Comments on: R.I.P. George Tuska

By: Sean Moylan

Sean Moylan — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:37:36 +0000

I’ve loved George Tuska’s artwork since about 1967 or 68 and I collect what I can afford of it until this day. His covers of Avengers #48 and Iron Man #11 were instant masterpieces and his inking of Kirby’s work on Captain America #112 was fantastic. He was the definitive Iron Man artist and his Luke Cage was great too. He was one of the most underrated comic artists ever. I don’t want to bash Vince Colletta because he was an excellent romance artist, but his inking style just didn’t mesh with either Tuska or Kirby’s styles. Inkers like Johhny Craig, Graham and Tuska himself brought out the best in Tuska’s work. Look at those early issues of Iron Man that Tuska illustrated. They were all great and so were Colan’s issues. Once again God bless you George.

By: Phillip Beadham

Phillip Beadham — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:20:28 +0000

In the 1970s, some of George Tuska’s work was simply the best of its kind. Captain America # 215 was the first Marvel All-Colour Comic I ever read; and, to me, George Tuska & Pablo Marcos drew the definitive Captain America. I liked Byrne & Stern’s work on Captain America, too, but George Tuska’s is more evocative. Again, George Tuska & Pablo Marcos’s depiction in Jim Shooter’s Avengers run (# 163?), of Iron Man vs Hercules, is one of Marvel’s greatest battles. Moreover, to me, Iron Man # 106 (my first Iron Man), is the definitive Iron Man, making the character appear both ‘robotic’ and human. Finally, Captain Marvel’s battle against Nitro, when Mar-vell lifted the oil tanker, is another story I’ll never forget. Only as an adult, did I realized that in 3 out of these 4 stories, George was working as a pinch hitter. He was sometimes AT LEAST as good as the artist he was covering for, and often much better.

By: LouReedRichards

LouReedRichards — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:26:30 +0000

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!

By: kalorama

kalorama — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:48:47 +0000

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.

By: doctor bob

doctor bob — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:19:59 +0000

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.

By: Pedro Bouça

Pedro Bouça — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:54:19 +0000

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)

By: terri

terri — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:04:32 +0000

Best Iron Man artist, loved his Madame Masque

By: Ian A.

Ian A. — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:07:56 +0000

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.

By: Dan Bailey

Dan Bailey — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:40:01 +0000

“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.

By: badspock

badspock — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:18:07 +0000

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.

By: "O" the Humanatee!

"O" the Humanatee! — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:27:10 +0000

@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.

By: Cully C

Cully C — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:48:17 +0000

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.

By: Zombie X

Zombie X — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:45:15 +0000

He was a WW II vet too, i think.

By: Lt. Clutch

Lt. Clutch — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:41:26 +0000

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.

By: The Mutt

The Mutt — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:21:54 +0000

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.

By: Franklin Colletta

Franklin Colletta — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:08:14 +0000

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.

By: benday-dot

benday-dot — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:04:25 +0000

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.

By: Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy!

Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:16:22 +0000

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

By: Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy!

Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:15:25 +0000

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?

By: Drew

Drew — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:06:33 +0000

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?