Bob Smith (comics)

Bob Smith
Born (1951-11-18) November 18, 1951 (age 73)
Aberdeen, Washington
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Inker
Notable works
Detective Comics
Bob Smith inks on Gene Colan pencil art for Night Force #8 (March 1983). Enlarge to see details, such as delicate lines for auto headlights glowing at bottom.

Robert Allen Smith (born November 18, 1951), better known as Bob Smith, is an American comic book artist, notable as an inker with DC Comics and Archie Comics.

Smith was born in Aberdeen, Washington,[1] and grew up in Grayland, Washington. After studying at Grays Harbor College, a community college in Aberdeen, he graduated in 1974 from Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University), where he took courses in drawing and painting. After Smith became interested in comic books in 1971, he contributed to Mike Friedrich's Star Reach, published from 1974 to 1979.[2]

DC Comics

Shortly after relocating in New York in 1975, Smith entered mainstream comics with the story "The Bogus-Men Will Get You if You Don't Watch Out!" in DC Comics' Plastic Man #12 (April–May 1976),[3] continuing his art education at the Art Students League. From 1982 to 1987, he shared a studio with artist Batton Lash at 225 Lafayette Street, chosen because it is a comics historic address, the location of EC Comics in the 1950s.[2]

He worked for DC until 2011, inking numerous titles, including Black Canary, Detective Comics, Green Lantern, The Huntress, Secrets of Haunted House, Star Trek, and Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe,[3] while also working on DC style guides and other items for Joe Orlando's Special Projects Department.[2][4]

Archie Comics

Smith drew cartoon features for Crazy Magazine[3] and also worked at Continuity Associates.[5] In 1998, he began inking many titles published by Archie Comics, usually collaborating with Stan Goldberg, and also inking the Archie daily and Sunday strips. Living in Covington, Washington, he continues to embellish pages for Archie Comics.[3][4]

Comic strip

Distributed by the Creators Syndicate, the Archie comic strip was written by Craig Boldman, pencilled by Fernando Ruiz, lettered by Jon D’Agostino, and inked by Smith.

Bibliography

Archie Comics

  • Uslan, Michael, Stan Goldberg and Bob Smith. Archie Marries. Abrams ComicArts, 2010. Double die-cut slipcased edition collects seven issues of the Archie Marries Veronica/Archie Marries Betty comic book series with added bonus features.
  • Uslan, Michael, Stan Goldberg and Bob Smith. The Archie Wedding: Archie in Will You Marry Me? Archie Comics, 2010. Paperback.

Bongo Comics

Charlton Neo

Dark Horse Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics / United States Postal Service

First Comics

HM Communications, Inc.

Malibu Comics

Marvel Comics

Star Reach

References

  1. ^ Kupperberg, Paul (November 1978). "DC Profiles #43: Bob Smith". Detective Comics (480). DC Comics. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Stroud, Bryan D. (May 14, 2011). "Bob Smith Interview". The Silver Age Sage. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d Bob Smith at the Grand Comics Database
  4. ^ a b "Bellingham Comicon: Bob Smith". Bellinghamcomicon.com. n.d. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016.
  5. ^ Bails, Jerry; Ware, Hames. "Crusty Bunkers". Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999. Archived from the original on May 11, 2007. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
Preceded by Detective Comics inker
1983–1986 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
n/a
 Captain Atom vol. 2 inker
1987–1989 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Catwoman vol. 2 inker
1994–1996 		Succeeded by
Mark Pennington