Posted By Dan Greenfield on Mar 21, 2024 | 5 comments

A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE to the late illustrator…

By PETER STONE

I wish I had been able to get Al Williamson to draw one of my short stories. He was one of the very best artists ever but, unfortunately, it never happened.

Alfonso Williamson was born in New York City 93 years ago, on March 21, 1931. He spent most of his early life in Bogata, Colombia, but at the age of 12, he moved back to the United States. He fell in love with comics, especially Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon. After taking classes at the Burne Hogarth Cartoonist and Illustrators School, he met Wally Wood and Roy Krenkel. Soon enough he was doing exceptional work at EC Comics in the 1950s. The highlights of his next 25 years or so were at Warren Publishing, including Creepy and Eerie; the Secret Agent X-9 comic strip; Epic Illustrated and Star Wars adaptations. Later in the ’80s, he worked at Marvel Comics, inking Spider-Man, Daredevil and Spider-Girl.

Hardcore fans are aware of Williamson’s collaborations with Frank Frazetta, which are (in my opinion) absolutely wonderful. Detailed, well-drawn and full of exciting science fiction images. Frank and Al traded back and forth between penciling and inking. The images were filled with the skills and talent of two legendary pen and ink artists. These are some of MY personal favorites.

Frazetta and Williamson

Williamson also helped many newcomers, including Bernie Wrightson and Mike Kaluta, get into the industry.

In 1993-94, Williamson also inked a couple of issues for Neal Adams’ Continuity Comics. He inked a couple of Armor comics that were based in space. I knew who Al Williamson was and enjoyed watching the great linework coming from his pen and brush.

(From the secret files of the late Cory Adams, Neal Adams’ first wife, she thought Al was a very handsome man. From the secret files of Kris Adams, my wife, she thought Al could be James Bond. He was just that interesting and good looking.)

Beyond all of that, Neal Adams loved Al’s work so much that when he started his own publishing company, he was looking for quality work that wasn’t too expensive. King Features was a great place to go. They owned the rights to Flash Gordon, so Neal was immediately interested in coloring it and putting the serialized stories in Echo of Futurepast. He had Cory (one of the very best colorists this industry has ever seen), start coloring the stats they obtained from King Features.

The black-and-white work was epic, but handled by a great colorist it is far superior. Neal certainly had the right idea, but anthology titles only had limited interest. Nine issues were great and unique and European. Neal had plans for the future, but the sales just weren’t there. Unfortunately, Cory and Neal both passed on, so the project drifts through the Continuity archives to maybe be found once again. It was done with the utmost sincerity.

It was Neal who showed me how good Al Williamson really was. How great his line work was. How interesting his science fiction compositions were. How beautiful his women were. It would be an utter tragedy to lose memory of Al, the same way it would be terrible to lose Sanchez Abuli or Angelo Torres or Hal Foster, or Serpieri or Jean Giraud or Herge. We’re probably never going to lose Frazetta, but there are artists who are fading from our collective consciousness. Al Williamson just might be one of them. Time moves forward and the younger generation hasn’t grown up with him.

Comic strips have mostly died. Al’s Secret Agent X-9 might fade away forever if we’re not careful. Or even Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant. It would be a gross disservice to the worlds of art and popular culture.

Al Williamson’s work was spectacular at a time when style was more important than anything else. He grew up on Milton Caniff, Alex Raymond, Winsor McCay, George Herriman, Chic Young, V. T. Hamlin and Chester Gould. When he became a professional, he surpassed them. He was precise and detailed compared to the much more organic, feathered style of Raymond even though they were drawing the same character. He was the absolute best artist who worked on the Star Wars adaptations. His Flash Gordon was handsome, his Dale Arden was gorgeous and his alien monsters were terrifying, yet fascinating. His people were realistic and his action sequences were full of life and motion.

There is a direct line from Alex Raymond to Al Williamson to George Lucas, to all the creative people who were inspired by Star Wars. Most of those creatives may have no idea what their true inspiration was — a brilliant artist named Al Williamson.

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MORE

— 13 BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATIONS: The FLASH GORDON of AL WILLIAMSON. Click here.

— 13 Fabulous FLASH GORDON STRIPS: An ALEX RAYMOND Birthday Celebration. Click here.

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Peter Stone is a writer and son-in-law of the late Neal Adams. Be sure to check out the family’s twice-weekly online Facebook auctions, as well as the NealAdamsStore.com, and their Burbank, California, comics shop Crusty Bunkers Comics and Toys.