Tom Palmer

Thomas John Palmer (July 13, 1941 – August 18, 2022) was an American comic book artist best known as an inker for Marvel Comics.

Biography Tom Palmer was born on July 13, 1941 in Queens.

Although he created a small amount of penciling work (as well as some cover art and some coloring), the vast majority of his artistic output since the 1960s was as a comic book inker. Reminiscing about how he came to be an inker, Palmer recounted:

Palmer's extensive work for Marvel Comics includes runs paired with pencilers Neal Adams on The Avengers and Uncanny X-Men; Gene Colan, on titles such as Doctor Strange, Daredevil, and Tomb of Dracula; and John Buscema, on The Avengers. He also inked the entire run of John Byrne's X-Men: The Hidden Years.

Palmer is widely considered the definitive inker for Gene Colan, whose use of grey textures made his pencils notoriously difficult to ink in a way that did them justice. Colan has stated publishers never answered his requests to be paired with a specific inker.

Palmer's brushy, detailed, and illustrative inking style hearkens back to vintage newspaper comic strips like Steve Canyon and Tarzan, and has influenced later generations of inkers like Klaus Janson, Josef Rubinstein, and Bob McLeod.

Palmer's son Tom Palmer, Jr. is a comic book professional who had a long-running column, Palmer's Picks, in the now defunct Wizard Magazine: The Price Guide to Comics and he was also an editor for DC Comics.

Palmer died on August 18, 2022, at the age of 81.

Awards In addition to the awards below, Palmer was also named the #3 Inker of American Comics by Atlas Comics. 2008 "Favorite Finisher/Embellisher" Inkwell Award 2014 "The Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award" Inkwell Award In 2026, Palmer was selected for inclusion in the Eisner Hall of Fame.

Selected bibliography

Marvel Comics

The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #14 (inker) (1981)

The Avengers #75-96, 257-262, 291–299, ( Inker to John Buscema pencils ) Annual #17, 300, 400 (inker) (1985–1996); #311-318 (co-artist, with Paul Ryan) (1989-1990)

Captain America (vol. 3) #50 (penciler, with John Romita Sr., Bruce Timm, Ron Frenz, Sal Buscema and Rick Veitch) (2002)

Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #6, 8-18, 36–45, 47 (inker), 171 (penciler), 172-183 (inker) (1975–1981)

Giant-Size Man-Thing #5 (inker) (1975)

Marvel Super-Heroes #23 (penciler) (1969)

Star Wars (vol. 1) (cover artist) #1-3, 46, 50, 57, 63, 65-91, 100; (penciler) # 10, 63, 65, 70, 87; (inker) #8-10, 46, 49–63, 65–94 (1981–1985) Luke Skywalker: The Rise of a Hero (2017)

Spider-Man Unlimited #7 (penciler, with Ron Lim and Phil Gosier) (1994)

The Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #25, #27-28, #30-32, #34-43, #75, #77-81, #95 (inker) (2001-2006)

The Tomb of Dracula #1–70 (inker) (1973-1979)

Thor #272-277, #280 (inker) (1978-1979)

Uncanny X-Men #56-65; 73, 281–285, 288 (inker) (1969-1992)

X-Men: The Hidden Years #1–22 (inker) (1999–2001)

DC Comics

Action Comics #447, 749, 800 (1975, 1998, 2003) Adventure Comics 80-Page Giant vol. 1, #1; vol. 2, #1 The Adventures of Superman #458, 526, 539, 563, 564, 570, 571 (1989–1999) All-Star Batman vol 1, #5 Atari Force #14 (1985) Batgirl #30 (2002) Batman #343–345, 348, 553–554, 80-Page Giant #1 (1982–1998) The Batman Adventures Annual #1 (1994) The Batman Chronicles Gallery vol. 1, #1 Batman Secret Files and Origins vol 1, #1 Batman vs. Bane (collected) Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins vol. 1, #1 Batman: Bane of the Demon vol. 1, #1–4 Batman Black and White vol. 1 (collected) Batman Black and White vol. 2 (collected) Batman: Bullock's Law vol. 1, #1 Batman: Bullock's Law vol. 2, #1 Batman: Gotham Knights vol. 1, #15 Batman: Knightfall vol. 1 (collected) Batman: Knightfall vol. 2 (collected) Batman: Legacy vol. 1 (collected) Batman: Legacy vol. 2 (collected) Batman: Road to No Man's Land vol. 1 (collected) Batman: Two Faces vol. 1, #1-2 Catwoman/Wildcat vol 1, #1–4 Cyborg vol. 1, #2 Detective Comics vol. 1, #704, 725