20 Facts About Vince Colletta

Vincente Colletta was an American comic book artist and art director.

Vince Colletta was one of Jack Kirby's frequent inkers during the 1950s-1960s Silver Age of comic books.

Vincente Colletta was born in Casteldaccia, Sicily, the son of Rosa and Francesco "Frank" Colletta, the latter "a pretty high-level Mafioso", according to family lore.

Vince Colletta settled in Brooklyn, New York City, where his wife and child joined him 10 years later.

Vince Colletta was educated at the New Jersey Academy of Fine Arts.

Vince Colletta entered comics in 1952, freelancing first as a penciler, inking his own work, for the publisher Better Publications, on the titles Intimate Love and Out of the Shadows, and for publisher Youthful Magazines' imprint Pix-Parade, on the title Daring Love.

Vince Colletta occasionally inked romance stories penciled by Joe Sinnott, and other pencilers on such titles as Charlton's Gunmaster, and Dell Comics' Guerrilla War, Jungle War Stories, and Western series Idaho.

Vince Colletta inked Kirby's two black-and-white magazine one-shots, In the Days of the Mob and Spirit World, and the initial issues of Kirby's Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen and "Fourth World" titles: The Forever People, Mister Miracle and The New Gods.

Kirby confidante Mark Evanier and inker Wally Wood eventually convinced a reluctant Kirby to ask DC Publisher Carmine Infantino to remove Colletta from inking Kirby's titles.

Vince Colletta was replaced by inker Mike Royer, causing some fans to write to DC in complaint, denouncing Kirby for "abandoning the Marvel-style look".

Vince Colletta was named DC's art director in May 1976, resigning the post in May 1979.

Well into the 1980s, Vince Colletta continued to ink a wide assortment of comics for both DC and Marvel.

Vince Colletta's last known credit is a Marvel humor one-shot, Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe.

In late 1987 after editor-in-chief Jim Shooter was fired from Marvel, Vince Colletta sent Marvel a scathing, profanity-laced letter highly critical of the company's action, which became widely circulated.

Vince Colletta was regarded as one of the American comics industry's fastest inkers and a reliable professional to call upon when a comic was in danger of missing a printing deadline.

Vince Colletta would eliminate people from the strip and use silhouettes, everything to cut corners and make the work easier for himself.

When we told him Vince Colletta was handling the inking, he winced and said that he would probably not look at the comics.

Vince Colletta himself described his methods as a necessity of the industry.

Some time after having recovered from a heart attack, Vince Colletta was diagnosed with cancer; three weeks later, on June 3,1991, aged 67, he died at Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood, New Jersey.

Vince Colletta was posthumously awarded the Inkwell Awards Special Recognition Award in 2016.