk of my Green Lantern run (over both Darryl Banks and Paul Pelletier), the Green Lantern/Silver Surfer crossover, and the Darth Maul vs. Darth Vader story that appeared in Star Wars Tales (over Rick Leonardi again).
As I said in an earlier post, one of the best things about working in comics is you get to work with your friends. In the case of this cover, I got to work with two of them. Thanks, guys.
Later this week, I’ll be able to show off the colors for the cover. If all goes as planned, maybe even a few different versions.
Cheers,
Ron
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March 23rd, 2010 on 11:18 pm
I like Matthew’s artwork… did he happen to do some work for Caliber Comics in the ’90s or is this a different artist?
March 23rd, 2010 on 11:44 pm
Love these behind-the-scenes/making-ofs.
And I’m going to jump in and say… yep, Edward, same Matthew Dow Smith (though it may be credited as Matt Smith).
March 24th, 2010 on 1:38 am
HAH ! Terry Austin !
Big fan of his work, especially his inks on Byrne for Uncanny X-men and the first 3 issues of the rebooted Superman.
March 26th, 2010 on 5:22 pm
I have to say, it was a real thrill for me to have my pencils inked by Terry. An all time comic book hero of mine, and an incredibly nice man. Thanks for hooking it up, Ron!
And thanks for answering Edward’s question, Josh… I did draw and write several things for Caliber in the 90s, along with work at DC and Marvel. I’ve only recently switched to using my full name (to help avoid confusion with a couple of other ‘Matt Smith’s out there who also write or draw), but I’ve been credited as both ‘Matt Smith’ and ‘Matthew Smith’ over the years.
–MDS
March 27th, 2010 on 10:33 pm
Beautiful piece by two talented artists.Thanks for sharing Ron.Hope i get to see this in person. Must be great to have a hero ink your stuff.