Jack Abel
Jack Abel was an American comic book artist best known as an inker for leading publishers DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was DC's primary inker on the Superman titles in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and inked penciler Herb Trimpe's introduction of the popular superhero Wolverine in The Incredible Hulk #181. He sometimes used the pseudonym Gary Michaels.
Biography
Abel's published work stretches to 1951, when he penciled and inked horror stories for such anthology series as Mr. Publications' Mister Mystery, and Atlas Comics'—the 1950s forerunner of Marvel Comics—Journey into Unknown Worlds, and Western tales in Prize Comics' aptly title Prize Comics Western. He inked science fiction, romance, and war comics for Atlas, American Comics Group, Avon Comics, Harvey Comics, and Hillman Periodicals, and later in the decade became a prolific penciler for the DC war titles All-American Men of War, Our Army at War,
Our Fighting Forces, and Star Spangled War Stories.
Writer Hank Chapman and Abel co-created the character Sgt. Mule – whose name, "Millie", meant she was actually not a mule but a hinny — appeared with various keepers including Private Mulvaney ; Private Skinner ; and Private Smith.
Roy Lichtenstein recomposed a panel from a story written by Bob Haney and illustrated by Abel in Star Spangled War Stories #102 for his 1963 pop art lithograph Crak!. Similarly, Torpedo...Los! is based on Abel's art in the Haney-written story "Battle of the Ghost Ships?", in Our Fighting Forces #71.
DC and Superman
Abel inked hundreds of DC stories, and eventually was chosen to succeed longtime "Superman family" inker George Klein as Curt Swan's embellisher on "Legion of Super-Heroes" in Adventure Comics ; Superman ; "Superman" in Action Comics, and occasional issues of Superboy.
Later career
After a reshuffling at DC c. 1970, Abel went to Marvel. He had already inked Gene Colan there on a long stretch of Iron Man stories beginning with Tales of Suspense #73, under the pseudonym "Gary Michaels". As Colan recalled, "He did a lot of Iron Man with me. He had a very slick line, which was okay on Iron Man, of course. Iron Man was made of iron, so you want it to look like metal. But when it came to stone and dark corners and garbage, he wasn't the man for that".
Later, under his own name, he would embellish Colan on some issues of Daredevil and The Tomb of Dracula ; Trimpe on The Incredible Hulk; George Tuska on Iron Man; and Paul Gulacy on Master of Kung Fu, among other work.
From the mid-1970s, Abel inked not only for Marvel and again DC, but for the smaller companies Gold Key ; Charlton Comics ; Atlas/Seaboard Comics ; and Skywald Publications. The character Cinnamon was introduced in Weird Western Tales #48 by writer Roger McKenzie and Abel.
Baseball-fan Abel, who in the 1970s rented studio space at Neal Adams and Dick Giordano's Continuity Associates, organized the Continuity softball team that played league games in Central Park.
After suffering a serious stroke in 1981, Abel rehabilitated his paralyzed right hand to the extent that he was able to ink and draw again—which he did through the rest of the 1980s, primarily for Marvel.
Comic strips
Outside comic books, Abel inked John Celardo from 1967–1969 on the syndicated comic strip Tales of the Green Beret, written by Robin Moore.
Awards
In 2016, Abel was nominated and tied for runner-up for the Inkwell Awards Special Recognition Award.
Archie Comics
Red Circle Sorcery #10–11
Atlas/Seaboard Comics
Brute #3 Ironjaw #1 Morlock 2001 #1–2 Western Action #1
Charlton Comics
Fightin' Army #70 Haunted #10
DC Comics
Action Comics #368–372, 374–379 ; #380–387, 389–392 Adventure Comics #369–372, 377–380 ; #381, 384-388, 391–398, 400–402, 404, 406 ; #456–458 ; #459–462 All-American Men of War #25–27, 30–31, 33–36, 40, 42, 44–46, #48–49, 51, 53, 57, 60, 66, 68–70, 73–76, 78–81, 83–88, 91–93, 95–96, 99–100, 104–105 Batman #208, 303 The Brave and the Bold #76 Capt. Storm #2, 8–11, 15–16 Challengers of the Unknown #63 DC Comics Presents #9–10 DC Special Series #1 DC Super Stars #14 Detective Comics #486 Falling in Love #10–11, 96 Firestorm #4 The Flash #271 Freedom Fighters #7–11, 13–15 Ghosts #73 G.I. Combat #49–50, 53, 57–61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73–75, 78–84, 86, 88–90, 92–93, 