I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Almond at the Pittsburgh Comicon. He agreed to an interview for the Revolution. Bob inked one of my personal favorites-Black Panther-where he worked with Christopher Priest and Sal Velluto. Bob is also the founder and director of the Inkwell Awards.
Inkwell Awards logo design by Dan Panosian
An academic project Bob did to simulate Berni Wrightson’s style in 1987 to accompany an interview he did with Wrightson.
1. How did you get started in comics?
Bob:The right place, the right time. I was taking up Illustration at the local art college and did a project where I needed to interview an artist and do work in their style.
A friend then got me Bernie Wrightson’s number and I made the ballsy move of calling him and asking for an interview. (Something I don’t see myself doing today or recommend anyone themselves doing).
From that, Wrightson generously invited me to his annual Halloween party in upper-state New York and that led to a few years later showing my portfolio to him and his pal Jim Starlin. Jim got his editor at Marvel to hire me for Warlock and the Infinity Watch towards the close of 1991 after seeing my sample inks.
2. What has been your favorite book you worked on?
Bob: Black Panther
A Geof Isherwood penciled Falcon and Crimson Avenger comission inked by Bob. Thanks to Damen Owens.
3. “Black Panther” was one of my favorite books. Do you have any comments or behind the scene stories about working on the series?
Bob: Boy, do I. The first few months we were on the series there was some miscommunication about the look of the book which is why Sal Velluto and I were doing that kinetic, sketchy look. Then, when we got it right, we lost our first editor Ruben Diaz.
Right from the start we were told that sales were low, them having dropped post Marvel Knights, so we never expected to be on the series long.
Then writer Christopher Priest starting communicating with us via emails around issue 16 or 17 and we worked magic at that point in my opinion.
I’d discovered that BP Jungle Action artist Billy Graham had recently passed away so I asked editorial to dedicate him in issue 17 which was appropos since it was our ‘blaxploitation’ issue and he’d worked with some of the attached characters back in the 70’s.
Then we were able to get a better colorist with Steve Oliff thanks to editor Tom Brevoort, but we still weren’t happy with the color rendering. (Our budget had diminished once the series left the Marvel Knights umbrella and coloring was now limited in scope).
Cancellation was always imminent and there were numerous false alarms so you can imagine that our mindset was always one of concern. But, thankfully, Priest gave Sal motivation by allowing him to render his old series character Moonknight in a 2-parter and I got to play with the Avengers, my favorite series. With the end of the multi-chapter Killmonger saga we were limited to only doing 3-5 issue arcs “just in case”.
Sales stabilized. With the following arc, “Sturm Und Drang,” we got to do the story most readers remember us for where we brought Storm back to T’Challa’s life (following Chris Claremont’s Marvel Team-up #100 back-up tale) and his most recognized rogue, Klaw (who I lobbied for), in an global war epic between Wakanda and Atlantis that included Magneto, Namor, Dr. Doom, the Deviants, Ghaur, Hunter the White Wolf, and many more.
This was the arc that increased sales. And we got VLM/ Jennifer Schellinger to take over coloring with issue 30 or 31 and she had good communication so we were finally excited about our overall art production. And I lobbied for M’Baku the Man-ape to make the scene so he appeared next. (During the Malice arc “Seduction of the Innocent”, allowing us to be the only BP creative team to handle all three of T’Challa’s major enemies up to that point).
Brevoort left as editor at that point and Mike Marts came aboard. All three of us had worked with Mike at Acclaim Comics so we were in complete sync at that point. I reminded everyone that Panther’s 35th anniversary was approaching so they planned it for the 36th issue using a story that Priest had previously planned for a BP annual with Ruben that never happened. It was our version of The Dark Knight Returns so that was certainly a highlight. Cool characters like Henry Peter Gyrich, Nightshade, and ‘Happy Pants’ Panther joined the cast in those following months so that was a lot of fun.
Priest got to wrap up some loose ends with a Power Man and Iron Fist tale and that led to the ambitious “Enemy of the State 2” arc of which it was hoped would increase sales to extend our time on the book. It didn’t matter that we had Iron Man, Wolverine, Alpha Flight, and Kirby characters galore (in The King’s style, natch!), sales didn’t increase.
But, with that run Sal accomplished the second-longest uninterrupted run on BP with 10 issues, 9 issue for me (a personal best for us possibly) after Kirby and Graham with 13 issues each. While working on issue #43, Mike Marts let us know that our run would coming to an end and they wanted to launch a new artistic team for #50.
