The Watcher. Pencils by Jack Kirby and inks by Al Williamson (The Jack Kirby Collector # 15, April 1997, back cover)
Sad news that Al Williamson has passed away at the age of 79. His most famous work was his beautiful science-fiction art for EC Comics in the 1950s, on titles like Weird Science and Weird Fantasy. In the 1960s, Williamson carried on Alex Raymond's tradition on the Flash Gordon comic book. Williamson also produced memorable B/W work for Warren Publishing's horror magazines like Creepy and Eerie.
In the 1970s Al worked on another Raymond creation, the Secret Agent X-9 comic strip. In the 1980s he produced brilliant work for the popular Star Wars comic books and newspaper strips. From the mid-1980s to 2003, he worked mainly as an inker on Marvel Comics superhero books like Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Spider-Girl.
Al Williamson was the recipient of two Eisners for Best Inker in 1996 and 1997, as well as an inductee into the Eisner Hall of Fame in 2000.
Here is a photograph of Jack and Al together talking shop (Jack Kirby Collector # 15, April 1997, pg. 15).
