If Jack Abel was ever an exceptional talent, he'd certainly declined badly by the late 1970's.
And Simonson is a difficult one to find an appropriate inker for. I'm hard pressed to think of anyone other than Walt Simonson himself who does justice to inking Simonson's pencils.
Another terrible combination (especially contrasted with Rogers/Austin that immediately followed) is Simonson/Milgrom in DETECTIVE COMICS 469 and 470. Milgrom really blunts the impact of Simonson's work, and makes lackluster work of one of comics' most dynamic pencillers.
Well, y'know... Vince Colletta inking just about anybody is a bad combination. The one exception is inking Kirby in the mid-1960's primarily on THOR 110-177, and FF 40-43.
Colletta also did nice work inking Grell in WARLORD 26-27, but most of his other work on the series (issues 16-39) is likewise very bland and rushed looking.
Colletta inked a single issue of Byrne in SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN 58 in 1981, and I understand Byrne was furious and made it clear he never wanted Colletta inking him again.
Likewise Neal Adams, back in 1968 on BRAVE & THE BOLD 81, where he was so dissatisfied with Colletta's inks that he re-inked much of it himself before it first saw print.
In each case the inker removed much of the style that made the penciller a superstar in the first place (and in the Simonson/Able case, the inker rendered the penciller's usually distinctive work unrecognizable).
Yeah, much as I like the Phillipine artists, such as Alcala, Nebres, DeZuniga, and Redondo, they bring so much to an artist such as John Buscema or Ron Wilson.
But for an artist well known for the delicate linework and detail of their pencils (such as Steve Bissette on SWAMP THING) Alcala's inks, for example, smother the penciller's art beyond recognition.
