Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.99: Jim Aparo

No.99: Jim Aparo

Sometimes referred to as a “journeyman” or even “pulpy” artist, Jim Aparo was definitely more, and one of the unsung mainstays at DC during the company’s pivotal Bronze Age period. Words: Andrew Colman…

Arriving from Charlton Comics in the late 60s at DC, Aparo quickly became a regular Batman artist on Brave and the Bold, Detective Comics and Batman, his combination of dynamic, realistic art with newspaper strip concision making him second only to Neal Adams when it came to illustrating the character. His deft use of camera angles and movement were all part of his assured storytelling and compositional ability, especially in Brave and the Bold where he and Bob Haney would manage to wedge a (often ludicrous) twenty page story into twelve or thirteen pages.

His best work was on Detective Comics, where his detailed lines and inks created the necessary night time mood, although his action sequences were also top draw. Also worthy of mentioning was his work with Michael Fleisher on Adventure Comics 431 – 440, delineating an excessively vengeful Spectre that spliced off-kilter horror with noir, as well as his long stint on Phantom Stranger, which also evoked similar tropes.

Known primarily in fandom for his collaboration with Jim Starlin on Ten Nights of the Beast and A Death in the Family, Aparo may have had limitations as an artist, with his work becoming more generic in the latter half of his career, but his unfussy, captivating early ‘70s output was very emblematic of the era, and deserves its place on this list.

AC

Read the first two entries so far here too

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.100

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.101