Marvel artist Dave Hunt’s autobiography, “An Artist’s Life”, now available

By John Freeman on October 31, 2018

Back in January, we reported an autobiography of Marvel artist Dave Hunt, who provided art for numerous Marvel UK titles in the 1970s, was in the works from his friend Lee Benaka.

Dave Hunt: An Artist’s Life, with a foreword by Joe Sinnott, has now been released to good reviews and is on sale direct from Lee at US comics events and by mail order.

For over 30 years, the sharp and distinctive inking of Dave Hunt (1942 – 2017) appeared in best-selling comics featuring a wide variety of popular characters. From the Amazing Spider-Man to Superman, from the Transformers to Scooby Doo, Dave’s firm and glossy lines enhanced the art of numerous comic art icons, including Ross Andru, Sal Buscema, John Byrne, Gene Colan, George Perez, Kurt Schaffenberger, and Curt Swan.

Dave Hunt was thrilled when his inking hero Frank Giacoia embellished his British Marvel penciling work, like this Super Spider-Man #162 cover (March 1976).

Dave Hunt: An Artist’s Life has been written with the complete cooperation of Dave Hunt and his estate. In this book, Dave describes in his own words his long and winding career that took him to a full-time job in the Marvel Comics Bullpen in the early 1970s and on to draw DC Comics heroes and then children’s comics in the 1980s and 1990s to 2000s.

Dave candidly recounts his friendship and interactions with comic book giants including Ross Andru, Carl Barks, Gene Colan, Bill Everett, Frank Giacoia, Keith Giffen, Joe Kubert, John Romita Sr., Kurt Schaffenberger, and Julie Schwartz, and the book includes well over 100 images of rarely seen comic book art and correspondence from Dave’s collection.

It’s a tribute to a true comic book fan who became a superb comic book craftsman and brought memorable stories to life for decades of comic book readers.

Lee Benaka was an editorial intern at Marvel Comics in 1990 and a book editor for the American Hospital Association from 1994 to 1996. Since 2011, he’s been a member of the Comic & Fantasy Art Amateur Press Association, and has written several articles each year for the organisation, as well as conducting interviews with comic art collectors and comics professionals.

As well as working on Dave Hunt: An Artist’s Life, Lee has also been advising Dave’s estate on some art sales, and they were very happy with the results from auctions of his work, especially his cover for Marvel UK’s Super Spider-Man Issue 171.

Super Spider-Man Issue 171 Cover Art by Dave Hunt

Lee previously told downthetubes he had worked with Dave for three or so years on his autobiography. “It was pretty much wrapped up when he passed away.”

Two pages of the book are devoted to Dave’s work for Marvel UK comics, and the book has some nice images of the work Dave did for those comics.

Dave Hunt recalls his work for Marvel UK in “Dave Hunt: An Artist’s Life”

“Dave Hunt: An Artist’s Life is an autobiography and more,” noted Tony Isabella in his review. “The beautiful book presents the artist’s story in his own words.

“It has a foreword by the great Joe Sinnott, who hired Dave to do background inks for him. It has more photographs and more examples of Dave’s work than I can count. The examples include Hunt’s fine arts creations. All topped off with an exhaustive checklist of Dave’s comics work.

“The title of the book says more than it appears on the surface. In detailing his life, Hunt wrote an informative essay or sorts on the lives of other artists. His dedication to his craft, his numerous inspirations and the business of being an artist.

“It’s a fantastic book and reference resource.”

• Dave Hunt: An Artist’s Life is available from Amazon – click image left for details – and BookBaby

• More about the book here on Facebook

• The Beat – Dave Hunt obituary

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.