George Roussos
Born	August 8, 1915(1915-08-08) Washington, DC, United States
Died	July 2, 2000 (aged 84) Bay Shore, New York
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Inker, Colorist
Pseudonym(s)	George Bell

George Roussos, also known as "George Bell" (August 20, 1915, Washington, DC, United States – February 19, 2000, Southside Hospital, Bay Shore, New York) was an American comic book artist best known as one of Jack Kirby's Silver Age inkers, including on landmark early issues of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

One of comics' most famous covers: The Avengers #4 (March 1964) art by Jack Kirby (penciler) & Roussos (inker).

The son of Greek-Americans William and Helen Roussos, George Roussos and his sisters Helen and Alice were orphaned as children. George was sent to live at the Brooklyn Orphan Asylum in New York City, and attended Public School 125 in the Woodside neighborhood of Queens. Roussos was influenced by the art of cartoonist Frank Miller (1898-1949) in the aviation comic strip Barney Baxter in the Air. Other influences included Chester Gould (Dick Tracy), Stan Kaye, Robert Fawcett and Hal Foster (Prince Valiant). "I had no schooling [in art] except the things I learned by myself," Roussos said.^[1]

He entered comics in 1939 as letterer of the Spanish-language version of the newspaper panel Ripley's Believe It or Not. The following year, Bob Kane and Bill Finger hired him to assist inker Jerry Robinson on Batman stories. Roussos' duties included drawing backgrounds, inking, and lettering.^[2] He and Robinson would eventually leave the Kane studio to work directly for National (DC Comics) on Batman and other characters. Roussos worked on features starring the Vigilante, Johnny Quick, Superman, Starman. His most notable DC work was as penciller of the Detective Comics backup feature "Air Wave", on which he experimented, on at least one story, with using only shades of gray for color.

[edit] Comic books and comic strips

Other companies for which Roussos drew during the 1940s Golden Age of comic books included Marvel-precursor Timely Comics, as well as Avon Publications, Standard/Better/Nedor, Family, Fiction House, Hillman Periodicals, Lev Gleason Publications, and Spark. He also did 16 internationally distributed educational pamphlets for General Electric, receiving a World War II draft deferment to do so.

After a brief attempt to open an art school with comics-artist colleague Mort Meskin, Roussos added comic strips to his repertoire, assisting artist Dan Barry's Flash Gordon, Charles Flanders' The Lone Ranger, Dan Heilman's Judge Parker and Sy Barry's The Phantom, and succeeding Fred Kida as artist on Judge Wright from 1947 until the strip's demise the following year. Roussos unsuccessfully pitched syndication companies his own comic strips, such as the science fiction feature 2001 A.D. in 1945, the archeology strip Azeena in 1967, and Transisto, with Batman writer Bill Finger, in the late '60s.

Comic-book clients during the 1950s included that decade's Marvel precursor, Atlas Comics, along with Crestwood, EC, and St. John Publications.

[edit] Silver Age Marvel

In the 1960s, Roussos ironically gained the most prominence of his career under the pseudonym George Bell when he became Jack Kirby's inker on landmark early issues of Marvel's Fantastic Four. His bold, blocky inking gave a rough-hewn solidity to issues #21-27 (Dec. 1963 - June 1964), which featured two early Doctor Doom confrontations, the first Hulk vs. Thing battle, and guest stars The Avengers. As well, Roussos had inked the Kirby covers of issues #11, 13, and 18-20.

Roussos also inked the return of Captain America in Kirby's The Avengers #4 (March 1964) — the cover of which has become one of comics' most famous — as well as Kirby's classic Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #3-7 (Sept. 1963 - March 1964).

[edit] Later career

After doing some work for Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror-comics magazines in 1970 and 1971, Roussos — who was frequently the uncredited colorist on many Marvel Silver Age comics, as was Marie Severin^{[citation needed]} — became Marvel's full-time staff colorist. In the early 1980s, Roussos was Marvel's official cover colorist.^[3]

Roussos was a Renaissance man whose myriad interests included architecture, astronomy, automobiles, gardening, natural medicine, philosophy and photography. He took photographs of various Long Island estates, and his photographs at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park were collected in his book, The Bayard Cutting Arboretum History, published by the Board of Trustees and the Long Island State Park and Recreation Commission in 1984. The Bayard Cutting Arboretum gift shop describes it as "an in-depth look into the Cutting family and their estate. This book contains many photographs of rarely seen interiors of the house." ^[4]

Roussos died of a heart attack. He was married twice: to Viola Fink, followed by Florence Lacey (married 17 November 1980, died 1998). Roussos had three sons (William, Robert, and Louis) and a daughter (Marie).

[edit] Quotes

Atlas Comics [retailer] Presents: The 20 Greatest Inkers of American Comic Books: #15 George Roussos "was so adept with a brush in his hand that his co-workers appointed the nickname 'Inky' to him. His style was often thick, heavy with blacks, and sported nice contrasts which complimented [ sic ] one of his prime collaborators in the 50's, Mort Meskin".^[5]

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Roussos, George. The Bayard Cutting Arboretum History. Oakdale, NY: The Board of Trustees and the Long Island State Park and Recreation Commission, 1984.
• The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
• The Grand Comic Book Database
• The Jack Kirby Museum search page
• Don Markstein's Toonopedia
• Classic Comic Books
• The Comic Strip Project: Credits
• P.O.V. Online (column): "Why did some artists working for Marvel in the sixties use phony names?" by Mark Evanier