George Klein (comics)

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For other people named George Klein, see George Klein (disambiguation).

George Klein
Klein in late 1950s or early 1960s
Bornc. 1915 or 1920
Died1969
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Inker
Pseudonym(s)Nick Karlton
Mark Midnight[1]

George D. Klein

The Fantastic Four #1.[4]

Biography

Early career

Sub-Mariner Comics #5 (Spring 1942): Rare George Klein inks on one of Timely's "big three" heroes. Pencils by Al Gabriele.

Klein attended the

Challenger.[5] Klein found himself more utilized, however, in what was called Timely's "animator" bullpen, which created such movie tie-in and original talking animal comics as Mighty Mouse
and Animated Funny Comic-Tunes.

Because he was on staff, Klein frequently did not sign his artwork – a typical though not ironclad industry habit at the time – making it difficult to assess his Golden Age output.

In the post-war era, Klein drew for a variety of publishers. For

Prize Comics' Black Magic.[5]

Superman family

Adventure Comics #360 (Sept. 1967): Klein inking penciler Curt Swan

In 1955, Klein began his long association with penciler Curt Swan on a variety of titles in DC Comics' "Superman family", edited by Mort Weisinger. Starting with uncredited but generally recognized inks over Swan in Superboy #38 (Jan. 1955) – on a backup story featuring the Boy of Steel vs. "Public Chimp Number One!" – Klein soon took on the lead features there and in Adventure Comics, starring Superboy; Superman, starting in late 1961; and DC's flagship title, Action Comics, starring Superman, in 1962. Later in the 1960s, Klein became the chief inker on Adventure's lead feature, the Legion of Super-Heroes, by writer Jim Shooter and penciler Swan,[5] helping set the visual foundation for what would become one of DC's most popular series.

In 1968, with new art director and soon-to-be editorial director Carmine Infantino given the mandate to revitalize DC in the wake of rival Marvel's pop-cultural and industry ascendancy,[citation needed] Klein was eased out along with such other Superman-family artists as Wayne Boring, Jim Mooney, and George Papp, and writers Otto Binder, Edmond Hamilton, and Jerry Siegel (Superman's co-creator with Joe Shuster). Klein's final DC work was Adventure Comics #367 (May 1968).[5]

Marvel Comics

In 1961, penciler

Art Simek. The credit given reflects the current consensus."[7] Another standard reference, the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators, gives "George Klein?" as inker for issue #1 and "Sol Brodsky? George Klein?" for #2, with the additional note, "On the letter page of Fantastic Four (I) #272 and #281, Sol Brodsky is said to be the inker of this issue."[8]

Daredevil #47 (Dec. 1968): Art by Gene Colan and George Klein

Regardless, Klein was working almost exclusively for DC Comics during this time, known as the

Wasp, Janet Van Dyne; "Brother, Take My Hand" in Daredevil #47 (Dec. 1968), cited by Stan Lee as one of his favorites among the comic-book stories he wrote;[citation needed] and the cover and interior of one of Barry Windsor-Smith
's first U.S. comic books, Daredevil #51 (April 1969).

Death

Klein died of

cover-date
.

Inking style

Former Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, who wrote Marvel Comics' The Avengers during Klein's stint on that superhero title, described Klein's inking as "a Joe Sinnott kind of style. ... [He] could do that Sinnott style that was very popular then."[9]

In its list of "The 20 Greatest Inkers of American Comic Books", historians at the retailer Atlas Comics (no relation to the comics publishers) listed George Klein at #17:

Most likened to Murphy Anderson, George Klein may have had an even more mannered and precise style. Klein, like Anderson (and to a lesser extent, Joe Sinnott) would create wonderful rounded shadows by dropping a well-weighted line and then creating a series of beautifully tapered feathers coming off of it, conforming to the contour of the object he was delineating. It gave those objects volume, and always let you subconsciously know the size, shape and form of what you were looking at. Many modern inkers miss this elementary style of 'investing' two-dimensional objects with the appearance of three dimensions. Often, their lines will be in direct opposition to forms they are supposed to define, or will throw shadows in a way which is counterintuitive to how we see them. Most of them would do well to study George Klein and simplify, simplify, simplify.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c Bails, Jerry; Ware, Hames, eds. "George Klein". Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1929–1999. Retrieved December 24, 2014. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b Interview with Pat Sekowsky, Alter Ego #33 (Feb. 2004), pp. 5–20.
  3. Social Security Number
    051-09-0859, born June 14, 1920, died September 1969, death certificate issued in New York state.
  4. ^ Evanier, Mark (n.d.). "Who Inked Fantastic Four #1?". POV Online, "The Jack FAQ". p. 2. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d e George Klein at the Grand Comics Database
  6. ^ The Fantastic Four #1 at the Grand Comics Database
  7. ^ The Fantastic Four #2 at the Grand Comics Database
  8. ^ Fantastic Four (I) (1961–1996) at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
  9. ^ "An Avengers Interview – Sort Of – with John Buscema". Alter Ego. Vol. 3, no. 13. March 2002. Archived from the original on December 1, 2010.
  10. ^ "The 20 Greatest Inkers of American Comic Books: #17 — George Klein". Chicago: Atlas Comics (retailer). n.d. Archived from the original on October 25, 2010.

External links

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