Perfect Hulk art team on a pretty perfect Incredible Hulk page.
Ol’ greenskin knows that somewhere in Hank Pym’s laboratory — and Bruce Banner’s brain — hides the secret to shrinking back down to the microverse.
Why is this so important? I’m glad you asked. Our poor Hulk is lovesick and desperate to reunite with his beautiful Jarella.
Hulk in very panel: Raging, smashing, and blinded by love — and the self-awareness that he doesn’t retain enough of Banner’s smarts to work through it.
The single greatest compliment I ever heard abut John Severin’s art — and there were many others — came from Jack Kirby, via Mark Evanier:
“Jack used to say that when he had to research some historical costume or weapon for a story, it was just as good to use a John Severin drawing as it was to find a photo of the real thing.”
Severin’s lavish attention to detail caught my eye early. The line-work was so precise and polished. It was amazing stuff, especially considering that those details needed to reproduce on cheap, pulpy newsprint running on industrial web presses.
As a kid, especially remember his pitch-perfect inking on Herb Trimpe’s pencils for The Incredible Hulk. I also loved John’s pairing with sister Marie Severin on some of the earliest issues of Kull. John’s had one weakness was that occasionally his realistic line work could come off as stiff and inking Marie’s more dynamic layouts solved that issue.
Severin was best known for three non-superhero genres: Westerns, humor, and war. He was a pro at all three, and everything else he touched as well.
As Evanier wrote, “They don’t make ’em like that anymore.”
Indeed they don’t.
(These two pages, along with others, were especially selected for the exhibit “War No More” at the Words & Pictures Museum in Northampton, Mass. in 1993.)
John Severin’s first published war story appeared in EC’s Two Fisted Tales; inks by Will Elder and layouts by Harvey Kurtzman.
Early issues of Kull The Conqueror featured pencils (& colors) by Marie Severin and inks by brother John.
DC’s war comic books, taking inspiration from EC’s titles years prior, featured some of the best stories published in any genre. They often dealt directly with the human toll and sacrifice of war, and rarely emphasized a false “glory of battle.” In the 1970s, Editor Joe Kubert quietly added in the widget “Make War No More” at the end of many of those stories. (Seen in the published page below as the paste-up in the original is missing.)
The brilliant John Severin (1922-2012), who drew some of the best of those original EC masterpieces, returns here to illustrate Robert Kanigher’s haunting Sgt. Rock tale “The Bloody Flag.” Rock’s dialogue, and his expression in panel three, sum up much more than just the story itself.
Today we honor John, and millions of other veterans of the armed forces, past and present. Thank you for your service!
