Comic Book Resources

Tuska takes knocks, but he was an immensely long-lived and versatile penciller in the industry for many years. His crime comics are worth a look if you can find them, and he defined a decade of Iron Man stories.

My personal favorite of his co-creations at Marvel are the first three Sleeper robots and the Controller.

For some reason, when reading your Legends column last week, I got the impression he was already dead. I don't remember why exactly, I guess you just referred to him in past tense in places that gave that impression.
Anyway, it's sad news. I knew he had to be pretty old, but I had no idea he was that old. Wow, 93.
I was never much of a Tuska fan, but he always did a competent job, which is better than some of the artists people rave about today.

Tuska takes knocks,

Really? That's horrible! Why do people take knocks at Tuska? He's one of the best to have ever done it.

I had no idea he was considered the slightest bit controversial. Saddens me a bit.

Not knocks for many, just that he's rarely anybody's #1 favorite. But he was a thorough professional. He did have a knack I won't knock, for depicting intimidating gangsters and mob bosses you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, IMHO.

Repeatng myself from the Classics forum --

I was not a particular fan of his work available in the spinner racks when I was a kid, but his style is very much a part of my overall impression of Bronze Age Marvel in particular, & in my mind that's a good thing.

Also, in today's era of drama-queen artists who take a year to draw a single story among bouts of hand-wringing, con-going & cocaine-snorting, any craftsman who can fairly be described as "certainly always reliable" definitely receives a hat-tip from yours truly

T., I was thinking mainly of the very critical mail the Iron Man title was getting towards the end of the 1970s, much of which was the fault of bad writing decisions. Still, no small number of writers decided to beat up on Tuska in the process.

Amusingly, his brief run on Avengers was followed by George Perez, resulting in at least one letter boosting Tuska. And honestly, Perez's first issue of the title wasn't as solidly drawn as Tuska's last.

Well that's sad news.

My very first US Marvel (I live in the UK and "our" comics were B&W reprints) was Iron Man #90 drawn by George. I must have read that issue loads of times and, consequently, George has always had a special place for me in terms of artists.

His Iron Man is the definitive one for me for just that reason.

George was one of the best comic book artists ever. I was lucky to work with him on several occasions, easily the greatest thrill of my career.

Thank you, George. I miss you already.

Scott Lobdell

I was another who didn't appreciate Mr. Tuska's work in my youth, but came to a much better appreciation for his figure work and storytelling sense much later. He definitely drew dynamic action sequences. Rest in Peace, George Tuska- you left a definite mark.

This is sad news, though I've sadly never really seen much of Tuska's work. But it's inspired me to check some out—does anyone have any suggestions about where I should start?

Any 1970s issue of Iron Man will have his pencilling, but I recommend any issue in the range of IM #88-92. After several lackluster years, new writers came aboard there and suddenly Tuska's art went back to its classic dynamism.

If you want to see some of his best Marvel stuff in black and white, though, Iron Man Essentials 3 has that Controller story AND the awesome Midas/Madame Masque intro arc in it. Plus they both have bits of the criminally underrated Archie Goodwin run, which was (for me) the earliest point at which the title truly fired on all cylinders.

Anyone have any suggestions for reprints of his crime comics work?

Sorry, that should be IM #86-102. Beautiful stuff.

Most of the discussion of Tuska here relates to his Marvel work, or bronze age work in general. This was not his best era. But the Tuska of the Golden Age was a master craftsman. It's usually only in trade magazines or other scatter shot places that we get to see some of this gorgeous stuff, even in this age of reprints. Still, it's enough to convince me Tuska was one of the greatest ever.

George and my dad drew many comics together along with the newspaper strip World's Greatest Superheroes. Vinnie said that Tuska's pencils were the cleanest in the business. He was also, by all reports, a very nice person.

RIP George.

I was never a fan back in the day, when my untrained eye was mainly looking at how kewl each individual panel looked. Looking back, I see what a great sequential story-teller he was.

Tuska, like Swan and Heck, never excited me, but never let me down either.

Tuska was one of those guys who was so good you never noticed how good he was.

I'm sad for his family and fans. It's nice to know that he led a long life, though. He won't easily be forgotten.

He was a WW II vet too, i think.

His bronze age work was solid, but his golden age work was absolutely outstanding. He easily outshone many artists in that era. Blessings to his family. Thank you George.

@T.: I can only speak for myself, but one reason I didn't much care for Tuska's Bronze Age work was that he always seemed to draw men with a pronounced overbite that I found hard to ignore. Oddly, he didn't show this quirk when drawing women (in fact, he drew quite attractive women), and from what I've seen of his Golden Age work, he didn't have it then. Like others, I now appreciate the solid storytelling and professionalism of his Bronze Age work - and his earlier work was quite good.

I always likes Mr. Tuska's work, having grown up reading his Iron Man issues over and over.
On the "more unhappy news" front, I just read on Tony Isabella's Facebook that letterer Joe Rosen has just passed away as well.

"O" --

>>one reason I didn't much care for Tuska's Bronze Age work was that he always seemed to draw men with a pronounced overbite that I found hard to ignore.

That's a quirk of his that I've mentioned at least a couple of times on the Classic Comics forum the last few years ... not only that, but the men's teeth never showed any, for lack of better words (hey, I'm till waking up, though in all honesty that will be true until about mid-afternoon, considering how badly I sleep), definition or delineation. It's like they were all wearing featureless white plastic mouth-guards.

Again, though -- a quirk, not a fault per se.

Tuska was one of the great, unsung workhorses in comics.

Here's hoping Marvel, DC, et al., put out tribute collections of his work. A new, comprehensive World's Greatest Superheroes trade would be superb.

Best Iron Man artist, loved his Madame Masque

He should be remembered for his great Golden Age work, since his Iron Man was quite dull (although more due to the writing than the art) and lasted WAY too long.

I blame 70s Iron Man for the realtive lack of popularity the character has compared to other Marvel heavy hitters.

But Tuska deserves all possible praise for his crime work on the 40s and 50s. Wish I could read more!

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

Many happy memories of George's work from my early comic reading days - JLA 153 and DD Annual 4 spring immediately to mind - great power and action in his work. Shame I don't know as much about his earlier peaks in the crime books.

I liked Tuska's Iron Man work as a kid, but I never really considered his work particularly noteworthy. it wasn't until much later that I looked back and realized how really good he was. Oddly enough, even though Iron Man was really his major gig at the time, my most fond memory of his work comes from his runs on Avengers and the Champions.

Put me with the "never cared for it as a youngin" camp.

As an adult I can totally appreciate the strengths of his art. Like was said before, he never excited me, but he never let me down either. I really appreciate his professionalism and ability to meet deadlines.

Thanks for everything George!