Syd Shores

Sydney Shores (1916 – June 3, 1973)

"The Terror" still held enough promise that it saw print in Mystic Comics #5 (March 1941) from Timely Comics, the 1940s precursor of Marvel Comics, and went on to make other appearances. After the Simon & Kirby team moved on following Captain America Comics #10 (Jan. 1942), Shores and Al Avison became regular pencilers of the hit title, with one generally inking over the other, both working with writer Stan Lee.

Shores was inducted into the U.S. Army in early 1944, seeing action as part of General Patton's Third Army in France and Germany, and receiving a Purple Heart for being wounded in France on 16 December 1944.

Post-war career The Westerner #39 (1951), Orbit Publications. Cover art by Syd Shores After his military discharge in January 1946, Shores returned to Timely as art director. Future Comic Book Hall of Famer Gene Colan, a Marvel mainstay from 1946 on, described Shores during this time as "a very quiet man. He would come in with a kind of very slow walk, with a cup of morning coffee in one of these spiral cups and a cigarette in the other. Big smoker. He would say hello to everybody very quietly, and sit down. He'd been in the war in Germany, and sometimes I'd try to feel him out about it. He never wanted to talk about it. Very quiet fellow, but a sweet, sweet guy, and very helpful; very unassuming".

At postwar Timely and at the company's 1950s successor, Atlas Comics, Shores was among the artists on the company's superhero stars the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner, the Western titles The Black Rider and Kid Colt, Outlaw, the jungle series Jann of the Jungle and Jungle Action, the war comics Battle Action and Battle Brady, and many others including Blonde Phantom. in 1952, first in Hempstead, Long Island, and later in nearby Freeport. But with Steinberg's death in the mid-1950s and Lawrence's decision to leave the field, Shores returned to individual freelancing, adding magazine illustration to his repertoire. He said in a 1970 interview that, "In 1957, there was a recession in the comic book industry and I was forced to look elsewhere for work. I entered the magazine illustration field. I did illustrations for the men's adventure-type magazines until 1967. After things picked up again in the comic field I hastened back again to my first love, comics!" His men's-adventure work includes the covers of publisher Martin Goodman's magazines Escape to Adventure (Sept. 1964), All Man (May 1964; reprinted as cover of Man's Adventure, May 1967, and Sept. 1965); and Man's Prime (Aug. 1966).

Silver Age of Comics Captain America #103 (July 1968). Silver Age art by Jack Kirby and Shores.

In the 1960s, Shores found a new audience at Marvel Comics, where he again inked Jack Kirby on Captain America when the character once more received a full-length title. Shores inked the premiere issue, Captain America #100 (April 1968), continuing the numbering from Tales of Suspense), inking Kirby on seven of the first 10. He also inked a run of Gene Colan's Daredevil, among other Colan work, and inked both Dick Ayers and Don Heck on the World War II war comics title Captain Savage and His Leatherneck Raiders (later titled Capt. Savage and His Battlefield Raiders), among other work.

Legacy The survey "The 20 Greatest Inkers of American Comic Books" placed Shores at #11, saying he "evidenced a unique and singular inking style, one perhaps only vaguely approximated by the great Bill Everett. Both had bold but rough-hewn lines and illustrative, photorealistic brushwork which gave the pages a beautiful, organic look. . . ."

Awards In 2023, Shores was inducted into the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame.