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Mar

8

His Name is JOHN BEATTY

Filed Under Comics Artists | 14 Comments

Punisher: Circle of Blood #1 may well be one of the most amazing comics I’ve read. The double sized first issue of the very first Punisher mini series back in the mid 80′s leaped out the comic shelves, slapped me around and decked me straight to the far wall. It is truly one of the most exciting crime comics I’ve read. That had a lot to do with writer Steven Grant, as well as the artistic team supreme of Mike Zeck and John Beatty.

I had not heard of Steven Grant before then, but I became an instant fan. I was insanely excited to work with him years later on Wildstorm Presents: Loner, and it remains as one of my favorite inking work, inspired as I was knowing I was working with one of my favorite writers.

I was familiar with the team of Mike Zeck and John Beatty because of their work on Captain America and specially Secret Wars. The cover to Secret Wars #1 still remains as one of the most spectacular comic book covers I’ve seen.

But the work that they did on the first issue of Punisher was nothing short of amazing. As an artist, I zeroed in on how the book was drawn and I was completely mesmerized by John’s fine inking. I spent days and weeks just looking at it, enthralled and inspired.

Now in 2008, Marvel is releasing a deluxe hardcover edition of the Punisher: Circle of Blood. The disappointing thing is, John Beatty’s name is left out of the cover. John Beatty is considered a true collaborator, a co-artist, and he helped define the look of this series. He is also the only member of the creative team to work on all FIVE books of this mini series. His name deserves to be there.

The history of this mini series is a bit troubled, and THIS SITE gives you a detailed account of what went on.

If I may add something to that, I heard a slightly different story with regards to Mike Zeck. The site above mentions that Mike ran into difficulty meeting deadlines which is why the last issue of the series was handed to a different artist.

But I heard that initially, there was no deadline and that Mike and John were free to spend time to make the series look as good as it did. But as soon as the first issue was finished, all of a sudden there was a deadline and the book was suddenly scheduled for release and they had to scramble to finish the rest of the series. Unfortunately Steven and Mike had to bow out after finishing issue #4, replaced by Jo Duffy and Mike Vosburg to finish #5. Vosburg as mentioned in the site above, had just enough time to do rough breakdowns, with John Beatty coming in to do finished art.

With all due respect to Jo and Mike Vosburg, John Beatty’s name deserves to be on that cover more.

This is just the latest boot in the already half blind and bloody eye of inkers, lying mangled on a dirty road full of gravel trucks running over them again and again. It’s heinous and despicable. I find it so hard to understand why it’s so fucking difficult for people in this industry to treat inkers with decency and respect. There have been many times in my professional inking career, except for when I worked at DC, that I felt like I had leprosy, the way I was treated. My name was continually misspelled, my name was left off the covers and ads, I rarely got any complimentary copies (sometimes I only got them after asking my penciller for some). The only time I finally had some rapport with the editor he got fired.

Support the Inkwell Awards, organized by professional inkers who have finally had ENOUGH, who seek awareness for inkers and appreciation for those artists that have been unheralded for so long.

Comments

14 Responses to “His Name is JOHN BEATTY”

  1. Rod Samonte on March 8th, 2008 11:04 pm

    Gerry,
    Didn’t Alfredo Alcala do a Punisher in this series? Can’t remember for sure.
    Rod

  2. Gerry Alanguilan on March 9th, 2008 12:00 am

    Hello Rod! I’m not sure about Alfredo Alcala, but Tony DeZuniga did do a few Punisher stories.

  3. Rod Samonte on March 9th, 2008 12:36 am

    Gerry,
    Kawawa naman pala ang mga inkers. Pero hindi ganoon ang higing ko nang ma-meet ko si Sandra Hope, she seems to be really enjoing it, and I think she said it’s all she does, it’s her full-time job, and she would never hope to do any pencilling. Plus, a big, big, bonus, apparently the inker is entitled to half of the original art that the publishers must return to them. Hope was selling hundreds of originals all inked by her at modest prices starting at $40. Whilce on the other hand was also selling Batman originals inked by Richard Friend for $2000. Wowwwww, ang mahal. In other words Friend, the inker, who owns the other half of these originals could sell his too for as much as that. Obviously, there are some perks to the job also despite all the downs you mentioned. You’ve been selling your original inks too with Leinil, and I suspect selling them well. So maraming ding advantages ang inking, maybe far outweighing the disadvantages.
    By the way, when you say Zeck and Beatty did the original first issue of Punisher, are you referring to the very, very first appearance of Punisher. I think that one is worth a few hundred dollars now.
    And congrats to John Beatty. Too bad his name was not included and definitely should have been. I’m not really familiar with his work but I’ll check out this new release
    Rod

  4. Gerry Alanguilan on March 9th, 2008 12:59 am

    Hello Rod! Inking is definitely financially rewarding, but consider that I had quit inking, and subsequently refused high profile inking jobs that could have been even more rewarding. As far as this particular inker is concerned, it really isn’t just about the money. In my case, the financial rewards never outweighed the disadvantages or else I would still be doing it. The lack of respect the inkers face is only the tip of the iceberg… and there’s many other things I’ve not mentioned here.

