Some comic book artists make a career of inking other artist's pencils.These inkers make anybody's pencils look good.

Voted for ______.

Of course, it had to be....

I just did a poll like this within the last year or so... but my vote is the same nonetheless -- Joltin' Joe Sinnott.

Joe Rubinstein

Joe Sinnott or Wally Wood, from the list. Lack of Joe Rubenstein up there while including the scratchy, "3 year old kid with a black marker and a can of spray paint" inks of Klaus Janson is criminal though.

That's nutty, Jeff. Janson's one of the biggest inkers of all time.

I know he is. I'll never get why. Personally, I think he brings every artist down dramatically. Even Buscema and Garcia-Lopez look like crap under Janson inks.

This.

Have you ever seen millers dd pencils before Jason inked them ?

To be fair, I didn't mind Janson over Miller on DD or Dark Knight. I bet Rubenstein or Palmer would have done it better though.

I think his work on Miller's Daredevil, Dark Knight Returns and Romita JR's Thor was all good and fit the books he was on... but yeah, he's not a guy that works on everyone.

And I bet Wally Wood or whoever could have drawn it better -- but the work is the work, and IMO, it's some of the best stuff ever.

The only times I have liked Janson is over Miller, Colan and sometimes himself. Janson can do remarkable work, but more often than not he's just shitting it out and it looks like a mess.

Well, when you take Miller off, you're removing the core component that made the run great. The combination of writer/artist was key to the success and quality of that run, which is some of the best stuff ever, yes. I own the Omnibus and companion, so the whole Miller run. I love it. But I don't think changing inker would have made one iota of difference to what Miller brought to DD, which is why I feel safe saying it would have looked better under Rubenstein inks.

If you are a penciler who wanted your style not to be lost under the inks, Farmer, Klein and Giacoia would be the ones to go to from the list above.

Despite that, I went with Wood.

Al Williamson is better that most on that list, btw.

Wow, "shitting it out"?

I can totally understand not liking his work, but I wouldn't ever think he's hacking it out. To me, this is like people who think punk or metal is just a bunch of talentless noise and screaming without really understanding how technically complex some of the playing actually is.

Agreed.

While I picked Sinnott because I like the slick "classic 60s comicbook pop art" look he brings to stuff, I think Williamson's ability to draw with ink is nothing short of astounding. I might rate him the best I've ever seen.

Rubenstein is great at tightening up and rendering loose pencils. He and Bob Layton are both great at spotting blacks and making forms jump from the background. Rubenstein on Cockrum did not work for me.

Both Mike Esposito and Jack Abel were great inkers in their heyday.

Drawing in inks is really tough... with no ability to use gradients or color, you really have to be creative to render believable textures and subtle lighting techniques.

Williamson is a genius at it. Did he ever ink anyone besides himself? I'd be curious to see him over John Buscema.

I think that I understand the techniques of inking pretty well, thank you.

Jason is about as subtle and nuanced as an atom bomb. No matter the penciler, Janon's women almost always wind up looking the same with different hair. He can turn the most accurate penciling into wonky anatomy. He likes to ink fast and get a job done quickly, or as he says, "I enjoy the beach too much."

The pros that I have stalked and bothered at cons agree with me on this.

Dick Giordano.

I love Anderson and Ordway as inkers because I love their pencilling styles. But Giordano is the guy that "disappears" when he's inking a great artist and steps forward when he's inking a lesser artist.

I voted for Mark Farmer, but that's more from a criteria of "favorite"; I don't think there's such a thing as best inker. I don't think there is a better inker for Alan Davis out there than Farmer, but I don't think he would gel that well with Romita Jr., say. The end result might look okay, but it wouldn't look nearly as right as Klaus Janson or Al Williamson on JR Jr.

Joe Sinnott was the best Kirby inker, imo, but is the best inker on everybody? I think his work is always incredible, just on account of its sheer slickness, but I don't think his are always the best possible results.

And could anybody ink Mike Mignola and have it be as good as Mignola inking himself? Doubtful (Duncan Fegredo (sp), maybe).

As far as the Janson controversy, there are times when his work is sublime, other times it looks scratchy. I'll never get, for instance, the appeal of his work on Archie Goodwin's and JB's Wolverine.