Originally, Priest was also going to be off the title with us but that later changed. We were able to wrap up loose ends with our closing arc “The Death of the Black Panther” and I convinced Sal to render Jungle Action reformed villain, the original Venomm, into the battle scenes since they already included EVERYBODY ELSE, why not? Out with a bang with more stories to tell…not a bad way to go.
The series limped on for another year with multiple rotating artists and a new approach, but it finally ceased it’s course with issue 62, Panther’s longest run to date. And our three-year run with the character is still an unmatched record to this day even on the present series by Reg Hudlin.
It makes me truly proud to see our efforts extend a dying series all that time. Now, if only the work by Sal and myself would be collected in English here like it has been overseas in other languages. After the Marvel Knights issues, only the Storm return issue #26 has been reprinted (twice) from the entire run.
4. Another book that you inked that I really liked was “Captain Gravity”. Any chance of more “Captain Gravity” books (or any other pulp style books in the works)?
A Mike Lilly penciled Nightwing commission inked by Bob. Thanks to Brendan Hood.
Bob: I wish, but no. Writer Joshua Dysart wrote up a proposal for a sequel that Sal and I would render but the publisher decided not to go further with it. Which shocked me since the series was their first to sell out and have issue one get a second printing!
5. Are there any pages that surprised you when you were finished with them? Maybe one that when it was done, you had a “wow” moment?
Bob:I can’t think of anything specifically but many of the pages that I inked over Sal and penciler Mike Lilly was a nice combination of synergy where I saw pencil work that motivated me and allowed me enough liberties to play up the material further in ink. I got to have some fun recently over Gordon Purcell on IDW’s Star Trek: The Last Generation, too.
6. Do you have a favorite writer/artist you like to work with?
Bob: Besides Priest and Velluto? I’ve enjoyed collaborating with so many talents in the industry. For writers I’d still like to work on an assignment by Kurt Busiek, Mark Waid, and Fabien Nicieza. George Perez was my inspiration as a kid to get into comics and I was thrilled to inked part of a cover image over his layouts a few years ago and a couple of recent commissions.
Commissions have allowed me to work over many legends and greats that I wouldn’t normally be hired to touch like Gene Colan, Jim Starlin, Dave Simons, Fred Hembeck, Paul Ryan, MC Wyman, Don Perlin, Herb Trimpe, Bob McLeod, Al Rio, George Tuska, Adam Hughes, Mike Grell, Dick Ayers, Geof Isherwood, Cameron Stewart, Trevor Von Eeden, Ron Wilson, Shane Glines, John Romita, Sr., Norm Breyfogle, Mike Perkins, Terry Dodsen, Tim Vigil, Ed Benes, Terry Moore, Mark Texeira, Bob Budiansky, Luke McDonnell, Val Semeiks, Darryl Banks, Aaron Lopresti, Mark Beachum, Frank Bolle, David Finch, Brett Booth, and soooo many more. Other than Byrne, Golden, Wrightson, and a few others. I’ve inked over most of my favorites already!
7. Do you have a favorite comic series?
Bob: Avengers. I have all of volume one (#1 signed by Stan, Jack, and Dick) and volumes two and three. The less said about the present runs the better;-) I grew up on 70’s and 80’s Marvels so those are my faves but I also have many silver-age issues and contemporary stuff in my collection.
8. Do you have a project that you dream of doing but have not done yet?
Bob: Something where I can also do co-writing/plotting or the sequential layouts besides inking (maybe even letters and digital colors).
9. Do you have any future plans you can discuss?
A Sal Velluto page from The Phantom: Bloodstones (24/2008) inked by Bob,
Bob: I have been inking my oft-partner Sal Velluto on The Phantom off and on for overseas publisher Egmont and I have more pages arriving this week. I also write a regular inking-related column called ‘Inkblots’ in Sketch Magazine.
I am the founder and director of the charity organization The Inkwell Awards (http://www.inkwellawards.com) which has an ongoing mission of bringing more recognition and appreciation to the artists and craft of inking in the comic book industry. We have voting and trophy awards given to the winners every year and our third successful year is in the works. We have also initiated the Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon & Graphic Art (http://www.kubertsworld.com).
I am also celebrating my personal website’s first ten years online in 2010 with the site being entirely revamped (http://www.almondink.com). But, the traditional, old venue which had more character will be archived for the sake of historical record for those who care . The new site is still under construction but that would be the best place to discover what project is next on my schedule. I also want to thank the fans for all their support.
Preliminary sketch done by Angel Medina for Warlock and the Infinity Watch #20 in 1993
Recreation of cover by Angel Medina for Warlock and the Infinity Watch #20. Inked and finished by Bob last month. Thanks to Jason Hickok.
Original cover penciled by Angel Medina and inked by Bob for Warlock and the Infinity Watch #20.
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Jim