Frank Giacoia
Encyclopedia
Frank Giacoia was an American
comic book
artist
known primarily as an inker
. He sometimes worked under the name Frank Ray, and to a lesser extent Phil Zupa, and the single moniker Espoia (the latter used for collaborations with fellow inker Mike Esposito
).
's School of Industrial Art (later the High School of Art and Design
) and the Art Students League of New York
. He broke into comics by penciling the feature "Jack Frost" in USA Comics #3 (Jan. 1942), published by Marvel Comics
' 1940s precursor, Timely Comics
. His friend and collaborator Carmine Infantino
, a classmate at the Art Students League, recalled that
Later in 1941, Giacoia joined the New York City
comic-book packager Eisner & Iger
, the studio of Golden Age
greats Will Eisner
and Jerry Iger
. His early works include crime
for Ace Comics, horror
for Avon Comics, and a multitude of characters for National Publications
(the primary company that evolved into DC Comics
) including the Flash
and Batman
.
Other companies for which Giacoia did art during the 1940s and 1950s include Crestwood
, Dell Comics
, Eastern Color, Fawcett
, Harvey Comics
Lev Gleason Publications
and Timely Comics
, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics
. For Timely's USA Comics #1 (Aug. 1941), he penciled the debut of the feature "Jack Frost", inked
by friend and high-school classmate Carmine Infantino
— the latter's first art for comics.
, Giacoia became best known as a Marvel Comics inker, particularly on Captain America
stories penciled by the character's co-creator, industry legend Jack Kirby
. One of the company's preeminent names, he worked on virtually every title at one time or another.
Giacoia also worked on the newspaper
comic strip
The Amazing Spider-Man
(based on the same-name Marvel comic-book series) from 1978–1981, as well as on the strips Flash Gordon
, The Incredible Hulk, Johnny Reb and Billy Yank
, Sherlock Holmes
and Thorne McBride.
"So You Want A Job, Eh?" - The Gene Colan Interview
I was looking to team up with someone, but I didn't. Once it left my hands, I never could get a good inker. I can't remember his name, the fellow who inked for DC that eventually worked with Stan. He passed away... Italian guy.
Roy Thomas: Frank Giacoia?
Yeah, I loved him. He always made me look good.
--Gene Colan
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
known primarily as an inker
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
. He sometimes worked under the name Frank Ray, and to a lesser extent Phil Zupa, and the single moniker Espoia (the latter used for collaborations with fellow inker Mike Esposito
Mike Esposito (comics)
Mike Esposito , who sometimes used the pseudonyms Mickey Demeo, Mickey Dee, Michael Dee, and Joe Gaudioso, was an American comic book artist whose work for DC Comics, Marvel Comics and others spanned the 1950s to the 2000s...
).
Early life and career
Frank Giacoia studied at ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's School of Industrial Art (later the High School of Art and Design
High School of Art and Design
The High School of Art and Design is a Career and Technical Education high school located at 1075 Second Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets in Manhattan, New York City, New York.It is operated by the New York City Department of Education...
) and the Art Students League of New York
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
. He broke into comics by penciling the feature "Jack Frost" in USA Comics #3 (Jan. 1942), published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' 1940s precursor, Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
. His friend and collaborator Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
, a classmate at the Art Students League, recalled that
Later in 1941, Giacoia joined the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
comic-book packager Eisner & Iger
Eisner & Iger
Eisner & Iger was a comic book "packager" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the late-1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books...
, the studio of Golden Age
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
greats Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
and Jerry Iger
Jerry Iger
Samuel Maxwell "Jerry" Iger was an American cartoonist. With business partner Will Eisner he co-founder of Eisner & Iger, a comic book packager that produced comics on demand for new publishers during the late-1930s and 1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic...
. His early works include crime
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
for Ace Comics, horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
for Avon Comics, and a multitude of characters for National Publications
National Publications
National Publications was one of the companies that would later become DC Comics. The corporation was originally two companies: National Allied Publications and Detective Comics.They two merged in the 1930s to become...
(the primary company that evolved into DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
) including the Flash
Flash (comics)
The Flash is a name shared by several fictional comic book superheroes from the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 ....
and Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
.
Other companies for which Giacoia did art during the 1940s and 1950s include Crestwood
Crestwood
Crestwood is a common placename:In Australia:*Crestwood, New South Wales, an urban locality in the Baulkham Hills Shire region of Sydney, Australia*Crestwood, Queanbeyan, New South Wales, a suburb of Queanbeyan, New South Wales...
, Dell Comics
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...
, Eastern Color, Fawcett
Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s...
, Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Gleason, was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including Daredevil, Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics....
and Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. For Timely's USA Comics #1 (Aug. 1941), he penciled the debut of the feature "Jack Frost", inked
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
by friend and high-school classmate Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
— the latter's first art for comics.
The Silver Age
During the 1960s Silver Age of comic booksSilver Age of Comic Books
The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the...
, Giacoia became best known as a Marvel Comics inker, particularly on Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
stories penciled by the character's co-creator, industry legend Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
. One of the company's preeminent names, he worked on virtually every title at one time or another.
Giacoia also worked on the newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring the adventures of the fictional superhero Spider-Man. Being the mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a monthly periodical and was published continuously until it was...
(based on the same-name Marvel comic-book series) from 1978–1981, as well as on the strips Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
, The Incredible Hulk, Johnny Reb and Billy Yank
Johnny Reb and Billy Yank
Johnny Reb and Billy Yank was a Sunday comic strip drawn by Frank Giacoia from November 18, 1956 to May 24, 1959. It was one of the last full page Sunday strips. The last full page appeared in late 1957. On May 18, 1958 the title changed to Johnny Reb...
, Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
and Thorne McBride.
Awards
Giacoia was nominated for the Shazam Award for Best Inker (Dramatic Division) in 1974.Quotes
The 20 Greatest Inkers of American Comic Books — #5 Frank Giacoia:"So You Want A Job, Eh?" - The Gene Colan Interview
I was looking to team up with someone, but I didn't. Once it left my hands, I never could get a good inker. I can't remember his name, the fellow who inked for DC that eventually worked with Stan. He passed away... Italian guy.
Roy Thomas: Frank Giacoia?
Yeah, I loved him. He always made me look good.
--Gene Colan