Hi. I'm Dan McFan and I love the art of the late, great Vincent Colletta.
A number of years ago, a comic book fanzine writer and sometime assistant to the great penciler Jack Kirby named Mark Evanier "exposed" the fact that Colletta, who was primarily an inker at the time, erased some of Kirby's pencil lines, backgrounds, etc. from time to time.
The practice of the inker deciding to either eliminate or add to a pencilers rendering has always been a common practice. Pencilers, in turn, are always somewhat irked by this practice because, after all, what they originally drew was so fantastic, how dare an inker change it in any way?
Debate has raged on since the great expose' whether Vinnie's erasing added or subtracted from the finished page. Evanier, during all this time, has been shouting his damnation of Colletta to all who would listen. And, listen they did-at least some of them. "Vince Colletta was a hack" became the fashionable phrase at comic book conventions. It has only been very recently that readers and fans have started pointing out that Colletta's inking of Kirby was actually some of the best, especially on the Thor series.
I have read (and saved) so many criticisms of Colletta from the pen of Mark Evanier that I am almost beginning to believe them myself. In the comic book forums, where fans usually have no one but each other to debate, a minor player like Mark Evanier in their midst is akin to Beatlemania. What is equally amazing is that the moderators of these forums have become equally mesmerized by the likes of Evanier, to the point where criticizing Mark is grounds for banishment from the forum.
The reason for this blog occurred yesterday when I learned that John Rhett Thomas aka Gormuu-Marvel Masterworks moderator, created a separate thread for fans who were participating in a "very spirited" Vinnie Colletta discussion. "Gormuu" called his thread "Ask Mark Evanier".
My intention was to inquire about a Vince Colletta interview that Mark professed to have so I logged into the discussion. Well, what I posted follows here and, as a result of the posting, I was dumped from the Marvel Masterworks forum by Mr. John Rhett Thomas. Maybe he was justified in doing so or perhaps he is nothing more than a cowardly Evanier ass kisser.
Mark Evanier wrote:
Indefatigable Fjor wrote:
how incredible was it, as a wee lad in 1967, to have come up with a ranking system that defined a generation?
ME: Sadly, that was one of my three great contributions to the world of comics. The other two were getting Kirby to replace Colletta, and not running over Stan Lee one day in Beverly Hills. It was...interesting. I remember I had the flu the day I came up with the idea and sent it off to Marvel. Maybe I should have the flu more often.
My Reply:
When I saw this thread devoted to you I actually figured you might be able to do it. I don't know what possessed me to think that, but I did. And after reading all the posts, and before I posted my own question to you, I was going to preface it with the inquiry "How were you able to answer so many questions and make so many statements without once bashing Vinnie Colletta?"
THEN I GOT TO ENTRY #22 AND THERE IT WAS!!!!!! You couldn't effing do it, could you? I was going to ask you to produce the Vince Colletta interview you professed to have but now I have more burning questions?
Do you bash Vinnie Colletta every day of the year?
If, for instance, you don't talk to a comic person that day, do you bash Vinnie to your butcher or your dry cleaning guy?
Do you wake up screaming "I hate Vinnie!"
Is your dog even sick of hearing Vinnie's name?
Even though he or she has never read a comic book, is your therapist intimately knowledgeable about everything to do with Vinnie?
When you can't pinch one off do you cry out "Damn you, Vinnie?"
I am convinced that you are mentally ill. What did this man do to you to inspire such hatred? I would like to know more about your fixation and loathing of Vincent Colletta because you are considered some sort of comic book authority. Some comic fans respect you.
And you are the perpetrator of the "Vinnie erased the sacred Kirby's pencils-Let's burn him in effigy" club.
Questions, comments and death threats can be sent to danmcfan@gmail.com
jack kirby, mark evanier, THOR, vince colletta, September 12, 2009
