George Roussos has had a long career in the comics field. He is best known for his work as an inker and colorist, but he has also done pencil work, background art and lettering. He was well respected by his colleagues, who gave him the nickname "Inky". For 60 years, he worked for nearly every major publisher.
Born in Washington, DC, Roussos became an orphan at a young age and spent most of his youth in the Brookly Orphan Asylum. After getting his drawings criticized by 'Barney Baxter' artist Frank Miller, he broke into the comics field in 1940 when National (DC) was looking for assistants on the 'Batman' comic by Bob Kane. Roussos got the job and worked on the strip in cooperation with Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson.
After a couple of years, Roussos moved on to other DC titles, such as 'Vigilante', 'Johnny Quick', 'Superman', 'Starman' and 'Airwave'. In the filler-comic 'Airwave', Roussos began experimenting in comics art and coloring. He remained active for this publisher until the late 1960s. During the 1940s, he also worked for Timely, Standard, Avon, Fiction House, Family, Better, Spark, Hillman and Lev Gleason. Through DC, he also did a series of give aways for General Electric. He also began a steady collaboration with Mort Meskin.
Throughout his career, Roussos also worked on a variety of newspaper strips, including 'The Lone Ranger', 'Judge Parker', 'Judge Wright', 'The Phantom' and 'Flash Gordon'. In the 1950s, he drew for St. John, EC, Atlas and Kirby and Simon's Crestwood Studios. He began a more regular collaboration with Atlas (now called Marvel) in 1964, and assumed the pseudonym George Bell. In 1972, he joined the staff of Marvel's in-house artists and succeeded Marie Severin as a full time colorist, a function he kept throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
