As inkers go the way of the dodo, it’s always good to celebrate them, as throughout comics history, “tracers” have done some amazing work on pencilers and added their own stamp to artwork we all love. So today, we wonder: What’s the best (in your humble opinion) combination of penciler and inker in comics history?
How I will answer this might be different from how you will. To me, the best inker/penciler collaboration means which inker made the penciler look miles better than if the penciler did not have the inker. My favorite inker of all time, Al Williamson, did amazing work on John Romita Jr.’s pencils when Romita worked on Daredevil, but I don’t think it elevated Romita’s work so far above when he was being inked by, say, Dan Green, nor do I think the art produced is so much better than other Romita work. It’s better, but not so much so that I can’t even look at Romita’s work unless he’s being inked by Williamson. Similarly, John Byrne’s pencils do improve when Terry Austin inks him, but not so much so that I’m willing to commit to that combination. I’m talking about a penciler who’s fine without the inker, but spectacular with them. That’s a tough needle to thread, but I thought of my example for some reason not too long ago and constructed the Question around it because I really do want to know what you think. You might pick Romita/Williamson or Byrne/Austin for different reasons. That’s perfectly keen with me.
I was tempted to pick Aparo inked by Sienkiewicz just to fuck with people, but even though I do think Sienkiewicz is a pretty good inker, it almost becomes his art because he’s so dominant, and his inks over Aparo’s pencils, while intriguing, are kind of weird. No, my pick does involve Terry Austin (probably my second-favorite inker of all time), but with Marshall Rogers on Detective Comics. Rogers had a long and decent career, but his work never looked as good as it did when Austin inked him on Detective (and, later, on Dr. Strange, but I’ve only seen a few of those pages). You can see several examples here, even though you all know what it looks like!
Unfortunately, I don’t think Rogers ever came close to matching the art on those issues, even though, as I noted, his work in subsequent years was fine. I’m not sure if age caught up with him, because Austin inked him in the sequel to this run almost 30 years later, and it’s just not the same. Maybe both of them had lost a step, which is too bad. Rogers was in his mid-50s at the time and he died not too long after the series came out, while Austin was just a few years younger than Rogers, so maybe they had slowed down a bit (Austin is currently 73, and I don’t know if he’s working anymore). I like Rogers, but I wouldn’t consider him a great artist … but for those few issues in the 1970s (and 1980s, if we count Dr. Strange), he was astounding, and I wonder how much had to do with Austin.
I know I haven’t seen all of Rogers’s work, so perhaps there are some things he drew without Austin that are amazing. That doesn’t change the fact that I think this combination on these issues is my favorite alchemical reaction between penciler and inker. Other art is better, sure, and other inkers do an amazing job, but this combination is superb. So, what’s your answer? Don’t be shy, people!
