Friday, August 10, 2018

Making a Splash: Bob McLeod Inks DC

Check it out, Groove-ophiles: Thursday (yesterday) was Bob McLeod's 67th birthday! So let's celebrate by planting our peepers on Mr. McLeod's magnificent inks on a tons o'DC splash pages! A perfect companion piece to our look at Bob's Marvel work--which you can check out right here!  (And yeah, it's about time!) Happy birthday, Bob M.!
Aquaman #61

Aquaman #62

Brave and the Bold #137

DC Special Series #6

DC Special Series #1




House of Mystery #258








Star Spangled War Stories #204


Superboy #240



8 comments:

  1. Wow, how quickly time passes in the Groovyverse. It seems like just a short while ago I was meeting Mr. McLeod in NYC (1991). Now he's 67 and I'm just a little shy of 62. He has one advantage over me. He retains a youthful face. He was another of the Continuity Associates team that came out of nowhere and contributed greatly to DC and Marvel from the 70s onward (along with Janson, Mitchell, Austin, Rubinstein and Wiacek). Each was a top tier talent who joined the already established Palmer, Giordano and Sinnott to elevate comics pencilling to an even greater art form while maintaining their individual styles. I love the Legion stories represented here. No matter who McLeod inked the finished product was top notch. He was also a powerhouse penciller/inker giving co-birth to the New Mutants before settling in for a long run as Dale Keown's embellisher on the Peter David run of the Incredible Hulk in the 80s/90s. He was at the Jet City Comicon here in Tacoma a few years back signing 39 comics for me at a buck apiece (I always feel I should offer more to these awesome talents but conventions usually leave me tapped out financially). When I got home I discovered to my dismay I had accidentally walked off with a half dozen prints he had been selling. I was able to contact him in Pennsylvania and get the artwork back to him. I'm not a print person or I probably would have bought them. I have also bid on eBay for his Jimmy Carter Coloring Book from the 70s but not been able to come up with a winning bid so far. So happy birthday, Mr. McLeod (it took awhile to find out his name was pronounced McClowd). If you are retired, I hope you are enjoying a well deserved final act to your life. If still working, you can be assured I am purchasing your output. And we wouldn't mind seeing you again in the Pacific Northwest. Promise I won't walk off with anything next time.

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  2. Bob McLeod is one of the best artists in the biz, period!

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  3. Bob McLeod made many a lesser artist shine with his superior draftsmanship. And when paired with good artists like James Sherman on the LSH, the results were spectacular. I still lament the passing of his terrific Rough Stuff magazine for TwoMorrows. His critiques of aspiring artists therein were master classes in good story telling and composition. Great stuff!

    Happy Birthday, Mr. McLeod!

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  4. Whatever happened to James Sherman? He and McLeod made a great team on LoSH.

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    1. I made a cursory search on the internet but nothing current came up. I know he very briefly was involved with Red Circle when they started up a superhero line in the 80s but I don't know of anything beyond that. Maybe he found a more lucrative career in animation or other types of illustration. He sold a friend of mine an original page from the one issue of Silver Surfer he did for $100. He was a very nice man.

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    2. He's on Facebook... or was a couple of years back, at least. Looked like he'd gone into commercial illustration, if memory serves. That Sherman/McLeod team was amazing; among the best of the era, I reckon. Such a shame that it didn't last longer...

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