Tom Palmer (comics)


Thomas John Palmer was an American comic book artist best known as an inker for Marvel Comics.

Biography

Tom Palmer was born on July 13, 1941 in Queens.
Although he created a small amount of penciling work, the vast majority of his artistic output since the 1960s was as a comic book inker. Reminiscing about how he came to be an inker, Palmer recounted:
Palmer's extensive work for Marvel Comics includes runs paired with pencilers Neal Adams on The Avengers and Uncanny X-Men; Gene Colan, on titles such as Doctor Strange, Daredevil, and Tomb of Dracula; and John Buscema, on The Avengers. He also inked the entire run of John Byrne's X-Men: The Hidden Years.
Palmer is widely considered the definitive inker for Gene Colan, whose use of grey textures made his pencils notoriously difficult to ink in a way that did them justice. Colan has stated publishers never answered his requests to be paired with a specific inker. Palmer reasoned that, "I think the way we both worked in the business, we had a book to get out every month, bills to pay, and somehow we were put together as a team. We could have been forgotten and ignored, and we'd not be sitting here today. But somehow, I think, the fans have brought us to this point of recognition."
Palmer's brushy, detailed, and illustrative inking style hearkens back to vintage newspaper comic strips like Steve Canyon and Tarzan, and has influenced later generations of inkers like Klaus Janson, Josef Rubinstein, and Bob McLeod.
Palmer's son Tom Palmer, Jr. is a comic book professional who had a long-running column, Palmer's Picks, in the now defunct Wizard Magazine: The Price Guide to Comics and he was also an editor for DC Comics.
Palmer died on August 18, 2022, at the age of 81.

Awards

In addition to the awards below, Palmer was also named the #3 Inker of American Comics by Atlas Comics.

Selected bibliography

Marvel Comics

DC Comics