The Daily Comic Book Coffee, number 65: Today we have a double dose of Da Ordster! First up is Adventures of Superman #428, penciled & inked by Jerry Ordway, written by Marv Wolfman, lettered by John Costanza, and colored by Tom Ziuko, published by DC Comics in May 1987.
Here we see Clark Kent and Cat Grant at the offices of the Daily Planet, discussing Perry White’s ongoing investigation of organized crime in Metropolis. Clark is having his morning coffee, and as we can see from his choice of mug he’s a fan of The Far Side.
This page is a good example of both Ordway’s storytelling and inking. He does a good job laying out the conversation between Clark and Cat, presenting it from different angles, making it interesting. I like how Ordway inks Cat on this page. Panel four is especially beautiful.
I know that it’s undoubtedly a function of my having gotten into DC Comics in the late 1980s, but I definitely regard Ordway as one of the definitive Superman artists.
Jumping forward a dozen years we have Avengers volume 3 #18, written & penciled by Jerry Ordway, inked by George Perez, lettered by Richard Starkings, and colored by Tom Smith, published by Marvel Comics in July 1999.
Ordway wrote & drew a really fun three issue story arc on Avengers to give Kurt Busiek & George Perez a chance to catch their breaths. This is the final page of Ordway’s last issue.
Hank Pym is in his lab late at night, studying the technology of the cyborg Doomsday Man, one of the threats the Avengers faced during Ordway’s storyline. Hank has obviously been working for a while, because he disgustedly thinks to himself “*GAH* Coffee’s bitter! ‘Course that pot’s only been on all night…”
Before Hank has a chance to brew some fresh java he is interrupted by the violent arrival of several leering metal monstrosities, servants of his mechanical “son” Ultron. And so Ordway segues back into Busiek & Perez’s own ongoing storylines, with Perez himself inking this last page as part of the transition. Ordway must have been working closely with Busiek, Perez and editor Tom Brevoort to get everything to line up so smoothly.
Jerry Ordway is one of my favorite comic book creators, and I enjoyed his short stint on Avengers. As much as I liked Busiek & Perez, I really wish Ordway could have done more work on this title. He latter penciled the Domination Factor: Avengers and Maximum Security miniseries, on both of these once again doing excellent jobs depicting Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
I don’t think Ordway’s had any ongoing assignments in the last two decades, instead bouncing around between various short guest runs, fill-ins, miniseries and specials. That’s a shame, because he’s a very talented artist.
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