Rich Buckler (born February 6, 1949) is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four in the mid-1970s and, with writer Doug Moench, co-creating the character Deathlok in Astonishing Tales #25. Buckler has drawn virtually every major character at Marvel and DC, often as a cover artist.
Buckler broke into comics as a teenager with the four-page historical story "Freedom Fighters: Washington Attacks Trenton" in the King Features comic book Flash Gordon #10, November 1967.
When given the chance in 1974 to draw The Fantastic Four, Buckler fulfilled a decade-long dream; he stayed on the title for two years. During this period, Buckler was known as well for his original creation, Deathlok. Other notable work from this period includes his collaboration with writer Don McGregor on the acclaimed Black Panther series in Jungle Action. Also during this period, Buckler hired the young George Pérez as his studio assistant.
At DC in the early 1980s, he helped Roy Thomas launch All-Star Squadron. In the mid-1980s he returned to the company and had a short but memorable run on the title Spectacular Spider-Man with writer Peter David, where they produced the "Death of Jean DeWolff" storyline. He also served as editor for a short-lived line of comics by Solson Publications, where in 1987 he created Reagan's Raiders. Around that time, Buckler worked for Archie Comics when that publisher briefly revived its superhero line of books.
He is the author of two books: How to Become a Comic Book Artist and How to Draw Superheroes.
Buckler has a dubious reputation as one comics' top "swipe" artists, with his early work in particular filled with "homages" to artists like Jack Kirby,O'Neill, Patrick Daniel. "Career Moves" (interview with George Pérez), Wizard Magazine #35 (July 1994): John Buscema, and Neal Adams. After being publicly accused of the practice by The Comics Journal in the early 1980s, Buckler denied the charges and sued the magazine for libel; he later dropped the suit.
