Superman Through the Ages! Forum

According to Mark Evanier, cartoonist Bob Oksner has passed away.  He was 89.

A longtime employee of DC Comics, Oksner had a penchant for drawing pretty girls and was also known as an artist for DC humor titles like Jerry Lewis.  He drew many Superman adventures and is especially remembered for his delineation of Supergirl, Lois Lane and other female characters.  For many years he also inked Curt Swan's pencils on a number of Superman titles.

Full obit:

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_02_18.html#012954

And drew the BEST Mary Marvel EVER!  Sorry to hear the news

I was always a fan of Bob Oskner as an inker over Curt Swan's art during the seventies. People talk about the Swan/Anderson combination, and while that combo certainly was dynamite, Bob Oskner was no slouch either, a worthy and underrated substitute.

It's sad but true: people appreciate creators more when they're dead. It's a shame that Don Heck had to die in order for people to take a second look at him as an artist. I imagine much the same will be true of Bob Oskner inking over Swan.

Though it's embarassing to admit, I sort of thought Bob Oskner was already dead at this point. My reaction was the same as when Jimmy Stewart died: "whoa...he was alive until now?"

Link to Superman Artists:

http://www.supermanartists.comics.org/superart/supermanart.htm

I had the opposite of Julian's reaction: somehow I thought of Oksner as much younger.  Very sad to see another of the greats leave us.

I consider him one of the best inkers of Swan's work, and probably my number two fave behind George Klein (sorry, Murph!).  He also did a gorgeous Mary Marvel and gave me a huge crush on Angel O'Dare, still for my money one of the smokin' hot babes of all comic history.  8)

(http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/1194/400/1194_4_77.jpg)

Sad! He and Tex Blaisdell were my favourite Superman inkers in the 70s. I realised I didn't know much about him beyond his Superman work, so I looked him up today and was surprised at how many romance comics he did; he had a nice sense of composition and posed his characters very elegantly.

What a huge loss, he was one of the best, RIP.

Please see this:

http://bp1.blogger.com/_tHVfHpnv17g/Rc8ulKRICuI/AAAAAAAAAAs/tnapo8VZcLk/s1600-h/dobie2.jpg

^Tears came.

I just realized that Bob Oskner inked one of my favorite Cary Bates stories of all time: "Weather War Over Metropolis" in ACTION COMICS #441 (1974). It's depressing to think about because I recently did a review of that story.

Wow, I'm saddened.  I absolutely loved his ink work - as Julian - in the 70s.  Just loved it.

This is a sad happening, I am amazed that a lot of these guys lived to a nice old age.

As to "Weather War Over Metropolis", nice inking over a junky story... ;D

I finally got a copy of Alter Ego #67. I don't normally buy fanzines, but in this case I made an exception.

This thread appears on the Superman board, naturally enough, but it was very interesting to read the interview with Bob and find out he never liked super-hero work, and Superman was an assignment he didn't enjoy and is not particularly proud of.

Angel and the Ape (which Nightwing already mentioned in this thread) was his favourite, and where he thought he did his best work.

As I've said before, I love his good girl art. Bob says in the interview: "My women had Saturday night bodies and Sunday School faces."

He was asked where the "Oksner Woman" came from...

"My daughters were very, very pretty and had great figures. When they were in their mid-teens, I would pose them, my wife took the pictures, and I used the photos for reference."

"...Mostly they were my own children."

Also very interesting to read of his impressions and opinions of all the other comics professionals who crossed his path. Admiration for the work of close friend Irwin Hasen. Strong dislike of colleague Robert Kanigher. Disdain for the inking of Vince Colletta. Admiration for the art of Curt Swan. High regard for Tex Blaisdell but concern about Tex's heavy drinking and the effect of this on the work. Impressions of Gil Kane.

I already loved his good girl work, and his Superman inking, but I didn't realise what an amazing caricaturist he was, and how many TV and film star comics he had done.

Great interview, and a good mag.

Thanks for the tip!

Aldous - a while back, I posted some samples of earlier Oksner work in various genres over here:

http://p206.ezboard.com/RIP-A-tribute-to-Bob-Oksner/fmarvelmasterworksfansitefrm6.showMessage?topicID=334.topic

A truly remarkable artist, and very much underappreciated IMO.

Good thread there.  Oksner was amazing, its interesting to compare his women to Shaffenberger woman, longer torsos and skinnier calfs, very small feet.  And his stylized "cartooning" of real people is good.  Jerry Lewis is tough to capture in a few strokes, Dean Martin is mauch harder and he gets it by getting the hair.

Thank you for the link. I really enjoyed your tribute, particularly the examples of his comic art. I see that thread has been placed in the "Vault," but does that mean it can no longer be added to? Although Bob has passed away, his art is most certainly a living subject, and I would love to see more examples and comments about it.

Do you have any plans to extend that thread/article?

Is the Showcase - Shazam Vol. 1 the best way to see the Oksner Mary Marvel work? (I'm assuming all his solo Mary Marvel stories are included?)

Im very sad.. Oksner was one of my favourites artist,I love his job in 50s and 60s on characters like Jerry Lewis or Dobbie Gillis,and i love his girls too.The Oksner girls were like the young Connie Stevens,or Yvonne Craigh..pretties. (http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/5963/jerrylewis105ae2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us) (http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/6223/adjerrylewisjk0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Yes - I believe all of Oksner's Mary Marvel tales are included in that showcase.

I had the moderator vault the thread because I was afraid it would time out and disappear into the ether.  I'd like to add to it some day, but I don't have too much of Bob's 70s and 80s work - he did a lot of Lois and Supergirl later on.  I could have them "unvault" it if anyone had some additional contributions they'd like to make.