Since producing his own homemade “Torpedo Comics” with a group of friends while still in elementary school in the mid/late 1970s Bob Almond has been preparing his whole life for the sequential art medium and the role of a comic book artist. Two years after graduating with a BFA in Illustration at the Umass Dartmouth art college Bob broke in at Marvel Comics in 1992 as a professional ink artist on Warlock & the Infinity Watch series which led to numerous projects at Marvel for the next decade straight like Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek: DS9 and later Annihilation: Congest-Quasar and Heroes for Hire. Most significant was his 3 years of work as inker/storyteller with Priest and Sal Velluto on Marvel’s Black Panther from 1999-2002. This highly-acclaimed series won Bob two Squiddy Awards for “Best Inker” (2001-2002) along with one for “Best Creative Team” (2002). Together with Sal they were included in the Heroes 911 tribute book (Marvel), Bloodshot (Acclaim), JSA, Aquaman (DC), Captain Gravity and the Power of the Vril (Penny-Farthing Press), Archer & Armstrong: First Impressions (Valiant), The Phantom/Fantoman (Egmont), The Guardian Project with Stan Lee (Guardian Media) and recently on the Kingstone Bible (Kingstone Media). With other collaborators Bob has also inked assignments like Vampirella: Revelations (Harris), A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wildstorm), Star Trek: The Last Generation (IDW) and Tick variant covers with Mike Lilly for New England Comics. Last year Bob was invited by Marvel along with his Black Panther creative partners to the LA world premiere of Black Panther that we were all credited in “special thanks” due to elements of their run influencing the film content. It has since broken box-office records and has received numerous nominations and awards including for the Academy Awards. This year marks Bob’s 27th year in the medium. You can visit the official Bob Almond Inkwell website at www.almondink.com
Bob has also acted as a columnist for his inker-centric “Inkblots” column for Sketch Magazine and First Comics News from 2007-2010. This led to his founding of the non-profit Inkwell Awards (http://www.inkwellawards.com) in 2008 where he acts as director and treasurer. He co-created the company spokesmodel Ms. Inkwell. As the only organization/advocacy of it’s kind on the planet it promotes and educates about the oft-misunderstood art form of inking and recognizes the best artists of inking in the field. Almost 100% of funds raised go to the non-profit. In 2011 the Heroes Con became the host show for the annual live awards ceremony and, after celebrating their 10 year anniversary in 2018, this year The Great Philadelphia Con! picks up that torch of hosting this prestigious event.
