Aparo inked by Bill Draut--Girls' Love #142

Here's a rarity! From DC's Girls' Love #142, an uncredited story pencilled by Jim Aparo, and inked by Bill Draut! If you're having trouble spotting Jim's work underneath Draut's oppressive inks, you're not alone...but look at panels 3 and 4 of page 3 to see the most distinctive evidence of Aparo's style!
Click the pages to expand for a good look at the original art pages!

Heroes Against Hunger

This page was pencilled by Sal Amendola, who did a few stories for DC back in the 70's, and inked by Jim Aparo. It's from "Heroes Against Hunger", DC's contribution to the African hunger fundraising effort of the 80's. I think Jim and Sal were a pretty compatible pair, but Sal did very little work, and is largely forgotten. It's worth another look, anyway. Kinda weird to see eyes in an Aparo Batman, though, isn't it?

Aparo in the 30th Century!

Here's an interesting cover with Jim Aparo art that's easily overlooked: Legion of Super-Heroes #300. Easily overlooked because it's a "jam cover": different artists contributed different characters to the picture. Aparo was a curious choice to participate, since he couldn't really be considered one of the classic Legion artists; he had illustrated two earlier covers for the series, and he was probably assigned those only because DC didn't have a job ready for him when he showed up in the New York offices on a particular day.
But which character did he draw on this cover? Can you spot the Aparo figure? Here's a hint: it's a character he had drawn for a different series just a month earlier!

Aparo, Orlando, and Andru--Together!

Back in 1992, when Chris Khalaf and I first revived the Jim Aparo Fan Club and began publishing our Newsletter, Chris lamented that he wished he had bought a "young readers" Batman book that featured art by Jim Aparo inked by Joe Orlando (his old Phantom Stranger and Spectre editor!). Chris couldn't remember the details of the book, which is surprising given his astounding skills at recall in the world of comics, but I knew it was something I had to look out for; after all, I've always aimed at amassing a complete Aparo collection. About 5 years ago, I found the book Chris had remembered. I stumbled upon it at an antique store, marked at $3.00.

It's this:

"The Case of the Laughing Sphinx", written by Andy Helfer, and illustrated by Ross Andru, Jim Aparo, and Joe Orlando. It's a hardback, heavily illustrated book that originally came with a cassette tape, presumably with a reading/dramatization of the story (several familiar names from DC are listed in the voice credits).

Chris hadn't remembered Ross Andru's contribution, which was obviously the layouts. I've got a lot of love for Ross, but I've never liked the layouts he produced for other artists. Aparo pencilled from his layouts for many covers, including Detective Comics in its "Dollar Comic" era. I can spot Andru's hand most easily by looking at the legs: Ross seems to have believed that a dynamic cover required knees bent at rather extreme angles. Batman's bended knee here is not too bad, but some of the squats that Aparo had to draw on those 'TEC covers were pretty awful looking.

How about the interiors? Here's a sample for you all:

Spectre Fill-in Pencillers

Recent discussion of Aparo on the Classic Comics Forum at www.comicbookresources.com reflects a reasonably popular opinion that Jim Aparo's work on The Spectre (in Adventure Comics #431-440) was his best work. The opinion certainly has its merits, but one should note that this run of issues is not actually pure Aparo art. In two episodes, a couple of unexpected fill-in artists provide pencil art which Aparo inked (but did not letter). I've never been fully happy with either of these installments; while Aparo's finishes do provide a consistency with the other issues, the page design is strikingly unlike Jim's usual work, with detrimental effects.

First up, veteran artist Frank Thorne contributes the pencils for issue 434, "The Nightmare Dummies and...The Spectre!". Let's have a quick look:

Well, this page doesn't look too bad, but I don't like the framing in that top tier. The visual flow in the entire issue is awkward, although Thorne's actual renderings are, typically, just fine.

Interestingly, Thorne gets to illustrate the apartment of Spectre's alter ego Jim Corrigan in this issue. When Aparo returns to the set a few issues later, in a solo-drawn installment, he faithfully recreates the furnishings and decor that Thorne established in 434. Very nice bit of set continuity, and quite unexpected.

Note also that Thorne essentially co-pencilled the cover, which faithfully recreates a scene from the interior. Sharp eyes will discern the Thorne-like qualities of the almost-headless animated dummy.

Now let's have a look at issue 438, "The Spectre Haunts the Museum of Fear". Editor Joe Orlando tasked DC's Bronze Age mainstay Ernie Chua (a.k.a. Ernie Chan) with the pencils for this installment.

Um...to put it tactfully, I was never a big fan of Chan's work. It had many of the characteristic techniques common to the many artists recruited from the Phillipines in the 1970's, without the flair that I admired in artists like Nestor Redondo, Alfredo Alcala, or Tony deZuniga, nor the quirks of guys like Gerry Talaoc or Rico Rival. Chan's work usually struck me as stiff and posed and unauthentic. His rendering of clothing is unconvincing here, and his expressions of action are, here at least, undynamic.

All in all, both jobs are perfectly adequate for the standards of the time, but for me, they somewhat spoil a memorable run.