Thomas John Palmer (July 13, 1941 – August 18, 2022) was an American comic book artist best known as an

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. The penciller creates a drawing, the inker outlines, interprets, finalizes, retraces this drawing by using a pencil ...

for

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

Biography

Although Tom Palmer created a small amount of

penciling A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors ...

work (as well as some cover art and some coloring), the vast majority of his artistic output since the 1960s was as a comic book

. Reminiscing about how he came to be an inker, Palmer recounted: Palmer's extensive work for

includes runs paired with pencilers

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Supe ...

on '' The Avengers'' and ''

Uncanny X-Men ''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of superheroes called the X ...

'';

Gene Colan Eugene Jules Colan (; September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011)Eugene Colan
at the Social Security Death Index via ...

, on titles such as ''Doctor Strange'', '' Daredevil'', and ''

Tomb of Dracula ''The Tomb of Dracula'' is an American horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. The 70-issue series featured a group of vampire hunters who fought Count Dracula and other supernatural menaces. On rare ...

''; and

John Buscema John Buscema (; ; born Giovanni Natale Buscema, December 11, 1927 – January 10, 2002)Social Se ...

, on ''The Avengers''. He also inked the entire run of John Byrne's '' X-Men: The Hidden Years''. Palmer is widely considered the definitive inker for Gene Colan, whose use of grey textures made his pencils notoriously difficult to ink in a way that did them justice. Colan has stated publishers never answered his requests to be paired with a specific inker. Palmer reasoned that, "I think the way we both worked in the business, we had a book to get out every month, bills to pay, and somehow we were put together as a team. We could have been forgotten and ignored, and we'd not be sitting here today. But somehow, I think, the fans have brought us to this point of recognition." Palmer's brushy, detailed, and illustrative inking style hearkens back to vintage newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s like '' Steve Canyon'' and ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

'', and has influenced later generations of inkers like Klaus Janson,

Josef Rubinstein Josef "Joe" Rubinstein (born 4 June 1958) is a comic book artist and inker, most associated with inking Marvel Comics' ''The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' and the 1982 four-issue ''Wolverine'' miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank ...

, and Bob McLeod."The 20 Greatest Inkers of American Comic Books," Atlas Comics.
Accessed December 16, 2008. Palmer's son Tom Palmer Jr. is a comic book professional who had a long-running column, Palmer's Picks, in the now defunct ''Wizard Magazine: The Price Guide to Comics'' and he was also an editor for

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

. Palmer died on August 18, 2022, at the age of 81.

Awards

In addition to the awards below, Palmer was also named the #3 Inker of American Comics by Atlas Comics. * 1969

Alley Award The Alley Award was an American annual series of comic book fan awards, first presented in 1962 for comics published in 1961. Officially organized under the aegis of the Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences, the award shared close ties with th ...

* 1975 "Favorite Inker"

Comic Fan Art Award The Goethe Award, later known as the Comic Fan Art Award, was an American series of comic book fan awards, first presented in 1971 for comics published in 1970. The award originated with the fanzine '' Newfangles'' and then shared close ties with ...

'' The Buyer's Guide to Comics Fandom'' #123 (March 26, 1976). * 2008 "Favorite Finisher/Embellisher" Inkwell Award * 2014 "The Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award" Inkwell Award

Selected bibliography

Marvel Comics

*''

The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a bim ...

'' ''Annual'' ''(Vol. 1)'' #14 (inker) (1981) *'' The Avengers'' ''(Vol. 1)'' #75-96, 257-262, 291–299, ''Annual'' #17, 300, 400 (inker) (1985–1996) *''

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

'' (Vol. 3) #50 (penciler, with

John Romita Sr. John V. Romita (; born January 24, 1930) is an American comic book artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics' ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and for co-creating characters including the Punisher and Wolverine. He was inducted into the Will Eis ...

Bruce Timm Bruce Walter Timm (born February 5, 1961) is an American artist, animator, writer, and producer. He has contributed to building the modern DC Comics animated franchise, most notably '' Batman: The Animated Series'' (1992–1995) and the subseque ...

Ron Frenz Ronald Wade Frenz (born February 1, 1960) is an American comics artist known for his work for Marvel Comics. He is well known for his 1980s work on ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and later for his work on '' Spider-Girl'' whom he co-created with writ ...

Sal Buscema Sal Buscema (; ; born Silvio Buscema, January 26, 1936) is an American comics artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he enjoyed a ten-year run as artist of ''The Incredible Hulk'' and an eight-year run as artist of ''The Spectacular Spider-Ma ...

and

Rick Veitch Richard Veitch (born May 7, 1951) is an American comics artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics. Early life Rick Veitch is a native of the small town of Bellows Falls, Vermont. One of six children, he w ...

) (2002) *''

Doctor Strange Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...

