Chic Stone


Charles Eber "Chic" Stone was an American comic book artist best known as one of Jack Kirby's Silver Age inkers, including his landmark run of Fantastic Four.

Biography

Early life and career

Chic Stone studied at the School of Industrial Art, and the Works Projects Administration School. He broke into comics in 1939, at age 16, apprenticing with the comic book packager Eisner & Iger. In the 1940s, he worked on the original Captain Marvel for Fawcett Comics, and Boy Comics for Lev Gleason Publications. For Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics, he contributed to Blonde Phantom Comics, "Eustis Hayseed" in Joker Comics; and "Jeep Jones" in All Select Comics and Kid Komics.

Silver-Age Stone

Stone largely left comics during the 1950s to become an art director for magazines including True Experience and The American Salesman, and to publish a magazine, Boy Illustrated, which folded after two issues. He did commercial art for Grey Advertising and TV commercial storyboards for Filmack Studios. Stone, at this time living in Hollywood, California, then became art director of Modern Teen and Dig Magazine. At unspecified points, he did art for magazines including Esquire and Mechanics Illustrated, and was publisher and art director of Boy Illustrated.
He returned to comic books during the 1960s Silver Age, initially with the small American Comics Group on titles including Adventures into the Unknown, for which he would pencil from 1962-1967. He also variously penciled and inked, uncredited, for DC Comics, and occasionally ghosted for artists Bob Kane and George Papp.
Shortly thereafter, Stone began inking industry legend Jack Kirby's pencils on Fantastic Four. He also inked Kirby on early issues of X-Men and the feature "Thor" in Journey into Mystery, and the two artists collaborated on covers across the spectrum of Marvel's comics.
Of his pairing with Kirby, Stone recalled in a 1997 interview,
Cartoonist Fred Hembeck, describing Stone as "my favorite Kirby inker", said that "beyond the bold and expressive line Stone's varied brushwork brought to Jack's power-packed pencils, the sheer fact that, by year's end, he was inking the King on Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men, and the Thor and Captain America features in their respective home titles gave the entire line a warm and homey sense of visual cohesiveness that it's never quite managed to achieve since."
Later in the decade, Stone returned to freelancing for DC Comics, penciling an occasional Batman story — including the lead tale in the anniversary-issue Batman #200. He additionally pencilled numerous stories for Tower Comics' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Dynamo and NoMAN.
Other work around this time includes a run of the character Nemesis in ACG's Forbidden Worlds and Unknown Worlds; Dell Comics' Flying Saucers, and a Garrison's Gorillas TV tie-in comic; and early-1970s work for Skywald Publications' black-and-white horror magazines Psycho and Nightmare. Stone's art for an AMT model car-kit ad appeared in DC's Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #64, and elsewhere. After Jack Kirby left DC Stone replaced him as penciller on the Kobra and Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth books for DC, Stone was brought in as his replacement, pencilling an issue of Kobra and three issues of Kamandi until he "found the press of outside commitments too great."

Later career

In 1976, Stone began a long association with Archie Comics, including its Red Circle and Archie Adventure Series superhero lines. This work includes a story written by future Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco in Archie's Super Hero Special #2, and Stone's inking of fellow Silver Age veteran Dick Ayers on a Black Hood story in Blue Ribbon Comics #11. Stone also worked on the regular Archie teen humor line.
Stone was inking for Marvel as late as The A-Team #1. In the early 1990s, he drew commissioned art in Silver Age Kirby-Stone style for sales through dealers.
Comics artist Jimmy Palmiotti recalled,
Although Stone did not ink any Frank Robbins pages of The Invaders, he did pencil one issue and inked several issued that were pencilled by Alan Kupperberg.
Stone died in 2000 in Autauga County, Alabama.

Awards