    My reasons for quitting are more creative than anything else. I felt that the lack of the opportunity to extend myself creatively was literally killing me, and may have in fact stunted my growth as an independent and self sufficient artist. You’re fully aware of the weaknesses I have as an artist, and that’s a result of a decades worth of neglecting my own creativity and helping other artists to reach their potential, but never mine. I hope to rectify that in the coming years.

    ******

    An inker is actually lucky to get half of the original art. The general split is more like 2/3rd goes to the penciller and the inker gets 1/3rd. I think I used to get half of the original art when I worked with Roy Allan Martinez and that was only because I was doing a lot of pencil assists and not just inking.

    I’d love to own something inked by Sandra Hope. She’s actually one of my favorite inkers because I like how the finished art looks.

    Artists can fetch high prices for their artwork at conventions for some reason, but selling the same artwork online like on Ebay sometimes can be a different story.

    Also, it depends on the artwork itself. In a particular comic book with a popular character, probably 5 pages can fetch really high prices, and the others not so much. Splashes and double page spreads with big action scenes with prominent heroes sell the best. But in a typical comic book, you get only a few pages like that. The rest of the pages, specially talking pages, or pages with supporting characters, set up pages and so forth don’t get to sell as much. I’ve got Batman/Danger Girl pages I can’t get rid of because nobody wants to buy them.

  5. Robby Villabona on March 9th, 2008 2:37 am

    Just try imagine how colorists feel :-)

  6. Rod Samonte on March 9th, 2008 6:15 am

    Gerry,
    Wow, ganoon ba? I thought Batman being an iconic superhero would be easy to sell. As I said Whilce was selling his Batman’s for really high prices. But artists know what one’s work is worth, and it’s not good practice to bring your prices down if you think they’re worth that much. Sanda Hope uses all kinds of inking technique, using a variety of tools, quills, pens, brushes, and her work is squeaky clean, no sign of any retouching on almost all of them that I saw. I would love an original of J. Scott-Campbell inked by her. She didn’t have any, probably sold them fast, as Campbell is one of the most popular illustrators around.
    Oh, I meant to ask you in my last comment, do the creative group (writers & artist) of a comics, graphic novel or whatever get any royalty when it’s reprinted? I ask you because the Superman you inked with Leinil has been reprinted a few times, I think. There’s always two or three copies in any Borders or Barnes & Noble for sale. Or are you paid outright, and that’s it, you never receive anything when it’s reprinted.
    Rod

  7. Gerry Alanguilan on March 9th, 2008 8:11 am

    The colorists’ names SHOULD be there as well. Alan Moore made sure everybody got the cover credit on the ABC books, which I thought was great.

    If they’re feeling left out, they should also raise a stink about it.

  8. Gerry Alanguilan on March 9th, 2008 8:18 am

    Rod, at auctions, the choice of final price is out of your hands. You can set a reserve price, but you run the risk of it not selling, and that’s happened several times. As I mentioned earlier, not all pieces will sell as well. The pages Whilce sells most likely has Batman prominently on the page, and those ones you can set the price quite high. But not all pages in a Batman comic book has Batman prominently on it. How about the page where Alfred goes to the kitchen to prepare breakfast? Or a page where a thug talks to another thug in a bar? Those pages won’t sell at the same high price. And in auctions, those pages sometimes don’t get sold at all, and nobody is interested enough to even bid on them.

  9. John Beatty on March 9th, 2008 9:32 pm

    Salamat, Gerry!

    You’re on of the few who understand and stand for *respect* and you’re a champion. I’m very happy to see you doing what it is that YOU want.

    To many people get caught up in “following”

    At some point, if you plan to have more sucess, you must become a “leader” and you are doing that and proving yourself to be on the right path!

    When we follow our gut, and our heart, the decision is easy.

    It may not be the most financially sound decision, but alam mo nayan,[hope I spelled that correct?] money is not everything in life!

    Ingat, Friend! :)
    -John

  10. auggie on March 10th, 2008 11:55 am

    Spot on, John ! yeah, follow your own path, is the way to bliss. So when are you visiting Bella and R.P. again ?

    BTW, IKEA hasn’t found its way here yet……

  11. John Beatty on March 10th, 2008 3:26 pm

    Auggie-

    No IKEA yet? Ahhhh!!! I do not know when…maybe never?

    Bella will be HERE on the 11th! We will be back sometime next year, 2009, I think! :)

    -John

  12. Craig on March 12th, 2008 7:34 am

    Well said, sir!

  13. Reno on March 26th, 2008 3:36 pm

    A new instance of inkers not getting enough credit: Inker mark Morales not being mentioned in all of the hoopla surrounding the SECRET INVASION series by Brian Bendis and Leinil Yu. The preview pages released by Marvel was just credited to Leinil. No offense to Leinil, but the cleaner lines Mr. Morales brings to the pages makes Leinil’s art much more pleasing to the eyes.

  14. Gerry Alanguilan on March 27th, 2008 11:56 am

    Ewan ko, policy ata ng Marvel talaga na hindi kasama ang inker sa mga ads. Kainis no? Buti pa DC actually, from my experience.