Rich's first port of call was Marvel Comics. He had laid the ground work by first contacting Jack Kirby, who had left Marvel Comics for DC Comics, and sending him samples of his work via a mutual friend, Shel Dorf. "I actually got Jack Kirby on the telephone one evening," says Rich, "after my inking samples arrived at his home via the post office, and I think it was that he called me unexpectedly, and I was somewhat speechless, but I listened to him and he told me, "I don't need you as an inker, you're not quite what I'm looking for, but your work is very good and Shel has sent me some other samples. If you're thinking of travelling to New York, look up Stan Lee in the phone book and tell him I told you to tell him to give you a job. And if he gives you any problems with that, just tell him to call me"." Armed with this endorsement Rich made an appointment with Marvel editor Stan Lee who promptly offered him a job.
When given the chance in 1974 to draw The Fantastic Four, Rich fulfilled a decade-long dream to follow in the footsteps of Jack Kirby and he stayed on the title for two years. It was during this run that Rich attracted a lot of attention, both positive and negative. Accusations were made that Rich's Fantastic Four was too close to Kirby's original vision. "It's not like anybody told me I had to draw like this, or in this or that style," says Rich, "I just did it. You know, it's funny, but Jack Kirby was really the standard for story telling and the Marvel look, so to speak. So when I first came into the comics I was told that by everybody at Marvel that I spoke to: John Romita, Marie Severin, Herb Trimpe, they all admired him and so it was not like Stan Lee or whoever was saying "Draw like Jack". He'd say, "Look at how Jack did it". Sometimes he wouldn't have to say it because we all admired Jack Kirby's work anyway! So for me, it was just a pleasure to do it."
During this period, Rich finally managed to create his own character, Deathlok. Deathlock was the first cyborg in comic books, "It began as a sort of ’Frankenstein meets Captain America’," says Rich, "so what I had was a design for a super solider that looked like a monster. That seemed to somehow work, and then it just developed from there." The concept, in Rich's own words, a "Twenty-First Century schizoid man, a cyber/human with super-human and machine-enhanced physical and mental abilities -- a super military weapon" would later be further explored (without credit) in movies such as Universal Soldier, Terminator and Robocop. Rich also worked closely with writer Don McGregor on the acclaimed Black Panther series in Jungle Action. Also during this period, Rich Buckler hired the young George Pérez as his studio assistant and has also assisted many other artists get their breaks in comic books, including Klaus Janson, Todd McFarlane, Mark Texeria and Denys Cowan.
In the late '70s Rich began working for Marvel and DC, along with other smaller companies (he had also worked for Warren, Skywald and Atlas/Seaboard). During Rich's time at DC he predominately worked on cover art, but also had memorable runs on the Justice League Of America, Batman and worked with Roy Thomas to launch All-Star Squadron. By the mid-1980s he returned to Marvel Comics for 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. Rich also worked for Archie Comics as an editor and artist when that publisher briefly revived its superhero line of books.
In recent years Rich has concentrated on commission work and also painting fine art illustrations for display in art galleries in both America and Europe. Rich is the author of two books: How to Become a Comic Book Artist and How to Draw Superheroes.
