No words can speak as eloquently as Paul Gulacy’s own artwork can. Paul
exploded on the comic book scene in the mid 1970s at the same time as many
others. John Byrne, Gene Day, Jim Starlin, Frank Brunner and many
more…they all came in at roughly the same time with varying degrees of
success. Some remained with comic books, some vanished, some sought
greener pastures, and then there was Gulacy.
Gulacy first appeared to be a comic book reader’s idea of a perfect storm.
His art was photorealistic; a combination of the best aspects of Neal Adams,
Joe Kubert and Jim Steranko, the latter would always be cited as a strong
influence. Gaining his first regular assignment at the age of 20, Gulacy,
paired with writer Doug Moench, took a Jim Starlin created concept, Shang
Chi, Master Of Kung Fu, and made it his own. Not many people remember the
Starlin drawn Shang-Chi, but anyone worth their salt remembers Gulacy and
the combination of Moench and Gulacy is one that can make any comic book a
cut above all others.
Gulacy had more than just flashy art to fall back upon. He took a title that was
meandering along and turned it into the must have Martial Arts title of the
era. Gulacy tapped into the consciousness of the time and gave Shang-Chi
an identity by cleverly modelling the character on the late Bruce Lee, both
physically and with an uncanny likeness. Not even being told to stop would
change this, if anything, Gulacy stepped it up a notch by using living actors
and personalties for supporting characters – the pages of Master Of Kung Fu
would feature characters clearly based on actors David Niven, Marlon
Brando, Sean Connery and many more. Gulacy would take this to the ultimate
level by having James Coburn appear in a stunning water-colour story in
Eerie in 1979 and upon his return to Marvel in the early 1980s his Black
Widow would feature antagonists based upon Michael Caine and Humphrey
Bogart.
Gulacy also had the one vital arrow in his quiver that not many could master –
he could actually draw exciting fight scenes. Be it a five page fight
sequence, or a one a page, half a page, it made no difference. Gulacy’s
characters moved and posed in his comic books as they would in real life.
The fights that Gulacy portrayed were years away from the non-realistic
cartoon-like versions that artists before him had done. Gulacy blended
realistic fights with the dynamics of Jack Kirby and the angles of Ross Andru
to great effect.
By the end of the 1970s Gulacy had outstripped his influences and become an
influence in his own right. Steve Rude and Frank Miller are but two who sing
the praises of Paul Gulacy, and his stylistic art techniques can be found in any
number of other artists, from the late Don Newton through to Michael Golden
through to Michael Netzer. However anyone who thought that Gulacy was a
one trick pony would be very disappointed. Gulacy managed to break out of
being typecast (so to speak) as an action artist with non-action stories such
as the six page silent vampire story, Bats, and his later work in the horror title
Eerie. However in the 1980s it was the teaming of Gulacy and Don McGregor
on their character, Sabre, that made people sit up and take notice. Sabre,
although full of action, was more about pure storytelling and taking risks than
anything. In the pages of Sabre, taboos were challenged, with Sabre, an
African-American, having a relationship with a white woman, Melissa Siren.
This hadn’t been attempted before in mainstream comic books, and in the
hands of lesser talents it would have fallen flat. McGregor and Gulacy made
it work.
Paul Gulacy may not have drawn every character there is, but the characters
he has drawn he’s left his own distinct mark upon. From the early days at
Marvel through to his work at DC on Batman and Batman/Predator and much
more, Paul Gulacy has marked himself as a true master of the medium. I’ve
always maintained that anyone who can’t see the sheer quality, grace and
fluidity of Paul Gulacy must either be blind or utterly ignorant of what makes
comic books great.
--Daniel Best, 23/07/2009, 7:00pm
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