Dick Ayers RIP

[philcom55]

Veteran Marvel artist Dick Ayers died on Sunday having just passed his 90th birthday. Though he drew several major superheroes in the early days, and inked a lot more, he's probably best remembered for a long run on Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. Much of his work was reprinted here in the UK over the years in titles like Pow!, though the most unlikely contribution might well have been a run of the western version of the Ghost Rider (a character he'd originally drawn for another company in the 1950s) which appeared in TV21 during the early 1970s.

- Phil Rushton

[Lew Stringer]

Veteran Marvel artist Dick Ayers died on Sunday having just passed his 90th birthday. Though he drew several major superheroes in the early days, and inked a lot more, he's probably best remembered for a long run on Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. Much of his work was reprinted here in the UK over the years in titles like Pow!, though the most unlikely contribution might well have been a run of the western version of the Ghost Rider (a character he'd originally drawn for another company in the 1950s) which appeared in TV21 during the early 1970s.

- Phil Rushton

Pow! never reprinted any of the Sgt.Fury strips that Dick Ayers drew, Phil. They only reprinted the first 7, all drawn by Jack Kirby (although Ayers inked the first 3, - quite brilliantly).

However, I would guess that perhaps Marvel UK's Fury weekly reprinted some of the Ayers strips. (I never followed that comic so I'm not sure.)

Sadly his Ghost Rider strips were resized so awkwardly in TV21, with panels chopped or extended with badly drawn bits etc, that they're not the best representation of his UK published work.

Like you say, there'd be lots of other UK comics that reprinted his work though. It's likely that some of his work was reprinted in British comics in the 1950s too.

[stevezodiac]

As a fan of Westerns I will always remember his work on Marvel western comics like the Two-Gun Kid. I think he did a few stories for DCs mystery comics in the 70s or 80s. Steve Ditko must be the only silver age great still with us.

[Lew Stringer]

As a fan of Westerns I will always remember his work on Marvel western comics like the Two-Gun Kid. I think he did a few stories for DCs mystery comics in the 70s or 80s. Steve Ditko must be the only silver age great still with us.

There's still quite a few left: John Romita, Steranko, Marie Severin, Murphy Anderson, Sal Buscema, Neal Adams, Joe Sinnott, Stan Lee, Roy Thomas......

[philcom55]

Thanks Lew - I wasn't sure how far Pow!'s Sgt. Fury strips got, though I knew he'd definitely inked some of Kirby's issues. He might not have been Jack's flashiest inker but I always thought he produced a good, honest representation of his pencils.

On the 50s reprints and his western art, here's Dick's splash page for the British edition of Ghost Rider no.3, published by Cartoon Art Productions of Glasgow - along with its Frank Frazetta cover.





- Phil Rushton

[paw broon]

Sad indeed. I am a fan of his work, in particular Ghost Rider, which I came to via the American originals - Magazine Enterprises M.E. Prof H has a page of Ghost rider covers, most by Ayers and they are excellent. Have a look here:-
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogsp ... rider.html

[tony ingram]

Veteran Marvel artist Dick Ayers died on Sunday having just passed his 90th birthday. Though he drew several major superheroes in the early days, and inked a lot more, he's probably best remembered for a long run on Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. Much of his work was reprinted here in the UK over the years in titles like Pow!, though the most unlikely contribution might well have been a run of the western version of the Ghost Rider (a character he'd originally drawn for another company in the 1950s) which appeared in TV21 during the early 1970s.

- Phil Rushton

Pow! never reprinted any of the Sgt.Fury strips that Dick Ayers drew, Phil. They only reprinted the first 7, all drawn by Jack Kirby (although Ayers inked the first 3, - quite brilliantly).

However, I would guess that perhaps Marvel UK's Fury weekly reprinted some of the Ayers strips. (I never followed that comic so I'm not sure.)

Some of Dick's work on that strip was reprinted in Fury and later in Forces in Combat, but a lot more was reprinted in Mighty World of Marvel after Fury was merged into it.