Way back in the day (the day being the early 80s), it was a glorious time to be both a comics fan and a Star Wars fan. Both were stacked in nearly bottomless supply and crossed over with Marvel’s Star Wars comic series. From issue #11 to issue #54, Marvel enlisted comics veteran Carmine Infantino to be the artist. While there were the occasional fill-in issues, notably Walt Simonson and Michael Golden, most featured the former DC master doing his unique interpretation of a pretty well established visual universe.
Marvel had any number of inkers who worked on the book over those 3+ years, some great ones even. Bob Wiacek, Terry Austin and Gene Day all took a run at Infantino’s Star Wars-ish pencils. I was just learning about comics, so while I could see a difference (Austin was thin lines and super tight, Wiacek was smooth and loose.) you could see pretty much where the art had started. I knew what an inker was. I didn’t know what a finisher was. Not yet.
I knew what Chewbacca looked like. He looked like this: 
Unfortunately, I knew Chewbacca actually looked like this:
There was nothing to be done about it though. I’d rather have Star Wars comics than not have Star Wars comics. If that meant Chewbacca (and everyone else) looked like they’d been running through a monkey machine, compressed, flattened and then inked in their final form, so be it. They read like the characters they were representing, and that would carry the day. It would have to.
Star Wars #46 changed that, pretty much forever, by introducing me to something that had been in comics since the beginning: finishing. Where Terry Austin and Bob Wiacek and Gene Day had worked to bring a clear form to their pages, Tom Palmed got out his brushes and made his pages look like Star Wars.
Hey, Look! That’s Chewbacca, and I know that because he LOOKS like Chewbacca, not just because I’m being TOLD it’s Chewbacca. Lando has a human chin, not a square edged cheese cutter. If its not in the pencils, and the inker is just inking, it will never be there in the final product. A finisher changes that. Missing lines? I’ll finish it. Perspective is wrong? I’ll finish it. Characters are off model? Don’t worry…I’ll finish it. Seeing Chewie and Lando instead of two Flash or Batman characters really made a difference as a reader. It may have made a difference for Marvel as well. Tom palmer became the regular finisher on the book as of issue #55, with fill in spots on #51 & #52. He’s still working today. You may have seen him finish John Romita Jr. on Kick-A** and Kick-A**3, while providing nearly all the artwork and colors for Kick-A** 2 after a series of lazy roughs and layouts by John Romita Jr. I’ve loved him on almost everything he’s been on, but it’s his time on Star Wars that had the most impact.
Homework assignment! Take a look at some of your favorite artists. Take
a look at who inked them. See who brought out the best or the worst of
the work of someone you love, and report back to whatever store you shop
at. We love this stuff, and want to talk to you about this kind of
thing instead of movie spoilers and TV shows. Those things are fine, but
comics rule supreme.