(Vol. 2)'' #6, 8-18, 36–45, 47 (inker), 171 (penciler), 172-183 (inker) (1975–1981) *''

Giant-Size Man-Thing The Man-Thing (Dr. Theodore "Ted" Sallis) is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writers Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway and artist Gray Morrow, the character fir ...

'' ''(Vol. 1)'' #5 (inker) (1975) *'' Marvel Super-Heroes'' ''(Vol. 1)'' #23 (penciler) (1969) * ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' ''(Vol. 1)'' (cover artist) #1-3, 46, 50, 57, 63, 65-91, 100 (penciler) # 10, 63, 65, 70, 87 (inker); #8-10, 46, 49–63, 65–94 (1981–1985) Luke Skywalker: The Rise of a Hero (2017) *''

Spider-Man Unlimited ''Spider-Man Unlimited'' is an American animated series by Saban Entertainment which features the Marvel comic book superhero Spider-Man, intended as a loose sequel series to the previous '' Spider-Man: The Animated Series'', which ran from 199 ...

(Vol. 1) #7 (penciler, with

Ron Lim Ronald Lim (born 1965) is an American comic book artist living in Sacramento, California. He is best known for his work for Marvel Comics on their various "cosmic" titles, most particularly the ''Silver Surfer'' (vol. 3) series. Biography Lim's ...

and Phil Gosier) (1994) *''

The Incredible Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book a ...

(Vol. 2)'' #25, #27-28, #30-32, #34-43, #75, #77-81, #95 (inker) (2001-2006) *''

The Tomb of Dracula ''The Tomb of Dracula'' is an American horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. The 70-issue series featured a group of vampire hunters who fought Count Dracula and other supernatural menaces. On rare ...

'' ''(Vol. 1)'' #1–70 (inker) (1973-1979) *''

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

(Vol. 1)'' #272-277, #280 (inker) (1978-1979) *''

(Vol. 1)'' #56-65; 73, 281–285, 288 (inker) (1969-1992) *'' X-Men: The Hidden Years (Vol. 1)'' #1–22 (inker) (1999–2001)

DC Comics

*''

Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/Comic anthology, magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics ...

'' #447, 800 (1975, 2003) *'' The Adventures of Superman'' #458, 526, 539 (1989–1996) *''

Atari Force ''Atari Force'' is the name of two comic book series published by DC Comics from 1982 to 1986. Both were loosely based on trademarks of Atari, Inc. Publication history The first ''Atari Force'' title was a series of minicomics created in 1982 t ...

'' #14 (1985) *''

Batgirl Batgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. Although the character Betty Kane was introduced into publication in ...

'' #30 (2002) *''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'' #343–345, 348, 553–554, ''80-Page Giant'' #1 (1982–1998) *''

The Batman Adventures ''The Batman Adventures'' is a DC Comics comic book series featuring Batman. It is different from other ''Batman'' titles because it is set in the continuity (and style) of '' Batman: The Animated Series'', as opposed to the regular DC Universe. ...

Annual'' #1 (1994) Action Comics Vol 1 749 Adventure Comics 80-Page Giant Vol 1 1 Adventure Comics 80-Page Giant Vol 2 1 Adventures of Superman Vol 1 563 Adventures of Superman Vol 1 564 Adventures of Superman Vol 1 570 Adventures of Superman Vol 1 571 All-Star Batman Vol 1 5 The Batman Chronicles Gallery Vol 1 1 Batman Secret Files and Origins Vol 1 1 Batman Versus Bane (Collected) Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins Vol 1 1 Batman: Bane of the Demon Vol 1 1 Batman: Bane of the Demon Vol 1 2 Batman: Bane of the Demon Vol 1 3 Batman: Bane of the Demon Vol 1 4 Batman: Black & White, Vol. 1 (Collected) Batman: Black & White, Vol. 2 (Collected) Batman: Bullock's Law Vol 1 1 Batman: Bullock's Law Vol 2 1 Batman: Gotham Knights Vol 1 15 Batman: Knightfall Vol. 1 (Collected) Batman: Knightfall Vol. 2 (Collected) Batman: Legacy Vol. 1 (Collected) Batman: Legacy Vol. 2 (Collected) Batman: Road to No Man's Land Vol. 1 (Collected) Batman: Road to No Man's Land Vol. 1 (Collected) Batman: Two Faces Vol 1 1 Batman: Two Faces Vol 1 2 Catwoman/Wildcat Vol 1 1 Catwoman/Wildcat Vol 1 2 Catwoman/Wildcat Vol 1 3 Catwoman/Wildcat Vol 1 4 Cyborg Vol 1 2 Cyborg Vol 1 2 Detective Comics Vol 1 704 Detective Comics Vol 1 725

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Tom 1941 births 2022 deaths American comics artists Silver Age comics creators Marvel Comics people Inkpot Award winners