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Paul Gulacy

American comic book illustrator

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ2059894 ↗
Source-derived summary

Paul Gulacy (; born August 15, 1953) is an American comics artist best known for his work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and for drawing one of the first graphic novels, Eclipse Enterprises' 1978 Sabre: Slow Fade of an Endangered Species, with writer Don McGregor. He is most associated with Marvel's 1970s martial-arts and espionage series Master of Kung Fu.

Biography

Early life and career

Paul Gulacy was raised in Youngstown, Ohio, and as a teen was inspired by the art of Jim Steranko on Marvel Comics' Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. He went on to study at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Fellow Youngstown resident Val Mayerik, a Marvel artist, introduced him to another local Marvel artist, Dan Adkins of East Liverpool, Ohio, for whom Gulacy would work as an assistant, and who suggested Gulacy prepare a six-page sample for Marvel. "He sent it to an editor named Roy Thomas", Gulacy recalled, "and two weeks later I got the phone call telling me I was hired."

Gulacy's initial work as a Marvel freelancer was penciling the 15-page story "Morbius, the Living Vampire" in Adventure into Fear #20 (cover-dated Feb. 1974), written by Mike Friedrich and inked by Jack Abel. Following this came an inking assignment, over penciler Bob Brown on the superhero comic Daredevil #108 (March 1974). At some unspecified point during this time, Gulacy did a small amount of artwork for the pornographic magazine Hustler, explaining that comics artist Jim Steranko, whom he had met through Adkins, had turned down what Gulacy called "a couple of jobs" and suggested Gulacy instead. "I did them. They offered me more and a lot of money, but I turned them down.

Editorial summary

“Paul Gulacy” enters the record as american comic book illustrator. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Paul, Gulacy and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1953, 1978, 1974—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1953-08-15, 1953-01-01—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Paul, Gulacy and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Paul Gulacy” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Paul, Gulacy and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2059894. VIAF identifies the subject as 73870742. The Library of Congress control number is n94052019. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 1978 and 1974.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Paul Gulacy”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Paul Gulacy primary sources, Paul Gulacy archive and Paul research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Paul Gulacy”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Paul Gulacy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.