Happy Birthday to the late GREAT Herbert William "Herb" Trimpe!!!

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When it comes to the history of Marvel Comics, Jack Kirby gets most of the attention, and rightly so. Along with Stan Lee, the King created or co-created nearly the entire Marvel Universe, the same characters—or, if you’re a suit at Disney, intellectual properties—currently ruling the box office. Kirby was Marvel’s go-to guy because he was an amazing talent, but he was also lightning fast, finishing pages at a blistering pace and leaving his contemporaries eating his eraser dust. Still, despite his speed and royal title, he was just one man, and comics are, those same Disney suits will remind us, a business.

Enter Herb Trimpe. There were others—Dick Ayers, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, John Romita, Gene Colan, John and Sal Buscema, Bill Everett—all of whom longtime Marvel fans will know. Unlike Lee and Kirby, however, you likely won’t see their names on any Marvel movies. They weren’t responsible for Marvel’s Big Bang, but artists like Trimpe helped sustain its impact, creating wave after wave of fans and influencing countless creators with their renditions of the House of Ideas iconic characters.

After serving in Vietnam as an Air Force weather observer, he began inking westerns at Marvel in the mid-‘60s, then he moved to the production department where he operated the company’s first photostat machine. He was a man who didn’t care much for superheroes, but he worked for eight years on one of the genre’s most enduring titles The Incredible Hulk and his pencil brought to life one of the genre’s most popular characters Wolverine.

Though he remained humble about his contributions to comics, he prided himself on his storytelling abilities, as well as his preference for the so-called “Marvel Method” of creating comics. Back when Lee was writing nearly every book Marvel released, he would bat around story ideas with artists like Trimpe. They’d iron out the story beats for a given issue, then the artist would go off and draw the issue based on their own interpretation of the plot. After the art was done, Lee would add dialogue and text.

Trimpe preferred working this way because it allowed him to flex his storytelling muscles, something working from a full script only stifled. This remains a pretty bold approach to storytelling, one that seems to have fallen out of favor with today’s creators. It’s amazing that it created such enduring work, and it’s a testament to the abilities of the writers and artists who used this method.

Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s Trimpe worked on a number of licensed comics for Marvel, including Transformers and G.I. Joe, but by the ‘90s work began to dry up. Fans gravitated toward artists like Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee, whose bombastic styles Trimpe tried to employ in comics like the quarterly series Fantastic Four Unlimited.

After comics, Trimpe became a public school teacher, focusing on art and remedial math, and after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, he served as a chaplain at Ground Zero in New York City. Over the course of eight months he prayed over the remains of victims and prayed with rescue workers and others trying to cope with the tragedy. He may not have cared much for superheroes, but he clearly knew a thing or two about real life heroes.

Trimpe died in the spring of 2015 at 75.

[Of Atlantis]

I appreciate you doing these things. It's great that the people who made Marvel comics so great get some attention once in a while. And it wouldn't hurt to educate newer fans or fans unaware of creators' contributions either. Good stuff.

HBD HERB!

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https://davewaugh.wordpress.com/2015...-and-the-hulk/
http://comicsalliance.com/herb-trimpe-obituary/
http://itcamefromdarkmoor.blogspot.n...rb-trimpe.html
http://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/2...o-herb-trimpe/

[Cmbmool]

Happy birthday to one of the greatest Hulk artist and co-creator to Wolverine.

[Panic]

Herbe was one of THE defining Hulk artists of my youth, plus he drew the early issues of Captain Britain, giving them a Kirbly-like power and majesty. I remember his work fondly.

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Captain Britain Advert + Wolverine, who first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #180 on the very last panel!

Herb Trimpe .. Hulk commission..side by side

Happy 55th anniversary 616 Robert Bruce Banner aka The INCREDIBLE HULK!! - 1962-2017

[Buried Alien]

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[JKtheMac]

I have never quite identified the issue but I am reasonably sure Herb drew the first US comic I ever saw. An old battered Hulk comic in a primary school arts and crafts pile. I didn't read it, I cut out pictures of the Hulk and stuck him on paper and probably drew soldiers shooting him. Resulting in scribbled explosions all over the art. I was five.

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http://13thdimension.com/13-covers-a...y-celebration/

[Johnny Peril]

[Tulku]

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https://hulkcollection.wordpress.com...y-herb-trimpe/

"The Man left this world a huge, influential body of work that inspires to this day. No one can ever ask for more!"

Hear! Hear!

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Herb Trimpe talks Hulk, Transformers and more SDCC Comic-Con 2012 part 1/3 - Seibertron.com

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Herb Trimpe talks Hulk, Transformers and more SDCC Comic-Con 2012 part 2/3 - Seibertron.com

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Herb Trimpe talks Hulk, Transformers and more SDCC Comic-Con 2012 part 3/3 - Seibertron.com