95–96, 98–101, 103–106, 109, 111–112, 114–118, 122, 126–127, 129, 131–132 Girls' Love Stories #177 House of Mystery #252–254, 272 House of Secrets #84, 93, 96 Kamandi #46 Karate Kid #10 Love Stories #149 Men of War #15 Our Army at War #42, 45–47, 49–50, 53–54, 56–59, 61–66, 68, 72–75, 77–80, 84, 86, 88–90, 92, 94–95, 97–103, 105, 107–119, 123, 125, 129–131, 136–139, 142–143, 145–146, 149, 156, 160, 163, 165–166, 168, 170, 178–181, 185, 187–189, 191–192, 194, 197 Our Fighting Forces #8, 14–15, 19, 23, 26, 29–32, 34–41, 48, 50–52, 54, 57–59, 61–63, 65–72, 79–82, 84–94, 96, 98–103, 105–113 Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter #10–12 Sea Devils #14 Secret Hearts #131, 150 Secret Society of Super Villains #10 Showcase #89–90 Star Spangled War Stories #43–44, 52, 56, 58, 60, 62–63, 65, 67–69, 71–73, 75, 77–86, 88, 91–96, 99–102, 104–107, 109–110, 112, 114–115, 117–120, 122–126, 128, 130–131, 134, 136, 166 Superboy #148, 150–151, 226–232, 234, 237, 243, 247, 249 Superman #208–209, 211, 213–215, 218–219 The Superman Family #187–190 Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #108, 121 Super-Team Family #8–10 Tales of the Unexpected #103–104 Teen Titans #8 The Unexpected #115, 200 Weird Mystery Tales #1–3 Weird Western Tales #48 The Witching Hour #7, 9, 26, 80 Wonder Woman #177 World's Finest Comics #174, 178, 184, 251–252 Young Love #95, 125 Young Romance #189
Marvel Comics
3-D Tales of the West #1 Adventure into Fear #20, 24 Adventures into Terror #11, 22–24, 27 Adventures into Weird Worlds #12, 16–19, 24, 27 Amazing Adventures #24, 27, 30, 35, 37 Amazing Detective Cases #14 Apache Kid #16 Astonishing #15, 21, 39, 54, 63 Astonishing Tales #19 The Avengers #195–196, Annual #9, 11 Battle #20, 27, 40, 43, 48 Battle Action #18–21, 25–26 Battlefield #10 Battlefront #12, 30–31, 34–36 Battleground #8, 10, 16 Captain America #235, 291 Captain Marvel #34 Caught #1, 4 Chamber of Chills #7 Combat #10–11 Combat Casey #11–14 Conan the King #20 Cowboy Action #8 Daredevil #81–82 The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #8–9, 11, 13, 17, 19–21 The Defenders #12, 25, 30, 71, 81, 102, 106, 117, 119–121 Doc Savage #8 Frankenstein #13 Frontier Western #1, 3, 6 The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #19, 21 Ghost Rider vol. 2 #7 Giant-Size Chillers #2 Giant-Size Master of Kung-Fu #2 G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1–4, 6 G.I. Tales #6 Girl Confessions #31 Godzilla, King of the Monsters #22 Gunhawks #2–5 The Incredible Hulk #167–172, 174–181, 234, 237–238, Annual #5 Iron Man #82, 90, 92–94, 96, Annual #3 Journey into Mystery #7, 10, 14, 20 Journey into Unknown Worlds #5, 23, 33–34, 39, 42, 46–47 Justice #49 Ka-Zar vol. 2 #2, 14 Kull the Destroyer #14 Lovers #58 Man-Thing #3–4 Marines at War #6 Marines in Action #1–2, 7 Marines in Battle #6–15 Marvel Comics Presents #68, 70 Marvel Fanfare #11, 51 Marvel Romance Redux: Guys & Dolls #1 Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 Marvel Tales #110–111, 116, 137, 143–144, 152 Marvel Team-Up Annual #2 Marvel Two-in-One #11 Master of Kung Fu #43–44, 48, 109–11 Men's Adventures #19 My Love #16–18 Mystery Tales #5 10, 15, 22–23, 28, 36, 42–43, 45 Mystic #15, 18, 29–30, 40, 46 Mystical Tales #2–4 Navy Action #6, 10 Navy Combat #4 Our Love Story #15–18 Quick Trigger Action #12 Red Wolf #6–7 Ringo Kid #6–7 Rugged Action #4 Secret Story Romances #4 Shogun Warriors #9, 11 Solo Avengers #16 Spaceman #2, 4 The Spectacular Spider-Man #101 Spellbound #10, 13, 16, 22, 24, 27, 29, 31 Strange Stories of Suspense #12 Strange Stories of the Unusual #7 Strange Tales #22, 25, 38, 43, 45, 48 Strange Tales of the Unusual #4 Super-Villain Classics #1 Super-Villain Team-Up #3, 6 Supernatural Thrillers #6 Tales of Justice #54, 58, 60 Tales of Suspense #73–81, 83 Thor #325 The Tomb of Dracula #10–11 Two Gun Western #5–6 Uncanny Tales #11, 21, 28, 35, 37 The Vision and the Scarlet Witch vol. 2 #5 War Adventures #13 War Comics #25, 37–38, 43 Web of Spider-Man #30 Western Kid #5, 11 Western Outlaws #2, 21 Western Outlaws and Sheriffs #72 Western Trails #1 What If...? #32, 43 Wild Western #32 World of Fantasy #1–3, 11 World of Suspense #3–4 Wyatt Earp #1
Prize Comics
Headline Comics #50–51
Skywald Publications
Heap #1 Nightmare #4–6
Tower Comics
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #16