Longtime comic book artist Herb Trimpe passed away Monday night. Herb worked on many comics and characters during his career but is best associated with two: He drew The Incredible Hulk for Marvel for seven years and in one issue, he first drew the hero Wolverine. He was also a staff artist at Marvel for many years and his handiwork impacted books all across the line where he designed or rendered covers, did art corrections and had much to do with the "look" of Marvel. He was also a very nice, much-liked man.
Herb was born in Peekskill, New York in 1939. A longtime comic fan, especially of the E.C. line and of artists Jack Davis and Wally Wood, Herb attended the School of Visual Arts. One of his instructors there, Tom Gill, often employed students to assist him on his comic book and strip work, and that's how Herb got into comics. Gill was drawing for Western Publishing and Herb helped out with inking and backgrounds. So did another S.V.A. student, a friend of Herb's named John Verpoorten.
Trimpe served in the Air Force from 1962 to 1966 and upon his discharge began looking for a way to get into comics on his own. Verpoorten had begun working for Marvel and he helped Herb secure a job there running the photostat machine in the office. It was a low-paying position that involved inhaling photo chemicals all day but it got him into the office and it was not long before he segued into part-time art jobs and then full-time. He had arrived just when Marvel was trying to double the size of its line and many more hands were needed.
Herb drew other characters besides Hulk and Wolverine. His work could be seen at different times on Iron Man, Captain America, Sgt. Fury, Ant-Man, Killraven, Machine Man, Godzilla, G.I. Joe, Shogun Warriors, The Transformers and many more.
He lost his staff position in the mid-nineties when financial problems forced Marvel to downsize for a time but he continued to freelance for them. As he got older though, his style fell into disfavor with the current editors. In the year 2000, he wrote this article for The New York Times about ageism in comics. It got him some work but mostly, he was teaching art then instead of creating it. He also became a frequent guest at comic book conventions where fans lined up to commission sketches from him, mostly (of course) of Hulk and/or Wolverine. Later on, after he had been ordained a deacon by the Episcopal Diocese of New York, he offered to perform marriage ceremonies at cons.
After the tragedies of 9/11, Herb spent eight months working at and around Ground Zero in New York as a chaplain, helping people to cope with the death and destruction. As noted here, he later authored a book about his experiences and observations. In 2002, Comic-Con International recognized his work in this area and presented him with the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award.
I met Herb in the Marvel offices in 1970 and always enjoyed visiting with him, mostly at conventions. Occasionally when he stayed with friends in Los Angeles, we'd get together for an evening. He was a very interesting, friendly guy who cared about doing good work in comics and also cared about many, many things that had nothing do with comics or his own career. He seemed so vital and alive that it's a real shocker to hear of his passing at the age of 75. A real shocker, indeed.