Harry Candelario has inked many titles over the years and here he talks about his inking work on Daredevil and his early years in the Marvel Bullpen.
Kuljit Mithra: You got your start in the comics industry right out of high school and you joined the Marvel bullpen. How did that happen for you? What kind of work did you do?
Harry Candelario: My best friend in high school was an intern at Marvel. He got hired for the summer after graduation and when he heard of an opening in the repro dept., he called me. That was Sept. 1980. The repro dep. is where they produce the copies for overseas reprints. Then I worked in the photostat debt. which is part of the bullpen, Then I wound up in the bullpen somehow. So my jobs went from making copies of original art to doing paste-ups to sending them overseas and a few other things I don't remember.
Mithra: Did you get your inking training here, or had you gone to an art school?
Candelario: I went to the high school of Art and Design. I learned some stuff there but actual inking I picked up in bits and pieces as I worked in the bullpen.
Mithra: Any particular artist that helped you get your first assignment?
Candelario: There are a few. Chris Ivy was the first guy I worked for. I did backgrounds for him on Psi Force and Wolfpack. Jose Marzan - I don't remember what I worked on for him but he helped me learn a bit. Mark Texiera - He was working on Ghost Rider and some Epic comic, so he had me and Jimmy Palmiotti help him on backgrounds to help him meet deadlines. He taught me a whole lot. Bob Layton - He probably was pivotal in getting my first break. I worked on Iron Man for him and he taught me a lot... I mean a lot. He was supposed to ink issue # 256 of Iron Man but he had other commitments, so being that I did all the backgrounds, the editor decided to give it to me to finish. It was over John Romita Jr. and I still appreciate it to this day.
Mithra: Were there any other careers you were considering besides comics?
Candelario: No, this was it. Comics or bust!
Mithra: What titles other than Daredevil have you worked on, and which one ranks as your favourite?
Candelario: I've worked on A LOT of titles. My least favorite would have to be Robocop
12-18. Among my favorites would be:
Mithra: Your first DD work was co-inking issue 319 with Hector Collazo. Scott McDaniel has said that he wanted to experiment with new inking for the Fall From Grace arc. The first few pages have 'lined' ink, and the other pages have 'graphic' inks. Which part did you ink on the issue and why do you think McDaniel chose to go with the 'graphic' style for the later issues?
Candelario: When Hector and I worked on those issues, we were sharing a studio for 6 years. Our tables were 4 feet from each other, so I didn't ink an entire page by myself. It was more like "Wow, what a cool face can I ink it?" and it went like that for the entire issue. We were also playing with "imitating each other" to see if the editors could tell the difference. They couldn't.
Mithra: Is there a difference in the inking tools you use to create the two distinct inking styles (line vs. graphic), or is it just the method in which the ink is applied?
Candelario: No, there isn't any difference in tools, just in thinking while you ink.
Mithra: What did you think of the armoured DD costume?
Candelario: I thought it was "just" o.k.
Mithra: Had you been a fan of Daredevil before your issue?
Candelario: I got hooked when I saw Klaus Janson inking Gil Kane. I thought it was some of the best comic art I ever saw. The Frank Miller issues were amazing too.
Mithra: Your other DD issues are a few years after Fall From Grace, and these are co-inking jobs over Gene Colan pencils (367, 370). What was it like to ink his work?
Candelario: I didn't have fun inking his work. All I'll say is he was really hard to ink.
Mithra: Finally, what kind of work are you doing these days, and what can you tell us about Bench Press Comics?
Candelario: Right now I'm working on Spiderman Unlimited with Andy Kuhn. As for Bench Press comics I'm not allowed to say anything at this time (sorry).
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(c) Kuljit Mithra 1999
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