Buscema and the New York Tribe

[B. Kuwanger]

So the Conan thread discussing a few of his various partners got me to take a better look at this old Tarzan I found, Lord of the Jungle #11. I really can't get over the art, which was done by John Buscema, "The New York Tribe," and Phil Rache on colors. Google didn't really explain the details of the thing. Anyone know what "the Tribe" is, where I can find more from "it," or at least anything similar? I already buy anything with Kevin Nowlan work on sight, and I'd definitely keep an eye out for "NYT."

[Sir Tim Drake]

"The Tribe" usually refers to Tony DeZuniga and his assistants. I don't know if "New York Tribe" is a different group.

[Red Oak Kid]

The GCD for this issue has an educated guess about the New York Tribe.

http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=32166

The indexer thinks it is Neal Adams inking Tarzan's face and Tony DeZuniga inking the rest. I can see why they would say this, but I'm not sure I agree.

The checklist at Neal's own site says he only did the inks on the cover of Tarzan # 11.

The chest and face of Tarzan in panel 4, page 6 looks like Adams' inks, but not Tarzan's hair.

I think the vast majority of the inks are by DeZuniga and his assistants.

The New York Tribe also inked Human Fly #8.

[Bicorn Halfelven]

I'm also curious about who the members of "the Tribe" were. I have many issues of CtB attributed to the Tribe, and wondered who was lumped into this. Who were DeZuniga's assistants? Giordano, Chan, Sinnot, Adkins, Marcos or Sal B.?

[Sir Tim Drake]

I'm also curious about who the members of "the Tribe" were. I have many issues of CtB attributed to the Tribe, and wondered who was lumped into this. Who were DeZuniga's assistants? Giordano, Chan, Sinnot, Adkins, Marcos or Sal B.?

You might want to look at Comic Book Artist volume 2 #4, which has a detailed list of all the Filipino cartoonists known to have worked in the United States, and of what they worked on.

[berk]

I think the Tribe also inked Buscema on a few stories in the B&W mag Savage Sword of Conan, didn't they? Personally i was never a great admirer of deZuniga's style. I appreciated the grittiness of it, but there seemed to be a lack of depth to the finished product, in comparison to Alcala, for example. Bit of an unfair comparison, I suppose, because no one else really came close to providing the depth and detail Alcala did to the pencils.

[InkMan]

I was actually part of "The Tribe" in New York City.

I was interested in becoming a comic book artist after college and somehow snagged an interview with Marie Severin, who liked my portfolio and hired me. I started in the Marvel bullpen but was soon asked to join "The Tribe," where I worked with a small group of equally talented young guys.

"The Tribe" apprenticed under a group of Marvel's extraordinarily gifted Filipino artists including Tony DeZuniga, Alfredo Alcala and Ernie Chan, among others. Before long, Tony asked if I would be interested in working as his main assistant. So, for the next few months, I helped Tony ink a bunch of titles including "Thor," "Spider-Woman," "Savage Sword of Conan," etc.—basically everything he was inking back then.

My main job (as Tony explained it) was inking "backgrounds and minor characters." In other words, if there was a scene in a "Thor" comic where a space alien was unleashing destruction on the general populace, I'd ink the collapsing buildings, falling rubble and bystanders cowering in fear, and Tony would do Thor and the space thingies.

I eventually realized that I was never going to be a GREAT comic book artist—others were so much more talented than I was—so I put down my Winsor & Newton brush and became an art director in an ad agency. It was a wise choice for me because it became my career.

That's just a little background on "The Tribe." I was just doing a Google search to see what info was online and found this thread. I haven't read a comic book in decades, but have an incredible amount of admiration for the great artists who worked and continue to work in that field.

Bernie

[B. Kuwanger]

....Ha, wow. Thanks a lot, it's great to finally have some official info.

[dan bailey]

I eventually realized that I was never going to be a GREAT comic book artist—others were so much more talented than I was—

Which merely means, of course that -- similarly to, say, a major league baseball player whose career pretty much consists of riding the bench -- you're more accomplished in your chosen field than, oh, 99.89 percent of the rest of humanity, rather than 99.9 percent ...

Thanks for the insights!