I first saw Ernie Chan's work (under the pseudonym "Ernie Chua") in 1975 on the CLAW series (issues 1-6), and then suddenly taking over the cover art and interior work for a multitude of DC titles, particularly DETECTIVE and BATMAN. His CLAW work was okay, but I quickly detested his work scumming up so many DC titles I'd previously enjoyed when done by other hands. For reasons I'll never understand, he became DC's cover-artist of choice in 1975-1976, and DC's covers never looked so bad.
I actually stopped buying many DC titles because of his work. I hated it.
Not until I finally picked up his work inking Buscema on CONAN THE BARBARIAN and SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN did I develop some degree of appreciation for his work. But even then, his work (1970's and early 1980's) was hit-and miss for me, and his post-1985 work was horrible. At his best, while some of his work was decent, I still always preferred another inker. In particular Alfredo Alcala, Rudy Nebres and Pablo Marcos.
I actually met Chan at San Diego Con in 1987. He was an overweight, sweaty looking guy in jeans and a t-shirt, and stunk to high heaven of tobacco, even from 6 feet away. I actually thought he was an illegal Mexican until someone identified him to me as artist Ernie Chan. There are many great Phillipine artists, such as Nestor Redondo, Alex Nino, Alcala, Nebres, Noly Panaligan, E.R. Cruz, and many others. And of them all, I never understood why they chose Chan, of all these guys, to ink the overwhelming bulk of John Buscema's 20-plus years of Conan work.
I have a nostalgic love for Chan's work as a part of what I consider the best era of comics, but I won't pretend like he's one of the great artists. He was a work-horse who left behind a prolific body of work, but I view him as a fourth-tier artist along the lines of Vince Colletta, Frank Giacoia, Sam Grainger, and Jack Abel. I enjoy them as cogs in the greater structure, but have never sought out their individual work.
