Bob Layton

Bob Layton (born September 25, 1953) is an American comic book artist, writer, and editor.

He is best known for his work on Marvel Comics titles such as Iron Man and Hercules, and for co-founding Valiant Comics with Jim Shooter.

Bob Layton was born on September 25, 1953.

He learned to read comics from the age of four, explaining that his "older sister Sue became bored with reading the same comic to me about fifty times. (It was a Showcase featuring the Challengers of the Unknown.)"

During the mid-1970s, both Marvel and DC were publishing in-house "fan" publications (F.O.O.M. and The Amazing World of DC Comics respectively), and Charlton wished to make inroads into the superhero market, as well as "establish a fan presence", leading to the alliance with CPL to produce the Charlton Bullseye.

This led to Charlton giving Layton and Stern "access to unpublished material from their vaults by the likes of Steve Ditko, Jeff Jones and a host of others."

This association with Charlton (and Bill Pearson, production manager) in turn led to Layton becoming acquainted with the legendary Wally Wood, with whom he apprenticed.

This apprenticeship led to work for Charlton on anthology titles, but not working from the Charlton offices, Marvel Comics and DC Comics, while still publishing fanzines.

After leaving high school, Layton began "playing comics dealer ... selling them out of his apartment in Indianapolis," through which he met Roger Stern in 1973, while the latter was working for a radio station in Indianapolis.

Layton and Stern began publishing a fanzine called CPL (Contemporary Pictorial Literature) out of Layton's apartment.

Stern recalls that, "CPL started out as Bob's sale catalog. Bob was drawing the covers and including little reviews written by some of his customers. By issue #5, it turned into a small 'zine with a catalog insert, and I started writing short articles for it. I eventually became an editor of sorts."

CPL rapidly became a popular fan publication, and led to the two forming an alliance with Charlton Comics to produce and publish "the now-famous Charlton Bullseye magazine."

Layton's first, albeit uncredited, work for Marvel Comics was inking a single page in the Marvel UK title The Avengers and the Savage Sword of Conan #135 (April 17, 1976).

Part of Layton's role as Wally Wood's apprentice included him occasionally delivering artwork to "NYC from Connecticut."

Layton recalls that:

"One day, I was in the Marvel offices ... handing in Woody's pages to the production dept. So, I used the opportunity to show my samples around while I had 'my foot in the door'. When I passed the art director's office, I heard John Romita on the phone, frantically trying to find someone to ink a desperately late issue of Iron Man [ by George Tuska ] . Like an idiot, I stuck my head in his doorway and said I could get the job done in the four or five days that was left on the schedule. It was an utter fabrication ... but I really wanted to work for Marvel Comics! Johnny gave me the pages and said, 'Show me what you can do, kiddo.'"

Layton's reaction was one of panic, and his search for help to meet the deadline led him to Dick Giordano and Neal Adams' Continuity Associates where his "fledgling contemporaries," the Crusty Bunkers ("Terry Austin, Bob Wiacek, Joe Rubinstein, Bob McLeod, Joe Brozowski, Carl Potts and a host of others") were able to lend a hand and help him finish the book.

A month later, Layton received a package containing "an entire issue of pencils on the Champions", and discovered that he was "the new regular inker on the book."

He worked for Marvel "for about a year, then signed an exclusive one-year contract with DC — after they made me 'an offer I couldn't refuse'."

Layton began work for DC Comics in early 1977, taking up regular inking duties on All Star Comics, as well as inking multiple issues of Secret Society of Super Villains, DC Super Stars, and DC Special, among others.

In Nov./Dec.

1977, he inked the first issue of David Michelinie's Star Hunters, and after a number of other shorter inking jobs, moved back to Marvel in 1978, to ultimately take up one of his best remembered roles.

In 1978, Layton reunited with Michelinie, to co-write Iron Man.

The two would become regular creative partners, and began their collaboration on Iron Man with #116 (November 1978).

Micheline and Layton established Tony Stark's alcoholism with the story "Demon in a Bottle", and introduced several supporting characters, including Stark's bodyguard girlfriend Bethany Cabe; Stark's personal pilot and confidant James Rhodes, who later became the superhero War Machine; and rival industrialist Justin Hammer, who was revealed to be the employer of numerous high-tech armed enemies Iron Man fought over the years.

In September 1982, he launched one of Marvel's first limited series, writing and drawing the four-issue Hercules: Prince of Power.

Its success spawned a four-issue sequel in 1984 and a 1988 graphic novel (#37 in the "Marvel Graphic Novel" series) - Full Circle.

Around this time, he designed the highly successful Marvel Secret Wars toy line for Mattel, which formed the impetus behind the 1984 Secret Wars event.

Layton was one of the inkers on The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #18 (1984) which featured the wedding of Spider-Man supporting characters J. Jonah Jameson and Marla Madison in a story written by Stan Lee.

In February 1986, Layton revived the original X-Men characters in the series X-Factor, which he wrote and Jackson Guice drew.

Layton wrote the first five issues before handing over the series to Louise Simonson.

The duo introduced the concept of Stark's specialized armors The two collaborated on the title until #154 and then returned for a second run from #215 (Feb. 1987) to #250 (Dec 1989).

Layton continued to ink and work on covers for titles such as The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Power Man and Iron Fist, and Micronauts.

Michelinie and Layton became the creative team on Iron Man once again in issue #215 (Feb. 1987) They crafted the "Armor Wars" storyline which ran from #225 (Dec. 1987) through #231 (June 1988).

After Michelinie and Layton finished their second Iron Man run with issue #250, Layton returned to the title briefly to write and draw #254 and write #256 before leaving Marvel.

A year later, he returned to the comics industry to ink Jim Shooter's Magnus, Robot Fighter #1, from Valiant Comics.

Bob Layton was one of the chief architects of the Valiant Universe, along with Jim Shooter, Barry Windsor-Smith, Steven J. Massarsky, and Jon Hartz.

He co-created a number of the core characters including X-O Manowar, and later became Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President, during which time he controlled the company during its most profitable period.

His first Valiant work appeared in Magnus, Robot Fighter #1 (May 1991), in which he inked Art Nichols' artwork from Jim Shooter's script.

He would continue with Magnus for five issues and produce covers to issue #9, while inking the inaugural issues of Solar, Man of the Atom, which he edited.