Marcos Mist

Everyone familiar with comic books knows of the "Kirby Krackle", that pulsating, burning aura popularized by artist Jack Kirby that epitomizes the idea of unleashed and unlimited power. But who is familiar with the equally ubiquitous and unsung "Marcos Mist"?

Where the Kirby Krackle displays energetic violence there is another artistic device that conveys a more earthbound element and that is the Marcos Mist.

Celebrated comic book veteran artist Pablo Marcos renders fog and mists as more than mere moody scenery. In his horror and fantasy work mists are something animate, baleful and more often than not depicted as an extension of a character. Marcos Mist exists on a personal and cruel level. Where the Kirby Krackle lays waste to planets the Marcos Mist is a cold, thick and miasmic swirl of fog and shadow that envelopes and snares a victim.

Marcos Mists are organic and have more in common visually with blood-spatters than airborne droplets of water. That the Marcos Mist resembles crime scene evidence more than an atmospheric condition is a sign of careful wit and talent by Pablo Marcos and is more than a stylistic artifact of a particular artist.

So when reading your old Marvel horror books keep an eye out for the Marcos Mist. It just may have crept in and surrounded you without you even noticing.