Tom Palmer (American, b.1942)

Tom Palmer Bio - Comic Book Artist

Comic book artist Tom Palmer had a career that spanned decades, from the early days of Marvel Comics all the way to the modern era. He was known primarily for his work as an inker and finisher, but he was also an accomplished penciller, colorist, and painter, and even enjoyed a long career in the advertising field.

Palmer was born July 13, 1941 in Queens, New York, the youngest child in a large family of half brothers and sisters. While in the third grade, he was struck with an illness in his hip that left him bedridden for several months and forced him to recover with the use of crutches until he was a teenager. During this time, his older brother shared his coveted collection of EC comic books, and a lifelong love of comics and making art was born. To pass the time while stuck at home, Palmer would draw his own comics and even created new covers to replace the ones that had fallen off of his worn and tattered ECs.

Palmer kept an interest in art through high school and aspired to become an illustrator after graduation. He sought out work at several New York City advertising agencies while attending night classes at the School of Visual Arts. Dissatisfied with the level of painting instruction he was receiving, Palmer discovered the Frank J. Reilly School of Art. With Reilly's teaching, which focused on a system of color palette organization and a unique figure drawing method, he found what he was looking for. He also received an education outside of school while freelancing at an ad agency that also employed Jack Kamen, one of the famed EC Comics artists. Kamen took Palmer under his wing and showed him the ins and outs of the advertising field. Kamen was able to use his connections in the comic book field to find Palmer work assisting legendary comic book artist Wally Wood in his studio. After making a few more connections, Palmer landed his first professional job in the comics industry as penciller for Marvel Comics' Doctor Strange #171 in 1968.

When he returned for his next assignment, he was told that a new penciller had been found for the title and that he could instead try his hand at inking. The new artist was Gene Colan, whose lush, fully-rendered pencil art was notoriously difficult to ink. Undaunted, Palmer dove in and used techniques he developed at school and at ad agencies to translate the shades of gray in Colan's work to line art suitable for reproduction, utilizing a mix of fine pen work, crosshatching, and zipatone dot screens. The collaboration with Colan clicked and the two enjoyed a lengthy run together on Doctor Strange. Palmer also tried his hand at coloring a few months later with Doctor Strange #176 and was able to bring his knowledge of color theory to the limited number of printed colors available at the time.

Palmer proved to be a versatile inker when he landed another assignment with a newcomer to Marvel, Neal Adams. Fresh from a string of successes at DC Comics, Adams was tasked with pencilling The X-Men. His modern, photo-realistic style was a departure from Colan's pencils, and was informed by his work at several New York advertising agencies, a quality that Palmer was able to bring out with his inks by utilizing his own similar experiences. Their work on The X-Men was a success, with the two of them each landing Alley Awards in 1969. They teamed up again on Marvel's The Avengers for the celebrated “Kree-Skrull War” storyline.

Other notable work by Palmer includes fan-favorite stints on Daredevil and Tomb of Dracula with Colan, notable issues of Captain America with Jim Steranko and Conan with Barry Windsor-Smith.

Palmer enjoyed a long run on Marvel's popular Star Wars comic series, including the iconic cover of issue #1 with Howard Chaykin in 1977 as well as inking and coloring a handful of early issues over Chaykin's layouts. He returned to the title in 1981 for a celebrated run with Walter Simonson. He also handled the full art duties on a number of issues in the series, contributing pencils, inks, and colors, as well as several memorable painted covers.

In 1985, Palmer returned to The Avengers for a record-breaking stint that lasted over 11 years, beginning with finishes over John Buscema's breakdowns, and continuing with such pencillers as Paul Ryan, Steve Epting, and Mike Deodato Jr.. In the '80s and '90s, Palmer also worked with penciller Ron Garney on Marc Spector: Moon Knight and Nightstalkers, and collaborated once again with Gene Colan for a long-running Black Panther story serialized in Marvel Comics Presents.

Palmer continued working in the comic book field into the 21st century. He died on August 18, 2022, at the age of 81 after a short illness, leaving behind a huge body of work that inspired many and helped define what an inker could bring to a page of comic book art.