Inking
Craig Russell is also known as one of the best inkers in comics. His
inking is usually not as important for him as his personal work, 'it
pays the bills' as he's said, but the results are often very interesting.
You can find a complete (or as complete as I could make it) list here.
And below are a few highlights :
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Marvel Fanfare #8-11, 1983, Marvel Comics
Group.
Collected by Marvel
in 2007, including the comics covers.
Inking 37 pages over Gil Kane's pencils, Russell works here
for the first time on Mowgli's life. Three tales entirely drawn
by Russell will follow (Opus 19, 25, 40). The Marvel-published
Jungle stories are a good example of the interest of the collaboration
between two artists : the strength and vitality of Kane's
pencils are complemented by Russell's thin-lined inking. All the
animals are realistically drawn by Kane, and Russell's inking
gives the jungle a luxuriance which makes one hear and smell this
exotic place.
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Here's a cover for Marvel Fanfare #24, 1985, Marvel.
Russell inked it over Mike Ploog's pencils. |
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Rom #64, 65, 67, 69,
71, 75, 1985, Marvel Comics Group.
 I
know it will sound stupid to a lot of readers, but I've always been
fascinated by these issues (visually, that is...). Penciled by Steve
Ditko, it might not be his best work, but the combination of Ditko
and Russell makes me wish it could have happened more often. While
being faithful to Ditko's quirks, among them the strange positions
of the bodies of the characters, Russell's inking gives a new quality
to Ditko's characters and adds a certain subtility to the backgrounds.
A curiosity, I admit, but one which I still fondly look at. |
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The Phantom Stranger #1-4, 1987, DC Comics.
Marvel Fanfare #24, 43, 1989, Marvel.
Ironwolf : Fires of the revolution, 1992, DC
Comics.
Russell has often inked Mike Mignola's pencils, for example on
the beautiful but underestimated Ironwolf graphic novel
(written by Howard Chaykin and Jerome Francis Moore) or the Namor
story in Marvel Fanfare 43. As with Gil Kane, Mignola's
strong sense of design is well served by the precision of Russell's
inking. It's a pity Mike Mignola did not pencil The Clowns
as had been announced, even if Galen Showman's work is quite
promising.
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Taboo #8, 1995, Kitchen
Sink.
Gay Comics #21 & 25, 1993 & 1998.
 Some
of Russell's few forays into more openly gay stories have been on
David Sexton's
pencils. In Taboo, Steve Bissette's horror anthology, we
discover that Christ and the Devil are (metaphorical ?) lovers,
both ignored by God. A metaphysical story drawn in a solid, if a
bit mannered style. In Gay Comics 21, readers are
treated to a new version of the myth of Hyacinthus, the boy loved
by two gods, killed by the one whose love he's spurned, and changed
into a flower by the other. A beautiful story, drawn in sparsely
filled panels. A one-page take on Little Nemo in Slumberland
(in somewhat gayer settings than usual) in Gay Comics
25 completes this collaboration. |
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In 1997 and 1998, he inked the Star
Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Star
Wars: Crimson Empire mini-series over Paul Gulacy's pencils. |
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In 2002, he inked a six-issue
run of Wonder Woman for DC, over Jerry Ordway's pencils,
beginning with issue #189. |
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