American comic book artist (1914-1998)
Vince Alascia
|
---|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/82/Vincent-Alascia.jpg) Vince Alascia, circa 1942
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Born
| Vincent Alascia
(
1914-01-14
)
January 14, 1914
|
---|
Died
| September 3, 1998
(1998-09-03)
(aged 84)
|
---|
Nationality
| American
|
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Area(s)
| Penciller
,
Inker
|
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Pseudonym(s)
| Nicholas Alascia
|
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Vincent Alascia
(January 14, 1914 ? September 3, 1998),
[1]
[2]
also known as
Nicholas Alascia
, was an American
comic book
artist known for his work on
Captain America
during the
Golden Age of comics
, and for his 23-year run as
inker
on a single creative team, with
penciler
Charles Nicholas Wojtkowski
(as "Charles Nicholas") and writer
Joe Gill
at
Charlton Comics
from 1953 to 1976.
Biography
[
edit
]
Early life and career
[
edit
]
Vince Alascia was on staff at
Timely Comics
, the 1940s predecessor of
Marvel Comics
, where the artist and comics historian
Jim Steranko
credits him for art as early as
USA Comics
#5 (Summer 1942), on the masked-crimefighter feature "American Avenger".
[3]
When Captain America creators
Joe Simon
and
Jack Kirby
left Timely after issue #10 (Jan. 1942) of the eponymous book, Alascia penciled the hero's adventures in the sister title
All Select Comics
#2?10 (Winter 1943/1944 to Summer 1946), generally inked by
Allen Bellman
, and in several issues of
All Winners Comics
, with a variety of inkers, starting with #11 (Winter 1943/1944).
Syd Shores
and
Al Avison
had taken over art duties on
Captain America Comics
, and Alascia shortly afterward filled-in as Shores' inker while Avison did his
World War II
military service
.
Alascia later went into rotation as one of the various
Captain America Comics
artists in any given issue. Examples of his work in that flagship title include the story "Ali Baba and His Forty Nazis" in issue #32 (Nov. 1943), inking
Ken Bald
, and "The Crime Dictator" in issue #47 (June 1945), which Alascia penciled.
It was Alascia, inked by
Bob Powell
, who drew the Captain American and
Bucky
chapters in the two magazine-length stories ? rare for the time ? of the superhero team the
All-Winners Squad
in the (non-hyphenated)
All Winners Comics
#19 (Fall 1946) and #21 (Winter 1946; there was no issue #20). Additionally, in issue #19, Alascia inked Shores on the chapter starring superheroine
Miss America
. In issue #21, he also pencilled both the
Whizzer
chapter and the final chapter, and inked Avison's
Sub-Mariner
chapter.
[4]
[5]
Other Timely work includes stories featuring the
Young Allies
in
Kid Komics
and
The Young Allies
; the
Patriot
in the omnibus title
Marvel Mystery Comics
; and occasional work in
Blonde Phantom
.
[4]
Later career
[
edit
]
Detail from Charlton Comics'
The Iron Corporal
, vol. 3, #25 (Feb. 1986). Art by Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia.
After Timely's downsizing in 1948, Alascia freelanced for such other comics companies as Avon, where he inked
Martin Nodell
, creator of
Green Lantern
, on
anthological
horror
stories in that publisher's 1950s comics
City of the Living Dead
and
Eerie
(no relation to
Warren Publishing
's black-and-white horror-comics magazine of that name). A Modell/Alascia
Eerie
story was reprinted in
Skywald Publications
,
Nightmare
#1 (Dec. 1970).
[4]
Mostly, however, Alascia worked with
Charlton Comics
of
Derby, Connecticut
, where he was teamed with
Charles Nicholas
(the 1921?1985 comics artist of that name) on a full gamut of
crime
, suspense,
mystery
, science fiction,
war
,
Western
,
romance
, and
hot-rod
titles, beginning with
Crime and Justice
#16 (Jan. 1953). The art team would sometimes sign its work
Nicholas & Alascia
, as in the panel at left. As a penciler, Alascia's work for Charlton includes the August 1956 premiere issue of
Tales of the Mysterious Traveler
.
[4]
Critical assessment
[
edit
]
Comics historian
Jess Nevins
said, "Alascia is one of those pros who did a wide range of work on a number of books over the years, but is almost completely forgotten about today; he did some work on
Captain America
[
Comics
] and on
U.S. Marines in Action
, and
Six-Gun Heroes
. His work ... strikes me as a cross between
Sheldon Moldoff
and
Mort Meskin
, and if you know anything about Golden Age artists, you know that those two are names to conjure with".
[3]
Artist
Gill Fox
had a different view, recalling that Alascia had taken "an art course that was an offshoot of the course at
Textile High School
, in New York City. I was deeply impressed with Vince's talent; he did great stuff for the yearbook. Years later, I went to see him and he had totally changed. I tried to get him to make a move into a better kind of work, but I couldn't get him to do it. Vince had an uninspired art career".
[6]
Charlton Comics
and
DC Comics
editor
Dick Giordano
felt that, "If you take a close look at Vince's inking style, you'll find it bears a close resemblance to
Alex Raymond
's style on
Rip Kirby
; that was very popular at that time. ... Vince used to have these
Rip Kirby
strips in front of him, looking at them while he was inking. But what he was inking had nothing to do with the strip he was looking at. I don't know what he got out of it except inspiration".
[7]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Vincent Alascia
at the United States
Social Security Death Index
via FamilySearch.org. Retrieved on February 16, 2013.
Archived
from the original on July 18, 2015.
- ^
Vincent Alascia
at the
Lambiek Comiclopedia
. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
Archived
from the original October 18, 2011
- ^
a
b
Nevins, Jess
.
"American Avenger"
. A Guide to Golden Age Marvel Characters.
Archived
from the original on May 16, 2010.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Vince Alascia
at the
Grand Comics Database
- ^
The All-Winners Squad
at
Don Markstein's Toonopedia
.
Archived
November 24, 2009.
- ^
"Quality Control: A Conversation with Gill Fox ? Artist, Writer, and Editor (1940?43) of Quality Comics Group"
.
Alter Ego
. Vol. 3, no. 12. January 2002.
Archived
from the original on July 7, 2010.
- ^
"Interview With Dick Giordano"
. LastKissComics.com. n.d.
Archived
from the original on October 14, 2001.
External links
[
edit
]
- The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
- Vassallo, Michael J.
"Vincent Fago and the Timely Funny Animal Dept"
. Comicartville.com. Archived from
the original
on December 8, 2008.
- Vassallo, Michael J. (2005).
"A Timely Talk with Allen Bellman"
. Comicartville.com. Archived from
the original
on December 17, 2009.
- Evanier, Mark
.
"Which writer or artist has had the longest streak working on one comic book?"
. POV Online. Archived from
the original
on February 1, 2010.
- Isabella, Tony
(May 10, 2005).
"Tony's Online Tips"
. World Famous Comics.
Archived
from the original on May 13, 2006
. Retrieved
January 15,
2018
.
- "Connecticut Talent"
.
Connecticut Historical Society
. Archived from
the original
on September 27, 2007.