Terry Austin

Terry Austin (born August 23, 1952) is an American comic book artist, working primarily as an inker. He is best known for his work embellishing John Byrne's pencils on The Uncanny X-Men from 1977–1981.

Early life and career

Austin grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and attended Wayne State University.^[1] He got his start as an assistant to Dick Giordano and Neal Adams, doing "Crusty Bunker" jobs for Adams' Continuity Associates.^[1] Austin came to prominence in 1976–1977, inking Marshall Rogers' pencils on a celebrated run of Batman stories for DC's Detective Comics (collaborating with writer Steve Englehart). During this same period, Austin inked Al Milgrom on Marvel Comics' Captain Marvel, and then teamed up with Rogers again over at Marvel on Doctor Strange.

Austin's inks on John Byrne's pencils, from Uncanny X-Men #142, p. 12.

X-Men

Soon after his run on Doctor Strange, Austin and penciler John Byrne became the new art team on Uncanny X-Men. With writer Chris Claremont they produced a series of stories — particularly The Dark Phoenix Saga — that turned the title into the top-selling American comic.

Post X-Men

Austin decided to leave Uncanny X-Men in 1981, after learning of Byrne's departure, and has since worked on a variety of titles for both Marvel and DC, including Doctor Strange (over the pencils of Paul Smith and Dan Green), Superman (over Byrne), Justice League America (over Kevin Maguire) and Green Lantern (over Darryl Banks). Austin was the regular inker of DC's Superman Adventures for more than six years, from 1996–2002. His inking work since 2002 has been sporadic.

Inking style and influence

Austin's inking — especially in the 1970s and early 1980s — is notable for its smooth, precise rendering; heavy outlines; and extremely detailed backgrounds, making his embellishing work easily identifiable. He was known to favor a Hunt 102 crowquill pen for inking figures, and a Rapidograph technical pen for backgrounds.^{[citation needed]} Austin's style has been highly influential on a subsequent generation of inkers such as Andy Lanning, Scott Williams,^[2] and Art Thibert.^{[citation needed]}

Writing and penciling

He has also worked as a writer, primarily for Marvel's X-Men titles and a run on the Bill Mantlo/Ed Hannigan-created characters Cloak and Dagger. Austin wrote and inked the Dark Horse Comics' adaptation of Splinter of the Mind's Eye produced in 1995.

His rare penciling jobs can be seen on the covers of Uncanny X-Men nos. 123 and 142, as well as his self-published book, Austin Art: 60 Pages of Drawings by Terry Austin (2003)^[3]

Popeye

He is a notorious fan of Popeye^[4] and often draws the character in crowd scenes in the comics on which he works.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Austin currently lives near Poughkeepsie, New York, and gets together with fellow comics veteran Fred Hembeck often.

Bibliography

• Detective Comics #471-479
• Superman vs. Muhammad Ali (background inks)
• Secret Origins vol. 2, #6 (1986) (inker for the Batman story only)
• Uncanny X-Men #108-143
• The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans
• Doctor Strange #48–60, 66, 68, 70, 73
• New Mutants vol. 1 #41-42, 53-61, 64-66
• Epic Illustrated #15–20, 26–34
• Batman vs. Predator II: Bloodmatch
• Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye
• New Mutants Special Edition #1
• Superman Adventures #1-66
• Green Lantern vol. 2 #65, 85, 88, 89, 92–95, 97–100, 102, 104, 106–114, 117
• Austin Art: 60 Pages of Drawings by Terry Austin (self-published, 2003)

Awards

Austin's work has won him a good deal of recognition over the years, including multiple Eagle Awards for best inker, an Inkpot Award, multiple Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards for Favorite Inker and the Inkwell Awards 2009 Joe Sinnott Award.

Notes

References