Valley Independent Sentinel

Cool Comic Drawings In Derby

by Jason Bagley | Jun 7, 2010 6:00 am

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Posted to: Derby

Derby  —

Comic book enthusiasts came to an art gallery last month to see comic book art and learned insider details about the industry along the way.

“So, inking is like tracing?” one man, wearing a tight black Batman T-shirt, asked Frank McLaughlin, a local legend in the comic book world.

“Well, no, not really,” replied McLaughlin, who worked at Charlton Comics, a former Derby comic book publishing company, during the late 1960s.

The admirer and the admired were at an opening for McLaughlin’s comic art at the Valley Arts Council gallery at 37 Elizabeth Street, where McLaughlin’s prints from his 45-year career are on display and for sale. The art will remain on display through June 28.

McLaughlin is known for his work on comics such as Batman, Iron Man, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Captain America and, Judomaster—McLaughlin’s original character, on which he did the penciling—the first lines drawn on a blank sheet of paper—and the inking.

So what IS Inking?

Inking, as opposed to penciling or drawing the original print, is not simply a matter of coloring between the lines or tracing, McLaughlin explained.

It is a skill that set McLaughlin apart in the 1960s.

“Most of them (other comic artists in the 60s) couldn’t ink,” McLaughlin said. “The inker is the last guy to handle a piece of art.”

Although he admitted he would rather have “penciled,” he found his niche—and a career—in inking.

As opposed to penciling, inking has the prints already laid out. Through inking McLaughlin was responsible for giving comics their explosive color.

“Precise inking is very difficult,” said Veronica Cassel-Vaz, an artist and member of the VAC. “His inking is not labored over,” she said, pointing to one of McLaughlin’s works in the center of the gallery.

Unlike the artist who draws the original print with a pencil, she said, the inker only has one shot to get it right.

McLaughlin’s Background

Before he drew capes and masks, McLaughlin drew nuts and bolts.

After leaving the U.S. army in the early 1960s, McLaughlin went to work at Sikorsky Aircraft as a technical illustrator.

“You can’t not be an artist, I found that out,” McLaughlin said.

Charlton comics, a comic book publishing company that has its roots in Derby, published Judomaster in 1966. At the time, McLaughlin was the Art Director at Charlton Comics before he started to work for DC and Marvel Comics in the 1970s.

“Batman put my kids through college,” he said.

From Inking to the iPad

McLaughlin reflected on changes in the comic book industry during the gallery opening.

The shelf life of comics is limited, McLaughlin said.

“Production costs have gone sky-high,” he said.

But new technology might be reviving the industry.

The Marvel Comics application for the iPad, which offers reprints of such classics like Iron Man and Captain America, debuted last month, charging $1.99 per comic.

The Arts Council

Since the gallery opened in March 2008, the number of exhibits has increased dramatically, said vice president of the VAC Stephen DiRienzo at the opening of McLaughlin’s exhibit, “Heroes World.”

“When we started it was a couple a year, now it’s a couple a month.” DiRienzo said.

DiRienzo said the money from all artwork “funnels back into the gallery” and a portion will help fund community-based programs such as “Derby Day,” a student art show and competition.

“I’ve always been a fan of comic books,” DiRienzo said.

“That type of art is lost,” DiRienzo said referring to the digital age of graphic novels, “This stuff is all done by hand.”

Twenty percent of the sales of McLaughlin’s work will help raise money for programs at the arts council.

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